Redefining America: From Illusion to Reality

More than any previous presidential election the 2012 election was a choice between two candidates with very different views of America.  Those differences are rooted in completely different definitions about who we are as Americans and how we got here.  While the 2008 presidential election was and will always be historical for the election of the first African American President, who he was and how he viewed America was yet untested as President.  However, as his first term began the battle lines were drawn, not by him but by those that opposed him.  President Obama had hoped that his intelligence, knowledge of history, leadership ability and his skill as a negotiator would allow him to bridge the gap between Democrats and Republicans and create a government that worked effectively for its citizens in a time of economic crisis.  Unfortunately, those that opposed him had other ideas.  For them President Obama represented a move for America in an unacceptable direction.  They made it their mission to defeat Obama at all cost.  Senator McConnell, the minority leader of the Senate, made his position clear by saying that making sure that President Obama would be a one term president was “job one.”  

The Republican declaration of war against President Obama created an opening for Tea Party members.  Tea Party members ran for office as Republicans and grew in popularity and numbers both during and after the election of President Obama.  In order for the Republican Party to consolidate their political influence they had to embrace the Tea Party whom they had previously kept at arms length.  The Tea Party views tended to be farther to the right than that of Republicans in general.  Embracing the Tea Party meant that the Republican Party had to move farther to the right.  In 2010 the strategy seemed to be working.  The Democratic Party majority in the House of Representatives evaporated.  The Republican Party could now block any legislation proposed by President Obama that they did not like.  The criteria for what should be blocked seemed to be based more on what would assist in preventing a second term for Obama than to political philosophy.  The Republicans in the House of Representatives became obstructionists.  Any bill proposed by democrats or the president that could possibly result in positive changes for Americans was blocked.  Any bill that would create or save jobs was blocked.  The obstructionist behavior of the House republicans contributed to decline in the credit rating for the US government by one of the major credit rating agencies and prevented attempts by President Obama to speed up economic recovery.  

Why would the Republicans be willing to take such risks with the well-being of the American economy?  What was it about President Obama that they viewed as absolutely unacceptable?  What was it about how they viewed America that would allow them to think that the course they had committed themselves to was the correct path?  The answer to these questions is at the heart of what is being decided in the 2012 Presidential election.  The answer involves how America is being redefined and who is redefining it.  

First, let us consider how we got to this pivotal point in American history.  America was established by an exclusive group of White males.  In spite of the fact that the founding documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution contained language that suggested the establishment of a country based on liberty, equal representation and “unalienable rights,” the words did not match the reality.  They did not even come close. 

At the time of the first Presidential election in 1789, only 6 percent of the population–white, male property owners–was eligible to vote.  Africans were being brought to America as a slave labor force and the various Native American tribes whose land was being taken over were largely viewed as enemies.   The Fifteenth Amendment extended the right to vote to former male slaves in 1870; American Indians gained the vote under a law passed by Congress in 1924; and women gained the vote with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

The White males in power had little motivation to move the evolution of the early ideals forward.  Instead, definitions of who America is were institutionalized into the legal system, the educational system, the economic system, and the political system.    Once institutionalized change became very difficult and many of the definitions established then continue in those institutions up to the present day.  Even the healthcare system was impacted by the how Americans were defined.  Those persons fitting fully the definition of what an American is would have easier access to a higher quality of care.  It is no surprise that President Obama’s attempt to address some of the inequities in the healthcare system has been met with such opposition.  The Affordable Care Act hits at the heart of the healthcare institution.  It is an attempt to change, by law, a basic definition of who deserves quality healthcare.  To those who wish to hold on to the old definitions it is an abomination because it begins to remove White males from a favored position.

So what are those definitions?  A “True American” was de facto defined as a White male committed to the perpetuation of the status quo.  White women were defined as Americans only through their men (fathers and husbands).  Non-white people were not defined as American at all.  They were defined as almost a subspecies of human beings that were being permitted to live among Americans primarily as servants.  These definitions became institutionalized in the legal, educational, economic, healthcare and political systems.  Any changes would be slow and hard fought.  So what was the result for modern American society?  Even as late as 2004 White men occupied approximately 80% of tenured positions in higher education and 92% of the Forbes 400 executive/CEO level positions; they constituted 80% of the House of Representatives, 84% of the U.S. Senate, 99% of athletic team owners, and 100% of U.S. Presidents.  (In 2009, of course, the 100% U.S Presidents was finally breached and became 98% with the inauguration of President Obama.)  These statistics are even more disturbing when one sees that White men comprise only 33% of the U.S. population!  

