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What will History Say About Today's America?
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</td></tr></tbody></table> </td> </tr></tbody></table> May 2, 2008
by Brian Trent
<!-- AddThis Feed Button BEGIN --> Imagine what America's legacy will look like in a history book some 500 years hence. I can easily see some golden opening chapters where the dream of a democratic Republic - straight from Greco-Roman ideals - is realized. The nation which began bold and bright - breaking away from the tyranny of the British crown, rising to global dominance, and becoming a leader the rest of the world looked to, then comes to the 21st century:
We make the future.
by Brian Trent
<!-- AddThis Feed Button BEGIN --> Imagine what America's legacy will look like in a history book some 500 years hence. I can easily see some golden opening chapters where the dream of a democratic Republic - straight from Greco-Roman ideals - is realized. The nation which began bold and bright - breaking away from the tyranny of the British crown, rising to global dominance, and becoming a leader the rest of the world looked to, then comes to the 21st century:
- The United States defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, and thwarted the British Empire when they were just scattered colonies in the wilderness. But when faced with cave-dwelling terrorists in the 21st century, they became shrieking cowards who were willing to trade their Constitution, their freedoms, and their souls in exchange for a Nanny State Fatherland.
- The average American had never read the Constitution, so was willing to believe whatever pundits said it said.
- The Founding Fathers called the Constitution the "supreme law of the land" which officials had the duty to "preserve, protect, and defend."
- George W. called it "just a piece of paper."
- Liberals attacked conservatives. Conservatives attacked liberals. This passed for lucid and cogent debate.
- 6 million Americans had car accidents every year; 560,000 Americans died from cancer every year (1,500 a day, roughly 1 in every 4 American deaths); there was 1 death every 27 seconds from heart disease; 500,000 died from tobacco every year; 100,000 died from alcohol every year; 16,000 died from illegal narcotics every year; 11,000 died from handguns every year. But what were 21st Americans concerned with? Terrorists... who killed around 4,000 Americans from 2001 to 2008.
- Poverty, health care, unemployment, education, environmental issues, and scientific advancement were not nearly as important as the issue of gay marriage. Or violence in video games.
- More people would vote for an American Idol than for an American President.
- Nearly half of the country believed that mankind had been sculpted out of clay. What about women? They came from his spare rib! No wonder the proverbial "brain drain" saw an alarming number of scientists leaving American shores for other nations.
- Many of the people who were quick to screech about "religious freedom" were unwilling to grant other religions that freedom.
- The price of oil went up more then 300% in just 7 years of the Bush Jr. Administration. In 2008, many Americans were forced to choose between the price of gas and the price of food.
- "Mission Accomplished in Iraq?" It was a nice photo op, but since that declaration, more than 4,000 American soldiers died, more than 700,000 Iraqi civilians who had nothing to do with 9-11 were killed, and the mastermind behind the 9-11 attackers was uncaught and unpunished.
- With world favor and near-unified domestic support on their side, America rightly attacked Afghanistan which had in fact trained, housed, and supported the 9-11 hijackers. Then, seeing an opportunity to deepen the pockets of the military-industrial complex which Eisenhower specifically warned the American people about, they decided to create a permanent war economy. Presidential candidate John McCain gave the most optimistic prospect: 100 years mired in Iraq, a country which neither attacked America nor had any connections to Al-Qaida whatsoever.
- A permanent war economy took the place of ordinary economic output.
- "War is peace!" said George Orwell in irony.
- "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace," said George W. Bush in 2002, without a shred of irony.
- Many of the loudest "endless war" supporters were people who had never served in a war - George W. Bush, Dick Cheney (applied for and received five draft deferments during Vietnam), Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh.
- The American people allowed themselves to become partisan sock-puppets. Instead of discussion and compromise, they took the cowardly road and parroted their partisan masters. Some even happily called themselves Dittoheads!
- Part of the wickedness of Communist countries was how one party dominated the political scene. How was America different? It offered two!
- Alleged economic stimulus packages? Many would have preferred bread and circuses.
- $12 billion a month spent on the Iraq War... instead of spending such funding on medical research, education, job-creation, or social security.
- Ranks in Al-Qaida tripled since the Iraq invasion, and got stronger each year. Bush's declaration that Osama would be taken "dead or alive" faded from public memory.
- Americans forgot who had the power in their country - themselves.
- And they forgot something else... that essential little sentence from the Declaration of Independence: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
We make the future.
What will History Say About Today's America?
