'Murica! What Happened to "USA"?

I made an observation recently about how we identify ourselves as a nation, that really made me feel uneasy. We don't typically call ourselves the "United States of America" anymore, or at least, very rarely. I understand that geography isn't taught in schools anymore, at least as mainstream curriculum, at least. When I was in school, (DODS-EUR to be precise), we learned that America was a continent, subdivided by latitudinal zones into North America, Cental America, and South America. The citizenry of the United States is recognized as "Americans", as a simplification over referring to ourselves as "United Staters". It could be then argued that Americans come from America, I suppose, and as such, our country is America, but that would be very... hmmm... "American" of us.

"How American of you" is not the compliment you think it is. Without rehashing US history, let me just point out that the world's view of Americans is fraught with distrust, expectation of exploitation, and grandiose display of "superiority." A large majority of the world is indeed envious of our system of government, and the rights we are afforded as citizens. Hand in hand with that envy though, is the disdain for what it has made our nation. Under the guise of moral superiority, the banner and beacon of freedom for the oppressed, and over-inflated ego of righteousness, we are the world's biggest hypocrites. With our military and financial might, we have progressed into a self-perceived leader of the planet, and as long as our mission is to aid the rest of the free-thinking world, this is acceptable to those who envy us.

Make no assumptions though. This tolerance is slim, and as long as we continue to act accordingly, it is maintained.

So, what is meant by "acting accordingly"?

Let's start with military support. I like this topic, because it is very detailed and specific, yet somewhat ethereal and ambiguous to understand. In my opinion, we have the current military presence around the world right now due to two events in history, the use of the atomic bombs. With those determined actions, we didn't just bring Japan to its knees and end accelerate the end of WWII, we established outright power over the world. The negotiation for the military occupation of Berlin, the annexation of land for a Jewish state (aka the formation of Israel, and another topic for later), the formation of NATO, and countless other treaties and agreements after that. We have established military bases in countless countries and enjoy terse alliances in many parts of the world. I say terse, because technically, most countries would rather not host a foreign military on their soil. I mean face it; would you be fine with a Turkish military base on the US continent? We are allies, but that just feels wrong, right? We have 10 known military bases in Turkey. TEN. The projection of power we have today, militarily, is literally because of our historic use of atomic weapons, and the well reported expenditure of budget dollars to fund our military. the other side of this transaction is of course the mighty presence of our military. We stabilize regions around the world for those with a like mind, simply by being there. It's an interesting quid-pro-quo, is it not?

Secondarily, we support the world with technology, medicine, education, food, and several other humanitarian gestures. Americans from the United States are often the first to support regions suffering famine, disaster, sickness, drought, governmental collapse, and many other innumerable causes of strife and hardship. There are too many instances though, where the seemingly unconditional helping hand has an ulterior motive, typically under the guise of capitalism.

The US is also supposedly the leader of the technical world. We perceive ourselves as the ultimate innovators and implementors of a modern world. As long as we create the supporting culture and spread our knowledge to the world, we have some regard from it. Have you ever wondered how/why we have so many foreigners here on student visas? Our advanced education system is broad and diverse. A degree from an American university is valuable to employers around the globe. It represents a status that only a slim few in other nations can achieve. Sadly, the caliber of international students far exceeds the average caliber of domestic students. In the global standing of student advancement and knowledge, we are far behind other nations in our test scores and learning abilities.

At this point, we are feeling pretty good about being "American" overall, though. Sure, we have our issues but look at how much the impact we have, and how dependable we are. The world relies on us. I would like to dispel this notion, and quickly. With the current regime in office, the world is fast learning that this nation is weak, unintelligent, and perverse. The United States of America has long been divided; the veneer is coming unglued, the ugly truth is exposed as dry-rot and a termite problem covered in red, white, and blue paint. We put lipstick on this pig and sold it.

We are a nation that subjugates others, to practice capitalism. Through racism, sexism, wealth disparity, and exploitation, we advance our "Americanism" to the world.

Racism was never defeated, and at this point, looks to be emboldened to new heights. This nation was built on slavery, and while it was abolished on paper, new methods of diverting reality on the practice were developed and exercised into practice. I am not offering an opinion that all whites are racists, to be clear. The form slavery takes today is not along races, but that of wealth. Historically, though, racism was practiced racially and never was reconciled by white society. We tend to ignore teaching that poor white folks existed in the south during slavery, often working alongside slaves as sharecroppers to the plantation owners. White sharecroppers were literally one rung above slaves in status: being white. The white poor working folk were later useful in helping to demonize the newly freed slaves during reconstruction, by creating a sense of competition for scarce resources and obscure retribution. Many knew the truth I suspect, but when you have family to feed, and aspirations to achieve, you buy into the lesson plan. Take a few minutes and consider our current state of affairs. This is STILL going on.

