Our founders would be revolted
Friday, July 04, 2008
By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Let's face it -- 232 years after it was declared, Independence Day hasn't exactly lived up to its hype.
Instead of meditating upon the meaning of our democracy like those delegates to the Second Continental Congress intended, a modern patriot's mind turns to thoughts of conspicuous consumption and the starting times for the latest Will Smith movie.
Another July Fourth has come to America, but we might as well be celebrating under portraits of old King George III in English pubs for all it matters.
By now, it should be obvious to everyone who thinks about it: Democracy is still very much a theory in the land Woody Guthrie once insisted belonged to you and me.
Democracy will remain a beautiful theory until Americans once again recapture the capacity for outrage evident more than two centuries ago when disgruntled landowners conspired in Philadelphia's sweltering heat to form what would be called "a more perfect union."
Imagine what those revolutionary heroes would say if they could see their American progeny whining about the price of gas while civil liberties disappeared from the land with barely a whisper of dissent.
George Washington would never stop throwing up once confronted with proof of how wrong he was about our willingness to master the intricacies of self-government.
Two centuries after throwing off the yoke of British tyranny, Americans suffer from a weird cultural amnesia that prevents us from living out our democratic principles or taking the institutions that embody them seriously.
No less an authority than satirist Bill Maher nailed it when he quipped: "We have a Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities."
If the authors of the Declaration of Independence were to crash our family barbecues demanding an explanation for the low regard with which we hold participation in the democratic process, how would we explain ourselves?
Would we come clean and admit that dazzled as we are by the pursuit of capital and the 24-7 cult of vulgarity, we've forgotten the true meaning of patriotism and what it means to be an American?
Is there any way the drafters of the document we "celebrate" today could understand that because patriotism now mirrors the lowest value in society, it has become the emptiest of American virtues?
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams would have instinctively recoiled from the absurdity of our politics.
In the two centuries since the founders hammered out the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, America has become a place where the presence or absence of a flag pin has eclipsed the candidate's position on pressing domestic and international issues.
If Washington or Jefferson asked us what patriotism means in 2008, we would be obliged to tell them the following:
? Patriotism means never having to acknowledge that waterboarding happens in our name and not feeling guilty about it, either.
? Patriotism means sticking the bill for an unnecessary war on future generations and not feeling guilty about it.
? Patriotism means telling a pollster that a candidate is the wrong gender or race and isn't worthy of holding high office (though the founders would have understood that bias all too well).
? Patriotism means blurring the line between church and state because America should be the kind of place where Jesus should feel at home on Easter weekend.
? Patriotism means paying lip service to "traditional values" and spending a good chunk of the family income on porn and lottery tickets.
? Patriotism means being freaked out by gays and lesbians who want to "undermine the sanctity of marriage" even as you cheat on your spouse while making a mockery of your second and third marriages.
? Patriotism means caring so little about politics that you rely on talk radio and rumors on the Internet to do your thinking for you. Still, you consider yourself an "informed citizen" even though you're ahistorical, anti-intellectual and easily influenced by demagogues.
? Patriotism means not considering the loss of 900 newspaper jobs across the country last week an ominous sign that the press freedoms we've taken for granted since Ben Franklin's time will be on life support in a few years.
? Patriotism means having the gall to question other people's patriotism without ever considering the shallowness of one's own.
Tony Norman can be reached at tnorman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1631. More articles by this author
Friday, July 04, 2008
By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Let's face it -- 232 years after it was declared, Independence Day hasn't exactly lived up to its hype.
Instead of meditating upon the meaning of our democracy like those delegates to the Second Continental Congress intended, a modern patriot's mind turns to thoughts of conspicuous consumption and the starting times for the latest Will Smith movie.
Another July Fourth has come to America, but we might as well be celebrating under portraits of old King George III in English pubs for all it matters.
By now, it should be obvious to everyone who thinks about it: Democracy is still very much a theory in the land Woody Guthrie once insisted belonged to you and me.
Democracy will remain a beautiful theory until Americans once again recapture the capacity for outrage evident more than two centuries ago when disgruntled landowners conspired in Philadelphia's sweltering heat to form what would be called "a more perfect union."
Imagine what those revolutionary heroes would say if they could see their American progeny whining about the price of gas while civil liberties disappeared from the land with barely a whisper of dissent.
George Washington would never stop throwing up once confronted with proof of how wrong he was about our willingness to master the intricacies of self-government.
Two centuries after throwing off the yoke of British tyranny, Americans suffer from a weird cultural amnesia that prevents us from living out our democratic principles or taking the institutions that embody them seriously.
No less an authority than satirist Bill Maher nailed it when he quipped: "We have a Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities."
If the authors of the Declaration of Independence were to crash our family barbecues demanding an explanation for the low regard with which we hold participation in the democratic process, how would we explain ourselves?
Would we come clean and admit that dazzled as we are by the pursuit of capital and the 24-7 cult of vulgarity, we've forgotten the true meaning of patriotism and what it means to be an American?
Is there any way the drafters of the document we "celebrate" today could understand that because patriotism now mirrors the lowest value in society, it has become the emptiest of American virtues?
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams would have instinctively recoiled from the absurdity of our politics.
In the two centuries since the founders hammered out the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, America has become a place where the presence or absence of a flag pin has eclipsed the candidate's position on pressing domestic and international issues.
If Washington or Jefferson asked us what patriotism means in 2008, we would be obliged to tell them the following:
? Patriotism means never having to acknowledge that waterboarding happens in our name and not feeling guilty about it, either.
? Patriotism means sticking the bill for an unnecessary war on future generations and not feeling guilty about it.
? Patriotism means telling a pollster that a candidate is the wrong gender or race and isn't worthy of holding high office (though the founders would have understood that bias all too well).
? Patriotism means blurring the line between church and state because America should be the kind of place where Jesus should feel at home on Easter weekend.
? Patriotism means paying lip service to "traditional values" and spending a good chunk of the family income on porn and lottery tickets.
? Patriotism means being freaked out by gays and lesbians who want to "undermine the sanctity of marriage" even as you cheat on your spouse while making a mockery of your second and third marriages.
? Patriotism means caring so little about politics that you rely on talk radio and rumors on the Internet to do your thinking for you. Still, you consider yourself an "informed citizen" even though you're ahistorical, anti-intellectual and easily influenced by demagogues.
? Patriotism means not considering the loss of 900 newspaper jobs across the country last week an ominous sign that the press freedoms we've taken for granted since Ben Franklin's time will be on life support in a few years.
? Patriotism means having the gall to question other people's patriotism without ever considering the shallowness of one's own.
Tony Norman can be reached at tnorman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1631. More articles by this author
