How proud am I of America?
Well, by next week this should be an interesting read. These words are being written before Donald Trump’s birthday parade. “No King’s Day” hasn’t happened. I have no idea what the Pope may say in his speech. Will there be riots in DC? It’s possible; the US Army thinks there may be.
I don’t have a clue what the next 100 hours hold. My gut tells me there’s a chance some major event could happen that changes the course of American history. I think many Americans look towards this weekend with a feeling of dread. I don’t know… nobody knows.
But I do know some things and maybe that’s what I should tell you about. I do know my father served in the Presidential Honor Guard (Old Guard, Ft Myers, 3rd) under two Presidents. One uncle was wounded on Omaha Beach and another was captain of an artillery unit in Korea. Yes, yes, I can go on with who fought where… blood spilled for this country. All the way back to the 1730s, which was yesterday at lunch for Sergey and Roger, but it’s far back for me. To paraphrase Trump: I come from a family of suckers and losers. But I also know some things Orange Jesus doesn’t, like about American history.
After World War II the US was in a rather odd position: We had THE bomb and nobody else did. We had an intact military/industrial complex, nobody else did. Planes, trains & automobiles? Yep, ate up with em’. Name anything, the Americans had em’ in spades. Even basics like food… mountains of the stuff.
The Red Army certainly fought the war, but their pilots sat on aluminum Boeing nameplates for good luck. Their bullets were often not of Soviet manufacture.
So let us pretend that you are American President Truman and World War II has just ended. You are everything Trump and Putin wish they could be. You are truly King of the World. And I mean that in every last way. This is a serious question: If you were really the King of the World, how would you use your power?
I cannot think of any other moment in the history of Earth where one, single person had that kind of power over the entire planet. Seriously, what would you do if you really were the king?
I’ll tell you what my grandparent’s generation did: they never claimed the throne. Living in another country, I get shit from time to time about how awful the Americans are. Here’s my list of what the US did after that war:
- The US Navy to guarantee safe passage of all merchant ships (huge).
- Create the United Nations that will allow all countries an equal voice.
- NATO to keep peace in Europe.
- Money to rebuild Germany after World War II
- Feeding Europe
This list could go on for a while, but I hope you are starting to get the idea. The Americans could have done anything but decided to create a better world. Yes, I am proud to be an American but I freely admit that my country may no longer be a Democratic Republic by as early as next year. According to Jen Psaki, there are currently more US Troops deployed to Los Angeles than to Syria & Iraq combined. The oligarchy is winning.
How proud am I of Britain?
On the face of it, I have much to admire about my country of birth, England, and the fact that I am British.
Our contribution to science, music, literature and culture has been invaluable all over the world. Think Shakespeare, The Beatles, and scientists like Isaac Newton. For such a small island, we have always punched well above our weight. We discovered, surveyed and mapped half of the planet, we educated a lot of it and we brought trade, infrastructure, organisation, security, law and order to most of it. And we invented the railways. I rest my case!
I also feel extremely fortunate to hold a British passport, which denies me the rough treatment so many of my foreign friends have to endure at borders throughout the planet.
I was born in 1952, just six years after the end of WW2, but by the time the 1960s had arrived, Britain was already becoming relatively prosperous. As a young teenager, I remember walking along Carnaby Street in London, with colour and optimism around every corner. Pop stars and other idols would mingle with us riff-raff, we didn’t have a care in the world. Even our football team, England, won the World Cup in 1966. (We haven’t come close since.)
Today, I’m not so sure that my pride is well placed. We allow Israel to attempt genocide in Gaza without a murmur, and our recent governments have completely lost track of what it’s like for “ordinary” folk to live and work in Britain. The country has been run for years by an elitist group of individuals who have never experienced life outside their privileged bubble.
Brexit stripped us of any influence on the world stage, and the Covid pandemic will be forever remembered for both government cronyism and jovial breaking of their own lockdown rules. Our beloved but beleaguered NHS is on life support, and our public transport system remains simultaneously dazzlingly inefficient and inordinately expensive.
I see racism, prejudice and xenophobia on the rise in Britain, so it’s difficult to argue with the great British author George Orwell, (1903-1950), who lamented: “England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality.”