Help Needed on an Assignment about Philosophy, "Americanness," and Nation-Worldviews

PureX

Well-known member
First of all, thank you, PureX, for taking the time to respond.

Second, if you are willing, I would like to ask you a few more questions:

Do you believe there is a certain "virtue" that self-deluded Americans hold up as an ideal that they strive toward embodying?
There are virtues that we Americans glorify all the time, like individual freedom and opportunity, but because we are self-deluded, we don't actually try to embody them. Instead, we want to control each other's lives, endlessly. And we continually support the denial of opportunity for whole segments of our own population. So the talk about freedom and opportunity is just talk intended to keep up our self-delusion.

By our actions, the characteristics we admire are wealth above all, because wealth is power, and then greed, because one can never have enough wealth, and then self-elitism, because we believe wealth and power justifies itself. This is the ugly truth about us, that we will NEVER admit, even to ourselves.
What do you envision the ideal government would look like? A few people from every class, ideological camp, self-identified gender, race, creed, etc.?
Given our modern, almost totally inter-dependent culture, it is clear that a moderate socialist constitutional democracy is the ideal form of government. But it all depends on the principals set forth in the constitution, and the political processes ability to adhere to them. If the principals are truly socialist, and the mechanics of the government intended to follow them force it to adhere to those principals, I think it will be successful.

Our constitution is a mess, because it was the first one ever developed, and because it was developed by men who were themselves self-deluded. And now we dare not try to correct it because the wealthy and powerful among us will easily be able to control the changes that are being made, to their own advantage, and we would end up with a constitution that defines a fascist oligarchy (we're nearly that, now, functionally speaking). So I fear there is little hope of salvaging this "great experiment". But hopefully the lessons learned are benefitting other nations, and will continue to do so in the future.
 

serpentdove

BANNED
Banned
As for tolerance. Everyone seems to be only tolerant of those who hold their view. According to polls that country seems to be nearly divided in their beliefs. Right now tolerance towards Muslims seems very low. During WWII tolerance of American Japanese was very low. So I do not see a lot of tolerance out there from what I read and see on the news. I served in the Navy for 30 years. I believe that I served to defend the rights of all citizens...

The Japanese don't tolerate :freak: Muslims. Ge 16:12, Jer 7:6, GWT :CRASH:
 

Lon

Well-known member
  • Is there such a thing as “Americanness,” meaning certain virtues or aspects of a man that make him an American beyond simply his being a citizen? If so, what are some examples? Freedom-loving? Peace-seeking?

Independent, as in Declaration. We are defined by our Constitution and Declaration (see my sig below which is your question #2).

Question #3 does an American need to embrace it? I believe that the answer is yes, because our Declarations and documents that govern us, whatever nationality/government we are or are in, defines who we are. But in another sense, no. It only requires that majority hold to it so some dissonance can be sustained.

If I were doing a question #4, it would be "what current happenings/events reflect those values in American society today?"

One of the problems in America today is identity because we are no longer predominantly what we were. The world at large reflects that but America's independent nature resists influence from without. We aren't as good at doing it from within (media shapes American thought strongly, for instance). We are however, seeing the independent rights of all citizenry heralded, but I believe disproportionately to national representation and interest. Currently we are polarizing on important issues that affect one another's independence, such that one's independence adversely affects the other's.
 
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