Written by
I was asked recently at a business lunch, "Why is America destroying the spirit of Capitalism?"
I was dumbfounded, I said, Gee I dunno or something equally brilliant.
As an American Businessperson I am looked to as a leader, just because I am an American. I have instant credibility in most situations. People who work for me are even intimitdated by my Americaness. (It is beginning to give me a complex and it is also isolating. My husband is Filipino so he kinda blends in, but I stick out like a sore thumb.)
People here so envy the American way of life, including the ability of Americans to create, to invent, to innovate better than anyone.
What made us so amazing? What made America the world standard in excellence? These are not just questions, I think we need to ponder what got us to the top.
There has been some anti-capitalist sentiments that have been bantered around. I feel they are misguided. Capitalism itself is not evil or good, it is an economic system. What caused the issues are the people who misused that system, including those individuals that did not think rationally, but instead got caught up in the idea of easy wealth.
Capitalism as a system creates an economic incentive to take risks, to think of new ways to do things, to innovate what exsists now and do all things better, faster, smarter and more profitably. This system has led to the creation of all the marvels we enjoy, they were created so someone might make a buck or two.
The moral issue of good and evil, corruption or greed is something we need to be vigilant about and indeed take action against because it is counter productive as well as immoral. But do we really want to kill the golden goose?
Many, many capitalists are honest, good people who want to accomplish a goal, to realize a dream, or to make people happier.
I get offended by the slurs against our way of life, I have done nothing more immoral than try to create jobs, to create something bigger than myself that can exsist separate from me. I admit a certain amount of my drive to succeed is pure ego, it has less to do with greed than it has to do with accomplishing something that is not easy. But isn't that what made America what is is? The drive to be better to sate our collective ego as a country. To be number one, to know we could out do any other country we just had to get that American know-how out and nothing could stop us.
We should not let our ego dominate our culture, but is that pride something we should abandon?
America's strength comes from the promise of a brighter tommorrow, that anyone can succeed if they try, it is the land of opportunity, of justice, of inspiration. The US has been able to attract the best and the brightest to come to the land of where people are bold, and brave and do things others cannot imagine. Where people get to say what they feel, no matter how silly or deep or misguided or true. America does not stifle ideas, they can grow.
America has gone through pain and change, as with any human creation the country is not perfect and we can always become better. But how do we want to achieve that goal? Do we want to destroy the economic system that helped us become what we are today? Capitalism does need regulation to compensate for human weakness and greed, but capitalism in itself did not create our current state of affairs.
I do not have the answers, but I know we can solve anything we put our minds to, it is our defining attribute.
We are Americans before we are anything else, before we are liberals, conservatives, our race, our gender - we are Americans. That means something in the world. America has won the respect of the entire world; we are a great people. We need to reclaim our spirit, our pride, our identity. The USA is the greatest country on Earth when did we forget that?
It is an honor to be an American; people all over the world envy, respect and look up to you. What we do in this time of crisis is critical to our standing in the eyes of the world. It is not just the responsibilty of our elected officals, it is the responsibilty all of us Americans. Do we unite as generations before have done and correct our mistakes and make our country even better or do we continue to widen the partisan divide? Do we have greater allegiance to our political parties or to our country?
We do not all have to agree on every issue, and we should be able to voice our concerns, but we cannot let us become bitter and disillusioned about our country. (Hey I am married to a registered Democrat, we can still love each other even if we have different politics)
I would never have gotten where I am if I did not have faith in my country. I miss my country, not only because I am away, I miss what I use to feel about my country. I miss knowing that despite any struggles I might have in life, I was one of the extremely fortunate souls to be born an American and there was nothing that I could not achieve as long as I worked hard to get it.