Going with this theme of self-evaluation, I have also decided to reconsider my piece on “Leading the World to Hell.” Yes, I am a little bitter, but there’s no sense in proselytizing a message of unity or tolerance with a sermon soaked in damnation. Besides, my image could really benefit some authentic placement of warm fuzzies. (: I know at first glance I may appear schizophrenic, but bear with me as I experiment with metamorphosis.
The USA is the leader of the free world. We are truly a brilliant beacon of light, guiding the world out of darkness into a period of infinite prosperity. Despite a total population of only 5 percent of the planet, we manage to produce more wealth than any other nation and provide billions of dollars of global aid. But building and maintaining the world’s most successful economy does not come without a cost to our environment. It is now well-known that the US leads the planet as the top emitter of greenhouse gases, producing 25 percent of the world’s pollution and two-thirds of the world’s toxic wastes. Yet despite undeniable evidence that our American lifestyle is contributing to global climate change at an alarming rate, we continue a consumption culture that is literally devouring the world as we know it.
At the United Nations conference this month in Bali, Indonesia, 190 countries (out of 194 that exist) confronted the US for our position as the only industrialized nation to refuse ratification of the Kyoto Protocol climate pact. As part of their criticism, world leaders questioned the US rejection of mandatory emissions regulations.But our representatives were quick to defend our greedy and gluttonous ways, touting a recent 1.5 percent decline in carbon dioxide emissions and insisting that voluntary emission cuts will be sufficient to produce the necessary changes. Nevermind that our own Department of Energy credits this reduction to favorable weather patterns and higher energy prices.
It is time for America to live up to our reputation as the hope of the world. As the most powerful country on the planet, we have the responsibility to provide an ethical example of balance and self-restraint . We must recultivate the values of frugality and thrift that shaped our humble beginnings and we must serve as the quintessential model of sustainable consumption. Remember, we make up only 5 percent of the world’s population, but consume 25 percent of the world’s oil, one-third of the world’s paper and cars, and 27 percent of the world’s aluminum. The environmental impact of one American is 12 times greater than that of one person from India and 250 time greater than that of someone from Sub-Saharan Africa, even with recycling. Despite a growing “green” movement in this country, Americans still consume 2 million plastic bottles, 1 million aluminum cans and 60,000 plastic shopping bags every 5 MINUTES.
Yet, we remain a country of tremendous strength and ingenuity, overcoming great challenges through perserverance and grounded in our commitment to fairness and righteousness. We are capable of anything when we unite for a common cause. So as we stand here on the precipice of a global environmental/energy crisis, Americans must decide which direction to lead the world.
Are we the naïve Captain of the infamous Titanic or are we a lighthouse in a perilous fog?
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December 15, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Dad
According to the latest Federal Reserve Survey of households in America, average income was up 9% in 2004 since the previous survey in 2000, but what the media ignores is a decline in the income of the lower 80% of households. Wealth is increasing only for the top 20% of society. Who do you suppose controls the media? I suspect the 2008 survey will show a continuation of the trend, and I suspect the media to ignore the growing gap between the wealthy and the increasing ranks of the working poor.
Corporate America is fighting mandatory environmental regulations. Since the business lobby currently owns Washington, don’t look for a change in direction as long as the Republicans are in charge. So long as there are insufficient votes in the Senate to overturn a Bush veto, the Democrats are powerless.
Love, Dad
December 21, 2007 at 2:14 pm
twoblueday
“The USA is the leader of the free world.”
I’m trying to understand this assertion. My two hangups are: first, that the USA is the leader of anything but itself; and that there is such an entity as the “free world.” I could just write this off as denseness on my part, but, not wanting to drown in self-criticism, I’m not going to do that.
