My America

By: G. S. Doetsch - 02/01/03

What happened to you, America? Where have you gone?

In 1939, Germany -- the country of my birth -- launched a devastating world war that spread terror and destruction across Europe, and ultimately was responsible for the death of nearly 50 million people.

After six long years it was over, and many of us still survive to reflect and regret. How could the land of Kant, Bach, Goethe, Beethoven, Hesse cause so much suffering?

I was just a child, but I remember the air raid sirens in the night and the stillness that finally settled over the land. Everyone dreaded the Soviet troops advancing from the east; German soldiers and refugees rushed westward to surrender to, or be liberated by, your American Army. My family was lucky. I remember your jeeps and trucks driving through our village. Sometimes, GIs passed out chocolate to the children and cigarettes to young women and old men. Your smiles and ours are not forgotten.

And later I learned how you, America, had helped save my country from final dissolution, rescued the world from fascism in Eurasia, and then blocked the advance of Soviet communism. You kept alive a divided city in a divided country -- my Berlin, my birthplace. You defended that island of democracy through a corridor of freedom that pierced the heart of East German communism. And when the Soviets cut the lifeline on the ground, you made a new lifeline in the sky -- a sky train of C-47s, the Berlin airlift. Children stood on the ruins of the city and cheered as plane after plane, loaded with food or coal, landed in West Berlin.

Yes, America, you had a postwar dream: the Marshall Plan to rebuild your former enemies. What a noble, splendid vision. You helped found the UN and made a strong commitment to a better world.

Then we made a new home in your America. A magnificent lady made of copper and steel greeted us. With torch held aloft, she represents all that is good about the American endeavor. You gave us the opportunity for a new life -- shelter, food, clothing, your social and political institutions, your schools and playgrounds, your lakes, mountains, and vast coastlines. Yes, and you also granted us the supreme privilege of citizenship under the Bill of Rights -- with a First Amendment that guarantees the fundamental principles of freedom which all humans covet.

I was proud of the America I studied in school, a nation founded upon an enlightened constitution, a country of liberalism and progress that had done so much for Europe and the rest of the world. You had embraced our family and brought millions of other immigrants to your shores. And what you accomplished for your people -- a tripartite political system with checks and balances, child labor laws, New Deal legislation, a minimum wage, Social Security, collective bargaining, public education, Great Society legislation, civil and voting rights acts, Medicare, a superb national defense, an interstate highway network, the National Park Service, National Institutes of Health, FDA, EPA, CDC… But above all, the freedom and opportunity to develop and grow as individuals and as a national community. I took advantage of that abundance, attended some of your great universities, served in the Armed Forces, and devoted my career to the study and teaching of science.

Then something changed.

Or had shadows always been lurking behind the Statue of Liberty? Had I simply been too young, too naive, to know? Had your American education misled me? Had you, America, always been encumbered by moral contradiction and waves of malevolence?

I don’t know when it began. Perhaps evil was there from the beginning, when you excluded people with dark skin from the “inalienable rights” of man, when you slaughtered native Americans and drove them from their land, when you fought a brutal war between the states over the institution of slavery (under the rubric of states rights). You and your allies even turned the war against fascism into devastating campaigns against civilians -- the fire bombings of Hamburg, Dresden, and Tokyo came when the outcome of the war was no longer in doubt. And then you incinerated Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- the first and only use of the atom bomb -- killing nearly 200,000 innocent civilians to save the lives of soldiers. Were those attacks on civilian populations not a patent violation of international rules of warfare and moral principles?

At home, other demons emerged: poverty and hunger, racism and lynching, the internment of Japanese-Americans, the witch hunts of Senator McCarthy, violations of the civil rights of minority groups, FBI spying on private citizens… Abroad, you made war in Korea and then in Viet Nam, under the delusion that those countries must be destroyed, if necessary, to save us from communism. Yes, Viet Nam -- 50,000 American soldiers and countless Vietnamese died for nothing. You failed to winthose brutal conflicts, but all the dominoes did not fall to communism. Your geopolitical assumptions were wrong.

What did you learn from those tragic events, America? Did you address the root causes of our social and foreign ills? You legislated civil rights, but racism survived. You declared war against poverty, hunger, drugs, crime -- but “war” on problems clearly failed as a paradigm for long-term solutions. And the paranoid fear of communism remained. You engaged in open or covert military actions throughout the world, sometimes supporting oppressive regimes and tyrants of the worst kind. These are not just random names -- Iran, Guatemala, Congo, El Salvador, Libya, Panama, Laos, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Chile, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Africa, the Middle East -- and not your only targets. The Soviet empire ultimately crumbled under its own corrupt weight, requiring little help from you, my America.

And then, a new century dawned amid hope for justice, peace, and enlightenment. But hope was dashed early by your presidential election in which judicial fiat trumped democracy. Corporate corruption and influence peddling became rampant. Powerful lobbies now control the domestic political process and drive international policy. And corporate owners manage the “free press.”

Hence, poverty, hunger, drugs, crime, homelessness, poor schools, lack of universal health care and health insurance, violation of civil rights, racism are still with us. Often because solutions to those ills are not relevant to the corporate bottom line. Yes, America, you even try to regulate the most personal of human affairs -- reproductive freedom, medical and private use of certain drugs, sexual behavior, and fundamental choices regarding one’s own life and death. You prohibit me from aid in choosing my own death, but you can legally command my death in a court of law.

How distressing.

Corporate greed seems to be matched only by individual greed. Most of us seem to want more of everything, and we want it all now. Apparently with little concern for our fellow Americans and virtually none for people of other nations. And what about the environment we all share… Why do we bulldoze the earth, pollute the water we drink and the air we breathe? Do we really need to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? The alternatives are obvious. Yes, some have a different vision, but they are relatively weak in number and influence.

Your international reputation has steadily deteriorated, my America. You have lost the respect of many peoples in the world. The reasons are not difficult to understand. You:

Scrapped the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

Decided to build a nuclear defense system in space.

Gave unqualified military and political support to Israel, but neglected the claims of Palestinians to self-determination.

Rejected an international ban on the use of land mines.

Withdrew from the Kyoto Accord on global warming.

Opposed the International Criminal Court and the World Court.

Withheld money for UN global family planning.

Opposed a ban of the death penalty.

Refused to lift the boycott of Cuba.

Those and other unilateral actions represent a return to isolationism.

You have been there before, my America. Don’t you remember?

And most recently, on 9/11/2001, you became the target of devastating terrorist attacks. The deaths of 3000 civilians shook us to the core, and panic spread across the land. For the first time, international terrorism had crossed our shores -- and our collective sense of invincibility and security was shattered.

What was your response to that horrific event, my America? Did you try to calm your people and put the tragedy into perspective? After all, other nations had been victims of terrorism for years, we Americans had been attacked overseas, and previous attempts against our homeland had been undertaken. The danger was always there. Did you explore the reasons for the attacks and strive to address the underlying causes…

Why do they hate us so much? Did you develop a rational plan of action?

Sadly, a fog of erratic activity clouded your response. Conflicting government statements, useless warnings, and ineffective action fueled our panic. The TV media only enhanced the fear -- how often did they have to show the towers collapse? And no one remembered FDR’s words,

“…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

You finally announced the official policy decisions: a worldwide war against terrorism, a manhunt for Osama bin Laden, destruction of the al-Qaeda network. But suddenly your orders changed -- followed by a war against the Taliban and Afghanistan. And then came threats against Saddam Hussein and an impending attack on Iraq, with no evidence of connections between Iraq and the terrorist strikes. During that chaotic time, you, America, condemned an arbitrary “axis of evil,” curtailed civil rights in the name of national security, indefinitely “detained” foreign nationals who were given no recourse to the law, and needlessly provoked North Korea.

Most importantly, you have failed to distinguish between “possession” and “intent to use” highly destructive weapons. At least eight countries have nuclear arms, and many more have other means of “mass destruction.” But you are the largest stockpiler and most prolific trader of weapons in the world. And only you, America, have actually used nuclear bombs. Does anyone seriously believe that Iraq, North Korea, or any other nation would dare launch a major attack on you, America? Your military could eliminate that country from the earth within 24 hours.

And thus, the final cut -- the new doctrine of “pre-emptive or preventive war.” In defiance of all principle and logic, you, America, usurped the right to a first strike attack on any nation you believe might pose a danger to your security. Furthermore, you advocated permanent military supremacy in the world to implement that doctrine.

No wonder that countries, which feel threatened, are in a panic to enhance their military strength. And there is no doubt that your aggressive posture will increase -- not decrease -- terrorist actions.

How utterly discouraging.

Is our situation not reminiscent of the policies of prewar Germany? How could it come to this, in the land of Abraham Lincoln, Louis Armstrong, Emily Dickinson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the German refugee, Albert Einstein? Your misguided doctrine is the ultimate irony for every German-American.

I fear for you, my America.

It seems you have forgotten the basic principles of democracy that illuminated your birth. But, a small group of Americans resisted your recent slide toward oligarchy and authoritarianism. And soon, a movement against war and civil rights abuses was born and is still growing. So, I refuse to surrender my love and hopes for you.

Perhaps we, the people, can turn you away from arrogant imperialism, and encourage you to a leadership role as a constructive, peaceful member of the international community. Perhaps you will rediscover the virtues of democracy and the staggering power of united humanitarian action.

Enlightened changes in your foreign and domestic policies will do more to prevent terrorism and social problems than any “wars” or “homeland security” measures.

I just hope it is not too late.

G. S. Doetsch, a contributing writer for Liberal Slant, is a retired professor of neuroscience, with a keen interest in world affairs. Born in Germany in 1940 and came to this country in 1949.