Thoughts about America from an expat

An email in response to one from my dad who lives in Texas

This sums up pretty much what I believe politically

I don’t believe Capitalism works. It just brings out the worst in humanity, i.e. greed, bitterness, paranoia, quantity not quality, exploitation, deceit. It breeds corruption.

Even if someone started off a business with the best intentions, once the company takes off and the money starts coming in, the dodgy ways will likely follow: they want and need to keep that money flowing and that means get more for less. Pride in product isn’t really the goal, it is sales. Look at all the cheap, plastic shite from China. Look at all the companies using Chinese labour. Not only are the employees working in inhumane working conditions, the human rights record of China is frightening and they should be penalized not embraced. Money outweighing morality.

It’s hard enough just living day to day without inadvertently benefiting from someone else’s suffering or contributing to the destruction of the planet. You buy clothes and someone likely worked long hours at low pay to make them. You drive your kids to school and you’re polluting the environment. You buy almonds, for example, and the method of pollination is harmful to bees. Western electronic waste is dumped in Asia, cows are being farmed for fast food at the expense of the rain forest, cappuccinos are drunk at the expense of Ethiopians. And on and on and on. So even if you try to be an ethical business person, you can’t help but move into the world of corruption. Just alone having your money in a bank is highly questionable. What is the bank funding or investing in with your money? Do you agree with it?

Some companies refuse to give employees contracts, so, that they, I assume, don’t have to give them eventual raises. The employees pretty much work week to week unsure of hours or if the job will be there the following week. And yet people are made to feel guilty if they don’t work. Having said all this, there isn’t a system in existence, other than possibly one being followed by some remote indigenous tribe, that caters fairly to everyone. We know that so far socialism hasn't worked. But that doesn't mean it can't! And was the end result of these regimes so different to capitalism? Certain people benefited from that system while lying to the citizens. Getting them to believe that it was all for their own well-being and their lives were great, when in reality they were being duped.

My husband experienced the psychological trauma of growing up imprisoned by the Berlin wall. He knows of people mentally and physically tortured in prisons for speaking out against the regime or trying to escape, without ever having received a fair trial. But, you know our childhoods have some similarities. OK, I didn’t learn how to throw a hand grenade or climb under barbed wire, but we were both forced to pledge allegiance to the countries of our birth. Why? It’s not necessary to force respect if one truly deserves it.

As he was learning to hate and fear the Americans and their decadent western ways, I was being taught to hate and fear the Russians and all the countries trapped behind the Iron Curtain. And it’s blatantly noticeable that when the wall fell and with it the Commie threat along came the Muslim threat. How convenient!

As a kid, I clearly remember being home from school alone tucked up on the couch watching TV as the air raid test siren went off. I was terrified. I remember being in school and practicing bomb drills, ridiculous as they were. My husband had a similar experience. The point is, there was no point to any of it, it’s the same ol’ fear-mongering that’s happening now. The same manufactured moral panics.

And no, I didn’t grow up behind a wall, but our family was certainly restricted by our financial situation, a type of wall. We didn’t have a car. I didn’t do all the same things that my well-off friends were doing, nor was there any chance that I would be going to University. And we had it good compared to the Mexicans and African Americans, at least we were white and well educated to a certain degree and that keeps the wall at a scalable height. 

You make it clear that you are anti-abortion. I’m not sure what your views are on gun control? I firmly believe if they want to make it illegal to have an abortion, they better quickly figure out a way to successfully round up all the deserting fathers. And make it impossible to be raped or become a victim of incest or to carry a child with a fatal foetal abnormality. I think if abortion became illegal the system would have to glorify single mothers, creating schemes that cater to helping them and their children live well. I definitely don’t think abortion should be used as a form of birth control, but then that’s down to educating people better. 

In regards to gun control, I don’t get the whole obsession with having guns. Though I have a few theories on why many Americans seem to cherish them. Ancestral guilt maybe??? But it is crystal clear that they are harmful in the wrong hands and sadly there seem to be plenty of those .

I also find it disturbing that many Americans hate illegal immigrants, but hire them to look after their kids, tend their gardens and clean their houses. And, Americans are ultimately immigrants as well. They came to the new land from Europe in search of religious freedom and prosperity and used slaves to create prosperity and brutalized as well as systematically wiped out the ways of the original inhabitants. And now they have the audacity to stop Mexicans from crosser the boarder. Come on!!!!! 

I understand from your comments that you believe people gulp down the mindless media they are fed and I agree, but that, in my opinion, suits the system. A bunch of brain mushy idiots hating each other. Divide and conquer. They will never strive for equality.

And free health care, university etc. How nice!!! Either you pay into health insurance companies, (we all know they don’t like to pay up), or directly give the business or university money, or you are taxed to fund these things. If people were paid well in all jobs (well enough to live without financial stress), than it would be better that their taxes funded these things and you didn’t have to think about trying to find the money to pay for a doctor’s visit or further education for your kids when they were needed. They were simply accessible. I’ll say it again, how nice!

And if people are concerned about homeless, single mothers and all the so called useless spongers taking advantage of this system. So what. Someone somewhere has to be sympathetic. I’m not saying people should be mollycoddled and allowed to get away with behavior that is unfair to others (people need to try their best to get on with it). Nor am I naïve enough to believe that I can handle disturbing attitudes and obnoxious, even harmful behavior with ease, but some form of sympathy and forgiveness has to come into play in human interaction. We really have no idea what other people have endured. I am blown away at the harrowing stories that I’ve heard people reveal who look and seem quite “normal”. I remember, for example, doing a child care course and we had to give a presentation about ourselves as an assignment. I couldn’t believe the sad stories that emerged. And yet I could have dismissed or disliked someone for acting a certain way that bothered me without understanding what was behind it. 

In regards to the vicious cycle of racial intolerance, someone has to step back and refuse to jump on. Otherwise, the bitterness just keeps going around and around.

Sometimes, people don’t want to work when they realize the work ethic doesn’t empower them. And then, of course, a situation arises where the ones working consider the ones not working as lazy or system abusers. 

How can you abuse a system that is inherently abusive? 

There are people everywhere who would love to have a job, but either can’t find one or can’t find a job that pays enough to live on. Back to the unclimbable wall. And many people world-wide work themselves to the grave and have nothing to show for it. That’s not bleeding heart hype, it is a fact.

There is (at least there was a few years back) a doctor’s office in Berlin where each worker from the cleaning lady to the doctor received the same pay. That office was spotless and everyone seemed happy. There are other like-minded companies scattered about across the world. People are trying, though I don’t see a political system that isn’t seething with corruption and consequently creating an environment that makes it difficult for people to be fair.

And how can one fully embrace and respect a country that is full of contradiction.  When the government permits actions that don’t appear to be entirely legal, it creates suspicion. At least it should. For example, the American government sent a boat full of Jewish refugees back to Germany during WW2. At the same time they helped Nazis escape capture because they had useful skills.

Liberty and justice for all! That closing line I rattled off every morning throughout my childhood brings to mind those "Animal Farm" slogans. I guess any system that claims to be the best and fairest and shoves that down everyone’s throat can slot into the "Animal Farm" story. Liberty and justice for all could nicely be modified to Liberty and Justice for some.