America, the Beautiful (now just “average looking”)

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

We were formerly (and not that long ago) the freest, smartest, strongest, wealthiest, healthiest, most prestigious, most forward looking country on the planet. Some of us, living in the past, think we still are. But we’re not. On many, many scales, the US of A has dropped to “average” among countries of the world

What does it mean to be an “average” American in today’s America?

It probably means that you have no job security per se, that you are living above your means, that your healthcare is dependant upon your employment and even then you may be driven into bankruptcy if someone in your family has a major illness, that higher education is being put further and further out of reach, and that simple necessities of life like food, shelter, gasoline and utilities are eating up more and more of your paycheck. If you do own a home, rising property taxes may drive you out of it. If you are in retirement or close to it, the promises made by your employer may be worthless. It also means that your media access is dictated by the privileged few who own the media and determine what views you may be exposed to. It also means that the head guy in your company makes hundreds of times what you do and has no problem shutting down the factory in your town to offshore hundreds of jobs so that his salary and stock options may be maintained. Too bad about you and your town.

I personally would like the America of the future to resemble the America of the past that I thought I lived in and not the America of the present. That thought just made me think of “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. We saw the Ghost of America Past (the idealistic country we once were) we see the Ghost of America Present (see above) and we get to select the Ghost of America Future. The average American is Tiny Tim. We either get to get him healthcare, a warm hearth and an education or we get to mourn his little grave. Ebenezer (the US) either gets a heart and learns the beauty of humanity or continues to accumulate material wealth for a soulless life and un mourned demise.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. anyone?

I was really trying to address the fact that Americans still seem to believe that we are on top of the heap globally, and in so many ways we are not. Do Americans even begin to realize this?

[dpbrown]

2. Republicans want 'Merika to embrace its inner ignoramus

The stupider people are, the easier it is to get them to submit to corporate control.

Mussolini is laughing somewhere.

[kineneb]

3. I could see this happening when I was in high school

which was during the waning days of the Nixon administration/ Vietnam. I thought then that we had seen the best days of the country and after that it was all down hill. And so far, it has been. We have been taken over by the corporate kleptocracy (thanks to Jim Hightower for the term).

[LynnTheDem]

4. #14 in freedom; #44 in press freedom; 3rd world in infant mortality.

3rd world in infrastructure...

If we're still "average" we're holding onto that by the skin of our teeth.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. Some questions we need to ask

How come foreigners come here to shop now because the exchange rate so favors them? Soon we’ll be swimming out to their ships in our harbors offering our cunning and intricate native crafts.

Why are many people opting to have optional medical procedures done in other countries where it is a fifth of the cost of the US?

Why do we pay more for our prescription medicines than any other country?

Why is out infant mortality increasing?

Why is our standard of living decreasing?

Why are we building a permanent criminal hopeless underclass?

Why don’t we have mass transit?

Why don’t we have affordable, decent, safe, secure housing for every American?