We Are Not Who We Were or Who We Think We Are

I don’t believe most Americans believe in the institutions and traditions they claim to believe in. People will talk about the President as the “leader of the free-world” even after the fall of communism in the USSR and Eastern Europe. I never, even in the days of the Cold War thought that the USA was “free” and the USSR was “enslaved” because I looked for other views. I saw then that our society is mixed—we had certain liberties other countries lacked but had some oppressive institutions as well and, on balance, I knew we were more free than most countries. I knew that people in the USSR were not allowed to have contrary opinions to that of the State, yet, in private a vigorous dissident community, perhaps because it was a small minority and consisted primarily of intellectuals, was usually tolerated so so me extent. On the positive side, there was little extreme poverty in Eastern Europe to the extent there was in my day. Still, there was no comparison between the two countries racism and Vietnam War not withstanding. Since then things changed drastically. Communism was dead in Europe and new sorts of societies in accord with the various nationalities of Europe gradually emerged and they are all following their own course today to the extent they are able to.

In our country things have changed rather dramatically particularly since the end of the Cold War. First, we are now in a political economy that, despite the end of serious external threats (and that threat from the USSR was minimal and governed by a series of agreements that held for some time), is based on a permanent-war State. At the same time our legal system has become increasingly corrupt, punitive, and unconstitutional. Much of the Bill of Rights has been suspended and the separation of powers seriously crippled. Today the Executive Branch can, upon declaring any one of us a “terrorist” (there are no real criteria here—it is enough to be accused) and we can be indefinitely detained without trial or legal procedure, we can be tortured and murdered at the whim of the State and our property confiscated. As a practical matter these actions are rare but the State can do these things to us without recourse.

Local governments through their police departments can seize our property and use it to fund their own activities (and as a practical matter, fill their pockets) by claiming the money was used in drug transactions or that our vehicle of home was funded through drug transactions—and, they don’t have to prove it. Technically, this is subject to judicial review but it sometimes takes you ears to recover you property though rarely your cash. If you are caught with more than some arbitrary amount of cash it assumed you made that money illegally. At the same time, a cop can, if he or she so desires, beat you break your bones (this actually happened to an NBA player), torture you and kill you simply because he or she has a badge. To be clear, this varies quite a lot with different police departments. If a cop wants to search you or your car without just cause you have the Constitutional right to refuse and sometimes this works if that police department or state agency has a policy of following the Constitution. If it does not then you are liable to have your property destroyed, your kids terrorized and hurt and you beaten or killed and you have little recourse. If you have sufficient money and the incident is recorded on camera you can take the cop to trial but it is very rare you will win because the American people do not believe in the Constitution or the legal rights of citizens—they want a police force that is brutal and administers justice on the spot—that’s just the way it is and people on the left refuse to understand this. At the same time prosecutors are very reluctant to prosecute any cop for any crime because they work together closely and there are a whole lot of reason not to cross armed police whether you are another cop, a prosecutor, a judge or ordinary citizen.

Since the fall of the USSR and even more dramatically after 9/11 we have found a dramatic rise in the loss of civil liberties legally and on the practical level. Advice: don’t cross the authorities—better to not be noticed or to stand out. This movement also has gone into what was once the left. On college campuses, in our popular culture, conformity is increasing and tribalism is decidedly in vogue. Both left and right purge people in their own ranks and dissidents are ostracized from both sides. Cultural flags are waved by the media and people respond. A country or a leader of a country or movement is classified as “bad” and most people just march in place without the necessity to offer anything but declarations from the authorities—examination of proofs or possible motivations are ignored. It is enough to say Assad, for example, is “bad” and thus anything he does is motivated by insane evil done for its own sake. When he is said to “gas his own people” the question of “why?” is ignored and alternative explanations are ignored.

The old rules I grew up with that championed freedom and liberty while ignored to some degree by the State were still honored and there were mechanisms to call the State or local authorities to account because the American people, basically, supported the principles of rule-of-law and the Constitution when push came to shove. But this is no longer the case. I believe Americans are not interested in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights or the Western conceptions of Justice. People are confused, easily spooked, fearful or nothing in particular, suffering from depression, general anxiety as well as anxiety over money. Those that are better off are obsessed with keeping things stable and safe for themselves and their families and could care less if families on the other side of the world are blown to bits by Hellfire missiles or populations are killed and traumatized by massive bombs or their health ruined by depleted uranium munitions, or their skins destroyed by white phosphorous. Compassion for humans are at all-time high while compassion for cats and dogs has increased very dramatically.

Every day I wake up and feel gratitude to be alive. Just to be able to breathe and move around is quite a lot in my view. There is plenty to worry about, plenty to mourn and celebrate and ultimately it is up to us to appreciate our lives and not worry about what we cannot control. In the case of the health of our country, our culture, our political-economy it is hard to be grateful yet it could be far worse. Most of us still have agency in our lives to some extent and we must try to make use of it where we can. We must learn to trust that people are hard wired to do good and are only perverted by ideology and toxic mythological frameworks that feature negative emotions like fear, anger, suspicion and so on. Despite the tendencies we see most people can turn their lives around by moving away from negativity.

So it’s kind of over for us. We are no longer who we were or who we think we are. I think that the hardest thing we have to do is to face that collectively. Sadly, we are not ready to do anything collectively but, who knows, that may come someday when we recognize that there are values that lay beyond the culture of narcissism.