"Thankful for Being an American"

Sydney M. Williams

Thought of the Day

“Thankful for Being an American”

November 23, 2011

At a time when our country is in political disarray, with a looming debt crisis and an obdurate stalemate in Washington and with many states approaching bankruptcy, I remain thankful to be an American. We make no secret of our problems; if anything they become exaggerated because of our inherent freedoms that allow us to protest and openly express disapproval. Nevertheless, times are tough. Markets have gone nowhere for ten years. Income inequality, while down from its peak in 2000, remains too high. Too many people are without jobs, while those in Washington who have jobs are feathering their nests, while forsaking the needs of the people. But we could be living in Greece, Syria or China. We are fortunate to be here.

The headlines from Tuesday’s financial press tell the story: New York Times, “Credit Risks in Europe Push Stocks Downward; Wall Street Journal, “B of A Warned to get Stronger”; Financial Times, “Gridlock Fears as US Deficit Talks Fail”; Bloomberg, “Supercommittee Failure Poses Threat to U.S. Recovery”; CNN Money, “Economy Barely Growing.” It’s like being constantly whacked on the head by a two-by-four, and it happens every day.

We have been told that we are in decline – that the American century has been consigned to the dustbins of history. The President has spoken of the “post-American world”, that America is exceptional only in the sense that all nations are exceptional and that are relations with other nations must be “re-set.” Books, like Rob Gifford’s China Road; Fareed Zakaria’s The Post American World, Ian Morris’s Why the West Rules – For Now, Niall Ferguson’s The Decline of the West and Mark Leonard’s Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century have been published in the last few years, becoming best sellers, and all raising self-doubt among our citizens.

The trend continues. A few days ago, an article entitled “John Steinbeck’s Bitter Fruit” by Melvyn Bragg appeared in The Guardian. Mr. Bragg is a British producer for BBC who was recently asked to make a film about Steinbeck for the BBC. He re-read Grapes of Wrath (as I did in early 2009) and concluded: “As in the 1930s, there is a powerful feeling that the promised land promises nothing, not even hope.” Growing up in rural New Hampshire, as I did in the late 1940s and early 1950s, I can assure anyone that rural poverty today does not come close to the rural poverty of sixty-five years ago, and that was seven or eight years after the Depression. The sense of hopelessness Steinbeck so vividly portrayed is radically different from what we have today.

Yan Xuetong, a professor of political science and dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University wrote a piece for the New York Times on Sunday. The article was entitled, “How China Can defeat America.” Professor Yan argues that the way to people’s hearts is through “humane authority” which “begins by creating a desirable model at home.” He concludes that “the country that displays more humane authority will win.” Given what we now know of Chinese leaders and their relationship with their people that – despite my and others criticism of Washington – should be a lead-pipe cinch win for the U.S.

Victor Davis Hanson, a columnist for the “National Review”, points out in a recent article, “What America Does Best”, that none of this declinism is new. He cites examples ranging from the adoration of the Soviets in the late 1920s and early 1930s to the current love/fear relationship we have with China.

I will add some observations of my own. Lincoln Steffens, the journalist and social activist after a visit to the Soviet Union, said to Bernard Baruch: “I have seen the future and it works.” How wrong he was! Tens of thousands of Americans, following glowing reports from reporters like John Reed and Walter Duranty, traveled to Russia in the early 1930s convinced it represented the future, freedom and opportunity. Their story was hauntingly told by Tim Tzouliadis in his book The Forsaken. Most died in the gulags, their fate ignored by the Roosevelt Administration. In 1938, Joseph Kennedy, was named the United States’ ambassador to the Court of St. James. He infamously fraternized with Nazis, and was far from alone when he looked upon Hitler as a “welcome solution” to problems then confronting the world.

I was in high school when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957. Concern was that we were losing the space race. And, since the Soviets had nuclear weapons, the prospect of a Soviet vehicle laden with an Atomic bomb circling the earth brought palpable fear. Thirty years later, as the Soviet Union was collapsing, Japan became the new worry. Their economic success seemed miraculous. By the late 1980s this island nation, with half of our population, purchased U.S. real estate from Rockefeller Center to Pebble Beach. In 1987 their markets began collapsing. Today, the Nikkei 225 is 63% below where it was twenty years ago.

America is exceptional; individually we are not, but as a nation we have been and are today. The proof is in our 222-year history and the way we continue to conduct ourselves. As Mr. Hanson notes, who besides the United States defends small countries like Israel and Taiwan? What other country has incorporated every known culture, gender and race into positions of power in government and in business? Where do students from all over the world come when they choose the best universities? What country is as open to self-criticism as are we? The rhetoric can be deafening and it can be seen as paranoia about decline, but in fact it reflects strength; it says that we are confident and unafraid to disclose and discuss our weaknesses.

Much of the world criticized the decision ten years ago to chase down the leaders of Al Qaeda, who had wrought such damage on our nation on 9/11. Yet the price we paid was not simply to avenge an horrific attack, but was a selfless action that served to protect innocents in dozens of countries. We did not ask for thanks, and we received more criticism than appreciation. But we know that millions around the world are thankful that our nation was willing to pay the price of the 6,290 killed, so that some measure of peace could be achieved.

Problems exist. Our debt is overwhelming us. Too many in Washington and in state capitals remain in denial as to the origin and the depth of our problems. Can we do better? Of course we can. We should always strive toward perfection. Our democracy is founded on principles of free markets and creative juices run rampant through our veins, as the successes of companies from Google to Whole Foods are testament. Our population, unlike most of the developed world, continues to expand. President Obama’s statism is an anomaly in a center-right country. Americans are neither lazy nor spoiled. They have been lied to. They have been led to believe that the wealthiest Americans, who today are paying the largest share of taxes in the nation’s history, can be counted on to supply a never-ending cornucopia of benefits to millions who pay nothing. A return to confident and positive economic growth depends on returning power to the individual and it relies on an individual sense of responsibility. That is not rocket science; and it will happen.

Victor Davis Hanson writes: “America alone values individual and limited government under the rule of law.” While doubts exist today, I believe the observation is true. Lee Greenwood’s words ring as true today, as they did when they were written 26 years ago:

“And I’m proud to be an American

Where at least I know I’m free.”

It is reason enough to be proud, and to be thankful to be an American, as you sit down for thanksgiving turkey, on this unique American holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving!