Don't Count Out Americans

These was in response to a post on the MarketWatch site about how it is OK to deeply question America's behavior.

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I agree with the drift of JokeHeros' commentary.

Don't count the US out. We have a deeply ingrained tendency to rise from the ashes of our errors, and ultimately do the constructive thing, the right thing.

We are very willing to go through a process of painful, prolonged introspection to correct our direction.

We have shown historically time and again that when we make big mistakes, we work hard and long to fix them.

Slavery is a good example.

Another remarkable thing about the US is that it kicked booty in a big war, then rebuilt the enemy, and then split. That was extraordinary! That's what happened with the Marshall Plan in WWII. Before that, when a big power was victorious militarily, the vanquished nation would be taken over and plundered, and very often the inhabitants enslaved. The fact that we poured huge amounts of our own money in to rebuilding our former enemy in Europe, AND THEN WENT HOME, is sublime.

Even in the Vietnam War, as divided as the public opinion was, the argument nonetheless was about what was the RIGHT thing to do. The Hawks were convinced that communism had to be stopped. (Note: Stalin and Mao killed so many of their own people that their final totals made Hitler look like a boy scout. Look up the death totals. You can make a strong case that the Chinese had to be checked.) The hawks, in general, honestly believed they were doing the right thing.

At the same time, so did the doves.

That's what is special about the US. Overall, our intention is to do that which is right and constructive. Accordingly,we have devised a system that enables us to right our previous wrongs.

The present economic crisis is being handled in just such a fashion. One major argument is whether to bailout the businesses on life support, or not. The controversy is intense, but the overriding sentiment is to do what is right.

That is very American.

And there is a great call to punish the malignantly greedy.

That is, again, very American.

JokeHeros has the right idea, I think. What has brought America to its present strength globally is of our ability to be very introspective, and to correct our errors, and to work hard toward doing the right thing.
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