White males that believe in the old definitions of America and support the current status of America’s institutions dominate the Republicans, Tea Party members and their supporters.  President Obama, being the first non-White male president is a huge symbol that the landscape is changing.  In fact, in 2011 for the first time in America more non-White babies were born than White babies.  The trend is more than likely irreversible.  Every year the gap between the numbers of non-White and White babies will grow larger.  Demographers say that by the middle of the century, the social order will change significantly.  And racial and ethnic minorities will become the majority of the U.S. population.  The so-called “minority-majority” already exist in most urban areas and in two States.  Even the term “minority-majority” reflects the white male perspective and suggests a society that is somehow upside-down.  The reality is that America is growing increasingly diverse.  Soon we will be at the point where no single race or ethnic group makes up a majority of the population.  For those in non-White groups this is simply the reality of the world we live in.  But for White Americans, especially those wanting to hold on to the old definitions of American, it represents their world being turned upside-down. 

If your world was being turned upside-down how would you react?   Some of the reactions that have made news have bordered on insanity.  For example, Judge Tom Head of Lubbock, Texas while on a local television and radio news shows stated:

"regardless of whether the Republicans take over the Senate, which I hope they do, he (Obama) is going to make the United States Congress and he's going to make the Constitution irrelevant. He's got his czars in place that don't answer to anybody."

"He (Obama) will try to give the sovereignty of the United States away to the United Nations. What do you think the public's going to do when that happens? We are talking civil unrest, civil disobedience, possibly, possibly civil war. ... I'm not just talking riots here and there. I'm talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms, get rid of the dictator. OK, what do you think he is going to do when that happens? He is going to call in the U.N. troops, personnel carriers, tanks and whatever."

Are these the rantings of a mad man or paranoid thinking that results from the realization that the America you have known and loved all your life is changing?  The illusion of America is fading and the reality is beginning to show through.  While Romney has not gone on a paranoid rant like Judge Head he did have his “47%” moment.  In the secretly recorded video, Romney described the “47% of voters that support Obama” as being unwilling to take responsibility for themselves preferring to have a government that takes care of them.   Romney during a meeting with wealthy supporters stated:

“there are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what" because they are "dependent upon government ... believe that they are victims ... believe the government has a responsibility to care for them ... these are people who pay no income tax."

The interesting thing about Romney’s comments is that he actually acknowledges that nearly half of the voters would not consider voting for him.  47% is a very large number to rule out as potential votes.  It suggests that in spite of his unflattering characterization of the 47%, he realizes that a growing number of Americans are no longer willing to accept the old definitions and institutions as defined by the group he represents, the White male elite.  Ironically, by having such a view and stating it publicly he has awakened an even larger number of Americans to the reality of the present.  Americans tend to believe in the ideals voiced and documented by the founding fathers.  They do not want to trash the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.  They want the illusion to become the reality. 

What is preventing or slowing down the process of America’s redefinition and the move from illusion to reality?  The answer is simple.  The major institutions of American society were established within the context of the the illusion of America and the old false definitions.  In otherwords our institutions are base on a lie about who America is and by design support the status quo.  These major institututions include our legal system, educational system, economic system, political system, and healthcare system.  If real change is to take place then it must be accompanied by a change in each of these major institutions.  Because of the nature of democracy the institution that is likely to change first is the political system.  Our political system is what creted an opening for President Obama to be elected in spite of the weight of history.  However, as we have seen, electing a single president that represents our evolving society is not enough to trigger a change in the entire political system nor a change of the other major institutions, but it is start.  President Obama is represents a new voice.

American society and institutions will eventually change and evolve into institutions that increasingly represent the reality of American diversity.  By electing President Obama the majority of voters have indicated they are ready for change.  The upcoming election will be a test of the resolve of those who desire to continue moving change forward and the resolve of those who would rather maintain the old power structure of the the White male elite.  The challenge to those desiring to maintain the status quo relates to how skilled they are at perpetuating the illusion of America created so many years ago.  Even Norman Rockwell whose paintings epitomized the illusion and idealism of America painted the reality of a changing America in his 1960 painting of 6 year old Ruby Bridges being protected by US Marshalls as she became the first Black student to attend Franz Elementary School in New Orlens entitled “The Problem We All Live With.”

In President Obama’s second term we can expect the intensity of his opposition to increase.  There will be more outrageous statements made by otherwise respectable Americans.  At the same time Americans who are able to see the reality of how America is evolving will continue to push forward the ideals of the Founding Fathers.  Those in touch with reality can not sit still and simply accept the illusions even though they might seem to present an opportunity for a more comfortable life.  In the 1999 movie “The Matrix,”  Neo chooses reality over the illusion while Cypher betrays Neo and chooses to re-enter the illusion.  The November 2012 election represented a choice between accepting the reality of America in all of its diversity, beauty, and harshness or attempting to preserve the illusion created long ago that has been perpetuated by our major institutions.  We have a choice to begin the challenging process of redefining America based on the reality of who America actually is or accepting definitions that are imposed on us and keep us in the dark about who we really are.