Make America Better

One of the things Americans are know for is a lack of tact.

The idea of the Ugly American (behavior not looks) was and is a trait we have.

Part of this is due to our relative isolation as a nation, we are, unlike most of the world, fairly remote.

Of course the true ugly American doesn't accept that and thinks it is everyone else who is in the wrong place.

Which is the other characteristic of excessive pride just for being born in this country.

None of us had anything to do with who our parents were ore what country we were born in.

Some of act as if being an American is an achievement, which it is for an immigrant, but not for those born here.  It is simply a fact.

Still we take pride in it, as do people born in other countries, but we seem to think everyone should simply agree we are the best.

If somehow the achievements we personally had nothing to do with are nonetheless credited to us in some general way, they should still be at least legitimate achievements of the country.

Many of the things we seem to take pride in didn't even originate here.

After all we are still a relatively young country and many of the things that define a country were imported from elsewhere.  Our language, our form of Government and our religions are all immigrants.

America is a great country and we enjoy freedoms and prosperity here envied by much of the world.  However are we the greatest country?  It depends on how you measure that.  We have the strongest military but trail many other countries on many measurements such as health care, income equality, equal rights.  We have problems with gun violence and racism that are hardly areas of pride.

Celebrate America but it can be better and not realizing that is problematic.

Its not love it or leave it.  Its love it and make it better!

Past Heroes

As Bob Dylan said years ago "The Times They Are a-Changing".

Generally the changes were good if incomplete as we saw improvements in issues like civil rights, women's liberation, more tolerance for sexual preferences and generally a better awareness of differences.

The improvements are hardly complete as we still have disparities and work to do.

However, one of the ways to not make progress on real issues is to focus on imagined ones.

Take our historical figures, often considered heroes to generations now being questioned.

The conquest of the Americas was brutal and oppressive to Native Americans who, while the victims, weren't lambs to the slaughter.  The history of humanity if filled with conquests and wars and the explorers, Conquistadors and settlers didn't think they were doing anything wrong, and by the standards of the time, they weren't.

We might condemn that behavior currently, (but that is by no means certain) but they took risks, acted boldly and secured two continents.

Yes they practiced slavery and had little consideration for the peoples they subjugated, except to convert them, and we can look at that period and see it for what it was.

They should however be judged by the standards of the time, not standards of today.

Protest?

It remains to be seen how the gathering today in Washington DC and other places ends up.

These are people who are inherently both racist and supporters of the current administration who are trying to promote racial purity.

Good luck with that since most DNA tests show very little actual racial purity exists.

In fact the idea of race is probably problematic from a scientific view, we are simply talking about degrees of pigmentation, but this isn't a very intellectual gathering.

Of course skin color is proof of natural selection since it provides some advantage in areas with more sun and disadvantages where the sun is less prevalent.

Much of our views on race were really decided by a short period of history when certain European countries expanded their reach in search of trade and profits and ended up colonizing much of the world.

The reasons they were able to do this have to do with their history of conflict and some technological advances they had made.

The United States exists on land that was once owned by native Americans who we displaced in large part via biological terror.  The introduction of Western diseases led to a plague in both Americas that left large areas vulnerable to colonization.  Of course the people who settled here were mostly not involved in that, they were simply looking for a better life.

Is there something special about people with European ancestry?

Maybe its just their egos.

Ignoring History

If you were to go back in time about 10 years or a little more you would have possibly noticed many Americans living off the rising equity in their homes.  In fact this trend had become so prevalent that even the chairmen of the fed seemed to suggest it at one point.

Homes were the stable foundation of the American dream and it was widely believed that they would only increase in value.

Of course it was a house of cards where the whole structure was supported by easy credit and lower than market interest rates.  It seemed like easy money and it allowed consumers to convert home equity into new cars, new appliances, college tuition with the expectation that they would be able to pay everything with the growth in equity, not the income from their jobs.

Construction was booming, credit was easy, and life was good.

Until it wasn't and when it turned ugly it really turned ugly.

Interest rates rose a bit, demand slumped a bit and suddenly house prices took a dip.  It didn't seem like a big deal at first, of course the housing market has some corrections, but the bubble was fully inflated with no slack available.

