Get a Grip, America

I hate extremist boneheads. They never get their facts straight and their thinking is primitive, so it's impossible to have a rational, mature discussion with them.

I really hate these people when it comes to discussing America. On one extreme you find the American exceptionalists who think that blind adoration is an expression of patriotism. On the other extreme you find the American failurists who think that blind cynicism is an expression of intelligence.

I'd like to politely suggest that these two groups refrain from extremist rhetoric, but I'm not that nice, so I'll just say: these two groups should shut the fuck up. America is a better country today than it was yesterday, and it will be a better country tomorrow.



We got off to a rocky start. America was founded with some noble intentions marred by nasty habits. Slavery was one of those nasty habits. Treating the natives poorly was another. Poorly regulated capitalism led to a lot of needless suffering. A complete disregard for environmental issues led to other problems.

But when you look at America today, we've made progress. Slavery's gone. Treating the natives poorly is not as popular as it once was. We've put some limits on the damage that business can do, and we've become a little less careless with the environment. Even our wars have become a lot less savage than they were in the past.

Of course we still face a lot of the old problems and some new ones, but here's the point. The existence of problems doesn't mean the country is failing.

Think about a farm. You don't just plant some seeds and then sit back and watch the crops harvest themselves. You have to work at it. You don't solve all your problems and then kick back and relax. There are new problems every year that need fixing. There are new ways of doing things that need testing. There's always something to do to keep the farm running.

So it is with a nation like America. It takes constant work to keep things running, and there are always new problems to deal with. That doesn't mean our "farm" has failed.

This is why I hate the American failurists. Even a cursory examination of American history shows a trend toward improvement.

As for the American exceptionalists, they're even worse than the cynics. The cynics exaggerate the problems we face. The exceptionalists just close their eyes and pretend that the problems don't exist. For a good example, look at Fox News and its fans and the way they view racism in America. As far as they're concerned, there's no such thing as racism. Likewise, they're blind to environmental problems and the problems caused by multinational corporations.

The cynics look at weeds on the American farm and say that we've failed. The exceptionalists look at the weeds and call them amber waves of grain. Both viewpoints represent willful stupidity of a staggering degree.

The reality is that our nation has never been free of problems, and we've never had to stop working to fix them. The reality is that we've made lots of progress fixing some problems and less progress fixing others. This is normal.

It's time for some of you Americans to drop your bad attitudes. Stop being drama queens. Most of you live a pretty good life in a pretty good country that needs regular maintenance, and the extremists among you are just indulging yourselves. Get a grip.

America is a better country today than it was yesterday, and we'll be a better country tomorrow.