[A-List] US Imperialism: Land of the Free?

["Anyutka" <annewilliamson@xxxxxxx>]

7/5 Bill Bonner - LAND OF THE FREE




The Daily Reckoning PRESENTS: Bill Bonner ponders the nation's most
important holiday.



LAND OF THE FREE

by Bill Bonner

"This is a society of true believers. The belief in democracy, market
economics and the importance of religion is far more pervasive here than
Marxism ever was in Russia."

Michael Ignatieff,
in The Daily Telegraph

It is the Fourth of July. Should we hang out the red, white, and blue
bunting from our office balcony...or the black crepe? Should we whine about
the America we have lost, or give a whoop for what we have left of it?

That star-spangled banner still waves, but does it still fly over the land
of the free, we ask? Or over a country with a spy camera on every street
corner...a nation so deeply in debt that freedom has become a luxury it can
no longer afford?

Whatever direction we take, we trip over a contradiction. Things always seem
to be black and white at the same time.

That is why we took up tango, dear reader. People who dance the tango or
write poems don't let contradictions bother them. They glide across the
floor and enjoy themselves. As far as we know, no serious tango dancer has
ever committed suicide. It's the mathematicians and engineers who blow their
brains out.

An ideologue or a mathematician cannot tolerate contradiction. His little
world has to fit together neatly, like a crossword puzzle. It is 'cat' in
one direction and 'day' in the other. Each intersection has to work
perfectly.

But that is not the way real life or real people work. A healthy woman loves
her husband, but often hates him too. She has two eyes, and sees a slightly
different view of him with each of them. What is wrong with that? Likewise,
even a man with only a single eye cannot help but notice that the world is
menaced by inflation and deflation at the same time...and that America is
both free and un-free at exactly the same moment.

What we have come to dislike about the neo-conservatives is not that their
view of the world is right or wrong - for how could we know? - but that it
is so small. They are true believers in a very tiny world...one with no room
in their world for mystery, contradiction, ignorance or humility. It has to
be small, otherwise they could not understand it.

Neo-cons think they can see what no mortal has ever seen: the future. That
is the twisted genius of the 'Preemptive Attack'; they stop the criminal
before he has committed his crime!

They think they can know what no mortal has ever known: not only what is
good for himself and his country...but what is good for the entire world.
And they intend to give it to them, whether they want it or not. In today's
email box, for example, George W. Bush himself sends us the following
message:

"...liberty is God's gift to humanity, the birthright of every individual.
The American creed remains powerful today because it represents the
universal hope of all mankind."

Here we will take a wild guess: there are probably more than a few bipeds
hobbling around the planet for whom the 'American creed' is not so much a
hope as a dread.

But the president continues:

"We are winning the war against enemies of freedom, yet more work remains.
We will prevail in this noble mission. Liberty has the power to turn hatred
into hope."

"America is a force for good in the world," continues the leader of the
world's only super-duper power, "and the compassionate spirit of America
remains a living faith. Drawing on the courage of our Founding Fathers

and the resolve of our citizens, we willingly embrace the challenges before
us."

America's citizens, meanwhile, are deeply in debt. They see little choice
but to back the system, such as it is. Free or un-free, they could care
less. Just keep the money flowing. They have come to rely on government.
They need Fannie Mae...and unemployment insurance...and social
security...and jobs...and the Fed...and fiscal stimulus. Or, at least, they
think they do.

After 50 years of the Dollar Standard boom, the average American finds
himself less free than ever. He is a slave to the highest government
spending and biggest public debt burden in history...and to the heaviest
mortgage and other private debt load ever. He has mortgaged up his
house...he has taken the bait of credit-card lenders. Now he has no freedom
left; he must keep a job...he must pay attention to the Fed's rates...he
must have an interest in George Bush's government (for now he depends on
it)!

"July 4 should be about celebrating freedom and independence," wrote Richard
Benson, published in this week's Barron's, "yet the bankers are the only
people jumping for joy. Never have Americans owed so much in terms of their
total debt, the ratio of total debt to income and the amount of cash flow
the debt needs to serve it. Americans used to believe that if they were
debt-free, they were free. Today, Americans just want the freedom to borrow
more, even if it means they are on the way to becoming enslaved by their
debt."

The average citizen is only a few paychecks from getting put out of his
house. He no longer has the freedom to step back...to reflect...to
think...to wonder about things...or enjoy the contradictions. Instead, he
must listen to the words of economists as if they meant something...and bow
before the politicians who control his livelihood...and place himself at the
beck and call of every government agency with a dollar to spend.

The message from George W. Bush concludes with an endearing personal note,
in which "Laura joins me in sending our best wishes for a safe and joyous
Independence Day..."

Laura who, we wondered? Oh yes...the First Lady.

How we got to be on a first-name basis with the woman, we don't know. We
have never even met her. Why she should wish us a happy day, we don't
understand. But these are the peculiar, baroque eccentricities of America
that make it such an endearing place to its citizens and such a rich
treasure for contemporary ethnologists and stand-up comics.

They, too, will wonder about the contradictions. Why do Americans celebrate
'freedom' ever more loudly, while becoming ever less free...? How can they
crow about the "home of the brave" when they attack pitiful, third-world
nations that can't defend themselves? How can they ballyhoo their own
independence when their armies occupy two foreign nations?

Most people will ignore the contradictions altogether. Many will see them as
hypocrisy. Some will be outraged. And a few will hear the off-tempo tango
beat, and enjoy the holiday anyway.

Your editor,

Bill Bonner

P.S. What a surprise! Upon announcing we had assembled a collection of
essays exploring the "Idea of America," we wrote: "Of course, we have no
illusions"...suspecting that people glued to their TV sets watching FOXNews
would have no interest in a collection of "deep thinking on the meaning of
our nation."

But, we are happy to announce...within a month, the entire first print run
has completely sold out! Perhaps the ideas expressed in the collection
resonate well with readers concerned about military adventurism abroad...and
skyrocketing budget deficits...and perishing personal freedoms at home.

Naahh...we suspect most people would still rather not ask questions...so we
still have no illusions.

But if you are curious, dear reader, you can learn more here:

"The Idea of America"

http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/901SIOAB/America/

Editor's Note: Bill Bonner is the founder and president of Agora Publishing,
one of the world's most successful consumer newsletter publishing companies,
and the author of the free daily e-mail The Daily Reckoning
(www.dailyreckoning.com ). He is also the author of "Financial Reckoning
Day: Surviving The Soft Depression of The 21st Century" (John Wiley & Sons)
due out in September.