Capitalism at its core requires gains to be made at the expense of loss. Slavery is the zero-sum equation for ultimate capitalism.

Sexism is yet another apparatus that fits into the narrative of the subjugation of others. At the founding of this country, the original wording of "all men are created equally" was of the simplistic terminology of men, taken to mean human being, but generally understood to be the male version of the species. At that time in history, women had a defined role in society, to keep a home, raise children, and unconditionally support the men in their lives. A woman in a house of means (wealth, power, slaves/servants) was expected to protract and expand the social standing of the household in an effort to prop up the image of her husband and or father. It is interesting to note, that as class structure descends, women go from being socialites at the highest levels, to digging in fields and picking cotton alongside their indentured servitude husbands. The barrier between the gender roles is dissolved as the value of your household scales down. Unmarried women had no social advantages what-so-ever it seems. They become maids or governesses at best, prostitutes or slaves at worst, all in servitude to "men." This mode of thinking is protracted to this day, with the compensation disparity between men and women in the workforce. Women as a demographic STILL do not earn as much as men in the same fields of work. This is 2025, by the way.

Wealth disparity will always be at the forefront of any capitalistic society. At this moment in time, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we are seeing the absolute hugest chasm in disparity than at any other time in our young nation's history. Other democratically lead nations see wealth inequalities in their capitalistic societies, and in fact, a country doesn't even have to be democratically led to do the same. China embraced a small amount of capitalism within the ranks of their business elites a number of years ago, to entice foreign investment. The communist government allows some of their businesspeople to amass fortunes, in return for employing the masses and increasing the financial well-being of their nation. Opulent lifestyles are quietly permitted as long as contributions to the party and government are consistent. The Chinese government and their communist party are typical in their cautious embrace of capitalism, playing for the long term. The goal of communist China is of course that of world supremacy. The goal of the US is not dissimilar. We are just not as patient. So as such, the path to greatness in the United States is paved with wealth amassed by the corporations, directed by board members, overseen by ownership. This is not a structure that is inherently wrong or egregious, but when monopolization is permitted, and corporations can subjectively control not only the price of their product to the marketplace but also the cost of labor for production for their goods, that should be an issue. To simplify a bit, American corporations have enough clout with the government to hold down minimum wage, and price-fix amongst themselves to draw more from working families and absorb nearly no risk from a failing market. As an example, the national minimum wage for workers hasn't changed in a large number of years, but the cost of goods changes with the economy daily. Wage disparity is further exacerbated by elevated corporate officer salaries, but the workforce is left to deal with increased cost of living.

Racism, sexism, and wealth disparity all lead to class organization within our society. We like to see our society in three tiers: The upper class, the middle class, and the lower class. I prefer to think of our class structure in a different manner: The destitute and disillusioned, the working poor, the support demographic, the wealthy, the uber wealthy, and the mystically wealthy. To translate those fields, think of the mystically wealthy as the billionaire class that perpetuates their own income just by existing, the middle class is comprised of the uber wealthy, the wealthy, and the support demographic, and lastly the lower class is the working poor and the destitute disillusioned. A recent pseudo human recently referred to anyone using or needing government assistance as parasites. There are few in this nation that did not achieve status of any type without some form of government assistance, be it direct payment for survival, or regulation protecting your investment portfolio from fraud and theft. We have all benefitted from the United States government. It's just that nearly all of us are not so blatantly inhuman or narcistic to assume otherwise.

To bring this all together, the self-description of us as America, rather than the United States of America, is born from the chiefly ugly American trait to assume that we are the greatest nation on earth, beholden to no-one or anything, and that the rest of the world owes us. We have walked the earth as Americans like we were each the "second coming of Christ". We have ridden the coattails of our grandfathers that stormed the beaches of Normandy to ensure the end to fascism, as if we ourselves faced withering fire and death. We are proudly demanding fealty to our past, that was earned in blood long since washed away. As a nation, we show disdain for the other American societies on the continent and have determined ourselves the sole inhabitants of righteousness in the world. The world sees us though, and they know the truth. Were it not for our military might and control of the world economy, they would have laughed right in our faces long ago. We don't say United States of America anymore, because we aren't united any more.

The MAGA ethos is to return to the age of white men being in charge of everything and everyone. The disproportionate distribution of wealth, the continued drumbeat of left versus right, liberal versus conservative, red versus blue, the insistence of supposed Christian morality over free choice, body autonomy, privacy and choice; these are all tools to keep our society off balance and at each other's throats. And as the rage is fueled and accelerated, we as a society are beginning to forget what a society should be about. We are quickly enslaving ourselves to the uberwealthy.

I suggest that we as a nation need to rewrite those narratives and understand them fully. I think it's possible to be a progressive conservative, or a liberal Christian. I think the true American values should reflect being honest, trustworthy, valued for our word, proven by our actions, caring for others, forward thinking, and courage to challenge hate, fear, and division. And none of those values should be transactional.