THE UNITED STATES FAILING IDEALS
Confrontation in Los Angeles last week
The United States has borne the label the greatest country in the world, albeit self-proclaimed. There are plenty of other countries in the world that are better places to live but the US has claimed the title since the second world war because of their wealth and their overwhelming military. That power was balanced in some senses by a morality that everyone understood and even though they failed many times, there was a certain logic behind their governance and international relations that gave the world pause and a kind of respect and if not respect fear.
It is regrettable that their reputation appears headed toward the rocks as the world watches what is happening internally. What is happening internally is not a grand battle of one half against the next over the question of African slavery. This time, a nation built on immigration is tearing itself apart because the people who now govern it appear to want to tear up the rule book and deny that they are a nation of immigrants.
Jeffery Sachs, the Columbia Professor of Economics, claimed in an interview with Al Jazeera on the programme Up Front that the problem the US faces is that the country is turning into a black and brown country, and the base that controls the country politically is fundamentally racist and will not allow those changes to take place. That what we see before our eyes is the attempt to hold back the tide.
Carlton Francis, our former Finance Minister, used to say “You can stand on the beachhead of history but you cannot hold back the tide.”
The U S was founded by Europeans who disposed by violence and death the native populations, and then created what they said was a free and democratic republic. With checks and balances.
The constitution designed by 18th century farmers has worked so far but seems now to be straining at the bit by a cynical group that acts in many ways like the government that their founders broke away from all those many centuries ago.
For countries like The Bahamas, we simply eat the popcorn and watch. We are the brunt of every decision and we have no influence over it. We pray for the best but really expect the worst. But in terms of our policies in response, whatever they do is well done.
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