Why Is America So Content With Mediocrity?
I had intended to write this entire piece and then go back and remove the 'g' from every word that ended in one.
But then I thought that would make me a churlish, smart-arsed, lefty stereotype and alienate the very people I want to try to hear me. (Although I imagine there ain't gonna be many of them readin' the huffpost, huh?! Wait for the audience to realize they should clap and/or boo, nod, smile even more, carry on.) Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Ok, this is basically it: Over the last few weeks I have watched with mounting bemusement as John McCain and Sarah Palin have constantly referred to the American work force as the best in the world, how America is a force for good in the world, how America is the best at (fill in the blank here depending on who you're talkin' to, wait for applause, wink, smile, and on).
You know what? I'm sorry to be blunt, and I wish it were not true, but America isn't any of the above. Its poor downtrodden, unhealthy, under-educated and depressed workforce cannot surely believe it towers above all others in some sort of World Worker Idol type way? If so, why are its bosses firing so many of them and giving the jobs to people in other countries?
And although the notion of America being a force for good is noble and beautiful, the reality of how the world sees America is very different: America is an imperialist power that invades oil and mineral rich countries on little or flimsy evidence, and at the same time turns a blind eye to blatant genocide taking place in other parts of the globe. Perhaps if Ms Palin had a passport before 2007 and had a little less xenophobic viewpoint, she would have experienced, as I have, the terrible sight of American friends of mine being afraid to open their mouths when abroad for fear of reprisal for their nation's 'force of good.' (And I'm not talkin' about scary, rearin' their head places like Russia or Iran. I'm talkin' about in like cool places like London.)
This country is a mess. It is entering a depression. It is waging two wars. It has an administration so blatantly corrupt that the world is baulking at its arrogance. It lets its poor die.
And on top of all this, one of the presidential options available to its voters - although having cynically plagiarized its opponent's keyword of 'change', and positively wearing its flaws and shortcomings as a badge of honor - is actually endorsing the past eight years and playing down the gargantuan problems!
Now I understand that election stump speeches are partly about trying to make people feel better/confident/happy/deluded but I am really shocked that a political party in a country that so trumpets its democracy and freedom is offering its voters such a shoddy product, and WORSE, they are still buying it!! (I thank you, my fellow Americans!)
So why? Is loyalty the value that Republicans vaunt above all others? Above common sense? Are the right of America all colluding in a giant version of the Emperor's New Clothes?
When I encountered a Republican TV pundit at a party in New York last week I reeled off my litany of reasons about why I feel the appointment of Sarah Palin is a disgrace and a terrible blight on America's history, and I was met with a thin smile, a nodding head, maybe even a nascent wink and the line: 'She's learning.'
She's learning? (Gosh yes, she's only been doin' this for, what, five weeks? Smile, shout out to class 3, ignore question, on.)
I actually have so much sympathy right now for the hundreds of Republicans out there somewhere - well intentioned, well-informed, prepared, lucid for goodness' sake - who must be utterly furious that they were overlooked for the VP post. Imagine being a doctor and thinking you're about to be made a partner in the practice and then the receptionist who's a big fan of Grey's Anatomy gets it over you and we're beginning to understand how those poor people must be feeling.
But back to the Republican pundit: I then moved on to say why I thought the policies - the policies, remember those? - of the Obama-Biden ticket were better for America. Again the smile, a little attempt at an argument in that she wasn't sure that all those great ideas could be achieved, to which I responded that yes, in the light of the economic holocaust caused by the greed and corruption that her vote had validated, perhaps these plans might take a little longer to implement now, but didn't she agree with the thrust of them? That crazy, trying to help people who weren't doing so well thing?
She looked at me, a little hurt.
'You're not going to say you're a fiscal conservative, are you?' I asked.
'Actually I was going to say I'm an economic Republican,' she smiled. Checkmate, I could see her thinking. But I wasn't done.
'You know what I think a fiscal conservative or an economic Republican means?' I asked. 'I think it means you are clever enough to agree with the notions of what Obama stands for, you'd love everyone to have access to healthcare and good education and to be treated equally...'
She was nodding slightly now.
'But when it comes down to it, when you're in that polling booth, you actually think 'Screw them' and you vote with your pocket. And I think you use that phrase as an excuse to not care!'
