What has America Become?

I know many of you are wondering this same thing.  What was started over two hundred years ago when our forefathers decided to start this great union unlike any other in history?  I found a recent letter to the editor by Alan Walden, and I am going to use selected portions in an effort to condense it without changing its meaning.

"I wonder how I became a stranger in my own land.

During more than three-quarters of a century on this planet I have come to believe in the greatness of America; a greatness fueled by goodness and the belief that this nation was founded to show the world how things can be when free men and women are allowed to pursue whatever dreams and ambitions they may have unfettered by social or political agendas or the tyranny of those to whom power is the narcotic of choice.   We chose, as our mantra "E Pluribus Unum," (From Many, One) as we invited others to join us and become Americans. But now, this stranger in his own land sees only the "pluribus” and wonders what happened to the "unum. "

 We created a government to provide structure and a sense of order, a structure in which the people, not the government, ruled supreme. We won our independence through eight years of blood and fire through the will of the people. We fought each other less than a century later and preserved the nation through the will of the people. We grew into the mightiest and most remarkable national entity the modern world had ever known through the will of the people. We saved the world and rebuilt it, not once, but twice, through the will of the people. We were the United States of America. But that was then.

And the "unum" is just about gone. The unity that once defined us has been superseded by the hyphen. No longer willing to proudly proclaim our status as Americans, we have become a Balkanized amalgam of tribes at cross purposes: African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic -Americans, Gay and Lesbian-Americans, et al. The amalgam used in dentistry contains mercury and is, therefore, a slow acting poison. No less poisonous is the tribal amalgam of 21st Century America. And, not to be overlooked, are the many millions among us who are not, nor do they wish to be, Americans. They're just here, to water at our trough and spit the dregs in our faces.

Around the world we are regarded with suspicion, amusement and, all too often, contempt. The America that sent the Great White Fleet around the world, the America that rid the world of the unspeakable horror of Adolf Hitler, the America of the Marshall Plan, the America that turned back the invasion of South Korea, the America that brought down the Berlin Wall, snapped the fetters that had kept Eastern Europe in thrall for decades, and dumped the tyranny of the Soviet Union on the scrap heap of history has become a source of ridicule. We have become a global punch line, unworthy of the mantle of greatness we once wore with such distinction.

The president has been reelected, and his slogan is "Forward." Toward what, I wonder? Toward the greatness we earned as the last great hope of humankind, or toward the abyss of mediocrity we are earning just as surely."

Alan Walden
Associate Faculty Member, Department of Communication Arts
Notre Dame of Maryland University