As teaser rates expired and suddenly what was owed was more than could be refinanced we started to see foreclosures and mortgage defaults.

This led to defaults in bonds that were based on complicated derivatives but which were ultimately dependent on the worst sub-prime mortgages.

Large financial institutions had obligations they couldn't meet, credit got tight, construction and buying ground to a halt and we saw a potential depression that would rival the great one of the 30s.

We managed to avoid that using easy money and some economic stimulus to boost the economy while adding some regulations to try to avoid a similar situation in the future.

It worked but the easy money and stimulus were supposed to be short term remedies not a way of life.

Still the economy recovered at a slower pace than it had in some previous recessions but it recovered and some long term trends in the American economic structure hindered it a bit.

We now are trying to recreate the period of unsupportable growth via tax stimuli and allowing the financial institutions to resume their reckless practices.

We see the national deficit and debt increasing at record paces, but the one thing that is still true as always.

If you ignore history, you are doomed to repeat it.

Immigration Reform

You didn't think things could get worse in Washington considering how disruptive it is, but then it does.

The policy of zero tolerance which results in Children being taken away from arrested parents is simply a terrible thing to do and its very hard to defend.

There is a fairly strong anti immigration mood in much of the country, but there isn't a pen up little children mood, at least not yet.

The anti immigration mood is fanned by the alt right and is really a form of racism or racial purity, defend America as a "white" country.

That goal is at the bottom of a lot of the sentiment, just like we see people defending the flag or what language we use when neither is under attack.

The typical American is non-existent and the image of a Mayberry RFD type of life is fine, but it was never really the norm.

It did exist but it wasn't the only existence.  For many Americans the image of their ancestors is one of a struggling immigrant, braving the unknown and arriving in a new country with their family to start a new better life.

Many of them did brave the journey to the west to settle on farms, many stayed in the cities of the east to work in factories and workhouses.

Some came to this country to work on the railroads and helped complete our infrastructure.

Some of course were dragged here against their will and enslaved, after which they were discriminated against.

For most it worked out pretty well, if not for them, at least for their children and grandchildren.

This is a country of immigrants or descendants of immigrants and it is shameful how we treat "illegal" immigrants.

We need immigrants and we need to have a way for people to come here legally.

Its in our blood after all.

Presidents

Ultimately, how any period in time is measured has a lot to do with things outside the control of the Government.

The few times its different is when the country faces a crisis or a major war.

Take the administration of a popular president like Dwight Eisenhower.  Most people associate him much more with being the World War 2 general and while the country dealt with a lot of issues (all presidents do) I suspect most Americans couldn't name a significant accomplishment of his administration.

A president like John Kennedy is remembered by many more people because of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the fact that he was assassinated.  The second is clearly not an accomplishment.

Presidents come and go and someone like President Obama will forever stand out as the first black president, which is unlikely to be forgotten, like the fact that Kennedy was our first Catholic President.

He might also be remembered for his health care bill which may have started our move towards health care for all.  However the fate of that is still uncertain and it is still under attack.

You really can't judge the importance of a particular presidency before it is actually over and even then it might take some time.  Of course some, like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Roosevelt were clearly important because of the events going on during their administration.

I didn't include Woodrow Wilson because I'm not sure most Americans would even know he was president during the first world war and besides that he didn't make much of a mark.

It remains to be seen how the current president is remembered in history, but the fact that he is in the media so much is not really a relevant factor.

Despite his ongoing propaganda about his historic achievements, as of this point nothing really stands out.  He has met with the North Korean dictator, but whether that changes anything or is even important remains to be seen.

Nixon opened the door to China, a much more significant event and it is really mostly a footnote, he has Watergate as his main legacy.

History will decide what to remember, if anything at all when time has passed.

Conservative Values?

If you are in favor of armed murderers using assault weapons, people going without adequate health care, increased Government spending while lowering Corporate taxes, restricting a women's control over her own body, opposing equal rights for people who have different sexual orientations, closing the borders and trying to deter people who don't agree with you from voting, I guess you call yourself a conservative.

