Something about being American

I have a lot of foreign friends. I remember driving around with my Chinese classmate Chuck one afternoon, and he asked me about the American judicial system. I remember getting kind of choked up as I explained that [unlike China] in America, everyone is entitled to a trial by jury.

And I will never forget the nightmarish day of Saori being held by US  border patrol agents and repeatedly accused of passport forgery. One of the last things I reassured her over the phone was "You are innocent. In America that means something." The officer handling her case apparently worked late into night because something (obviously) was amiss here, and she was released around 3am. I am often doubtful of the high levels of force or overly suspicious nature of American law enforcers, but I stand beside our civil servants as incredibly dedicated and highly incorruptible.

In Mexico, you are automatically guilty until proven innocent. Or until you bribe your way out. They really need to pay their police and public servants more, and have them held to higher standards.

It is this notion of higher standards which I really love about America. Octavio Paz, a Mexican author, wrote that the American Revolution was truly revolutionary in that it did not seek to restore a particular state of power or bring about a past state, but to create a wholly new thing. America is an idea, a beautiful idea, a radical and optimistic proposal, which makes America a necessarily idealistic country.

This idealism seems like a flame, it is Americanism itself. Like a flame, it can be blinding and often times I think the most harmful, stupid, wasteful, decisions made in the US are based on ideological rather than pragmatic stances. But this torch also lights the way, a beacon. Something to reach for and aspire to. The idea that all men are created equal, and are everyone is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The filthiest, most ignorant ragpicker has equal standing, rights, and obligations as the leader of the country. Everyone pays taxes. Everyone is entitled to representation in court and a trial by a jury of common citizens. The government pays trained attorneys to comb the law to try to aid in any way possible people who have broken its laws.

The right to freedom of speech is so sacred, that Americans will defend the right of the most homophobic, racist, sexist, hurtful groups to be heard.

Many Americans still believe that anyone can succeed with hard work. Many are taught as children that they could grow up to be the president. The American Dream, whatever it is, is not America. It is a fantasy dreamt in the real headiness of American idealism. But America is a more level playing field than many countries, and hard work is rewarded with success more often and to a wider variety of players.

I love the fact that real change is possible through political channels. It's not a perfect system, but in the US, at least you don't have to run a cat for mayor to get rid of the corrupt rats. If you don't like the governed, you don't need an armed and bloody insurrection, you need ideas and people to go vote them out of office.

Ideas are important. It's important that all public spaces are wheelchair accessible, damn the costs to make it so, ALL people have a right to access public space. We agonize over ideas, we soul search about what is right and what is just and what is equitable.

American foreign policy and global economic policies excluded, of course. These are frightening travesties of justice and humanity. I fail to see how a nation built on the idea of innocent until proven guilty is OK blowing up vans full of passengers, including children, because a military target was likely to be inside.

I wish the idealism and egalitarianism of Americans would translate to understanding the entire world in that framework. If your neighbor has a right to life and liberty, what makes him different than a wage slave in Myanmar? If Chicago mafia kingpins deserve a trial by jury and presumed innocence, what makes him different to a Pakistani militant? Why is it OK to frequently, unintentionally kill Afgan children but not OK in the US?

In many ways, we have failed the rest of the world. By force or greed or guile, we made them sit at our table and play our games knowing full well the house never loses. We might have even lied to ourselves saying, oh, its a gamble, but they might strike it big! Look how we are improving their metrics!

But now, we have played our hand. Our game is no longer in our control, and there is nothing else besides it. We can't even cash our chips and leave because the there's no other currency, the world is now the casino, and the values we bred at the table are the only ones left. BRIC knows the game cold, and they will run a very cold game for us.

But the US is not the UK. We will not retire quietly. The greatest gift of being an American is the ability to embrace our citizenships beyond the national- our citizenship to humanity, to the future. We can still lead if we choose and use our torch to inspire if we can find the collective will to empathize with and embrace the world.

Long last the USA!