What happened to US?

by Groff Schroeder

More than two hundred years ago, We the People created a democratic republic, the United States of America (US), founded upon the Enlightenment ideas of separation of powers, democracy and human freedom. Thousands of Americans fought, suffered and died in the Revolutionary War – and many wars thereafter – establishing and protecting the US Constitution and the civil, human and political freedoms its Amendments define.

Sixty years ago, we were anything but divided. We had just helped to win the Second World War (in which many millions died) – and were just starting a new “cold” war that would threaten earth with mutually assured destruction (MAD) for more than forty years. We were proud Americans – and proud to endure any sacrifice (including paying taxes) supporting our democratic republic, our armed forces, our fellow citizens and our way of life.

We thought of ourselves as “one nation, indivisible” - until 1954. In the 70's many of us were “proud US taxpayers” – even as Nixon’s “PACs” opened doors to political “donations.” By 1980, we wanted government “off our back,” (apparently unaware it would move into our pants).

Today, We the People may think of ourselves first as a label describing one or more groups on the “left” or the “right” who dare not converse with each other about issues critically important to our freedoms rather than an integral part of America’s “E Pluribus Unum” (from many one). The once popular pass time (and essential democratic process) of friendly debates about political or religious issues have become unpleasant, uncomfortable and unproductive and some appear to see liberty as a dirty word.

The American People appear to have become so thoroughly and extensively divided that when a single person with a gun entered sequential classrooms on the Virginia Tech Campus, systematically killing people one by one there appears to be no evidence that the victims even tried to work together. Did they all think of themselves as individuals so much (or as members of their label groups) that it never occurred to them they could work together to save at least some of their lives by overpowering the shooter?

How can We the People be so easily turned against our fellow citizens – and how can our nation stand when so many appear so thoroughly enamored with the (often highly effective) strategies of “divide and conquer.” How can a person paid by the National Rifle Association become the Washington lobbyist for the National Association for the Victims of Gun Violence? If there are paid “moles” inside citizen’s lobbying groups how can we be sure similar “moles” (secretly paid to work against the goals of a group from within) do not receive salaries from America’s media giants - or the United States Congress?

When did the We the People of the United States of America stop seeing our fellow citizens as “us,” and when did we stop asking what we could do for our country and start asking what can the country do for me (or my special interest group)?

Until We the People stop thinking about the United States of America as something that serves us (rather than we serving it), our nation will continue to be overrun with apparent corruption, criminality, debt, greed, outsourcing, overpopulation, pollution and prisons, and the lives of our children promise to be much less free and rich than our own.

Originally published in the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs Freethought Views "advertorial" column in the Colorado Springs Independent in October of 2008.