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Unless you’re a Democrat, of course.
How’s that working out for ya, Bud Light? Do you really think a Super Bowl commercial is going to make any difference to the people you refuse to apologize to? You know, you customers?
Oh. let’s be fair. There are plenty of Republicans who are convinced that arguing on Facebook is a blow for freedom. Well, okay, so maybe it is, a little, but really, do you think calling people names on social dysfunctional media is going to change hearts and minds? Honey, not vinegar, is the bait for flies.
Besides, just like our Democrat brothers, there will come a day when we have to eat our words. Better sweet than sour, capiche?
The fun part of America is that we can have knock down drag out fights over the dangedest things, then go have a beer together. We had a nice, quiet patch of politics there for a while and we’re a bit out of practice. Mostly, we scare the crap out of our own kids who’ve never seen live people fuss without things escalating into tragedy.
Video games may not be a great way to raise your kids. Just sayin’
Not America’s first mistake and won’t be her last. We have a habit of finding out if it works or not by trying it. We can tell you not to try that with electricity and gun powder. Don’t ask us how we know.
In a way, being raucous and freewheeling, is a big advantage – we’re next to impossible to predict. Every time other countries are convinced we’re doomed, we stand up, shake off the dirt and ask if they wanna go to the bar. The Aussies are our closest cousins in that respect but I think we confuse them as well when we do the exact same thing in our political sphere. American tolerance for chaos is unrivaled.
Truth is, we aren’t chaotic. We have a political system that is a rigorous mix of boxing ring, trampoline and baseball diamond. Looks crazy and the rules are weird, but everyone gets a chance to play and we all go to the barbeque afterwards.
The American system is designed to prevent tyranny and to allow discourse. I’m pretty sure the Founding Fathers knew exactly how raucous ‘discourse’ would tend to get. They’d all met Ben Franklin. They hashed out our Constitution in a little courthouse without AC in the middle of summer and no one died. The fact that they didn’t kill each other was miraculous enough but that they came up with the best constitution in history while seriously wanting to go ANYWHERE else – did I mention that summers are hot and HUMID? - is nigh unto an actual act of God.
We do get our political DNA honest. The pictures in the museums don’t do the Founding Fathers justice. None of them look like they could survive a barfight. Truth is, some of them would start it and almost all could and would finish it. Don’t let the wigs fool ya – those boys were TOUGH.
Which is why they designed a lovely, civil system that could handle a barfight or two itself. US polity can be all dressed up and civilized and it can be bare knuckled and bare chested, often within minutes of each other.
This really is normal.
The only way to prevent tyranny was to balance the various political forces. Not just the powers between the branches of government, but power between the Fed and state governments, between the people and the Fed, the people and the states, and whatever else happened to show up. The system had to be vigorous enough to handle disputes and stupidity, civility and anger, and the occasional barfight. Oddly enough, it works because we can have those fights in the halls of Congress rather than on the battlefield.
And if you REALLY don’t like a law, you can get it changed. That’s a fantastic ability.
Everyone gets heard even if the decision isn’t the one they want. Often, that’s enough. A fair hearing soothes the sting of the loss. If not, there’s always Round Two – we have a LOT of ways to fight our government as well as each other.
So, yes, we’re a bit crazy. But there’s crazy and there’s actually crazy. We’re not that nor do the actual crazies speak for us.
This is another reason America is often read wrong, sometimes even by Americans. We do fuss and fight a LOT. Telling a fuss from a dangerous fight can be hard sometimes, especially considering how raucous we really are. The occasional bloody nose is just an excuse to buy an extra round. Once you can see guts, it’s time to call the ambulance. But proverbial guts are hard to see, so yeah, it’s understandable that people think America is in decline and about to have a civil war and collapse is imminent.
Understandable, but wrong.
The 2020’s do bear a striking resemblance to another period in American History – the 1960’s. Only difference is that today’s upheaval is a faint shadow of its 1960’s counterpart. Real race riots (Watts), real college campus protests (Kent State) – you know, the kind where the cops aren’t there to make sure the protestors don’t get splinters from their signs – actual terrorist incidents on US soil (Weather Underground and Black Panthers to get you started – yes, you have to look it up yourself!) and everyone’s favorite Cuban Missile Crisis were lovely additions to the three infamous political assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK. Tell us Boomers again how bad you have it.
We can use the chuckle.
I know, the Sixties were only three pages in your history textbook in school and two of those were pictures of college kids in tie dye. Remember this when your grandkids only associate the 2020’s with Taylor Swift. Hopefully, you’ll have improved education by then, assuming you’ve figured out which bathroom to use. Otherwise, be ready for the dumb looks when you mention smart phones.
However, the point is that we’ve seen this movie before and this remake is pretty lame. I mean, you don’t even have a good trailer for it!
Remember what I said about the US system being robust? This kind of controlled insanity is pretty much par for the course in US politics. The major parties probably won’t survive but the system and the country will be just fine. Don’t feel too bad for the parties – we just form new ones. It’ll be fine.
The same level of internal turmoil would rock most governments and topple quite a few. It’s just an average Tuesday for the US. Totalitarian governments like China and Russia can’t take this kind of internal spin cycle. Most parliamentary governments only tolerate it slightly better since they can quickly change governments (the American equivalent of administrations) but they really don’t like it.
We wonder when we’re going out for beer. America is insanely tolerant of internal strife. It’s a feature, not a bug. It also confuses the heck out of other countries who couldn’t possibly survive half of what the US considers normal. This is why Russia and China think the US is on the verge of collapse. They wish.
It also confuses the college kids who’s parents got ripped off sending them to Ivy League and other so liberal their brains fall out institutions. Having grown up in a politically tranquil period and in emotional bubble wrap, they, too, expect the US to come apart at the seams. Don’t worry – their grandparents have all been there, done that. Boomers outgrew the Sixties; Zoomers will outgrow the Twenties.
It’ll only take thirty years or so for them to figure out how stupid they were.
Ask us how we know.