She looked a little taken aback. I thought I might have gone a little too far. But no.
'I love your passion', she said and turned to her colleague. 'We should have him on the show.'
You see, I think that when it comes down to it, American politics is split into people who think it's their duty to care about other people, and those who think it's every man for themselves. That's it. That's why I think the system is systematically flawed and is in dire need of a third party to shake things up a little.
But I digress. I truly think that Americans, some Americans, are comforted by mediocrity. Even those who have been battered the most by the last eight years can be reticent to the idea of change, because they are told to fear it and to leave things as they are, sit down and open a six-pack and forget their troubles. And so, all the more reason to take our hats off to Barack Obama and the Democratic party for making that scary word the touchstone of this election campaign.
I have lived in the United States for ten years. When Obama began his presidential campaign I was so inspired that I decided to start the process to become a naturalized citizen of this country. I am, at present, a resident alien (or green card holder), which basically means I do everything here -including pay taxes - except vote.
I wanted to become a citizen in time to vote on November 4th, but the immigration system of America is a little slower than it was when I first came here and I will not be sworn in properly in time. However, the point is that I want to be a part of America's future, of its potential, because I am fed up with mediocrity.
Obama has a combination that is rare in a modern politician. He has the rhetoric and the charisma to inspire whole swathes of the hitherto dispossessed to engage in the political system. And he has the real-life experience of prejudice and poverty to both understand and make people trust that he understands their needs and his desire to help them. But he also has the intelligence and the sophistication to deal both in big ideas and incredibly detailed plans. His election campaign has been a model of harnessing a generation's desperate desire to be heard and making them integral to the future of our society.
I hear him and he makes me excited about the prospect of being an American, an American that looks out for other Americans, in an America that is indeed a force of good in the world.
(Smile. Wink. Thumbs up. Wave.)
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Thanks, Alan. But if you think you're weary, walk a mile (or another 10 years) in our shoes. We're beyond weary. And I, for one, would love to be able to go to London and hold my head up high. We were just there a week and a half ago---and I did feel very self-conscious of coming from Bushland. Let's hope we're witnessing the end of a humiliating era for thinking Americans. Love your work, BTW....
This from the guy who played the villain in Josie and the Pussycats? I'm so very overwhelmed and impressed. I'm in total agreement, and I couldn't have said it better. Brilliant post!
Brilliant, on point.
But you missed a key part of the American psyche that makes sense of the rest. Who, after all, populated this place? For the better part of the past two centuries, the other countries of the world have held themselves up by one corner, and anyone truly loose rolled into America.
The dreamers. The lost. The homeless. The hopeful. The hounded. The hungry. The opportunists. The unbridled ambitious. The free spirits.
Is it any wonder that this fanciful, footloose collective is susceptible to hucksters and slick marketing on the one hand, and simultaneously at ease with the salts of the earth? It's a melting pot, all right, but disproportionately frothy, and home brewed.
Thank goodness for education. And a respect for intellect, and science. This is what has tempered America.
At least, until the hucksters and cynics in the Republican machine found it useful to degrade and disrespect these very values, to be better able to twist and spin the homespun.
So now it's a heady, confused mess out there, swimming with fiction and fact-haters, phonies and phobics, as you very well chronicle. No doubt we'll get it sorted out somehow. And we're better for having you aboard.
Ummm, you forgot the African slaves brought here against their will starting nearly 400 years ago. Another group of people who didn't exactly share in the excitement, much less the benefits, of this migration were the native Americans.
The treatment of both of these groups by the majority is part of our national shame. At least the U.S. has made an effort, sporadic and often misplaced though it may be, to do something about it.
Well said, and thank you, Mr. Cumming.
Anything I write in agreement would merely be repetitive, and pale in comparison to your eloquence.
Thanks again.
I liked your post, 'I love your passion', 'We should have you on the show.' (wink) lol
Alan, great post! You must have been reading my mind. I was wondering why so many Americans continue to support the Republicans when they have seen eight years of turmoil. Beats me!
