Dear American friends,
In recent years, it has been the case that wherever there is a war in the world, the Americans are there. The current civil war between two kinds of Russians is no different. Wherever a coup takes place and a country that was previously livable descends into chaos and violence, the Americans are there. Wherever the local culture and way of life are destroyed, the Americans are there. No wonder the whole world hates you.
I myself am one of that minority who can see the bright side of America. I realize that America – it’s not just New York bankers, corporate executives, corrupt senile politicians, university radicals and other nasty creatures.
America – it’s not just New York bankers, corporate executives, corrupt senile politicians, university radicals and other nasty creatures.
In a sense, it used to be that America represented the best of Western civilization – the ideal of personal freedom, progress and dynamism. And a chance for everyone. Not a chance to be president, as it’s being distorted today, but a chance for a small house in the suburbs and a decent life. A chance for what was unattainable for tens of millions of Europeans.
And also the ideal of civil religion, which – again for the first time in history – allows for the friendly coexistence of people of different faiths. Not just tolerance, but friendly coexistence and close cooperation.
And the self-confidence of the lower classes. A world where a worker can court the daughter of a factory owner. Where the rednecks are proud of their redneckery and make nothing of the aristocracy.
A world where a worker can court the daughter of a factory owner. Where the rednecks are proud of their redneckery…
None of these ideals were perfectly fulfilled in real life. But America has come closer to it than any other country, and the very fact that such an ideal has been articulated shows a certain social shift. And an environment that breathed freedom and optimism.
In 2022, we see a breathless empire mired in worse and worse problems. Americans are watching helplessly as more and more countries that don’t give a damn about American order develop so fast that they will soon be able to buy America. In desperation, all that is left is the war machine, but even on the battlefields Americans go from defeat to defeat. Worse, they have lost the ability to learn from defeats. The debacle in Afghanistan is perhaps the only case in history where there has been no reform of the armed forces after a heavy defeat. We could laugh about it. But such moments, when old empires crumble, tend to be the most dangerous moments in history.
So, dear American friends, do you want to be a great power again? Do you want to return to the limelight? Do you want to regain your youthful energy? Then you need to be strong on the inside first.
Rebuild your industry and your manufacturing capacity. After all, it was your industry that co-decided the outcome of World War II.
Rebuild your industry and your manufacturing capacity. After all, it was your industry that co-decided the outcome of World War II. Thousands and thousands of factories. Millions of people who took pride in their work. Lots of new ideas. That’s what you need to rebuild! Bring manufacturing back to America. If the companies refuse to do it, then force them to do it in a completely non-marketable way. Or will you only take on the governments of conquered countries and not your own corporations?
Restore your education system. After all, the strength of a country is not that it has a few top universities, but that it can give a great education to tens of millions of children, including those whose parents can’t pay for it. And whose parents may not even know what kind of education their children need. A good education means, first and foremost, a good education in the sciences. Yes, it will cost billions, but it will be worth it. Yes, some of the money will be stolen, but that’s the case with any big project. You are a country of billionaires, you are a country of bankers, you are a country of corporate headquarters. Make them pay!
What good does it do you to be able to fire missiles at half the world when most young Americans hate their own country.
Put freedom back in the universities. Free discussion is the basis of all progress and the basis of all problem solving. Stop the practice where people are bullied and ostracized for not being politically correct enough. Isn’t that hard? How are you going to win wars if you can’t tame the pathetic activists?
Give young people a chance in life. What good does it do you to be able to fire missiles at half the world when most young Americans hate their own country. Manipulation and stupid ideologies may play a role in this, but mostly it’s that the American economy doesn’t offer enough opportunity. After all, a young man must enter life confident that if he works honestly and obeys the laws, he can earn a standard of living that will provide for his family. Does the market not create such opportunities? Change the conditions! Won’t it create them then? Then what are you paying the government to do.
That it’s complicated because young people are confused and have no realistic ideas about life? That their ambitions are too different from real possibilities? And who is pushing it into their heads? Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin? Xi Jinping? Alexander Lukashenko? Isn’t it your own advertising agencies and your own charlatans? So who should be dealing with this but the Americans themselves?
It’s ridiculous to stage space wars when any bum with a stick can come into your country and do whatever he wants.
You start protecting your own country’s borders. It’s ridiculous to stage space wars when any bum with a stick can come into your country and do whatever he wants.
Start protecting the citizens of your own country. Not only from criminal acts like mugging or burning down a house, but also from groups that question the gender identity of their children and instill guilt for the colour of their skin. And who disrupt all areas of life. Don’t you know what to do with them? What do you have the most prisons per capita in the world for?
Deal with the foreigners and the so-called minorities. Either evict them or impose your lifestyle and your culture on them. Create decent jobs for them and make sure they actually work. Of course you’ll have to pay them fairly. But it will still work out cheaper than having more little assholes growing up in the suburbs of the cities.
Once you have bombers and missiles, it would help you more to attack New York and Washington than Syria or Russia than to organize a coup in Venezuela.
In short, once you have bombers and missiles, it would help you more to attack New York and Washington than Syria or Russia than to organize a coup in Venezuela. But the best thing to do would be to bail out altogether. Or are you afraid Chavez will send cruisers to your shores? That Putin’s commandos will attack the White House? Or are you afraid of Kim Jong-un’s tank divisions raiding from Mexico? Are you afraid that the Chinese will take an island in your neighborhood? Then let them, you can’t solve everything.
If you fix your country, you will be an attractive role model not only for their population, but also for their generals and rulers.
My fingers are crossed that you’ll make it. Make “American exceptionalism” something positive and not a deterrent.
Petr Hampl
Czech sociologist