Conservative is a term that represents someone who is generally opposed to change.  At least that's what it meant at one time.

Now it has taken on a certain radical approach where it wants to make many changes, or as they might think of it, a lot or undoing changes, to make America into something it never was, a bigoted white enclave.

Yes, the founders of this country were in most cases "white", ignoring the slaves they imported, but they weren't all the same.  You had your New Englanders, originally Pilgrims who had morphed into whalers and traders as well as farmers.  Of course New York had the remnants of its Dutch Farmers and in Pennsylvania you had your Quakers.

Delaware had its Swedish heritage and Maryland was a Catholic refuge and Virginia and the Carolina's were peopled by English émigrés who left for various reasons.  Georgia was originally a prison colony.

Much of the interior was still held by the French or Spanish and of course we had the Native Americans.

This was not an America that was terribly united but in general we tolerated our differences, at least until the Civil War.

The immigrants who came here for the first few hundred years simply had to get here, we didn't have a lot of restrictions,

This was a radical country that stood for opportunity and freedom, not narrow mindedness and hate.

We need to remember our roots and keep the American dream alive.

The real American dream, the land of opportunity that welcomes immigrants and promotes freedom

The real America has always been a diverse nation and it has made us a great one.

Let's keep it that way.

Land Of Opportunity

There is no doubt that looking at the world and its countries some are doing better, at least economically than others.

The reasons for this are varied and generally the result of historical and geographic issues that aren't necessarily related to the people there now.

America for a number of reasons has done exceedingly well in this regard.  People born here are generally going to have economic opportunities greater than many other nations, who have not developed in the same manner as us.

One of the reasons for America's success and growth is the fact that it is a real melting pot where people from all countries, not just European, came here and in building a better future for themselves provided the ingenuity and talent for great progress.

What this proves in the great experiment of America is that people from just about anywhere can excel in the right environment.

One would think that immigrants and the children and grandchildren of those immigrants would be at a disadvantage to people who were long established here, but looking at prominent people in this country what stands out to a large extent is how many are second or third generation immigrants, including the President.

Trump Immigrant Background

So if you want to know what immigrants are stealing American jobs you don't have to look too far.

The countries that have been less fortunate generally were more agricultural than industrial.  Of course that can change as evidenced in our American south which for many years was essentially a producer of raw agricultural products until it began to attract more industry.

A country like Haiti which was primarily a large sugar producing colony for many years populated by imported slave who were not provided education or opportunity has developed slowly and has significant poverty.  The people born and raised there are not at fault, and the more industrious of them often feel they can get better opportunities elsewhere, often in this country,

To insult the people or the country reminds me of the movie where an arrogant slum lord was forced to live in one of his tenements and learned that people, whatever their economic conditions, are basically the same.

Being the land of opportunity is something to be proud of and that opportunity should be shared with immigrants who need it.

Its the American way.

The power of Disease

Throughout history, we have been subject to various epidemics and pandemics that have caused empires to crumble, continents to open up and civilizations to retreat.  Of course this might have been just as prevalent in prehistoric times but the evidence is of course less conclusive.

Most of us are aware of how European diseases decimated the native populations of the Americas making conquest and colonization much easier than it otherwise might have been.

There are many other examples of how infectious diseases impacted civilization and the course of world history, some more controversial than others, but I don't have time here to detail all or even many of them, but there are plenty of sources for those interested.

It is extremely likely that we will see another such outbreak, at some point.  While in many ways we have increased our ability to combat diseases and awareness of what causes them and how to prevent them we are playing a losing hand in our fight against nature and the evolution of deadly microbes.

We see movies and books that treat this horrific scenario as, well horror, but its not a fictional problem.

The dangers are real and from a humans point of view, maybe the most serious threat we face.  While war, terrorism and crime are issues, note that the flu killed more people worldwide in two years then World War I did in four, and it wasn't really close.

Failure to understand this and provide funding to combat potentially deadly diseases is really criminal, especially if its because of petty political reasons.

Outbreaks in the past were both deadly and indiscriminate, not caring who you were, how rich you were or generally your nationality.

I know that research and prevention are the only real weapons we have and if our politicians won't use them we need new ones.