America, the Delusional

I will never forget the look on the face of the Swiss exchange student next to me in my high-school government class on the day our teacher told us about all of the advantages of being an American.

America is the greatest country in the world. Apparently, she was unaware.

I am sick of hearing these words drip from the lips of contemporary politicians. To most people, this kind of patriotism is a trait to be admired. I am not one of those people.

As a pacifist, I see patriotism as one of the most damaging forces in existence. Most military conflicts can eventually be traced back to moments of ill-advised national pride compounded again and again.

Pride is, by nature, exclusionary. It is based on one’s ability to differentiate between multiple states of being and praise one at the expense of the others.

How was this ever an acceptable method of international relations?

I challenge this country to continue its press forward rather than stagnate in this self-congratulation. We have a storied history, absolutely, but patting ourselves on the back for things we personally did not even accomplish is self-indulgent and lazy — precisely what citizens of other countries despise us for.

The greatest country in the world would foster the existence of love wherever it was, not question its legitimacy in certain forms. That country would not spread economic risk wide across the population while compounding the reward among a select few. That country would not deny people in other nations access to basic food and water out of some twisted idea of national defense.

But most importantly, that country would never call itself the greatest country in the world.

America is not the greatest country in the world, and our ability to acknowledge that is precisely where the remaining beauty of this nation lies.

Pandering to those who live in an imaginary world where the needs and goals of the United States still reign supreme is an antiquated and imperialist world-view. Today, the world is no longer a place that can be dominated by any one country.

If the United States wants to remain welcome in that world, it must embrace its own flaws.

Free expression is one of the most fundamental human rights and is something this country once stood for.

Calling this country flawed is a return to that original value of free expression, not the radical, un-American leftist agenda some might dismiss it as. It is one of the most truly American acts possible.

So think for a moment about who is more true to that original idea of America.

Is it the masses that swoon when someone preaches about the shimmering glory of the United States or the Swiss exchange student rolling her eyes in the front row of my small-townhigh school.

­— drlreed@indiana.edu