Death of the American Experience

What I have come to understand could, at the beginning of the United States, be considered sedition. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, it would have been looked on as union dissension. In the 1940s and 1950s, McCarthy would have denounced it as un-American. In the 1970s, it was fashionable for a time among a sub-culture that had become tired of what was perceived as tyranny and abuse of power. Today, it is considered anti-God, anti-religion, anti-business, and anti-social. It is for me, an understanding that what we call the “American Experiment” has, and was destined to, fail. There is no recrimination in this statement. It is not meant to point to a better political/economic system. I am not touting socialism, communism, or any other –ism for that matter. Just as the American capitalist/democratic system has failed, so also have all other forms of government instituted and administered by humanity. Communism is, in theory, the single most feasible economic/political system out there. The difficulty arises when humanity gets involved and the theory is put into practice. Likewise, socialism, dictatorships (including those of a benevolent nature), and military control have been tried and found wanting.

Democracy and capitalism (not necessarily nor inevitably linked together) have come up just as wanting as all other systems known to man. We in the United States have erred when we equate democracy and capitalism with “good” and other systems with “bad.” Ours is a brand of ethnocentrism that is so innate, so ingrained into the warp and woof of the American psyche, that we cannot contemplate, let alone tolerate, a world where we do not exist and have hegemony over lesser institutions and people. We have come, as had the Soviet people and establishment did, to believe that we are indispensable and favored of the most high gods: money, wealth, and righteousness. We are Americans, and are, therefore, entitled to honor, respect, and acquiescence by the rest of the world that we deserve all that we claim to deserve. We have become (if indeed we were ever different) little more than a clanging drum or banging cymbal, pharisaically demanding obeisance and submission to our will while we use the rest of the world as our playground, toilet, and servant, blind to the pain we inflict or the humility we foist.

It is not that America and Americans are more evil than other nations. It is that we are just as evil, yet ours is accompanied by a military/industrial/economic powerhouse that is second to none in the world. It has been said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. To think that we are somehow exempt from the foibles and excesses of others is arrogant, narcissistic, and dangerously thin ice for us to tread.

Unlike Republicans, I do not feel that the market will regulate both the economy and right-minded actions. I don’t feel that tax cuts for the wealthy will spill down and infiltrate the lower economic classes. I don’t feel that capitalism will right our capsizing ship. Unlike Democrats, I don’t feel that government can be made to work for the people. I don’t feel that taxing the rich and redistributing the wealth to those in need will end the need. I don’t feel that universal health care is the single answer to create a country where all citizens can be healthy and free from debilitating hardship. Likewise, I have little faith in third parties with their niche ideas for economic and social revival.

Could these views be called un-American? Of course they could; indeed, they are. These views go against all that Americanism stands for. America stands for individualism and self-reliance. To depend on others is to be weak. Social Darwinism has been the mode d’emploi for so long now it is hard to imagine what it would be like without an upper class, made up of five percent of the population, that holds ninety-five percent of the country’s wealth. American-ism and democracy-cum-capitalism are interchangeable ideas that have created the greatest country on earth. We have earned the right to dictate to others how they should live and what they owe us for the privilege to do so. Westward expansion, Manifest Destiny, resettlement, displacement, and acculturation are all terms we have either coined or used to both defend and declare our hegemony over all we have encountered. And yet we are a house of cards, because our foundation is built on sand. This political/economic system is faulty and frail, and cannot meet the needs of the vast majority of those it holds. It is overseen by corrupt and unrepentant politicians whose ideals are subjected to the machine which created them in the first place. Lincoln’s ideal of government of the people, by the people, for the people has ever been just that – an ideal that looks good in print but has no basis in reality.

Sadly, we also equate democracy/capitalism with Christianity. To be Christian in America is to embrace the ideal that all people should live as we do; that democratic ideals and capitalistic markets are viewed as blessed by God. We look at our wealth and world standing as evidence that God has favored our system above all others; indeed our wealth and prosperity are granted by God because our system is as close to godliness as possible in a fallen world. To imagine that a county that refuses to embrace our ideals could ever be loved, let alone blessed, by God is ludicrous.

And yet, here I am with these thoughts, these ideas so contrary to what I have been taught to be true and right. I can no longer block out that still small voice that has been speaking to me for what seems like years. I no longer have faith in our nation, our leaders, our systems, our justice, or our pax Americana. Nor should I. My faith, my trust, my allegiance, and my loyalty must first and foremost belong to Jesus Christ, His kingdom, His systems, and His peace. I am no less of a follower of Jesus if I am communist, nor more a follower if I embrace free enterprise. Jesus cannot, and must not, be equated with any model created by man. He is above all and beholden to none. If my loyalty belongs to Jesus Christ, then it does not matter what political/economic system I am living under. Christianity is no more democratic and capitalist, and democracy and capitalism are no more Christian than any other governmental or economic model.

Capitalism (much more so than democracy), is often antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. Capitalism amounts to little more than institutionalized greed. While some would argue that capitalism finds and fills needs, it also fills those needs by making as much profit as possible. The argument would continue that there is nothing wrong with that. Why shouldn’t someone make a profit, so long as it’s legal? The answer is that there is the law, and then there is mercy and grace. The question then begs to be asked: Which fulfills the teachings of Jesus and acquiesces to His command to love others and obey His teachings? Only mercy and grace meet that objective.

It is not just democracy/capitalism that falls short in this area. There is no human institution that satisfies the call of Christ. We cannot look to government to accomplish that goal. That can only be done individually as hearts are changed to reflect the image of the Master. This will fly in the face of everything Americans have been taught is good and right and healthy. We proclaim from both pulpit and pew that we are new creations; that the old has passed away. Let it be so, then. Let us embrace a new economy. Let us call ourselves, first, last, and always, Followers of the Way. Let us not be Americans, or Chinese, or Korean, or any other descriptor of the way we look or the ideology we have been raised in. Let us be hope and peace, mercy and grace, faith and love in a world that may have forgotten how, or never knew in the first place. Let us consider others better than ourselves. Let us be the Samaritan and watch out for or “neighbor.” Let us bless those who persecute, pray for those who would do harm. America is not our home. It is our mission field. We would do well to remember to whom we owe our first allegiance and our last breath.