-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.23/pageone.html <A HREF="http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.23/pageone.html">Laissez Faire City Times - Volume 3 Issue 23 </A> ----- Laissez Faire City Times June 7, 1999 - Volume 3, Issue 23 Editor & Chief: Emile Zola ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The America That Never Was by Sunni Maravillosa Another patriotic holiday has just passed, and although I do not celebrate most American holidays (really, is Flag Day this month that important?), I find myself interested in them, in a dispassionate, almost scientific way. An ongoing conversation with a good friend contributed to my musings over Memorial Day. He claims that a good many individuals still have faith in the Constitution, and that the American system of governance was a success at one time—as he put it, "before the decent folks abandoned it to the scoundrels". Although my public-school "education" tends to support his position, I find it increasingly difficult to believe. It is true that mainstream public education still indoctrinates its victims with the glories of our country’s founding, founders, and the freedoms we enjoy. The Constitution was written to ensure liberty and justice for all Americans, they claim. It protects our freedom, with the help of the wise and learned members of the Supreme Court, the story goes. The division of powers into three branches was to keep governmental power limited, and to help ensure that no person—particularly the president—was above the law, we were taught. These things, along with the image of a benevolent "Uncle Sam" that is wise and just, comprise what he calls "The American Myth". Keeping a Straight Face But how can anyone say these things with a straight face, given all the evidence accruing to the contrary? At the time of its writing, this country relied on slave labor, and the Constitution did nothing to rid it of that shameful practice. Today, despite the clarity of the Bill of Rights, our freedoms are trampled by Congress daily, and are routinely spat upon by Supreme Court rulings. Federal laws regulate commerce, travel, education, and the right to do what one wishes with one’s body, just to name a few examples, via licenses, fees, regulations, and prohibitions. The current occupant of the Oral Office is so far above the law that even opposing party members seem afraid to challenge his grabs for more control. Much of the public school indoctrination does not go beyond perpetuating The American Myth. My friend stated that although most Americans know it’s a myth, they prefer to believe it. Despite that, many Americans do not think of this country’s history in mythological terms. Many do seem to think that it started out on the right course, and has stumbled from that path somewhere along the way—exactly where depends upon the person, their age, and their political views. Is this view justified? Many of the state’s actions call into question various aspects of The American Myth. The current war the president has gotten us involved in is an unjustifiable meddling in another country’s problems. The Indian wars, the Spanish-American War, and the Mexican-American War were all about conquest rather than freedom. The War on (Some) Drugs began as discrimination against the Chinese and other immigrants for their use of mind-altering substances that were different from American liquor and tobacco. Women and children were treated like property; minors remain second-class citizens for whom the Bill of Rights does not apply. The US government purposefully irradiated unknowing citizens in the west, and infected black men with syphilis and left them untreated, to study the results of these sicknesses. Even the dawn of this country was not without challenges. The Whiskey Rebellion was a protest against what farmers viewed as an unjust tax, and President Washington himself led government troops to stop the protest in a show of the federal government’s power (the right to petition the government for redress of grievances be damned!). From the very first president, there has been a long line of federal misuse or abuse of power. Thus, it seems to me that it is incorrect to conclude that America started out on the right foot, and went astray. How is that possible? Our Founding Fathers are touted as among the most enlightened, intelligent minds of their time, and indeed of all time. I would say that that is true of some of the Founders, but not necessarily all. Even so, great as they might have been, they were still mortal men, capable of mistakes and poor decision-making, just as the rest of us are. After a little reflection on the matter, I think that is the root of the problems we see in this country’s history. The Perverse Hamiltonians The United States was not formed like Athena, who sprang fully formed from her father’s forehead. It arose out of the excitement of exploring and conquering a new world, and the oppression of its would-be rulers across the ocean. As the Revolutionary War raged, the patriots also faced the daunting task of deciding what kind of government would be best for the newly-formed country. Among these were great men like Thomas Jefferson, who clearly understood the virtues of self-government and a very limited federal government. However, there were others—Alexander Hamilton and James Madison are perhaps the best-known examples—who wanted a strong federal government. With Jefferson out of the country at the time of the Constitutional Convention, the statists outnumbered the confederationists, and freedom for the newly-formed country began to suffer. I believe it was an inevitable result that our country has become the bloated, legislation-heavy Leviathan it is today. Although designed to restrain federal power, the restraints in the Constitution proved too weak, and the beast of statism now roams free. Most history courses focus on the fact of the debates surrounding the formation of the republic and the federal government’s powers, but they fail to emphasize the content of the discussion. The results of this skewed focus are both The American Myth and the belief that the country started out fine and has gone downhill. The slide to tyranny began with the ratification of the Constitution. The America of the history books—and the view most people carry in their minds of this country—is an America that never was. Why, then, if so many individuals know that The American Myth is precisely that, do they cling to it against the evidence? Why view history through such rosy lenses, while blaming the current ugliness on actions that only contribute to what has been lurking in the background all along? A Psychological Explanation Two psychological concepts help explain these phenomena. One is called cognitive dissonance; it results when two related thoughts are incompatible. The tendency in such cases is to alter one of the thoughts in order to bring them into closer harmony. Many Americans, because they value this country and the minds which helped bring it into existence, are rightly dismayed at what it has become, and take comfort in an idealization of what it once was. Their view of history becomes skewed as a means of compensating for the distaste they have for modern America and its atrocities. The second requires that The American Myth be viewed as a defense mechanism. A defense mechanism is defined as a distortion of reality designed to help the individual feel less anxiety. Defense mechanisms help protect against the troublesome nature of the real world. Thus, although individuals know deep down that the American governance system is severely flawed, they continue to express belief in and support for it. For many of these individuals, to let go of that myth is to leave them with very little—if anything—to believe in, and therefore little hope for the future. It’s easier for most to hold onto the distortion than to face such bleak thoughts. Rather than focusing on the America That Never Was, those of us who love freedom and wish to regain it in our lives and for future generations would do well to repackage our message to those who do not yet embrace libertarianism. What good will it serve to criticize (deservedly) Lincoln, for example, when The American Myth calls for revering him as the emancipator of the slaves? Instead, we can use the vision of The American Myth as a springboard to talking about the America That Should—And Can—Be, if more individuals understood the importance of freedom and self-government and took action to create more freedom in their lives. Such a message is more likely to be receptive to those who retain some measure of faith in the current political system. By speaking in terms more conventional Americans understand, libertarians will encounter less resistance, and will appeal to their self-interest. We can help build a better, freer system while remaining true to our principles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunni Maravillosa is a psychologist and web mistress for the Liberty Round Table (URL http://home.lrt.org/ ). -30- from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 3, No 23, June 7, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published by Laissez Faire City Netcasting Group, Inc. 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