| Butt-kickin, profit-takin, race-baitin, weight-throwin, tree-loggin, bible-bashin, US of A. Doesnt this globally dominant brand of a nation, this artificial confection of empty froth and saccharine sweetness, aggressive hype and disdain for good taste, make you sick? Now that the bubbles that were supposed to give it zing (from Enron to WorldCom, dot-coms to soccer moms) have all gone flat, isnt there something rather gut-rotting about America? You bet your life there isnt. This Fourth of July, the most significant date in Americas year since September 11, will be celebrated across the nation as few before it. In the ten months since thousands were killed in the worlds worst terrorist attack, America has been challenged as seldom before. And come through. It is hard now to recall the full shock, intensity, wickedness, of that day. And many are inclined to forget the heroism, dignity and resilience with which America met that attack. Memories of the dedication of public servants in the police and fire services, the spontaneous generosity of citizens towards those in need and the measured resolve of Americas political leadership to respond wisely, have all been superseded in the rest of the worlds media by new waves of criticism. No longer the wounded hero, Uncle Sam has become an Aunt Sally. Corporate sleaze, bruised European amour propre, economic tremors, Middle East sniping and intellectual sneering all fuel a resurgent anti-Americanism that brings together in curious alliance the Observer columnist Will Hutton, Jean-Marie Le Pen, The
Guardians George Monbiot, Clare Short and Chris Patten. But their disdain will not detract one iota from the pride in their country that millions of Americans will assert today. And quite rightly. For on this Independence Day all those of us who believe in personal independence from tyranny, poverty, racism, repression, puritanism, penal taxation and terror can salute the country that has advanced our freedoms even as it has so vigorously defended its own. No country, even ones own, deserves to be defended right or wrong. America has made mistakes, sometimes criminal ones. And any citizen of the United Kingdom is bound to find aspects of life Stateside not just disorientating but downright distasteful in comparison with the more settled rhythms of British existence. But the values America has, sometimes imperfectly, sought to embody, defend and extend deserve to be applauded. As a nation, the United States is more open, vital, creative, free, diverse and healthily democratic than any other on earth. Britain may be more stable, earthed and charming. Australia may have much of Americas openness with a healthier population, freer of conceit. Europes smaller nations such as The Netherlands and Denmark may have succeeded in building greater social solidarity while still preserving personal freedom. But no nation has the sheer innovative energy, the democratic vitality, the openness to personal growth and the willingness to shoulder burdens bigger than itself that America has. Freedom is hard-wired into the American way of life as a lived reality, not an abstract aspiration. Although first settled by Puritans, the real fathers of America are the drafters of its Declaration of Independence and founding Constitution. They established a set of principles for government that have made America the most resilient laboratory for, and champion of, freedom in the world. Those principles have made America a beacon. Throughout its history America has been the hope, and destination, for those suffering oppression and seeking independence. From the original religious dissidents who set sail in the Mayflower, through the Irish fleeing famine, the Scots cleared from the Highlands, the Scandinavians escaping indigence, the Italians putting poverty and brigandage behind them, the Jewish populations of Eastern Europe driven out by pogroms to the Mexicans seeking work and opportunity and the Vietnamese made refugees by communism, the citizens of the States have been United in their experience of struggling towards freedom. Liberty has been more than a Statue greeting Americas peoples, it has been the prize enjoyed every day by those who breathe its air. Freedoms trailblazers in the last 200 years have much more often than not been Americans. From the stand against sexual oppression taken at Stonewall, to the practical feminism of Gurley Brown, Jong and Steinem to the economic emancipation promoted by Rand, Friedman and von Mises, freedom in all its colours has been most vigorously promoted in America. That freedom has, in turn, brought a cultural richness in the past century greater than any other nations. In the modern arts film, urban architecture, pop music, live comedy America is pre-eminent. In more traditional forms, such as the novel, the achievements of Hemingway, Bellow, Updike, Roth, Walker, Wolfe and Delillo dwarf competitors. The accusations of philistine barbarity and commercial crassness flung at Americans seem preposterous set beside the quality of, and attendance at, Americas great galleries and the profusion of contemporary literary and aesthetic comment in magazines as diverse as New Criterion and The New York Review of Books. All these are the fruits of the liberty tree. Americas record of freedom has been blighted, most notably by the experience of slavery, but what must amaze any fair-minded observer is the capacity of the USA, as an open society, to learn from its collective errors and remould itself as a better place for individuals. The Civil Rights movement of the early Sixties has become the template for all responsible equality movements worldwide. Martin Luther Kings dream of a future in which colour would not matter, and men would be judged on merit, is the ruling principle of American life and the vision to which the rest of the world still aspires. The USA now has two African-Americans in the Cabinet, an African-American in the Supreme Court and African-Americans in charge of major companies such as Amex, AOL and Goldman Sachs. No other society in the world has the openness to talent which America now boasts, none has integrated a racial mix as rich as Americas so successfully. It may be a record with stains in the past but it is one of which Americans can be proud now. But that pride is increasingly seen by many as overweening. A majority of 17 to 22-year-olds in a recent poll declared the USA arrogant, inward-looking and aggressive. Their reaction is encouraged, and reflected, by politicians and commentators who have taken to chiding America for its hyperpower hubris. The pre-eminent economic success of America is not seen as a happy reflection of free markets, free expression, meritocracy and diversity but the bullying application of superior weight. The unchallengeable military superiority of America is seen not as a consequence of economic growth, husbanded carefully and deployed sparingly in the cause of freedom, but a lead-weighted truncheon in the hands of a world policeman turned bent copper. In both cases the resentment articulated by the anti-American alliance of Huttons, Pattens, Shorts and Le Pens is not moral but ideological. They resent American economic success because it reminds them that their preferred cocktails of protectionism, state regulation, subsidy and intervention constrict growth. Americas practical success is a standing rebuke to their abstract beliefs. The same crew resents American military prowess because they have either lost faith in the nation state as a guardian of freedom or their vision of the nation state is closed, restrictive and anti-liberal. America is simultaneously chided for aggression and isolationism what that confusion reveals is irritation that American power exists because of that nations self-belief and anguish that power is not subordinated to their control. Accusations of imperial arrogance flung at America are not borne out by any colonising instinct on the part of the US. American force will come down heavily on those who threaten its citizens, it can be deployed to remove tyrannies, reverse invasions and roll back oppression. But there is no desire among Americans to see their flag fly permanently over any soil but their own. Having helped nations be free, they have no desire then to subdue them to their will. And no need. For Americas greatest victories are not won on battlefields, but in our homes, streets and imaginations. Those who deprecate the USs vulgarity and arrogance daily affirm America is best in the trainers and jeans they wear, the coffee and food they consume, the films that let their minds take flight and the books that give their contemporary lives context. Respect and affection for America are not the mark of those who dislike their home country, but those who wish their fellow citizens to enjoy the richness, diversity, freedom and self-confidence that have made America great. |
