THE CLASSIC AMERICAN FALSEHOOD

Time and time again, dating back to childhood days, we’ve been hearing politicians and other superpatriot types loudly proclaiming the United States to be the greatest country in the world, often to tumultuous applause from bands of naïve, shortsighted listeners.

 But is it really that?  If so, why have we always had so many inhabitants who are:

     Hungry,
     Homeless,
     Inadequately educated,
     Unemployed,
     Chronically ill,
In most cases though no fault of their own?

Yes, it’s unfortunately true that we can’t avoid having:
     The lazy,
     The listless,
     The careless (e.g. improper eaters, smokers, heavy drinkers, drug abusers).

Even so, how many of these supposedly hopeless people might revert if once given a chance for a better shake in life – rather than continually beyond reach due to social and economic imbalance?

No indeed, Folks, we have no right to call ourselves the greatest, chiefly because of the mess our government and our less-than-sufficient human rights  system have been  building up for generations.

We allow ourselves to be inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s classic words about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness …..

But what do we actually do, as a democratic society, to maximize or even optimize its universal attainment, except in restrictive half-way legislative measures, unduly compromised by special interest groups galore? 

In the simplest of terms, we’ve failed out citizenry miserably.

Meanwhile, however:

     The rich continue to get richer, as always;
     And our esteemed government is galloping toward total fiscal insolvency,
     As it keeps dumping money down the drain in a never-ending quest for absolute military 
          supremacy;
     And making countless arch enemies by meddling needlessly in the Middle East and elsewhere ,
     On the supposed premise of national security,
     When we aren’t the least bit stable or secure, in a far too many respects. 

What, then, would be so wrong with spending such vast sums instead for:

     Public welfare,
     Full national health care for every citizen,
     Enhanced educational opportunities, and
     State-sponsored public job creation ?

Most certainly, we could manage all this, and still retain the individual human right to reject any and all such benefits, strictly on a voluntary – rather than an unjustly imposed – basis.