The Chinese general and philosopher Sun Tzu said, “know the enemy” but in the same sentence he also said, “and know yourself.” We don’t. Americans no longer know what our country is about or who we are anymore.
The enemy is obvious, I could begin with the usual litany of stupidity, character flaws, and craziness, but let’s not waste our time. He is beyond contempt. Nothing more needs to be said.
So we know the enemy, but how are we going to rediscover our country so that we can once again know ourselves?
This is beginning to sound like a rant. It’s not. It’s my way of working myself out of my mental morass brought on by the election outcome. Maybe it will help you, maybe it won’t.
After the disbelief, and then anger about the last election, I’ve started to look for my country again. To assist with this, I asked a recently-arrived English friend to write down his impressions.
Toby Daniell is the son of an English couple who were our neighbors when we lived in a south Boulder condo. They subsequently moved to Alaska where Toby was born, and then they returned to the UK. He has dual citizenship. He did the corporate thing in England for 20 years. And now he is back in the US, because he sees America, not as a political mess, but as an opportunity.
I’d sure like to see this country as an opportunity again.
His first point wasn’t much of a surprise for me as a High Country resident. “America is a lot larger than we in Europe give it credit for. Everything seems to be packed in close in Europe—geography, towns, cultures. Returning to the West takes a bit of mental adjustment,” he wrote.
Blue Eyes and I have a built-out van. Once on the road outside of the Front Range, I am always amazed at the size of this country. We can drive for 8 or 9 hours straight north or south and barely reach the borders of Montana or Texas. That is a lot of miles of high plains prairie, or scrubland and desert, to reach either of these states. Contrast that with the fact that the UK is about 600 miles long and at most 300 miles wide. There are about 51,000 square miles in the UK, where Colorado alone has 103,000 square miles.
What effect does all this huge landmass have on American’s view of themselves? I think we live in our little bubbles and consequently forget the larger boundaries of this country. As a positive metaphor, our geographical size has always represented limitless opportunities and possibilities. We have just forgotten this fact.
I grew up in Maryland outside of DC. Our east coast is more like Europe with packed-in geography, towns, and cultures. But I could drive west two hours from our home and then be in the Blue Ridge Mountains without a soul around.
And regarding the line about returning to the West taking a bit of mental adjustment—I don’t disagree. Early in my career, I was hired as a reporter on a small daily. Moving from Maryland to Fort Collins in northern Colorado took a whole lot of mental adjustment. I was confused by strangers in jeans looking me in the eye and saying hello on the main street. That is not an east coast thing to do.
Toby’s second impression was about attitude. “It’s almost a cliche to say America has a ‘can-do’ attitude, but you really do. Europeans tend to look at the problems first and not the opportunities if someone suggests something out of the ordinary.”
So as some of the true believers, or the hoodwinked among us are relieved to have the worst president in our history back in office, while others of us think we are on the verge of total political, if not economic disaster, we have forgotten that one of the unique American attributes is that we can get stuff done. It’s simply baked into us as a people.
We now have a real set of problems facing us over the next four years. We will figure out solutions. Right at this moment some Americans are anticipating stupid presidential moves and developing countermeasures. We can wring our hands and hold our heads for a while, but we can also buck up and get stuff done.
Toby said, “In the UK we seem to have a scarcity mindset; if you have something then that means I don’t. There remains a hangover of the two world wars that still colours our culture, but also living on a small island with limited resources colours our culture. The Americans seem to have the opposite: an ‘abundance culture’”.
True fact. We have a lot of everything here, starting with huge moats protecting our shores, vast geography, substantial arable land, almost all the natural resources we need to be self-sustaining, and a moderately well-educated and skilled workforce.
But lately, we have wallowed in the ill-effects of the Covid lockdown, supply chain woes, inflation, and in particular the substantial increase in food prices. To really know America again, we must quit wallowing in our woes, appreciate the abundance that we collectively have here, get on with rebuilding this country and taking stands against those who would tear us apart.
To end his impressions of America, Toby leaned on George Bernard Shaw, “We really are ‘two cultures separated by a common language.’ Although Brits and Yanks in particular, but also Canucks, Aussies, and Kiwis are probably the most alike in the world, but it always strikes me how different you lot are from us and one another. Things that concern us are not a consideration for you. I think it has to do with living in a safe, continent-sized country, with abundant resources, but it always amuses me to notice the differences.”
I had to think about this for a while. I believe most North Americans see the people in the rest of the first world as pretty much like us. In fact they are not. Not even close.
Even the differences between Americans and Canadians can be striking. I was having dinner in Whistler with an old friend and his Canadian girlfriend. The subject of differences came up, “Oh yes,” she said, “many Canadians hate Americans.” The descriptions that followed are sometimes true, “Loud, arrogant, bullying, entitled, culturally unaware, corrupt, selfish, imperialist….she could have gone on for an hour. Admittedly, she may have been a little nuts.
Back to Sun Tzu, we need to know ourselves. But we also need to know about the people in the rest of the world, and rethink how we interact with them. We have made it our mission to export democracy. It may not be one of our better ideas. Democracy is something earned, not something imposed, mandated, or given. And we are now, once again, having to earn our democracy.
Toby has reminded me of our naive view of the rest of the world. This is just a starting point for me to rethink my view of America. I’m looking at my country in a different way—more realistic and less negative. Through the eyes of an English friend, I can now appreciate our huge country with abundant resources and limitless possibilities where, in spite of our differences, we make things work.
I hope this helps.
I am alanstark1@substack.com
Good thoughts, Alan. And there is still higher ground to be discovered and enjoyed!
I especially like the line: "we are, once again, having to earn our democracy." Do we recall how?