Did I repeat myself?

Albert Einstein once commented, “Too many of us think of Americans as dollars chasers.  This is a cruel libel, even if it is thoughtlessly reiterated by the Americans themselves.” 

What is America if not the land of the rich? 

Klaus Marre, a reporter for The Hill, commented, “Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden on Thursday said wealthy Americans would show their patriotism by paying higher taxes to help the country” (2007).  Biden unknowingly hit upon the modern meaning of patriotism.  Wealth and the pursuit and use therefore.

One particular document that represents the United State’s reliance on wealth is the Federalist Paper Number Twelve.  Alexander Hamilton, U.S. Treasurer wrote: “The prosperity of commerce is now perceived and acknowledged by all enlightened statesmen to be the most useful as well as the most productive source of national wealth, and has accordingly become a primary object of their political cares.”  Hamilton concludes, “What will be the consequence, if we are not able to avail ourselves of the resource in question in its full extent? A nation cannot long exist without revenues. Destitute of this essential support, it must resign its independence, and sink into the degraded condition of a province. Revenue, therefore, must be had at all events.”

Throughout American history, wealth has extended its grasping, clawed hands and taken a hold of men’s lives.  Born in Brocton, New York, in March 1831, George Pullman was an American industrialist of the first degree.  He started as a coffin manufacturer, and then, with the aid of Hannibal Kimball, developed the Pullman Sleeping Car.  These were virtual hotels on wheels, with dining services, luxurious beds and entertainers.  A classic “rags-to-riches” story, Pullman constructed a half-million dollar mansion in Chicago, built a castle on an island and created his own company town.

Company town employees, underpaid and overworked, complained “We are born in a Pullman house, fed from the Pullman shops, taught in the Pullman school, catechized in the Pullman Church, and when we die we shall go to the Pullman Hell.” 

What else has guided American history as much as the pursuit of wealth?  The infamous Robber Barons shaped America through their relentless pursuit of wealth.  The opportunities to follow in their footsteps are many, and we can take them at our leisure.  We may invest in the stock market, set up accounts in our local banks, create our own business, or work 80-hour weeks to gain wealth.  As far as being an American is concerned, I am well on my way.

Yet … is this it?  Is this America?

With a cry of rage, a tear of hope, and a voice of determination, we scream, no!  This is not America.  We are the land of the free, the home of the brave.  We are not money-mongers.  We are Americans!

The previous paragraphs comprise an example of the cynical, amoral attitude which has pervaded anti-American sentiments for decades.  All too willing to focus on the corrupt side of America, many are unwilling to examine our better, and truer, side.

America is not merely a page of history.  America is an idea.  The things men have done with that idea – such as George Pullman – is their fault, and history assigns them to their proper degenerate position.  Are American citizens influenced by wealth?  Absolutely; so are Indians, Chileans and Icelanders.  A true American is not simply a tax-paying citizen under the U.S. Government.  An American is someone who holds to a timeless ideology.

What of the examples of Alexander, Pullman and ourselves?  Alexander Hamilton wrote his Federalist Paper Number Twelve simply because a government must have revenues to function.  George Pullman’s company town was denounced as “un-American” by a National Commission in 1984.  We work and invest to provide for our families.

How to say this simply?  Wealth is not America.  America is not just what currently exists, but what is meant to be.  America is not just what is, America is what can be.  America was founded upon freedom, dignity, freedom of conscience, and the rights of every man.  If those like Pullman want to distort American ideology for their purposes, they will be judged by history.

America is the fire in a man’s eye, a cry for independence, a desire for justice; a dream.

I am an American.  I am privileged, given the opportunity to determine my life.

Did I repeat myself?

Take for instance a report from United Press International that states 46% of all arms sales in the world are from U.S. companies. That’s a significant figure. The report also suggests that due to the flooding of the developing countries with weapons, the U.S. is also fueling the violence instead of providing an option for defense. It concludes by delicately mentioning the reason why an over-saturated market continues to be fed is simple: corporate greed.

One curious note in the report also pointed to Russia being the next most competitive arms market, with 15% of sales in the developing countries market. I wouldn’t think much of this, except there was another story pointing to who Russia’s client list included: "The principal purchasers of Russian arms were: Iran [$1.7 billion], Syria [$800 million],Yemen [$500 million], Libya, and Israel [$300 million each]."

The story as reported on the worldtribune.com site, made mention of a congressional report called the “ Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1998-2005 ”, so I searched for it online. There was a unique difference between the Russian and the American arms numbers; they differentiated between arms sales deliveries (US) and arms sales agreements (Russia). This accounts for the difference between the reported figures in the worldtribune.com article and the congressional report. It’s one thing to make an agreement to sell a weapon, and it’s another thing to actually ship the product. Russia seems to have trouble finalizing the deals, and I suspect that may be a cash flow problem on the part of the customer.

These two still wouldn’t be much of a story on their own, except how they connect to the bigger picture. In the case of Russia, it sold arms to Iran, who in turn funneled them to Hezbollah during the Israeli-Lebanese war. To prove their case further, Israel sent pictures to Moscow, showing the weapons in question. "Some of the missiles were still in their original packaging, which identified them as having been manufactured in Russia," a military source said.

Many screamed “foul!” over this, and to some degree they are correct, but it’s a hypocritical platform. Israel, as most know, also have Russian weapons; they purchased $300 million worth of hardware. As far as I can tell, Israel did not use Russian weapons in Lebanon, however, they did use a substantial amount of American made hardware, which is no secret. In one case, that hardware landed them in hot water with the US State Department . It has been reported there was a type of “gentleman’s agreement” between the US and Israel in the use of specific hardware that could and could not be used in civilian areas. Israel originally denied using American made cluster bombs , however, the results of an Israeli investigation confirms they did in fact employ American made cluster munitions, which could be against the law . Now Israel has confirmed the use of American made weapons in Lebanon, it remains to be seen if the State Department will do anything besides turn a blind eye.

Of course the biggest cache of weapons the United States has in the Middle East is inside Iraq. A recent audit has concluded one out of every 25 weapons is unaccounted for; there are other weapons that are not functional and it doesn’t specify if this is included in the one out of twenty-five, or is a separate figure not disclosed. The official number of missing weapons totals to 14,030, which is considered to be only four percent . If you do a little math, there should be approximately 1,403,000 assorted weapons brought into Iraq by the United States.

I could be wrong, but the United States seems to be supplying the bulk of the weapons in a very volatile region, and the CIA loves to arm and fund any guerrilla group that comes along (we won’t talk about Afghanistan). It’s somewhat hypocritical and disingenuous to point the finger at the Middle East when we train them to kill, give them the weapons to do so, let loose the Proactive Preemptive Operations Group to bring terrorists out in the open by our own terrorist methods , and then say, “if you guys would just come into the twenty-first century, you wouldn’t be fighting all the time.”

Could the Middle East be right when they point to the United States and call us “the great Satan”? From a purely Christian point of view, we export massive amounts of weaponry for greed, pornography, try to install democracy (when we’re being denied it at home through voting irregularities and rights stripping by the congress), and don’t respect their value and culture systems (alcohol, sex, drugs, dating, divorce, dietary restrictions, fraud, bribery). Even from God’s point of view, we export everything He abhors.

So who’s selling the violence? I’m reminded of the old saying, “we have seen the enemy, and he is us.”

quazen.com articles by this writer can be found here

socyberty.com articles can be located here

relijournal.com articles are here

picable.com photographic images are here