America’s Place in the World

Two individuals, one a liberal and the other a conservative, are discussing their views of the American lifestyle today. The liberal says that he sees a dark shadow looming over our nation. The conservative says she sees mostly the broad, sunlit uplands of a free, growing society. The liberal is concerned about the size of our homes and the size of our cars, and says that the lifestyle that we are enjoying is unsustainable. The liberal further states that we should feel guilt for living our lives the way we do. The conservative says that claiming that our lifestyle is unsustainable is really just an expression of opinion that our way of life is bad and unfair because, as the wealthiest nation in the world, we consume so much more of the world’s resources than other nations in the world.

Which of these two views better represents your opinion of the place of Americans in today’s world?

Two Different Views of Patriotism

President George W. Bush's message about moral values in domestic politics bears an eerie resemblance to his message about terrorism in foreign policy: It's us against them. We have values. Our opponents don't. We are doing God's work. They oppose morality and the family. Just as we don't negotiate with evildoers around the globe, we will not compromise with those who lack moral values at home. They can either get with the program or get stuffed. Just as Fox News once claimed that it owned the words "fair and balanced," Bush claimed ownership of words like "patriotism," "strength," "security" and "family."

Patriotism is defined as a love of and loyalty to one’s country. It includes connections to the land and people, but also includes its customs and traditions, pride in its history, and devotion to its welfare. A patriot is someone who demonstrates love, support, and willingness to serve his or her country. Today most citizens agree that patriotism involves some kind of service to their country, but they don’t always agree on how best to perform such service.

“...our children have seen that lasting achievement in life comes through sacrifice and service. They've seen that evil is real, but that courage and justice can triumph. They've seen that America is a force for good in the world, bringing hope and freedom to other people.” (President George W. Bush)

“In recent events, our children have witnessed the great character of America. Yet they also need to know the great cause of America. They are seeing Americans fight for our country; they also must know why their country is worth fighting for.” (President George W. Bush)

This is a letter to the editor of a local newspaper from a citizen giving her view of what patriotism is:

“Patriotism is driving a fuel-efficient vehicle, donating blood, being an active and caring part of your neighborhood, treating your less advantaged neighbor with respect, supporting local farmers and merchants, fighting for better schools for all neighborhoods, volunteering in your community, taking care of the environment, appreciating the diversity of your fellow Americans, mediating peaceful compromises with those around you, being one with the world and not superior to it.

“Patriotism is exemplified by own personal lifestyle choices, not by our actions in a foreign country. How did we let this administration define ‘patriotism’ as being synonymous with ‘war‘?”

What is your view of patriotism? What is the difference between patriotism and nationalism? Between patriotism and jingoism? Between living for your country and dying for your country? Is dying for your country more important than living for your country? Why?

Taking a Little Off the Top

There was a time up until the 1880s in this nation when those individuals seeking the presidency used the log cabin as a campaign symbol. In fact, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson gained popular advantage just because they were born in a log cabin. Even some potential presidential candidates who were not born in a log cabin claimed that they were. A log cabin was a symbol of the hardships and virtues a pioneer had to face, representing self-reliance, independence, practicality, and ingenuity.

The candidates for the presidency in 2008 differ greatly from the earlier presidential candidates of that era. None of the current aspirants to the presidency was born in a log cabin. Most of them are very wealthy individuals, used to living that lifestyle. John Edwards, for example, who projects himself as an “advocate for the people,” lives in a 28,200 square foot North Carolina mansion valued at over $6 million. By way of comparison, in terms of square footage Edward’s mansion is fully two-thirds the size of an American football field, end zones included. The average American home, according to the National Association of Home Builders, is 2,330 square feet, or a little over 8 percent the size of the Democratic presidential hopeful’s home.

Here is an excerpt from a speech that John Edwards made when he was running for the office of Vice-President in 2004:

“Today, under George W. Bush, there are two Americas, not one: One America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward. One America that pays the taxes, another America that gets the tax breaks. One America that will do anything to leave its children a better life, another America that never has to do a thing because its children are already set for life. One America—middle-class America—whose needs Washington has long forgotten, another America—narrow-interest America—whose every wish is Washington’s command. One America that is struggling to get by, another America that can buy anything it wants, even a Congress and a President . . .”

While Edwards has attempted to cultivate an image as a defender of working people, his sprawling mansion leaves no doubt as to which of the “two Americas” the presidential hopeful inhabits. The multimillionaire candidate whose personal wealth, estimated at $60 million gained from his career as a personal injury lawyer and investments on Wall Street, is in fact both a political representative and a member in good standing of a financial elite. That group has grown fabulously wealthy over the past three decades as a result of class war policies carried out against workers in the US and the world over.

Now we learn that John Edwards has spent $800 of campaign money on two haircuts in a little over two weeks, one on February 20 and another on March 7, at a top Beverly Hills men’s stylist, Torrenueva Hair Designs. That’s more money than most Americans would spend on feeding their families for a couple of months.

Of course, we all know that the rich are used to getting pampered. It is part of their lifestyle. Last summer , the Washington Post reported that another wealthy presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, spent nearly $3000 in campaign cash to get her tresses pampered by the District of Columbia stylist Isabelle Goetz. But then we all understand that a woman has to spend more money than a man to get her hair done.

