What has gone wrong in America?

What has gone wrong in America? Many throughout the world see a nation disjointed internally. A nation with radical extremists in control of large parts of its society. A nation with wide material inequality. A nation since the 9/11 blowing up of New York’s World Trade Center with none of its foreign interventions having achieved objectives. And now a nation being challenged economically politically militarily by 1.4 billion in the People’s Republic of China under the leadership of Premier Xi Jinping.

XXXXXX

America is a nation in a state of confusion.

A nation with its citizens overwhelmed by an unrelenting flow of fake vile lugubrious information empowered by an unrestrained media and internet

A nation that recently was under the control of a psycho President who dispatched a mob to ransack the Capitol in hopes of overturning his loss in an election

A nation that has not managed to bring back the manufacturing jobs it has lost to other countries; and now sees even high tech jobs shifting abroad

And a new President who is trying to put some of the pieces back together, yet facing sizeable opposition forces

The World sees a stark contrast between America as it was at its founding, as it was during the aftermath of the First and Second World Wars, as it was in the Cold-War Era, as it was after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

This raises serious questions.

Why has America so suddenly become so “disjointed”? Why has rational thought become so absent? Why are so many of its citizens unable to draw the line between constructive “Free Speech” and extreme opinions and beliefs that encourage societally destructive behaviors?

Forms of such aberrant behavior were an issue on the minds of the early American leaders Washington and Madison and others when the Nation was founded. It led to their concern as to how much power to give to the masses. There were questions such as: How much power should those in control have to contain the masses? How can a constitutional government of the people and for the people check-mate all sides to the equation?

Socrates had given them a warning. He said that the best form of government is neither a tyranny nor a democracy. Instead government worked best when ruled by individuals who had the greatest ability knowledge and virtue and possessed a complete understanding of themselves. The masses were left out of that equation.

His was an ideal society. It turned out to be inoperable in America after its formation and most certainly today. In this Age in America there is lack of ability knowledge and virtue among many of its rulers. And as for the masses ??

This inoperability is the result of a lack of constitutional control over the “self-centered” neurotic psychotic side of American social and political behavior; both of the rulers and of the masses.

So here is the question every American should now be asking:

Has the time come to go back to Socrates and rethink this “Democracy” thing all over again?

For answers Americans should be studying China. To solve the “contain the masses” problem it is attempting to instill within the masses a “one for all, all for one” Confucian ethic.

Each individual should act for the benefit of the group, and the group should act for the benefit of each individual

To contain the “rulers” problem; an area where traditional Marxism had failed, there is an emphasis on ruler ability knowledge and virtue.

The implications are profound. In ideological competition with the American “Freedom” formula are over 1.400 billion Chinese citizens accepting an entirely different pattern of thought and behavior.

America is losing the battle. One reason is that the American system, as here discussed, gives full rein to the “me/me/mine” side of human impulse of both the rulers and the masses.

Another; there is no “containment” of autocratic power. In America income inequality is greater than that in any of the other Western democracies and is growing. Those American autocrats who adhere to the American system become blinded to the suffering of the downtrodden.

By way of containment of autocratic power and resultant income inequality China is taking steps on all levels to address this societal dysfunction

A key to an understanding of the China system is this: China is intent on containing this “dark side” of all human behavior – as evidenced by societally destructive forces throughout its own history. Controlling such forces at every level is a priority. The word in English is “Sinicization”.

This includes those religious forces that are counter to social harmony. Sinicization basically says that religious belief in China is acceptable but may not be contradictory to the overall ethicality of social policy. It should be noted that recently Vatican relations have warmed. Here is a link to a prominent 90 year old American Episcopalian Priest that may answer why:

Was Jesus a “Socialist”?

Jesus the Jewish Socialist

This Sinicization approach has enabled China to control Uyghur extremist terrorism. Uyghurs within the Xinjiang region number just over 12 million. Traditionally Islam there had been non extremist. Then Islamic extremist terrorism was brought in, mainly by ISIS Islamic terrorists from the Middle East. “Reeducation Centers” are being used to mollify those behavioral extremist Islamic elements brought in.

Some random facts about American behavior are now in order. Between 1994 and 2020 there were 893 terrorist attacks and plots in the United States. Overall, right-wing terrorists perpetrated the majority; 50 % of all attacks and plots during this period compared to 25 % committed by left-wing terrorists, 15 % by religious terrorists, 3 % by ethno nationalists.

For more detail go to References below under Hate groups and hate crimes increase

Then there was the U.S. Capitol ransack.

There is no such extremist behavior in China. All is quiet. One reason why; there are no news outlets or organizations as in America that feast on such behavior.

On the economic front China has been able to move forward in many ways. It has been able to control growth within the framework of a combination of selective government ownership and private ownership; choice depending on specific China centric objectives. And unlike as it was with Marxism there is recognition of the full force of the market as a vital component of ultimate pricing.

Using this approach China has been able to take broad measures toward social needs and infrastructural climate initiatives such as electrical grid, electric transportation, etc. (no Texas tragedies as Referenced below)

Also, internationally it has been able to expand its cultural, political and economic influence beyond its borders by way of its Belt and Road initiative; now stretching to the other Asian countries, to the Middle East, to Eastern Europe and to South America. And then there was the recent move: China inks 25-year $400 billion deal with Iran.

On another level China has been able to extend its control of sickness and disease. A recent example is the Corona virus. Upon discovery in China there were extensive lockdowns. Chinese pharmaceutical companies then went into action. And now as a gesture of goodwill China has pledged roughly 10 times more Corona vaccines abroad than it has distributed at home. As of this writing the Chinese pharmaceutical companies Sinovac and Sinopharm are supplying “vaccine aid” to 53 low and middle-income countries, those largely left behind as rich nations are scooping up most of the pricey vaccines produced by the likes of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson.

