This land was my land, but now it's your land

The United States of America is just the latest in a long line of states to occupy this land. It is certainly unique in that it was created as a state in which people were not subject to the discretion of one person. However, we have allowed ourselves to believe that our country, government, and economy occupy a special and therefore somehow uniquely immune position in the history of the human experience. There is an underlying belief among most Americans that our government will protect us; that some invention will save us; or if all else fails, Jesus will return and set things in order. I would not have any problem with such sentiments but for this philosophy serves only to buttress the existing authoritarian structures to the detriment of anyone outside them. Further, these power structures are the means through which the majority of the people in the United States absorb these ideas. It seems as if a psychological feudalism is ushering us into a new medieval period.

To illustrate, we often hear from our elected officials that America's values are the reason that other militant groups dislike us. We are often told that America is protector of freedom and democracy and is charged with the specific mission of bringing those advancements to other nations. America has taken upon itself to establish the rule of law in many other countries across the world. America's generous foreign aid is second to none in the world community. Americans know that after we bombed Germany and Japan to hell and gone, we were the first to withdraw our soldiers and replace them with piles of money to develop the war torn countries. We, as Americans, learn that the people, all of them white men, who established this country by drafting and spearheading the ratification of a Constitution, were interested in ushering in a new age wherein America was to be the shining City on the Hill.

Such lofty motivations bring to mind the old adage, "if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

I certainly do think the idea of America is unique because it was conceived by a group of men (remember, woman and many others, most notably slaves were not included) who were completely hostile to the idea of tyranny and most of their work at the Constitutional Convention was certainly not to create a free and democratic society, but it was intended to rid themselves of tyranny, namely the tyrannical abuses of George III. Indeed, from the text of the Declaration of Independence:

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 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.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

The English colonies on the Atlantic seaboard were uniquely positioned in the history of the world because they were rich enough in natural resources, and connected to a vast commercial trading system, that the colonists were able to exploit those resources and trading system quickly enough that they were able to challenge the legitimacy of George III within a couple of generations--much faster that the monarchy could react to the development. Even so, their ability to prevail against the most powerful military force the world had ever known is a testament to their vision if not practical organizational capabilities. As we all know, after the war, and a brief flirtation with the Articles of Confederation, they created a Constitution to keep tyranny in England.

Of course, if you were not a rich cash crop farmer, a wealthy New York financier, or a sharp-minded puritan politician, very little changed. Only after upheaval after social upheaval did many of the other residents of the United States obtain the rights of citizenship which the founding fathers claimed as their own in the late 18th century. While the signatories of the Declaration of Independence did not establish a free society for all, they did in fact, create a means for subsequent generations to build upon their framework and move closer to those ideals.

Tyranny today is as much a danger as it was then, and in many ways, it presents a much greater danger. Each day people sell their lives, liberty, and happiness to subject themselves to tyrannical power structures. If you work for someone, you are ceding to that person the very rights and privileges that you are told must be preserved. Recently, the dialogue has been revised and now order outweighs freedom in every aspect of life, not just the workplace. Senator Roberts, said very clearly: “I am a strong supporter of the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment and civil liberties. But you have no civil liberties if you are dead.”

That is certainly true Senator Roberts, but had people thought that way in 1776, there never would have been no Declaration of Independence.

Perhaps it is the millions of lives working under authoritarian corporations, or congregating under authoritarian churches (count me in both groups); perhaps it is our failing public education system, more day care than learning; or our rampant consumerism that distracts us from loftier goals; Perhaps it is that our Senators are unworthy and incapable defenders of the ideals of our Constitution; maybe it is the suburban sprawl warping our minds into a vast, but mundane, network of conformity and complacency; it might be the internets, ipods, or pornography. Whatever it is, the idea of America is dimming, and people do not seem to be noticing.