HOW THE GREAT AMERICAN MYTH HAS BEEN EXPOSED AT LAST

In a strange way, George Bush has been instrumental, though his plethora of lies to his people and to the world at large, in dismembering the Great American Myth.

I should say "Myths",because there are many false aspects involved.

There was a time in our history when we really DID stand for something. We had noble intent at any rate. Our citizens 100 years ago had a much broader vocabulary and were more inventive and industrious. We had foreign policies which often involved serious and honest aid to impoverished nations and an economic system which truly did give the poor a stong chance to "lift themselves up by their bootstraps"

All that is gone now, and the myth may not even be perpetuated for much longer.

The myth of America is complex but easy to describe. It has many facets and layers. George Bush has used the myth to his advantage in campaigning and there can be no doubt that the gross exaggerations about our nation’s "qualities" got him elected and reelected (with a little help from the voting machine crowd, of course!).

America is said to have the finest health care system, but we now know we’re at the bottom of the list internationally among industrialized nations. We are the only ones who still execute prisoners, despite the endless claims of a superior Justice system.

We claim safe streets and low crime while simultaniously incarcerating more prisoners per capita than any other country. We claim high educational values despite rating VERY poorly across the entire schoolin spectrum.

Bush loves to brag about American generosity, but we give less per capita than many European countries. We often state that we’re sending financial aid for serious calamities overseas but the allocation of funds never materializes. We also claim that we’re not "empirialists", but we have 730 bases in 125 countries and many are nuclear armed! We literally BUY our way into other countries, claiming to be guarding them from danger but actually acting as a bulwark against a dubious claim of "possible attack" from Russia, China or "terrorists".

Our most famous bragging point, no longer remotely valid, is that America is the land of opportunity where anyone can make it..in fact ANYONE CAN BECOME PRESIDENT (the largest myth!)
The only truth about opportunity seems to be that various drifters, grifters, conmen, drug dealers and gangs can and do seek out a way into our nation to ply their nefarious trades. They really CAN get rich in our land of plenty. Add to these clowns the enormous numbers of foreign corporations who come here to purchase our infrastructure, our manufacturing plants, raw land and even National Parks!

And lastly, the grossest prevarication is that American Democracy is the noblest experiment ever launched...and that we’re somehow more "free" than, say those citizens of Norway, Belgium, Japan or Australia. Just how this is so is unclear. But George Bush isn’t deterred by that logic. He manages to pump up the illusions and the partriotism and the pride which swells in the breasts of many Americans with endless speeches, and even sheds a few tears occasionally to drive the points home.

The rest of the world ain’t buying it. The myth in small letters has become the MYTH writ large. We all love fairy tales, but now that’s all they are...and the rest of the world isn’t going to let us forget it.

Maybe some day, when our plague is dissipated...when George is a distant unpleasant memory...America can drop the myth and make the claims reality once again.

Maybe. It’s worth a try.