The above topic has come into sharp focus due to the pandemic in the context of vaccines and the IP waiving of international property rights. Big pharma are opposed to IP waivers at the WTO. This leaves many not rich nations looking to China and Russia for the vaccines.

The list goes on.

So here is the “if it succeeds” China question:

Is Premier Xi Jinping

Follower of Confucian emphasis on personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness and sincerity the man Socrates and Jesus – and Confucius himself – would choose as the world leader to recognize and overcome the dark neurotic psychotic force now in this Age driving all humans on this planet toward extinction?

Or would it be ex-president Donald Trump? Or neo-liberal American congressmen like Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell? Or would it be Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News or his Wall Street Journal? Or would it be Christian Evangelical pro-Trump Texan Robert Jeffress? Or would it be any of those Americans posting their anti-Biden diatribes on Face Book? Or any of those Republican Senators and Representatives who now as a solid block in congress are announcing to the World that America is no longer “The United States of America” but now “The Divided States of America”?

It would appear Xi Jinping has a much better chance of passing the Socrates/Confucius/Jesus test. Also of leading the world toward a new and necessary form of Ethical Social Political Revolution.

Why ?

Because it would seem he has identified the fact that we are coming out of a several thousand year period of separate regional, religious and other identity formation.

Because it would seem he has identified the fact that a new period is being forced on us by our need to reassess our relationship to each other by way a shared global identity and a shared symbiotic relationship with all life on Planet Earth.

Because it would seem he has identified the need for a metamorphosis of the human mind far surpassing all others seen throughout human history.

Because it would seem he has identified the fact that human survival is at stake.

XXX

REFERENCES:

https://tomdispatch.com/washingtons-delusion-of-endless-world-dominion/

Alfred W. McCoy HARRINGTON PROFESSOR OF HISTORY

UNIVERSITY of WISCONSIN–MADISON

“So, sooner or later, both Washington and Beijing will have to recognize that we are now in a distinctly dangerous new world where, in the decades to come, without some kind of coordination and global cooperation to curtail climate change, old imperial truths of any sort are likely to be left in the attic of history in a house coming down around all our ears.”

XXX

Following are two of my essays written in 2017 and 2018 that attempt to explain why China, if it succeeds in its experiment, may have a better chance of becoming the template for a new and creatively cohesive global human civilization structured within a reordering of human thought and action allowing people to live in a symbiotic relationship with all life and nonlife on this planet.

https://countercurrents.org/2017/12/07/the-end-of-american-exceptionalism/

https://progressivechristianity.org/resources/the-end-of-neo-liberal-american-exceptionalism/

XXX

A NY Times Quote

Nicholas Kristof NY TIMES  Feb. 13, 2021 Can Biden Save Americans Like My Old Pal Mike?

“We fret about competitive challenges from China, but the best way to meet them is to elevate our capabilities at home. China built new universities at the rate of one a week, while the number of colleges in the United States is now shrinking — and as many Americans have criminal records as have college degrees.”

XXX

Here is an essay by Irwin Jerome about the confusion that exists in Texas and the inability of Texan society to correct the problems that Texan “Freedoms” have over the years bestowed on its people. It is an illustration of Texan (and American) dysfunction. I lived there for ten years as a senior officer and member of the Executive Committee of the largest bank in the state. So I know. A rough rugged Texan took over. I left. Six years later it went under.

https://countercurrents.org/2021/02/climate-catastrophe-in-texas-and-the-texans-are-freezing-to-death/

XXX

From MY NEW BOOK 2020 C.E.

The pseudo “civilized” behavior we can observe in many of our leaders today is just a mask behind their real persona. Jeremiah warned us of this. He told us that we have a dark side. It can emerge as a driver of our behavior. No one is spared. So his words that we can all be “wicked” should give us pause.

Jeremiah  around 600 B.C.E.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

Jeremiah 17:9

XXX

From Nag Hammadi monastery Egypt discovered 1945 C.E.

(7) Jesus said; blessed is the lion which when consumed by man becomes man, and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes…

XXX

From Egypt around 2.400 B.C.E.

The concept of weighing something in order to judge the fate of the deceased is first seen in ancient Egypt. People’s hearts were weighed on a scale against a feather. The Weighing of the Heart would take place in Duat. (the Underworld) There the dead were judged by Anubis, using a feather, representing Ma’at, the goddess of truth and justice responsible for maintaining order in the universe. The heart was the seat of the life-spirit (ka). Hearts heavier than the feather of Ma’at were rejected and eaten by Ammit, the Devourer of Souls.

XXX

Hate groups and hate crimes increase

Countercurrents Collective — March 18, 2021

White supremacist propaganda in U.S. hit an all-time high

“Hate crimes against Asian Americans rose almost 150% in 2020 in a study of America’s 16 largest cities.”

“Citing a new report from the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, media reports from the U.S. said there has been alarming increase of white supremacist propaganda in the U.S. Incidents of white supremacist propaganda hit an all-time high in 2020, according to the report. Anti-Semitic, racist and anti-LGBTQ+ posters, flyers and graffiti were recorded 5,125 times in 2020, according to the report, almost twice the number of incidents recorded in 2019. At least 30 different white supremacist groups distributed flyers put up graffitied public and private spaces last year, the report says. The messaging varied from overt neo-Nazi propaganda to coded language that disguised white supremacist messaging inside expressions of patriotism and nationalism. Three organizations were responsible for more than 90% of the propaganda incidents. The most active group by far was Texas-based Patriot Front, headed by white supremacist Thomas Rousseau, which was behind 4,105 of the incidents.


GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX


Source

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes