The American Paradigm
B and I were hanging out at the Alibi last night, discussing politics. We discussed the current climate in terms of the personal, invisible line that each of us possess, our individual limits for what is tolerable. For us, the Bush administration's agenda has crossed that line. We feel prodded into action because to do nothing no longer suffices. This doesn't mean we're going to storm the White House or anything really revolutionary. Not yet, anyway. It just means we see what's happening and won't stand for it without a fight. Many others, to an increasing degree, feel similarly, as evidenced by the mass turnouts at the recent protests. Most of our friends and family feel the same way, to one degree or another. Everybody has a line past which they refuse to allow their lives to be compromised. I admit, in the days after September 11th, I did not particularly want to hear the somber pronouncements of our friend, A, who had lived abroad for years and returned with a very critical view of our government. While I have been no fan of the administration, at that time I still believed they'd find a way to deal with the New World we inhabited. Now I can't see things that way. Our government has given us no choice but to be increasingly disturbed at the direction in which things are headed.

Some of our friends don't yet feel this. This is, to a certain extent, their right. One of the wonderful things about the construction of our country is the fact that it gives its citizens the ability to choose how involved we would like to be. Unlike previous models for government, our system was built to allow the so-called 'will of the people' to shape policy. Conversely then, citizens are also allowed to 'opt out' of the proceedings, to let the government work in the background while they go about their lives. This, of itself, is not incorrect. The ideal government works transparently, providing for its constituents while allowing them to live as they see fit. In some respects, this is how most first-world governments operate; people live their lives with scant thought to how the machinery of rule surrounds them. The danger here is that to do so on a mass scale necessarily contradicts what one might call the American Paradigm, and opens the door for skewed judgment on the part of our leaders.

Complacency is comfort. We want to live comfortable lives, and having the option of ignoring our government is a good way to achieve this end. We are glad we don't live in Liberia or Iraq, where people are forced to think about who's in charge because things are either unstable or oppressive. We know we can make our voices heard in the political sphere, but realize that to stick our necks out means far more work and responsibility than to simply leave things as they are. What is becoming increasingly clear to me, however, is that it does us little good to compare ourselves to other countries. Our system of government, despite its flaws, provides that the people have a voice. The fact that it also states we can abstain is but an allowance for respite; we are, each of us, beholden to the functioning of our government. To ignore it on the scale that our country has ignored it since its very inception is not only disappointing, but it means our government doesn't function the way it was meant.

The American Paradigm minus the the will of the people is oligarchy. A representative democracy in which 30% of the people vote and then immediately forget who they elected is essentially oligarchy. So when we are faced with an administration that does not reflect the people's will, creates an agenda that benefits itself first and foremost, and is heavily influenced by corporate ideals, the burden of blame falls squarely on our own shoulders. Those currently in power are operating on time-honored methods of doing what they will and characterizing it as for the people's own good. Yet having no one to call their bluff, we cannot easily impress upon them the simple fact that their methodology is not in fact good, because we were never consulted.

The governing powers are content to keep things this way, obviously. It means having no one to answer to save themselves. When the people of the country are thought of, it seems the only concern for the government is how best to calm the populace. Calm citizens are complacent citizens, unlikely to hold the government accountable. Added to that is the fact that the government tempers their tranquilizing with adequate amounts of fear. Calm and fearful citizens keep quiet and await further instructions. And while there is a long history of such ruling behavior, our country was not conceived to operate in this fashion.

Most other forms of government are based in the idea of one or a few people controlling a system. This allows a certain freedom from thought for the people, but the people cannot complain when policy doesn't suit them. They don't make the rules; the can only abide by them. The United States of America was not meant to function as such a controlling force. It was devised to allow people unprecedented access to the governmental machine, and this is a point that seems to have been clouded in recent history. On the whole, our citizens do their best to avoid political thoughts, beyond simple party affiliations. We have been at it so long we have forgotten our role. We are not separate from our government; the government is an extension of the people. The fact that we can ignore it does not, in the end, let us off the hook for its actions. As much as I'd like to blame the current state of affairs on our President and his simpering smugness, he's only doing what anybody in an unchecked position would do. And I don't mean the 'checks and balances' of governmental branches, I mean the willful ignorance of a country that refuses to take part in its own destiny.

Many people, in this country and others, say that we deserve the leaders we get. This is true, up to a point. Our citizens, myself included, have been complacent far too long. We feel like if we bother to vote we're doing somebody a favor. We curse the government like it was a pigeon that shit on our head, untouchable, inevitable. We don't have the slightest idea how things work, or how things might change. Before we can rectify anything, however, we need to realize the job we've been shirking. It will be distasteful to most people. It means confronting things that will require a lot of work, a lot of responsibility. I still don't know what to do then, but I know it's a beginning of putting things as they should be. As the current administration continues to besmirch our country's reputation and endanger its people, more and more of us will feel that invisible line crossed. And we will be spurred to action, as there is no other choice but to participate in our country's future.