From: Mark Steven Heyman (markheyman@infoproconsulting.com)
Date: Wed May 26 2004 - 02:57:35 BST
On 25 May 2004 at 23:18, Wim Nusselder wrote:
You confirmed 25 May 2004 09:36:43 -0700 that in your experience
1) 'whacky religious right' are a majority of the American
population.
msh says:
Well, I made this sound a bit whimsical, for fun. I believe that a
large majority of Americans have non-rational ideas about the world
around them, including religious beliefs in the normal sense of the
term. I hasten to add, however, that all people, to one extent or
another, hold non-rational beliefs. To point the bigger finger at
Americans is misleading. I'm sure you could find plenty of examples
in your own country. If not, I bet I could.
wim said:
2) the USA isn't democratic enough for that to have a real impact on
politics.
msh says:
Not in the sense of being able to get the government to bring on the
apocalypse, no. I think the religious constituency does have an
effect on politics, more so at the local levels, less so as you move
to the levels of big city, state and federal.
wim said:
3) political power in the USA is in the hands of an elite of
selfish rich people and
msh says: This makes it sounds like it's all about money. It's
about maintaining and expanding power and all the privilege that
comes with it, including wealth. And this isn't unique to the US,
either.
wim said:
4) the American political system enables this
elite to prevent its removal from this power position.
msh says:
More accurately, the political system is shaped and maintained by
powerful elites in order to extend their privilege. This is nothing
new, and also not unique to America.
wim asked:
If you would go to a good-sized mall in any American city, and stop
100 people at random and ask them whether they would recognize your
experience, how many would affirm?
msh says:
I think points 2-4 would get a pretty good rating, actually. More
than half. 60%? Maybe more. There's a lot of distrust of the
american political process. This is one of the reasons why half the
eligible population don't bother to vote. They sense the thing is
rigged.
wim asked:
If very few, how do you explain that their experience is so different
from yours? I wouldn't understand if you would still be proud to be
an American, but can you accept this negative experience? If not,
what do you do to change it?
msh says:
This sounds as if you were expecting me to say few. But even though
I think there are more than a few, I would like to improve those
numbers. What I do about it is engage in exchanges like this one,
and all the others in this forum, and other forums as well. I guess
you'd say I'm involved in the education process. I paraphrase from
an earlier message: All we have to do is NOT IMPEDE the free flow
and interaction of ideas and maximize individual freedom for the
greatest number of people possible. Under these conditions, DQ will
drive societies toward moral perfection.
wim says:
Would you be in favour of some sort of intervention by the rest of
the world to make the USA more democratic and to redistribute wealth
and power?
msh says:
Of course not. No country has the right to invade another country in
order to "put things right." It's the responsibility of the citizens
of every country to do what they can to assist in the moral evolution
of their own societies.
I think you may misunderstand my feelings about America.
Although I think the nation-state arrangement of the world we live in
is artificial and highly regressive, the current result of thousands
of years of tribal warfare, I nevertheless believe it is possible to
assess the overall moral value of any individual nation. In many
ways, particularly in the areas of personal freedom, it's not an
exaggeration to say that the US is the greatest nation on earth,
maybe even the greatest ever. I love my country, and feel fortunate
to be part of it.
It's precisely because I think this way that I spend so much time
criticizing American foreign and domestic policy. When my government
acts in ways antithetical to what I perceive to be my country's
greatest principles, it is my patriotic obligation to speak out about
it, to help change it in any way I can.
Furthermore, I always get a little nervous when I sense that non-
Americans are spending an inordinate amount of time bashing American
policy, no matter how warranted. Unless American policy is in their
face right now, such as what's going on in Iraq, my feeling is that
non-Americans should expend most of their political energy examining
their own societies, helping to bring about moral improvements there
Just my opinion, of course.
Anyway, thanks, Wim, for the interesting questions.
Yours in friendship,
Mark Heyman
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