Memory Problems

Lewis Libby, Vice-President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, when he was on trial for perjury and obstruction of justice, claimed that he didn’t remember, or misremembered, some of the conversations he had with reporters concerning the former CIA employee Valerie Plame Wilson. That, Libby said, accounted for the differences between his testimony about talks with journalists like Tim Russert and Matthew Cooper and the accounts of Russert and Cooper themselves. Here were some of the other replies at Libby’s trial:

“I don’t recall,” Grossman said.
“I do not recall that,” Grossman answered.
Grenier answered. “My response at the time was that I didn’t clearly remember.”
“I told them that I may have, but I didn’t recall,” Grenier said.
“I didn’t remember anything new about the conversation,”
“I did not remember,” Grenier said.

At yesterday’s five-hour hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, lawmakers confronted Attorney General Alberto (“Torture Guy”) Gonzales with documents and sworn testimony that they said showed he was more involved in the dismissals of the eight federal prosecutors than he had claimed last month. One television station showed a man in the audience keeping a tally of every time Gonzales said “I don’t recall.” By the end of the session, the tally board had 71 tally marks on it. One of the critical events he couldn’t recall occurred last November, only five months ago. According to documents, he was present at the meeting in which the firing of the eight attorneys general was discussed. All Gonzales could say was, “Senator, I have searched my memory. I have no recollection of the meeting. My schedule shows a meeting for 9:00 on November 27, but I have no recollection of that meeting.”

I wonder why government employees, particularly in this administration, have such poor memories? Shouldn’t some kind of test be devised to test their memories before they are hired or confirmed? Should memory experts be brought in to help these people improve their memories? Should passing a memory exam be a prerequisite for being hired or obtaining confirmation?

On second thought, perhaps the Attorney General's memory is better than it appeared to be. He did remember to say "I don't recall" to the most probing questions - just as he and Karl Rove had rehearsed them.

Not the Best for the Most

“We have the best health care in the world, and my husband believes it's time to put health care in the hands of patients and doctors.” -- Mrs. George W. Bush, speaking at Victory ’04 Rally at East Stroudsburg University, East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania in September, 2004.

A few days ago, I was reading an editorial in the San Diego Union-Tribune, our local Republican-oriented, anti-union birdcage liner newspaper. The editorial was about the complaints of pediatricians who claim they are losing money on administering vaccines to children. What seized my interest was the opening statement that “America has the best medical care in the world....” Feeling quite certain that statement was not correct, I went to Google and inquired as to how the United States ranks in the world of health care. Here is what I discovered:

Myth One: That the United States has the best health care system in the world.

* Fact One: The United States ranks 23rd in infant mortality, down from 12th in 1960 and 21st in 1990
* Fact Two: The United States ranks 20th in life expectancy for women down from 1st in 1945 and 13th in 1960
* Fact Three: The United States ranks 21st in life expectancy for men down from 1st in 1945 and 17th in 1960.
* Fact Four: The United States ranks between 50th and 100th in immunizations depending on the immunization. Overall US is 67th, right behind Botswana
* Fact Five: Outcome studies on a variety of diseases, such as coronary artery disease, and renal failure show the United States to rank below Canada and a wide variety of industrialized nations.

Americans frequently assert that the United States has the best health care system in the world. Yet according to "The World Health Report 2000," published in June by the World Health Organization, the United States ranks 37th out of 191 countries in health care systems, behind most of the rest of the developed world. The United States outspends the world and ranks near the top in average health measures, but fails to deliver good health care to a large proportion of its population and distributes the cost relatively unfairly, according to the report's measures, leaving it at number 37 in the rankings.

Americans spend twice as much on healthcare as other countries, but it turns out that they're not getting twice the quality for the price when they go to the doctor or hospital.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006; Posted: 12:02 p.m. EDT (16:02 GMT) (CNN) -- An estimated 2 million babies die within their first 24 hours each year worldwide and the United States has the second worst newborn mortality rate in the developed world, according to a new report. American babies are three times more likely to die in their first month as children born in Japan, and newborn mortality is 2.5 times higher in the United States than in Finland, Iceland or Norway, Save the Children researchers found.

Conclusion: The United States ranks poorly relative to other industrialized nations in health care despite having the best-trained health care providers and the best medical infrastructure of any industrialized nation. Although the United States has by far the most expensive health care system in the world, that system does not provide the best medical care in the world.

FOOTNOTE:

About six weeks ago, one of my nephews had a double aneurysm - one in the brain and another behind the eye. The prognosis for his survival was not promising. But one of the nation’s top surgeons operated on him and he survived. He was in intensive care for 32 days on a feeding tube because he could not swallow. Last week, I spoke by telephone with him in his hospital room and he said that his health care insurance company was giving him a hard time about paying for some of his care. The doctor wanted to keep him in the hospital for a few more days, and the insurance company was refusing to authorize it. This man almost died, and during his recovery phase he now had the added stress of worrying about whether or not his care would be paid for by his health insurance company.

And that is just one of the innumerable sad stories about the best health care system in the world.

Here is another relevant sidelight of interest:

I remember when an acquaintance of mine showed me a bill that his grandfather received for spending seven days in a hospital fifty years ago, in 1957. The total bill was for $56.40. The bill had two items on it: 7 days in the hospital at $8 per day equaled $56. The forty cents was for four aspirin.