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In a recent post in General Discussion, entitled ‘This Country’s Done’. The original poster asked the question “When Did We Fail”? and went on to add “I suppose historians will debate it”.
Perhaps, it should be debated now by those of us who have lived through a lot of it, rather then later by future ‘historians’ who will draw their understandings of ‘our time’ from written or video records.
In the current history of the world, no country has come farther, faster or with greater success then the United States of America. The history of the rest of the world is often presented in cycles that spanned multiple hundreds and in some cases thousands of years.
In the case of the United States our cycles have come so quickly, especially since the beginning of the 20th Century and the advent of mass communication, that it is often difficult, if not impossible, to tell when one American cycle ends and another begins. Many times a new American cycle begins before the previous cycle is even complete.
Harry Truman was the President when I was born and so I have indeed lived through those instances that will be presented as considerations for where we could have possibly failed. In my early twenties I developed a love of history and have frequently read numerous accounts of how this country became what it is. I unashamedly consider myself an arm-chair (though admittedly amateur and opinionated) historian.
It should be noted, at the onset, when the idea of this country was conceived, it was conceived, for the most part by (regardless of their noble intentions and the correctness of their acts) individuals of relative wealth. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and their peers were not ‘poor’ by the standards of their day.
Thus the current (21st century) control of the majority of the wealth by a very small portion of the people, which now pains us every day, is not a new thorn in our side, but one that has been festering for over 200 years and whose pain may have distracted us from the issues at hand.
The infection that has resulted from that same thorn may well have brought us to the state in which we now find our nation. The critical symptoms of that infection, as viewed from the mid 20th century, may well be the points at which we have failed and are now offered up for debate on a point in time, by point in time format to the clearer and questioning minds of the Democratic Underground.
And so my friends: Where Might We Have Failed?
When ‘our boys’ came home from WW II, they certainly had enough of everything that was ugly and just wanted to get back to their normal lives. Not so many years later they elected “Ike” as their President, after all ‘our boys’ ‘liked Ike’ he had gotten them through a war, so he certainly could get them through the ensuing peace. So ‘our boys’ went to work, bought their GI houses, had their ‘boomer babys’, mowed their lawns, planted their roses, drove their new cars and left it up to “Ike”. What many of them didn’t do was ask at lot of questions, especially of their government.
Did We Fail Here?
Our ‘boys’, men now, had a second chance to elect a leader. John Kennedy was our first, noticeably, wealthy contemporary President. Youthful, educated and polished. ‘Our boys’ finally had a true WW II Navy hero who was ‘one of them’ running for President. Say, didn’t JFK’s old man make all his dough running boot-leg booze? (wink-wink). Supposedly Kennedy wanted to get us out of Viet Nam but there were some who didn’t want ‘Nam’ to end quite so soon. Thus, John F. Kennedy’s first term ended in a bloody mess on the streets of Dallas. And we waited for the Warren Report to tell us what really happened. But it took too long to publish and was way too thick to read. It was years before anyone noticed the many still unanswered questions and the loads of BS between the covers.
Did We Fail Here?
We elected Nixon on his second try (we didn’t want him the first time around) and we believed what he said, that ‘he was not a crook’. Little did we know that ‘opening up China’ would be opening the flood gates that would lead to the draining our economy. Little did we know, or care, that his ego and psyche were so fragile that he saw bad guys in every shadow and we ignored those who tired to tell us that ‘Tricky Dicky’ had a problem.
Did We Fail Here?
Now we come to Ford, a man who never sought the office, never ran in a Presidential campaign, never debated the ‘issues’ and never had a pledged delegate. As a matter of fact NO ONE EVEN VOTED FOR HIM! And no dissenting voices were raised in protest. In most other nations of the world, loud and clear calls would have been heard for an election. But not here! Why? Because that’s not the way it was done. Because the common consensus of the ‘big boys’ was that we, as a nation, could not stand the pain. So, Agnew resigned, and Ford was appointed, then Nixon resigned and Ford was sworn in. Never mind that not one American citizen ever cast a vote for him in a Presidential election. After all votes are minor technicalities.
Did We Fail Here?
