We, the citizens of the United States of America, are a people who have lost the ability to govern ourselves. We reliably vote for representatives who will not address our most urgent needs, representatives who literally vow not to do so. That is who we are.
There is no shortage of public figures who go on and on about how wise, kind, and generous the American people are. I have only one question for these folks: are you new here? The most obvious fact of American politics is that we are none of those things. We are selfish, unkind, and stupid.
We’ve had our moments. Hollywood. Silicon Valley. Detroit before we abandoned it to poverty and ruin. We did play a vital part in defeating European fascism in WWII. We had Apollo 11. And at least one or two things were going right for us in the two or three decades following the war. We were racist AF, sexist as well, and used our global dominance not to spread freedom and democracy but to further our own selfish interests. But we had a middle class. At least for some. We at least hadn’t given ourselves over to an oligarchy the way we have over my lifetime.
But we’re done now. Global climate crisis? We cannot muster a government that will address it. Shocking income inequality? We won’t do anything there, either. In-your-face racial injustice? Nope. Global pandemic? We got absolutely nothing. In fact, we elect people who actively make these things worse. We elect people who promise to make these things worse.
What of the devoutly religious? Far too many of them are hateful bigots. Jesus stood up for the outcast, the poor, the sick, and those who were generally disregarded by religious authority. He was against the rich and privileged who would deny others. I am not making this up. I have studied the New Testament and Christian theology. This is what Jesus was all about. Does it sound even remotely like the Christians who influence public policy in America?
No. Too many Americans have embraced Christianity only insofar it could be bent toward the project of keeping white men dominant in our society. Where it deviated from that, no thank you.
Many of us have openly decided now that democracy itself is really not a big priority for us. In fact, it kind of gets in the way of the oppressive minority rule that we want. We’ll keep people from voting. We’ll cheer as leaders fight to overturn elections. We told ourselves that democracy was a core value of ours, but it isn’t. Was it ever? I doubt it now.
We’ve been a nation for 243 years, but I think we’re done now. The United States of America is a failed state. Tipping an election away from outright fascism doesn’t change that fact.