Alan, you and I are probably polar opposites on the political spectrum, but I largely share your sentiments regarding mediocrity in America. It is our well-meaning liberal friends who are, in large part, responsible for this. Witness the fact that it is liberalism in its postmodern permutation that has brought us a society that punishes achievement (viz., increasingly higher taxes leveled at achievers and the social agenda behind the redistribution of wealth that seeks to artificially eliminate socioeconomic strata; retooling our education system in order to cater to the lowest common denominator; and the abandonment of moral values that champion sacrificially helping our fellow human beings versus a self-centered, get-all-yo
While the current America may be a caricature of her former greatness, she is still the place where many who dwell outside her borders long to come. It is those, such as you, who are helping to reinvigorate excellence as a societal norm.
May I suggest that we can learn much from our heritage as a nation. May I also suggest that Senator Obama and his ilk are not the answer to this (and, yes, I have to grudgingly concede that McCain/Palin is not the answer as well).
you on the other don't even have the education to offer your own opinion. so called academic.
I opine that widening economic strata is incredibly dangerous to the wellbeing of the nation. The wealthy have the means to continuously enrich themselves and widen the gap to an unbearable point. The rich have the means to game the market, break its rules and manipulate government so that they have all of the upside and none of the downside. Did you learn anything from the last 4 weeks.
Who won the cold war against the Soviet Union? Reagan? Wrong. Try again, Wrong. It was FDR. Without FDR the country would have inevitably become communist. He trod the fine line between the wealth creation via capitalism and policies that protected and nurtured people. At the end of the day, it was that balance which created the prosperous, happy country that defeated Marxism/Le
Why do you think that excellence is always equated with money? An elementary school teacher, no matter how great, will not become a millionaire doing what he or she does best. The market will never adequately reward such a person, but he or she is essential to the future wellbeing of the nation as much as anybody else. This market fundamentalism is so absurd and has gone unchallenged for a few decades.
Thank you for calling me out on what I stated regarding social strata. Realistically, we will always have economic gaps between groups of people, but my hope is that the gaps will narrow as we give poor people the tools they need to achieve, not by putting obstacles in the way of the successful.
I am puzzled by one of your comments, though. There is nothing in my critique that defines success in strictly economic terms. Rather, I am promoting excellence in all that we do, as employees, employers, parents, volunteers, etc. Your example that you cited, teaching, is well taken.
I am always amazed at the capacity of conservatives to engage in projection.
For every societal ill they create, they always manage to point their fingers at liberals.
The proof is in the pudding. 12 years of Republican Congress and 8 years of Republican administration has undone the progress in the Clinton administration. I'm no big fan of President Bill Clinton's political style of middle of the road governing but by God it got us out of the mess left by 12 years of Republican economic ineptitude.
The will of the people is never homogeneous but at some point we have to admit that when we replace democracy with feudalism, we are no longer living up to the Constitution. I look at what someone does sir not what they say. Even President Lyndon B. Johnson managed to cut the poverty rate in half during his tenure. That gave us social stability. He unfortunately also gave us the Viet Nam War which gave us social instability.
There is nothing wrong with paying your dues if you are successful in this country. To those who have much, much is expected. Real Christians, Jews and Muslims believe that saying.
Follow Senator Joe Biden' s lead, quit whining about taxes, grow up and do your patriotic duty.
Beautifully stated.
Conservati
Republicans and Democrats each have elements which contribute to this country’s greatness and its mediocrity. Intellectual Republicans believe in the individual and capitalism to create more, produce more and be rewarded for it. They understand how market forces, coupled with human desire, benefit society. Anti-intellectual Republicans dismiss science, reason and logic for ideological idiocy that breeds stupidity. Intellectual Democrats believe in an idealized view of the community, that if security and opportunity are provided to all, then all will be better positioned to contribute to the community. Anti-intellectual Democrats are the very definition of mediocrity. They advantage themselves of the socialist programs their intellectual brethren create, not as stepping stones, but as a path of complacency, expecting those more capable to support them.
But the philosophies of even the intellectual Republicans and Democrats are flawed. Pure, laissez-faire libertarian capitalism has the same practical limitations as its ideological opposite, communism. The utopian town in “Atlas Shrugged” is no more realistic than the utopian dream of Marxism. Both are fatally flawed by the frailties of man. The answer lies somewhere in between.
I agree with you that Obama is not a panacea, but he is a far cry closer than McCain.
Worldtraveler, thanks for your even-handed response! You have given me some food for thought. I do agree with you that the “answer lies somewhere in between.”
I want to make it clear that my criticisms are leveled at Liberalism and its philosophical underpinnings, and not at liberals per se. I apologize if my critique led anyone to think otherwise.
You're a delightful hoot!
"You see, I think that when it comes down to it, American politics is split into people who think it's their duty to care about other people, and those who think it's every man for themselves. That's it. That's why I think the system is systematically flawed and is in dire need of a third party to shake things up a little."
Everybody, please read and hand copy (not cut and paste) this paragraph into your notebooks 27 times. And memorize by Wednesday. Thank you.
Thank you Alan. Lately I have been growing weary of the fight. The fight that pits those who desire a future that celebrates science, free thought and intellectual curiousity over those that wish us to distrust free thought and any sign of modernity for a theocracy that celebrates neither. I had thought seriously about what I would do if the Christian Right ever became institutionalized and religious litmus tests were not merely de jure, but de facto. Would I move to Canada? Maybe the U.K.? But just as I briefly entertain this preposterous notion along you came with your courageous desire to join the fray even knowing what you already know. Thanks for the mojo injection buddy and welcome to the U.S. of A.
Thank you, Alan for your wise words. (I met you at NOCCA and enjoyed the talk you gave there.)
Sadly, most Americans still believe we live in "the greatest country in the world". Perhaps if they actually traveled outside the U.S., they would know that while the U.S. is a great country, it is a terribly flawed country.
Many Americans look at this country the way little children look at their mothers. Little children often say that their mommy is the most beautiful mommy in the world. They defend any criticism of her with blind devotion. Then, when they grow up, they see their mother's flaws but they still love her in spite of her shortcomings.
Many Americans say that America is the greatest country in the world and they become angry with those who say otherwise. Then, there are those of us who see America and all of her flaws, too. We love her, but we want her to be better and to overcome her faults.
"This is the greatest country in the world" and "God Bless America" are two phrases that seriously need to be forgotten for a very long time. We cannot keep lying to ourselves with this useless drivel which couldn't be further from the truth. I lived abroad for some time and I never heard these phrases. Was it because they weren't proud of their country? No, it's because these sentiments are very immature. We are no better than anyone else and we need to stop trying to disassociate ourselves from the rest of the world.
We Americans are quite a group. We all want reduced taxes, but increased services. There are some of us who rant about the evils of big government, unless it is telling a woman what she can or can't do with her own body. We are all for freedom and equality, unless we are trying to legislate the personal lives of gay people, or expressing our fear of those of us who look different. We have a gift that allows us to cling to our preconceptions and mythologies, and ignore fact-based reality. America is the proud bastion of the low-information voters, who are so proud of their ignorance. Our political process has been dangerously corrupted by those who approach it as a game, and will do anything to win. Lies are the truth, and the truth is lies, if only our candidate can win. Country last; citizens last.
Good thoughts and you are absolutely correct Alan. Hope you get a chance to play Nightcrawler again bro!
I saw him give a talk and he said he spent hours in make up for that role. Someone in the audience asked him if he would do it again and he said "No".
For a million or two? Come on now. Nightcrawler deserves more movie time imo, and Alan was perfect as NC.
Wonderful post, Alan. Insightful, passionate and clear. You express yourself here with as much skill and artistry as you do your roles. And congrats on the upcoming citizenship!
mediocre education
mediocre music on the radio
mediocre television programming
mediocre fast food restaurants
and so forth
=
mediocre America
Wow, you actually said something pretty profound. And I'm not being sarcastic. So many people rely on things *given* to them instead of *making* things happen for themselves.
eduction: I didn't go to the best school but my parents made education a priority and pushed me to make good use of the library and dance/music classes in addition to regular schoolwork.
music: It takes work to dig and search for new artists that you likely won't hear on the radio. What person only wants to listen to a tiny sliver of one genre and only stuff that is current?
teleision: It's sad when PBS is regarded as the red-headed stepchild on US tv...when it is like all cable networks wrapped up together (cooking, biographies, animal planet, history, classic movies, brit-coms, world news).
food: It's generally faster to cook up a can of beans or make a quick salad than hop in the car and run around to the fast food joint. Not to mention a better "value meal."
It's surprising how little effort some people are willing to put out there these days.
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