We elect Carter, a different kind of President. We have had it with ‘business as usual‘ in Washington and decide that a change in direction is needed. Now we begin telling ourselves that our Presidents no longer need to have served in any Federal office prior to moving into the Oval Office. Now we figure if the guy could run a State he ought to be able to run a Nation. Now we are asking and electing: ‘Jimmy who?’ – Does he seem over-whelmed?
Did We Fail Here?
We elect Reagan. After all he was familiar to us and he did run California, a state whose economy is bigger then a lot of countries. We liked that he talked tough to the ’bad guys’ and spoke softly and kindly to us, like a Grandfather to a child that doesn’t know better. What we didn’t notice was the formation of a ‘shadow’ government. We received a set of minions answerable only to our leader, having almost unfettered powers to execute ‘private public policy’ as long as none of the fall-out reached the Oval Office. What we didn’t notice was the elimination of many of the ‘Federal Rules’ for Banks, Health Care, Insurance, and Airlines among others, that had for years kept us safe. What we didn’t notice were the arms being sent to whoever would fight the fight rather then us. That they might be the ’bad guys escaped out notice. What we didn’t notice was that the stuff that was supposed to ‘trickle down’ smelled really bad. What we did notice were the jobs that started to disappear.
Did We Fail Here?
We elect Bush-41 and receive continuity within the Executive Branch of our government. Never mind that he was the former head of the CIA, how could that possibly hurt us? Funny how around this time, all of J. Edger Hoover’s files disappeared. Funny how he managed to get us into a war in an area of the world loaded with oil. Hey, didn’t he used to be an ‘Oil Man’ and a ‘big business-man’. Wait, wasn’t he both? How could that be bad? And just what does this Carlyle group do anyhow? Funny how the economy seems to work different, funny how jobs continue to disappear.
Did We Fail Here?
We elect Clinton, who told us not to stop thinking about tomorrow because it would soon be here, and he knew and understood that the American people were tired of ‘business as usual’. There’s that phrase again. We were pleased when the ‘Big Dog’ said he was going to straighten out the health care mess and we were saddened when he gave that job to someone who couldn’t get it done. We were pleased when he said that America needed trade agreements that would level the playing field and make American workers competitive in a global economy. Jobs still continued to disappear, but the American worker did become competitive, for the few jobs that did remain. We were beside ourselves when he balanced the budget and put the country in the black for the first time in decades. And finally, we were appalled, when a moral lapse in judgment forced impeachment hearings upon us and embarrassed us in front of the entire world. One would have thought he could have afforded to get a room. Little did we dream of the embarrassment that would come in the future? Maybe we did stop thinking about tomorrow.
Did We Fail Here?
The Supreme Court elected Bush-43, a ‘President’ who swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. I guess we missed that sly wink and his crossed fingers as he placed his hand upon the Bible. We then had to watch and listen while he tore our Constitution into shreds and used it as toilet paper. We continued to watch and listen while he and his entire cabinet lied and took us into a war that wasn’t necessary. We shook our heads when we realized that he couldn’t say or even spell the word ‘economy’ and watched ours fall farther and faster then we could have ever imagined, and our jobs just keep on leaving, and our Congress sat by and did nothing. There is not enough time or computer memory to list what we got with this ‘President’. All of it is too painful, too horrible, too embarrassing and too recent to forget. What has happened to our country in the last 7 years will be burned in history forever.
We DID Fail Here! (sorry this one is a no-brainer)
We are now presented with candidates for President who say they know that the American people are tired of ‘business as usual’ (where have we heard that before?). Candidates who say that they know the war, the economy, health care, social security, the job market, inter-national relationships and every part of our government is a mess. And they claim they know how to fix it!
What are these candidate’s qualifications for being given the most powerful job in the world? We are still finding out. It is simply amazing to me that when the full power of the Democratic Underground is brought to bear, a situation or individual can be completely vetted in about 48 hours. Yet we still do not know the full ‘story’ about the next person, who could possibly lead the free world,
So now we are faced with making the most important decision a voter in the United States can make when they enter the voting booth.
No! This time it is not who will be our next President.
This time it is: ‘Will We Fail Here?’
Let the debate begin.
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