Yes, the first signs of a certain Achilles heel were visible but everyone was more or less happy (paradoxically - even those who considered themselves to be opponents of the USA) that there is someone out there taking care of the whole mess in this world, whether it was immigration, HIV/AIDS plea, development of Third World countries, or international terrorism. Naturally, some were more enthusiastic about this patronage than like Europe which was and remains particularly dependant on American military protection. Very comforting, right?
The world seems to be different than it was only a few years ago. And so are we. But have Americans changed?
Financial crisis or Sex in the city
It is spectacular how sometimes one can find himself or herself in a situation where you are a spectator of something much greater than you, a participant in the turning point of history. For me, such a moment happened in downtown New York where I almost bumped into a TV van. Actually, it seemed for a second that there were hundreds of such vans with satellites on their roofs. To be honest – there were hundreds of them.
I wish to say that America has learned the lesson, but the 2012 Presidential rally demonstrates that Washington D.C. is stubbornly stuck within its bad habits.
For a moment I thought that just another episode of Sex and the City was being shot in one of the Avenues but it wasn’t that sexy at all. It took me some time to realize that I happened to witness the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. It took me even more time to realize the magnificence of that afternoon in my beloved city.
After the financial crisis hit, I was telling everyone that this turmoil would be beneficial for us because, at the very least, it would test our creativity. In other words, it would test our ability to create a similar product (or service) with smaller resources. Not even mentioning the fact that financial crisis should make speculators and pseudo-businessmen evaporate (until another crisis, of course). So in the end, we were supposed to be better off, at least those who were likely to survive it. But ultimately it didn’t turn that way (I predicted).
As the financial crisis originated in the US, most analysts put much hope (maybe too much?) into the fundamental change within the sole (so far) superpower on Earth. I wish to say that America has learned the lesson but the 2012 Presidential rally that is gaining momentum demonstrates that Washington D.C. (too sexy for NYC) is stubbornly stuck within its bad habits. So are the Americans.
4 reasons why the US is not the best country in the world (and never will be)
The current financial and also political crisis in the USA suggests that maybe - just maybe - this economical and political gridlock is not a problem of short or even medium term. At least several signs could be treated as symptoms of a much bigger disease that America and Americans have infected themselves with.
The world and America can no longer ignore the fact that you cannot base your private life or pretty much any aspect of human existence on an infantile belief that ‘we are the best.’
First, it is an economy that is based not on production or development of added-value products but on consumption per se. The following concept is not concerned simply with consumption within the US economy. After all, internal consumption is also part of national security, since it minimizes foreign threats and dependence on ‘others’ (an increasingly beloved epithet…). Unfortunately, this consumption has to do not as much with the economy as with the psychology and sociology as it has become something far beyond the buy and sell bargain.
Consumption in the US is a basic need for a vast majority of people and it has spread globally as it reflects the lowermost instincts of human beings. Consumption as well as production that are invented merely to give a short-term pleasure have become the biggest addiction in the modern world. For instance, heavyweights in the global clothing industry like Inditex group, manufacturer of Zara, Bershka or Massimo Dutti, focus their business on manufacturing clothes that are relatively cheap but could be washed only once. After all there is nothing new in my words - Zygmunt Bauman has made it clear in a much brighter way.
Nonetheless, consumption ‘switches off’ many brilliant sides of human beings and turns them into machines that care about nothing else but themselves. This contributes to the founding of egotist culture which is responsible for the fact that people are feeling more and more lonely these days. But human beings are social creatures and the act of unity lies within human nature. Religious communities know that well and work endlessly in order to provide a simple recipe for ‘joy’ and ‘peace’ in return for money and power. It would be vague to say that the communities refered-to above have nothing to do with spirituality at all.
The egotist culture has a lot to do with strong lobbying tradition in the USA and distortions of competition and the free market that accompany it - but as long as right people are extravagantly paid, no one cares.