Calling the USA a “leader” is, to my way of thinking, perpetuating a myth via a catch-phrase, the substitution of metaphor for reality. It implies that the world outside the USA is filled with weak-willed ciphers. The term “leader” implies “followers.” I don’t think we have any. I think, and hope, that the peoples of other nations make decisions based on their own (preferably enlightened) self-interest, just as I wish that our policies follow such a course. We, the people of the USA, are just slobs like everyone else (to steal and fracture a line from Joan Osborne’s “What if God Was One of Us.”). We have no corner on good ideas here. We have no corner on personal freedom here.
As for the “free world” this phrase is as pernicious as that favorite whipping-boy of the press, the “West,” and, as far as I can tell, is intended to indict pretty much the same vague grouping of nations and peoples. Metaphor, mythology, and crass over-generalization. It’s okay (I, G.E. Rosser grant permission) to occasionally use a sentence or a paragraph or a whole page (or more) to anyone who is trying to express an idea. There is no club known as the “free world” or the “West.” To start with, not to put too fine a point on it, every place on earth is west of somewhere else (and east, too). Does that sound silly? Well, it is a lot less silly than lumping some nations (and I’m never sure which ones are included) under the fabricated notion of the “free world” or the “West,” and then ranting on about “the failure of the West” and other such made-up notions.
Why do I find it important enough to quibble about these things? Am I addressing semantics instead of real issues? I don’t think so. I think catch-phrases, metaphors, and myths are just as harmful as the various myths of deities which are bruited about. It is the lack of straight talk and straight thinking which is the bane of the modern world. Let’s eschew circumlocution. Tell it like it is.
The Balkans, for example, did not go to hell in a hand basket (with the concomitant slaughter and atrocities) because of some myth or metaphor or failure of some alleged cabal known as the “West” to act, or because of the failure of “leadership” by the USA. The people there decided that hating each other, killing each other, raping each other, torturing each other over real or imagined slights was more important that reasoning together, identifying actual problems, and creating solutions. Nevertheless, while these folk were doing their butchering, I saw the phrase “failure of the West” in print many times. This, of course, was the jingoistic press at work trying to stir up military action (i.e. bring in outsiders to mediate a murder-fest, and assume that the murdering this new group is going to do will be imbued with a nobility that the already-occuring murder lacks).
I could take on “Iraq” with the same sort of analysis, but I hope I’ve made my point.
To address the main theme of your post: yes, we Americans, as a populace, overconsume the world’s resources. We can and should do better. My cynical contribution to this thought is that wherever I drive my hybrid car, I’m surrounded by huge trucks (sometimes called “SUVs” and “Pickups”). I’m shining my candle, for all the good it does.
December 21, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Dad
Interesting thoughts from Twoblueday! Leadership as a label is irrelevant. Leadership as a concept depends on your definition. As an old retired submarine officer, I have learned that leadership has nothing to do with rank or power. The lowest ranking man in the crew can be a leader if he can inspire others to accept his destination situation as their dream and then coach them in achieving their dream. Leadership moves around within the crew depending on who has the skill needed for the job at hand. You are right to note that leadership implies followers. Leadership is both voluntary and transitory. The same concept applies to nations.
Calling the USA a world leader is a stretch right now. We’re not very inspirational, and we have not been much for coaching and counseling or following lately. We have been acting more like the schoolyard bully, the Mafia or perhaps even the Spanish Inquisition. Globally, we have become the most feared and despised nation on the planet. Is this to be our lot going forward? Hypocrisy is criticizing or punishing others for doing what we have always done throughout our existence as a nation.
Free world means those countries that are with us (i.e., willing to subjugate their interests for our benefit). Often, it is not the people we care about, but rather the dictator who is willing to support our corporate interests for a moderate fee. Heaven help the country that sits on resources (real or human) our corporations want. But more than anything, we need an enemy to inspire fear in the populace to justify the transition of wealth from the working poor to the defense industrial complex, the current budget for which exceeds the sum total spent by all the other nations combined. Corporate boardrooms don’t care about poverty, civil rights, religion, national interest, environment, etc. By law, they can hold no value higher than profit. Deviation invites litigation.
January 6, 2008 at 12:23 am
david
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