… again!
It’s the perpetual siren call of politicians … or would-be politicians … especially during election years!
But I caught myself wondering: Back to WHEN, exactly?
… to when all the roads were dirt roads?
… to when there was no FDA and one had to rely on snake oil salesmen for pharmaceuticals and on the integrity of the run-amok Chicago meat markets for sustenance?
… to when all the states had their own currencies – and they were all different?
… to when slavery, child labor and “unnaturalized citizens” were what powered major industry?
… to when monopoly wasn’t just a board game?
… to when everyone had at least one gun and arguments were settled by duels?
… to when Al Capone and his “corporate elite” ruled the streets?
… to before the EPA, when chemical plants, mining industries and oil refining operations simply dumped their toxic waste directly into air and water supplies?
… to before the safety nets of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security existed?
… to when aspirin, alcohol, opioids and crude surgical devices were the only medical interventions – besides leeches and blood-letting – available?
And I thought it worth wondering exactly what it was that made America great – whenever that might have been?
But, first, there’s a lot more history in the universe to consider than just the past 250 years of American identity. Can we get any clues from what made OTHER great civilization great – like China, Mongolia, Japan, Greece, Egypt, Great Britain, Babylon, the Roman Empire, or the Aztecs, Mayans or Incas?
[At some point, we’re going to have to ask how we define “Greatness” … stay tuned.]
From the sheer volume of historical record and archeologic data, we have some clues about “What it was … ” that may help us acquire some perspective. Actually, that part of our quest turns out to be fairly simple: Whoever had the biggest armies, best technology in weaponry and most efficient and effective supply, communication and transportation systems ruled the world. From the spoils of war, these civilizations gained both wealth and worker-bee slaves, permitting the ruling classes to display opulence of extravagant proportions. Thus, we see huge and intricate architectural wonders, exquisitely woven and dyed fabrics, and ingenious works of art and science – all cultivated and commissioned by the ruling class.
“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [1756-1791] showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court …” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart
In a somewhat sobering sense, one could say that what made each of these civilizations “GREAT” was the degree of distance the wealthiest classes became removed from the poorest classes … as well as from external threats. The more insulation they had from discombobulation, the more aspirational – both inspirational and hedonic – they became. As the wealthiest classes gained confidence/security, associated financial resources and leisure, they went about figuring how much more lavishly they could live. And by commissioning the lower classes/slaves and artisans/craftspersons to do the work, they created “trickle-down” economics – emphasis on “trickle”.
Early American “Greatness” was not much different. Although child labor was not as prevalent, slavery and the “indenturing” of immigrants and the poor were prevalent. Natural resources were abundant. Opportunities for both the wealthy and ambitious were essentially unlimited … attracting both intellectual and venture capital, as well as ardent flesh and blood aspirants. America was a virtual tabula rasa with only itinerant and loosely enfranchised inhabitants. Barriers to advancement, and interference with even incommodious opportunism, were minimal. And a constitutional framework protecting individual rights to life, liberty and property, and encouraging “the pursuit of happiness”, provided an irresistible enticement for both individual and societal actualization. [Should we underscore the impact of immigrants?]
Here we take a moment to reflect on measures of GREATNESS. Someone said that the true measure of greatness in a civilization is the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens. It’s worth some consideration. More commonly, we think of greatness as including the size of armies, the amount of land they control, the number of citizens enrolled, the status of arts and education, benchmark advances in science and technology, the sophistication of their infrastructure (water, energy, communications, transportation and supply lines), health and wellbeing of the population, and the impact of goods and services, as measured by world-wide trade. Importantly, and increasingly so, greatness may also be measured by alliances – by how much positive influence a country has and can maintain in the affairs of the world. NOTE: The degree of positive world influence OTHER than a military presence might be dubbed a defining attribute of GREATNESS.
So how are we doing? Unquestionably, America has had brilliant moments of greatness – as measured by all but a few of the above – during its relatively brief history. But 1) we do have to own up to the fact that many of those moments have been tainted by disenfranchisement of its most vulnerable citizens, and 2) the formula for greatness has been silently but inexorably changing. Opportunity is no longer as unlimited as it was. Yes, there is still unlimited opportunity for some, but for far fewer individuals over time. Only one person in the US can become President every 4 years – that’s 8 chances out of 320 million in a lifetime in 2016 versus 8 chances out of 76 million in 1900. Meanwhile, technology is displacing mainstream employment opportunities and corporate organizational structures are collapsing, cutting out the middle, which, historically, provided stepping stones for advancement. And while America remains a mecca for higher education, we’re educating the world’s elite and letting site-based primary and secondary school systems for our own citizens degenerate into meccas for self-esteem development, athletics and tribal inbreeding.
Bottom line: There is only one direction we can go if we aspire to “take America to GREATNESS … again”. And it’s not BACK! America has to become intensely engaged in the business of reinventing itself for a new day and for collective challenges, not only for free-reign “Rugged Individualism” … including finding better ways to take care of its most vulnerable citizens. Quartermaster
