Taking the Pulse: What Is Wrong With America?
The title is a bit misleading. It is true that there are some things seriously wrong with the overcrowding and industrial pollution that and environmental degradation of the once-beautiful American landscape, it is not so much the place that has gone to seed as the people. So, just in case there are any curmudgeons out there, please tell us ONE thing that is wrong with the American people. By concentrating on one issue, no matter how small, we might be able to get to the bottom of it (though I suppose the premise of the question is that we are already quite close to any conceivable bottom).
Here is my initial suggestion. One thing very wrong with Americans is their habit of reducing all serious discussions to questions of personality. As a prime example, consider the public comments on President Biden's speech. Although one or two business experts have quite properly derided his tax-and-spend proposals, most commentators have focussed on his age, his health, his vitality. Imagine some dictator gave a speech calling for the extermination of a cultural-religious minority as a prelude to war with Russia, and the comments were either, "You know, the Führer was in good form this evening, and I liked the way he's curling his mustache," Or, "What's wrong with that guy. The way he shouted, and I can't say much for the way he's curling his mustache!"
So here we have Biden, who (with help from Hilary and his other He-she-and it-lots) for weeks has been deriding the perhaps 35-40% of Americans who have made up their mind to vote for Donald Trump and basically calling for them to be put in Cultural Revolution-style reeducation camps on the eve of the wars he is ramping up in the Ukraine and the Middle East, and all the comments are about the style of the speech someone wrote for him and the energy produced by drugs someone gave him.
Meanwhile, the comments on Trump are directed toward his hair, his paunch, his style, his wealth. Sure, he like Biden is an easy target for personal attacks, but Trump's policies are part of the only sound program an American president has announced in my lifetime: close the Southern border, repatriate as many illegal aliens--starting with felons--as we can, pursue peaceful diplomacy with powerful rivals, bring industry back home to the United States, enforce law and reintroduce order into American cities, cut taxes on the working classes, and encourage business. Biden's plan, which he has been pursuing vigorously, is diametrically opposite.
Political action, rooted in sound policy, is objective reality. Hairstyles, decrepitude, gaffes, and buffoonery are largely subjective judgements based on party affiliation and media pressure. On a personal subjective level, both Trump and Biden would be at the bottom of my list of preferred presidents, but if Trump's programs could be carried out to the extent of perhaps one fourth of what he projects, it is the difference between life and death for this country.
You see the same thing with comments about Milei in Argentina. “He’s not fooling me by parading around with all those big breasted women. I know he’s a homosexual.” Well, I don’t know, and he is rather bizarre, and I wonder if the country’s Italian heritage might be partly responsible for the emergence of such a bizarre political personality since Italy has it’s share. But the fact is some of his reforms are good and he delivered the most scathing speech to the Davos nuts since Putin’s speech several years ago. That’s not too bad.
I remember when Trump won back in 2016 I told some people that I thought the radical left had been about to deliver the coup-de-grace to the country but Trump had upset their plans. Today he is the last hope. If God only worked with perfect people the devil would have won long ago.
I didn’t watch very much of the farce before getting fed up, but later watched some clips from later on in the speech. The social dynamics going on in the chamber were disturbing and seemed to indicate trouble ahead. It’s almost as if we were back in Berlin, the army is on parade celebrating the 40th anniversary of the republic, and it’s October 7th, 1989. Biden and the other western leaders are a bunch of Honeckers.
The one thing I can offer for what is wrong with the American people is Dabney’s observation that they are concerned with symbolism over substance, or as put by a Senator, ” the word, sir, but not the thing”. In a society where someone can try to sell you a “plant based dairy product” and expect to be taken seriously instead of being scorned, it’s no surprise that someone else, a grown “man” will claim to be a “teenage girl” and expect to be allowed into the little girls’ bathroom. Or, conversely, that the Confederate battle flag is not a legitimate symbol that has in the past been misused by some, but is rather inherently evil itself, because symbols are what matter, not the real history or the real cause it represents. Symbols are what matters, because these people only have ideology and nothing else, and ideology is only ideas, not reality, or rather, ideology is in a sense only symbolism. That’s all it can be because it’s always utopian, and utopia exists no where and can never exist, thus it can only be represented with ideas, not demonstrated with real examples.
The Yankee national character.
Clyde, most of the readers pronbably know what you mean, as I do, and agree, but for those who do not, perhaps you would elaborate.
AW, excellent points. I am sure everyone recalls the famous Confucian parable about reforming an empire that ends, “Begin by calling things by their correct names.”
I wish someone would ask Biden how he thinks American democracy is actually viable when so much of the American demos, as he does not tire of reminding us, is so contemptible.
In all the polls that ask us what the most important issues or problems we face, none of them include the ever growing national debt, which is rapidly becoming unsustainable. Americans seem to be unaware of the problem.
Re: Fleming’s assessment of the trivial commenteries on Biden’s speech, commenteries that focus on his age, how he did, how he looked.
Years ago I was talking with an intelliegent, cultured European who held a high position in big business, i.e. NOT ONE OF US BUT A “NORMIE.”
His being a normie made his comments all the more remarkable.
Reagan had just had the big meet-up with Gorbachev. Mrs. Reagan was there. Mrs. Gorbachev was there.
