Well, I’m back. Where have I been? – A third world country, ostensibly for business, but also for research for a book that I will be writing this year. So now that I’m back in America, I’ve got some random thoughts I’ll present for you.
A communalist/communist/socialist mentality is detrimental to social development: People who tend to rely on others to accomplish goals necessary for their own advancement do so at their own peril. Personal responsibility, taking charge of one’s self, and taking responsibility for your decisions and actions aren’t distinctly American values, but they are vital for getting a society moving forward. Communism and Socialism foster dependency on the government, and the belief that “it will be taken care of for me.” A practical example of this: people are carelessly throwing trash onto the street. When we asked them why they didn’t just throw it in a dumpster (provided by the government and sitting a few feet away) they said, simply, that someone would come and clean up sweep the street later, so they didn’t have to worry about it. They weren’t asked when the last time the city leaders actually got their ducks in a row and hired someone to sweep the streets, but judging from the trash around the area, it hadn’t been cleaned in a long while. When your infrastructure is damaged and barely sufficient, your power grid is at 20%, and your administration is corrupt, the last thing (I think) you would want to do is put total faith in the government that screwed everything up in the first place. Step one is picking up your own trash.
There is a lot of hatred in the world today, and we should be thankful that we live in a country where (for the most part) everybody gets along. In America, we’re lucky that we have embraced a “multicultural melting-pot” and therefore accept everyone who abides by our laws and becomes a citizen. We don’t, for example, discriminate against people who are of a different religion, and tax them more, or apply different laws to one religious group that don’t apply to others. We accept ethnicity, where other cultures see it as casus belli. We don’t burn down all the houses of people with French ancestry in the neighborhood when France does something that angers us –other countries have yet to grasp this basic idea of “tolerance.” As I’ve said before, America is a force for good in this world, and a great country. It is sometimes too easy to blame everything on America for its role in the world –but there was a lot of hate and strife in the world before America came into being.
Finally, there are places in the world that view America as an enemy, and there are places that view us as the city on the hill –something to strive toward and emulate. Those that want to be like us see America as a bastion of strength, and see its military deployed abroad as fair and professional (not torturers and murderers as some in this country prefer to profile it as. Ask yourself- If not America, what country’s army would you prefer to be deployed to your country?). That’s a lot of pressure for those wearing the flag on their soldier, and a big role to fill as an ambassador abroad. People (for the most part) want to be successful, but in some third-world countries they just don’t know how to go about getting there. Ignoring harping cries of “Imperialism!”, America should extend a helping hand to those who want to step up and succeed.
All in all, it’s good to be back in the USA. I had a burger and a coke, my usual “returning to the states” ritual, and I continue to feel lucky and blessed to live in such a great country.
