A Call to Action to American Brothers and Sisters in Arms
The current scenario is akin to the Great Depression. Possibly worse due to the ecological collapse. We can become the Greatest Generation if we realize we’re all in this together.
Photo by Joshua Tartakovsky, San Diego, California, September 2020. All Rights Reserved 2020 (C).
A Call to Action to American Brothers and Sisters in Arms
Joshua Tartakovsky
September 29, 2020
These are challenging times. In challenging times such as these, we need to look at reality as it is, squarely. This is not the time to get easily offended. This is not the time to panic. This is not the time to run into hiding or run away (to Canada or Europe as the one magical solution for every remedy, as if life is perfect there and as if problems unique to those regions will not pop up later down the line). This is the time, to analyze, to think, to reflect, to consider, and then to act. Most importantly, this is the time to ask questions we earlier may have avoided.
I lived in many countries, all over the globe, in fact. After 12 years of moving around a lot, I came to realize: the United States is one of the most amazing countries in the world, possibly the most amazing one. Americans are original, direct when the right buttons are pushed and even if they are not, open to new ideas, innovative, non-hierarchical, hard-working. We have a beautiful country. I was in China. In China, I met Americans who work hard teaching English and make a good living. This points to the failure of the US economy that could not provide them with an attractive job at home. At the same time, it points to a unique feature of the American spirit. Paradoxically, the entire idea of reinventing yourself, moving abroad and starting a new life, exploring new places, taking chances, being optimistic, is a very American idea, even if not many Americans realize it or practice it as radically by going abroad to start a new life or give life a chance. I met more Americans in China then I met Australians, British people, or New Zealanders. I did meet more Italians than Americans, however, as Italians were forced to relocate to China due to deteriorating economic conditions at home. But, what struck me most, is how I met in China very ‘average’ Americans. People who did not come with a great start-up idea or were selling Italian wine. People from rural America, who simply were teaching English, studying Chinese Medicine, or open to new experiences and to hard work with no expectations. It was precisely this spirit of trying new things, having the courage to go abroad and work hard, willing to start off with the plain job of teaching English, that I found so moving and interesting, as I encountered more people from the United States than other countries embarking on such a path.
As Americans, we have also been spoiled. We were taught, or at least some of us were taught, that we can have everything we want all at once. Well, life doesn’t work that way. Things move in stages. One step at a time. Perfectionism is the enemy of real development, evolution or progress.
Right now, our government is telling us that China is so bad and US is so good. But actually, we have a lot to learn from China. China mobilized fully, even if belatedly, to take care of Covid-19. President Xi did not pretend that Covid-19 didn’t exist, that it will go away on its own, or that the deaths of senior Chinese ”is what it is.” China mobilized – through arguably draconian measures – to tackle Covid-19 head-on. Now, Covid-19 is under control in China, while the number of deaths are rising in America. That’s what happens when you have a government that engages in make-believe fantasy, that doesn’t want to take uncomfortable steps that may hurt the economy while saving the lives of its citizens, that believes in a perverse notion of manifest Destiny as if Americans are immune to Covid-19 or as if America cannot possibly be affected by a virus unlike other countries. All this is wishful thinking, at best that is. There are more sinister reasons for this anti-human anti-American approach, but this is beyond the scope of this current article, essay or blog post.
Right now, we are in a pretty dire state. We can do far better than China is doing. We are far more diverse, we have a country that is far less populated and with immense areas for agricultural production, an advantage that China, where agrable land lies only at 10% due to its mountanious character does not have. Our diversity is our strength, since each culture brings in its own insight forming a unique American mosiac. Our forefathers managed to overcome many obstacles using innovative approaches, and so will we, if we realize how serious is the task at hand.
I used to think Europe is the best and looked down at the United States. But Europe is, at the end of the day, a very conservative society where new ideas cannot be tried. Many Europeans are in fact cold and aristocratic wannabes while Americans are more warm, talk about their feelings and direct. Americans usually do not pretend to be aristocratic or are afraid of doing the spontaneous thing fearful of how it may look. At the same time, due to the culture of capitalism we live in, which has many advantages and benefits, Americans have tended to live more and more in their own individual realities, less open to exchange ideas where the idea of the other is seriously weighed and consider, only voicing what they think is right and engaging in ‘what aboutism’ at best, and at times even narcissistic lives with egoism and spoiledness being the new trademarks.