Second reason why America is not the best country in the world is infrastructure that is exclusively oriented towards automobiles. Such ‘tendency’ has little to do with personal comfort or national strategy of facilities but is a pure reflection of lobbying and egotist cultures mentioned above. It is simply scandalous that the strongest economy in the world (so far) has no decent trackage and is lagging behind almost any developed country in terms of fast rail network. Yes, oil business has a long dialectics in ‘the country of dreams’.
It is absolutely stunning that no one speaks out or even shouts out in Washington D.C. about the culture of primitive thinking which is another great feature of the consumerist society.
The third fundamental feature in the decline of American power is a passionate and unwavering belief in the notion that ‘America is the best country in the world.’ The notion is being repeated by most politicians in the US who are absolutely ignorant of the fact that for me, the best country in the world might be Lithuania (where I am from, even though I would disagree with this statement) or Indonesia or Sweden. In other words, the world and, sarcastically, America as well can no longer ignore the fact that you cannot base your private life or pretty much any aspect of human existence on an infantile belief that ‘we are the best.’ Perhaps Americans of a few generations ago were really the very best in engineering, textiles, or agriculture, but one person cannot claim superiority over another simply because of the fact of one's geographical (and cultural) origin.
To put it differently, Americans have become victims of their own ‘American dream’ – instead of having unbeatable passion for meritocracy and self-made men, Americans have become people of ‘we are the only men.’ It is surprising and terribly disappointing that a country which always brands itself as ‘the land of liberty’ is still discriminating against blacks or gays on such a broad scale.
What is more, it is absolutely stunning that no one speaks out or even shouts out in Washington D.C. about the culture of primitive thinking which is another great feature of the consumerist society. Americans today want everything – education (not only learning how to cook like Jamie Oliver), knowledge, money, real estate, love, sex, success, career, power, happiness, inner harmony and so on and so forth – just like Big Mac, which means fast, cheap, and simple. Regrettably, we all know how it ends.
And finally, the fourth reason why America is not the best country in the world is religion. Religion, in my strong view, is destined to vanish everywhere in the world (and this is an entirely seperate topic), but today it still plays a major role within the American society and, sadly, in politics as well.
The main concern about religion is not the fact that American politicians are deeply devotional but because religion of any kind plays a major role in decision-making.
The insanity of religious politics lies within a fundamental premise that politics and religion are irreconcilable enemies as this notion derives from the fact that there are essential odds at their basic geneses.
A strong belief in the infinite power of God overthrows individual's determination to act.
Politics first and foremost represents rationality (at least it should do so) while religion represents complete circularity and must be left to the private sphere. However, we see American politicians on the very top of the power pyramid declaring their ‘holy mission.’ It is incredibly frightening when politicians of the only superpower in the world (at least so far) such as George W.Bush or Michelle Bachman rationalize their insanities invoking the name of God. At this point, I wouldn’t be able to find ten differences between rationalizations of the Iraq war and the Holy war of Muslims. At the very least, this ‘mission’ is necessarily at odds with the basic liberties of citizens that are being emphasized every day on the other side of the Atlantic.
Moreover, this strong belief in the infinite power of God overthrows individual's determination to act. It is starkly absurd to claim that God will end global change or will pay my mortgage bill, but some politicians sound convincing enough to attract crowds of tens of thousands. Such politicians of inanity as Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, or Michelle Bachman are the totems of that. And yes, there are certain individuals ‘dark as a night in its starless darkness’ in other countries too, but nowhere in the world are they admired as much as in America. And they are admired because America has applied the principle of the lowest common denominator a long time ago – if you are unable to understand simple subjects, we’ll make them simpler. But there are certain concepts both in the public life of any society and in the nature of human beings that cannot and should not be simplified.
Ultimately, the aforesaid features are a straight path that leads to a frozen mind. Chinghiz Aitmatov, in his ‘The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years,’ or Czeslaw Milosz, in his ‘Captive Mind,’ couldn’t think of a better solution to control people and force them to obey. Particularly in the West.
