| "While we sit gloating in our greatness
Justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
And it feels like I’m living in the
Wasteland of the free."
– Iris Dement, "Wasteland of the Free" (1996)
And so it came to pass, that the Great American Experiment was declared a failure….
About 400 years ago, the first Pilgrims arrived in present-day Massachusetts and established a colony at Plymouth. Who knows what went through their minds as they surveyed the "new world" before them, what visions of the future they contemplated?
Not me, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the prospect of Joe Millionaire, The Bachelorette, Fear Factor, Fifth Wheel or, heaven forbid, Are You Hot?
Where did it all go so wrong? How did a nation that aspired to great ideals end up like all other empires before it – wallowing in its own excess and befouling all who come in contact with it? And, perhaps more importantly, what can or should the rest of the world do to accommodate or neutralize this massive failed enterprise?
Let’s start with history. Americans take their history seriously, and rightly so. The U.S. was never just another country, like England or France, but a bold experiment in idealism conducted over the centuries.
For the Pilgrims of the 1600s, it was an experiment in realizing religious freedoms, especially freedom from persecution. For the Revolutionaries of the 1770s, it was an experiment in making good the Enlightenment goals of liberty, equality and fraternity. During the Civil War a century later, that struggle was broadened to establish basic universal freedoms for all Americans, regardless of race or colour. This idea was extended to its logical conclusion at the end of the First World War when president Woodrow Wilson stood tall on the international stage, proposing new principles by which to avoid further global conflict.
Throughout its history, then, America has appeared to champion western civilization’s noblest ideals. The reality, of course, has been somewhat different.
Within years of disembarking, the Pilgrims began their own brand of persecution, leading a series of witch-hunts that culminated in the Salem trials of the 1690s. The American Revolution conveniently neglected to liberate either women or blacks. Even the emancipation of the slaves was, for Abraham Lincoln, a means to win the war against the South, not a goal in itself. And Congress refused to sanction Wilson’s post-war League of Nations, opting instead for a return to isolationism.
It’s this clash between myth and reality that most consistently characterizes American history. The same is true now. Even as the U.S. gears up for Gulf War II, to be fought in the name of "freedom," "democracy" and "decency" among other things, never have such noble goals jarred so discordantly with the actual "values" of everyday American culture. Parents are willing to raffle their teenage daughters off to over-sexed studs (Meet the Folks). Contestants are prepared to eat maggot-infested cheese for a mere chance at winning $50,000 (Fear Factor). That tart Trista pimps herself out to all and sundry (The Bachelorette).
Is this, after all, what war is good for? To defend a way of life or culture that aspires to no greater goal than making money or getting laid, regardless of the personal degradation involved?
In asking this, I concede that America is the greatest single generator of economic wealth the world has ever seen. A recent article in the Globe and Mail made this vividly clear, featuring a map of America in which each state was represented by an entire country with an equivalent Gross Domestic Product – France stood in for California, Norway for Minnesota, and Russia for New Jersey. Heck, even Rhode Island’s GDP matched up to that of Vietnam.
Well, money may make the world go around, but it’s what you do with it that really matters. How many significant authors, poets, composers, playwrights or painters has Rhode Island produced in the past century or so? Or, more generally, while America’s economy is worth roughly $10 trillion, its current cultural beacons include a silicon-enhanced flirt pretending to be a virgin, a well-meaning mid-life rocker endlessly trying to find new personal, political and spiritual insight in the same old tired riffs, and a slap-headed TV "doctor" offering pathetic advice to even more pathetic "patients." Culture? What culture?
So the question is, what does the rest of the world do? It’s fine for Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish to denounce all Americans as "bastards," but name-calling gets us nowhere. Let me instead offer a modest proposal.
America has made it clear that it has no respect for the United Nations. Fine. Let us – the rest of the civilized world – reciprocate and declare that, henceforth, we have none for America. We will no longer accept visits from U.S. citizens, whether for business or pleasure. A punitive tax will be placed on all U.S. cultural exports, from Big Macs to Friends to Hollywood movies. Believe me, after the initial shock, we’ll get over it.
And, above all, we’ll simply disregard all U.S pronouncements on international affairs. A world without U.S. intervention or interference will be safer, more stable and perhaps even happier.
So let us salute America for a noble effort, but declare the Great American Experiment to be over. It failed. If you don’t believe me, just tune in to the Oscars. |
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