But, I have news for you. We live in an interdependent world. If we each look out only for ourselves and overlook the need to work together, we will undoubtedly sink. That is not to say we need to lose our individualism or become a collectivist society. But we do need to start listening more, considering the experiences of others, and stop looking at the world and at each other as a zero-sum game but as a win-win game instead.
We need to look at reality squarely and simply: Right now, we have an economy that is not working for a lot of people. We have politicians who serve companies and not the people. China is being often negatively portrayed in our media and in the White House. But in China, the government works for what is the collective national good, they constantly work to ensure jobs and economic growth, and limit what companies can do, if this is seen as hampering the growth and success of the people. On the other hand, in the United States, we have companies (and lobbies) that control the government. The US government, to some degree, is engaging in policies thats serve the well-beings and growth of big corporations but not of the American people. Ask yourself: did we benefit and get any revenue from the multiple wars that the US waged? Are our public schools and public education better off under Trump or are they worse? How was the wealth in the western coast created? Was it due to every person going there on their own and pursuing their American Dream, or did people put their money together with the government investing in public infrastructure and creating an economy from the bottom-up?
Indeed, a Chinese friend told me he believes China is seeking to imitate the way the US managed to develop economically. It was not done through the free-market. That came in later. It was done mostly through major public investing and people pooling their money together. But, due to Reaganomics, the Cold War and institutes such as the Heritage Foundation, we are taught to believe that free-market is the magic solution and what enabled our prosperity. This is only partially true. By confusing the effect with the cause, many people are expected to be turned destitute, awaiting for a magical outcome that will never come.
We live in emergency times. It’s time for us to start considering what kind of society we have, how can we make sure prosperity will reach all Americans, and how much do we want to live as islands and inside our empty shells when an epidemic arrives. An epidemic essentially turns the libertarian argument over its head. An epidemic shows that we are more than just individuals, and that there is such a thing as a society, contrary to what Margaret Thatcher argued. If there is no public health for all, there cannot be public health for anyone, for the simple reason that viruses and diseases will not remained confined to a given poor population but will spread, even if via a postal package reaching a cloistered sealed-off resort.
In the upcoming elections, we face two far from ideal candidates, but no one can be worse that Trump. As one Lebanese person put it to me, Obama created wars in other countries such as Libya, but Trump is even worse. He is creating a war in America. In times of economic hardships, the easiest and equally most irresponsible solution is to turn the population against each other, to incite for hatred, and to blame groups within the country or abroad for the ills befalling a nation. That was the path taken by Mussolini and Hitler, and that is the path taken by Trump. Meanwhile, after pretending Covid-19 was not an issue, Trump is now pushing for an untested vaccine prior to the elections, in order to win the White House. Trump is playing a casino with our lives. The president has been a failure in the business world. He moved from one bankruptcy to another. Now he is gambling on American lives.
While voting in November 3 is a choice that no responsible American can or should ignore, the battle for America’s soul is only beginning. Our government is going on a dangerous trajectory of populism and hatred, but it is all too easy to blame the government. The US is composed of a people. We have the power to call the shots. It is up to us to start asking difficult questions, to see what the economy is not working for many of us, to ask what kind of society we want to have. The debate over the nation’s future is not limited to this election, it is only beginning. Of course, one must vote, but now is the time to start getting involved. If we do not take this mantle seriously, if we constantly think only of ourselves instead of each other, we are doomed and life will become hell in the United States. Life will become unaffordable for most, and a small wealthy minority will own most of the land and real-estate. This is our country and it is time for us to start engaging in dialogue with other Americans, regardless of their political persuasion, and to realize that change can only come from us, it will not come from anywhere else. The fact that so many Americans are barred from voting, through various pretexts, is the most immediate challenge at hand that we must overcome. We cannot claim to be a democracy, when so many Americans cannot vote. Reaching out to others and getting others to register is a first step we can take towards realizing that our fate will be determined together. Changing the nation’s course, giving it a new direction, can only come from within. No other nation, nor any local hero, can do it for us.
