Pride and the Moral Compass

As our politicians have been debating or, not debating, the future budget course of America I have been thinking.  Anyone that reads this blog knows that I do that a lot.  I think in the shower, I think on the way to work.  I think before I fall asleep at night contributing to sleep deprivation.  Sometimes I just wish I didn't think.

That said, yesterday my wife and I were talking about the American decline and she said something that made me think yet again.  She said this country has lost its pride.  I feel it imperative to explain that my wife was born and raised in the Philippines.  Until she moved here to put up with me and my over active mind, she viewed America from a much different position.  She viewed us as the "Shining city on the hill" that President Reagan once spoke of.  No Pride, wow I thought, how true is that?  Think beyond the simplistic American Pride and go deeper, much deeper.  We used to be proud of our standing in the world.  We were proud of our educational system and we set about teaching the world how to do the same.  In the Philippines one of the most prized commodities by the population is education and this was largely the result of Americans who traveled to the Philippines during the colonial period and established schools and universities.

We used to be proud of our infrastructure.  No other country had a Hoover Dam a Golden Gate or a Brooklyn Bridge. No one built buildings like we did or engineered the seemingly impossible.   No nation had a highway system that converted a backwater country into an integrated nation where goods could travel rapidly from one side to the other.  No other nation had an aviation system like us with modern airports and systems of air traffic control.  No other nation had a rail system as widespread and complex as ours.

We were one of the first nations to electrify and establish telephonic communication. When America did things, we did things big.  When we purchased land to add to our growing nation we bought Alaska and the Louisiana Purchase.  When we set out to conquer a wild land we achieved it in a hundred years of expansion and Manifest Destiny.  When we went to space we sent men to the moon and launched probes that still exist today.  Even when we went to war we put the resources of a nation behind the effort thinking of little else but total victory despite the personal sacrifice.

America was a land of possibility and people from around the world wanted to come here.  Huge waves of immigration arrived from Europe.  People that in their own lands were different yet in America they were Americans.

Politicians of course had self interest but there was also a joint interest in seeing the nation grow and succeed.  When the nation was tarnished with the plight of the poor America tried to fight back. Democrats built social systems that guaranteed no person would grow old and live in poverty.  Republicans like Eisenhower built infrastructure. They understood the value of linking our nation.  They supported our schools and universities.  They supported science and development. 

What happened to us?  What happened to our pride?  When did we stop thinking about America and start only thinking of ourselves?

When you live in America and return to the Philippines it is expected that you bring gifts.  Everyone wants something.  You end up traveling with your suitcases full with little for yourself and a lot for everyone else.  They used to demand American made things.  America meant quality and that was what they wanted.  These days they only ask for food.  I think they know we don't have anything to give anymore.  China is so much closer and everything is made there, what do they need from America?

Today our roads are falling apart and our bridges are closing for lack of maintenance.  A major bridge linking Indiana and Kentucky is now closed causing all commerce and residents to drive two hours out of there way just to cross the river.  In Minneapolis a bridge fell down.   One measure of a nations prosperity has always been the amount paved roads.  Today communities are actually ripping up broken asphalt and grading the roads with dirt and gravel.

Often my European friends wonder if I am anti-American.  They wonder this because I am so free to criticize.  What they don't realize is that it is precisely that criticism is because I do love this country.  Sometimes I just look out and I am not sure I still see the nation I once knew.  I am forty-four years old yet there was a time in my memory when America came first and politics came second.

America has become a frightened land.  We are scared of so many things, sometimes I think we are even afraid of our own shadow.  We are afraid of people that look different, we are afraid of the world.  We are afraid of poor people or people that think differently than we do.  We are even afraid of our neighbors but most importantly, we are afraid of ideas.

The more I look out at the people who pretend to speak for us the more I wonder what has happened to us us morally. 

Patti Davis Reagan recently wrote an article in Time Magazine after a Republican political debate at the Reagan Library. She said  "My father said that, and other memorable things, with an earnestness, a resonance, and a sincerity that came from a deep well within him. Note to Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and especially Newt Gingrich — you can invoke my father's name until your tongues fall out, but you will never be anywhere near his shadow.

The moment that would have broken my father's heart was the moment when applause broke out at the mention of more than 200 executions ordered by Rick Perry in Texas. It was stunning and brought tears to my eyes. This is what we've come to? That we applaud at executions? I remember the first time my father ordered an execution when he was Governor. He and a minister went into a room, got down on their knees and prayed. The real shame of our times is that there doesn't seem to be anyone on the political horizon with that compassion in his or her heart." 

In another debate there was huge applause and vocal support at the mention of allowing a person without health insurance or means to pay for their care to die. 

Who are these people?  Do they really represent us as a people?  I was no fan of Ronald Reagan but at least the man had a moral compass. More then once sat down with then Democratic Speaker Thomas P O'Neil and hammered out solutions to national problems.

Even purported religious leaders like Pat Robertson of the aptly named "Moral Majority" suggested a person with a spouse suffering with Alzheimer's disease should just divorce them and leave.

We live in a nation where it seems not just our roads but our vary morality is failing.  America was built as a land of independence but it was also a land where people cared for each other.  Our president is desperately trying to go around the nation and sell a plan to put American's back to work that will likely never pass. It doesn't matter that most economists support it and that  it enjoys popular support, self interested politicians will in the end rule the day.  

I am still shivering from the answer Rick Perry gave to a question from the insane Michelle Bachman concerning his support for a vaccine after he received 5,000 dollars in campaign contribution from the manufacturer.  Essentially he replied how offended he was that she could suggest he could be bought so cheaply.  So Governor Perry, what is your price.  As the old Winston Churchill story goes:

“Churchill: "Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?" Socialite: "My goodness, Mr. Churchill... Well, I suppose... we would have to discuss terms, of course... "
Churchill: "Would you sleep with me for five pounds?"
Socialite: "Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!" Churchill: "Madam, we've already established that. Now we are haggling about the price”  
When natural disaster struck the East Coast in the form of earth quakes and hurricane Republican Congressional leadership's response was to essentially say, "sure we can help but if you want help you better make some cuts in social programs to pay for it." 

When did misfortune and disaster become an excuse for political ideology?  Never before have I heard any leader of this nation ask such a question. 

In the end has America surrendered it's pride so cheaply.  Are we as a nation nothing more than the woman Churchill spoke of?  When will we escape the politics of self interest?  When will we care?

The only answer I have is to listen to what our leaders say and look at ourselves in the mirror.  Is this the image we want to reflect on ourselves?  If we are Christian is this the image of Jesus when he cared for the poor? If we don't do something to halt the decline the nation we profess to love will simply be a ghost of what it once was as we hand it to our children.  Have we lost our pride?