The European, who had been transferred to America for 2 years, expressed genuine shock at the “American” media’s treatment of this supposedly serious conference.
Of course, I already hated the media and would count the page numbers of the newspapers to see for myself if they were accurate, but having lived in America all my life, I was used to it and did not even notice the childish, superficial nature of the reporting that surprised him and on which Dr. Fleming is writing.
He showed me a collection of several newspapers he had and snorted.
The articles were overwhelmingly about the most fantastically trivial and unimportant things you could imagine:
– Who came off better, Reagan or Gorbachev?
– What kind of dress did Mrs. Reagan wear?
– What kind of dress did Mrs. Gorbachev wear?
– Which dress out shone the other?
– The fact that asparagus with hollondaise sauce was served at the dinner.
On and on.
He then showed me a collection of European newspapers.
They actually dealt with the business transacted at the conference, the important issues.
Ever since then, when I read a newspaper, listen to a radio or watch a televiion news program, I see this silliness.
I’m embarrassed that I had to have someone point it out to me.
At least it was a European and he beat Fleming to the punch!
I wonder if the American drive to focus on all things inane (professional sports, entertainment gossip, political showmanship . . .etc.) is a byproduct of the fact that Americans are trained/indoctrinated/hypnotized/bullied into never pondering the realities that contradict the many lies modern life is built upon? We are trained from an early age to publicly acknowledge there is no difference between men and women, that minorities are innately superior to white people, that individual rights and happiness trump any and all other considerations, that religion should be nothing more than a hobby and that God doesn’t actually care what one does, that one can find fulfillment in the pursuit of material goods . . . etc. We have to have SOMETHING to pour our social energy into, and when the field is covered with so many land mines I guess Mrs. Reagan’s dress and Mr. Biden’s age are among the safe avenues?
It reminds me of a Conservative, Inc. gala event I was invited to attend (I served as the chauffer / body guard for my pastor). To give you an indication of what kind of event it was, Mark Levin was given an award honoring him as one of the great intellectuals of our time. The overwhelming theme of the evening was making fun of the Woke movement by focusing on how absurd the Transgender folks are. It came across as a bunch of bullies happy that the Transgender loser showed up, because it was safe to make fun of him and not have to worry about anyone getting upset. Certainly no mention of immigration, insane government spending, never-ending foreign wars, feminism, no-fault divorce, BLM/Antifa, the corruption of the judicial system by lawfare tactics, or any other issue that is actually impacting so many citizens. Meanwhile some eager, bright young thing at my table kept going on and on about how a Convention of the States was the answer to all our problems and would result in actual term limits for Congress. And, worst of all, it was a cash bar, so not even free drinks. Blah.
Apathy–until their own ox is gored.
So many excellent points. I would add that Americans, perhaps more than any other people, have mounted a continuous and relentless assault on literacy and language. Examples abound daily; just a few moments watching or listening to TV or radio, or a glimpse at a newspaper or a visit to a bookstore (if you can find one) illustrate this unhappy truth.
The state of being exhausted by truth: In the words of M Hoffman, “…Centuries ago it was deduced that in this time and place, after enough immersion in the alchemical crucible, the people would be in a psychological decay-state where we are exhausted by the truth. In past generations revelations of high crimes would have been revitalizing incentives to concerted action, in bringing perpetrators to justice. In the Wests, in century 21’s Society of the Spectacle, they are mostly grist for the thrill-of-the week on the part of a mass of degenerate voyeurs spectating at their own demise, at which they aspire to obtain a front-row seat.”
Is the M Hoffman who produced this turgid sentence Michael Hoffman the self-proclaimed revisionist?
Back in the 1980s there was a revisionist Michael Hoffman whose supporters sent me messages about knowing where my children went to school. Hoffman was upset by my dismissal of his defense of Aryan Nation members tried, and I believe convicted, for the murder of a Jewish talkshow host in Denver. I was advised to go to the police, who told me they would turn the letter over to the FBI. I never thought much about it, since I have had similar attacks and threats from the kook left as from the kook right. If anyone can tell me if the two MHs are the same, I would appreciate it.
I read the quote on a substack site entitled: ‘Michael Hoffman’s Revelation of the Method’ I don’t know if it is the same author, but I bet he is. From my scant study of his recent essays I don’t think he is a kook now – a bit eccentric maybe but I have not read enough of his work to be sure. He does seem to put some time and research into his writing. About who he was in the 80’s, assuming it is the same MH, I only know what you just wrote. Actually though, I shudder at the thought of what I was in the 80’s.
Frank, I would not beat up on yourself. We have all been foolish. What struck me, when I looked at MH’s webpage, was that he was transparently lying to protect himself. Beyond that, the pseudo-academic clunky prose struck me immediately as something written by an imposter. The old MH was a piece of subhuman lice, who sat in his little room imagining himself Hitler and egging people on to trying to intimidate people who disagreed with his Satanic pronouncements. I still do not know if the new MH is the same, but if he is, I can guarantee that he has simply devised a safer shtick. Over the years I have met and dealt with amazing bigots. I am not particularly appalled by stupid, hate-filled people: They run our county. The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Aryan Nation, the Nation of Islam are all the same to me–conspiracies of lowlife conmen, fleecing the gullible by terrorizing them and then promising them a power they will never have.