Failure #2

A friend asks, "What's the point of the [Failed Nation] observation? So what? Where does it lead?

And my answer is:

There are four major reasons for my "we are a failed country" position.

1. Arrogance.

Americans have been fed a deep and pervasive line of complete bullshit called "American exceptionalism" for decades--most of my life, anyway, and probably before that. I consider this to not just be arrogant and ridiculous and over-blown and completely false, but perhaps a sort of mass delusion (one of several/many). It is the equivalent of a individual person declaring "I am a totally unique and fabulous person, the greatest of all time, there's never been anybody like me, and I therefore have the right and moral authority to behave however I want. I am the greatest, I am superior to all of you other people, and what I do is necessarily pure, right, righteous, and God-endorsed.

This attitude is damaging, destructive, stupid, naive. America is hurting itself through its stupid "I am the greatest" attitude, and it is hurting all the other countries of the world as well. Messiah complex?

So "you have failed as a country" is a bucket of cold water to the face, a sharp slap, a good shake, a "stop deluding yourself, this is the real world" wake-up call.

2. Need for change.

There are not a few things wrong with America here and there, with simple solutions that need to be implemented by Congress. We have major structural problems, foundational problems, that need to be addressed in a big way. Important pillars of the American way are racism, predatory capitalism, "greed is good," "the business of America is business" (i.e., government exists to protect businesses not people), and probably another half-dozen major issues a more in-depth survey would list.

We are NOT going to solve America's problems by putting a band-aid on them. There needs to be some fundamental realignments of how America operates if it is going to become an unfailed country.

3. This is the End.

We are on the path of destruction, dissolution, chaos. With climate change as the biggest but by no means only stressor, America is beset with problems and challenges.  A healthy body politic can deal with problems and challenges; a sick and broken body politic cannot. When the illness comes, the strong and the healthy and the grounded survive, while the sick and weak and deluded do not. If America is to survive as a political entity, it must get healthy. If it doesn't, it will cease to exist.

4. Warning / Alert.

To our children and grandchildren, "America is a failed country" is a warning, a plea, an insistence, a confession. If human goodness, decency, common sense and social/economic/political/cultural progress is going to prevail over depravity, violence, ignorance and self/other destruction, our progeny must do more than we have. I'm not sure what "do more" means in this context. But something more than passive participation in American society is required. The forces of evil, stupidity and hatred are alive and well, and clearly "tending my own garden" is not a sufficient response.