“And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free” goes one line from the refrain of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” a song that reeks of patriotism. It’s a lovely song, appropriate to trot out on the Fourth of July, Flag Day, September 11, or any other occasion that calls for waving the Stars and Stripes. Unfortunately, these days it doesn’t ring all that true, as US residents are not all that free, and have many reasons for shame rather than pride.
How can we be proud of a country with a health “care” system that values profits more than patients? Every year around 600,000 people declare bankruptcy due to medical bills, and three-quarters of them have health insurance. How can this be? Health insurance companies offer coverage with beautiful ads showing happy families frolicking and patients with doctors, but when someone files a claim the alleged provider dicks its customers around. Companies in any other industry that behaved that way would lose customers in droves, face lawsuits, and soon go under. But insurance companies can get away with such rotten tactics. Obamacare is, at best, a stopgap measure and a compromise.
One of every three GoFundMe campaigns is to raise money for medical bills. In other words, GoFundMe is essentially the largest health care provider in this country. What kind of nation are we where people have to beg so they can clear medical debt? In a previous essay I wrote about how many “heartwarming” stories, instead of restoring our faith in humanity, should be pissing us off.
How can we be proud of a country whose core culture is still blatantly and shamelessly sexist? The USA has the worst maternal mortality rate of any developed country, and is one of only three countries that provides no maternity leave. It has fewer maternity leave protections and benefits than any other country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an international alliance including many of the wealthiest and most economically developed countries. Mothers with jobs must return to work within days of giving birth. As for child care, fuhgeddaboudit unless you’re well-healed, because daycare can cost as much as college.
Women had to fight for decades to gain the right to vote. They faced a vigorous anti-suffrage movement, which included a lot of women who had cravenly accepted their status as second-class citizens. Today we are STILL screaming for the ERA to be passed, a full half century after it was first introduced. It should have been added to the Constitution decades ago. At long last we have enough states signed on, but there is still some rigmarole to go through before it takes its rightful place as the Law of the Land.
Since Roe v Wade was overturned, the number of women seeking to have their fallopian tubes tied off has skyrocketed – and many of them run smack into the rampant sexism that pervades the USA’s nefarious health care system. Many a woman seeking to have her tubes tied has gone to one doctor after another, only to get male chauvinist snark such as “You’ll change your mind” or “You’ll meet the right man.” Translation: Women are baby-making machines that have no business thinking of themselves as even remotely human. Meanwhile, if a man wants a vasectomy, he’ll have one scheduled in five minutes.
The medical sexism goes far beyond this, as doctors tend to dismiss women’s suffering and pain. Too many OB/GYNs focus 100% on the fetus and 0% on the one carrying it. Of course, there are some doctors who do actually care about women and realize that us females have legitimate feelings; but they seem to be too few and too far between. And DO NOT get me started on vanishing reproductive rights!
How can we be proud of a country whose working class is being bled whiter than fresh tofu, while the 1% get richer and richer? Once upon a time, a household could live on one income. Now many people work two, three, possibly even more jobs just to make ends meet. Sometimes even if both partners in a household work, they still can barely keep their noses above water.
The minimum wage has not been increased in 13 years, while the price of everything has gone up, and up, and up. Call for the minimum wage to be increased to a living wage, and the brainless parrot stooges of Corporate America belch propaganda about robotized fast-food joints and $20 tacos. Cities and local areas that have increased their minimum wage have not, repeat, NOT seen the massive business closures and job loss that right-wing B.S. has claimed would ensue. In Australia, the minimum wage increases automatically every year; instead of being in worse economic shape than Venezuela, Australia is thriving.
Businesses are howling that “nobody wants to work anymore.” Garbage. The vast majority of US residents want to work. They want to hold jobs and earn money honestly. The problem is, working class Americans are sick of working like mules for chicken feed (pardon the mixed metaphor). No wonder so many businesses in the US are now offering to pay wages appreciably above the current federal minimum.
How can we be proud of a country whose education system is floundering due to sparse budgets? Public schools are crumbling, and their books and equipment are out of date. Teachers are poorly paid so many of them have to moonlight, even after exhausting days of trying to guide their children towards enlightenment and grading papers. Some districts don’t have enough money to purchase supplies, so teachers have to buy them out of their own pockets, or beg for them. Any wonder there is a dire shortage of teachers?
School meals should be free, and in other countries they are – and provide better nutrition. Here, though, kids have to either pay for lunch or bring it from home. Children whose lunch funds have run out see their food thrown in the trash, then come home from school with “I NEED LUNCH MONEY” stamped on their arms. What kind of monsters thought that was a good idea? They make Darth Vader look like a saint.
How can we be proud of a country that spends inordinate amounts on “defense” while its infrastructure is crumbling, its electrical grid is vulnerable to both terrorist attacks and natural phenomena, and – as mentioned above – its public education is woefully underfunded? I devoted an entire essay to our obscenely bloated military budget and how the Pentagon has zero accountability.
How can we be proud of a country that is still unabashedly racist? In theory, people of color have the same rights as whites; in practice, they do not have the same opportunities and thus less access to those rights, such as the right to vote. I could write an entire essay about how the Right is trying to squelch voting rights in districts that tend to support Democrats and Progressives – in fact, I just might do that. Righties vigorously oppose voting by mail, opening more polling locations, longer hours and more days for early voting, automatic voter registration, same-day voting, et cetera. In Georgia, when Brian Kemp ran for Governor, he refused to allow over 50,000 voting applications to be processed, and thus as good as stole the election from Stacey Abrams.
People of color still face discrimination in housing, jobs, education, and so on. Blacks have made some progress, finding success in various fields; not too long ago this country had its first Black President. Yet they still have quite a ways to go, as POCs are still under-represented in government, science, and other areas. Though our culture is doing a better job of featuring POCs and women as lead characters and strong characters in movies and TV shows – the late Nichelle Nichols’ portrayal of Uhura in the original Star Trek series was downright revolutionary – the entertainment industry still has room for improvement.
The United States of America has way more than 99 problems, and fixing a lot of them will entail a major overhaul of deeply entrenched systems. Bonne chance getting anything done, unless we have a major, and possibly bloody, revolution! Maybe that is what we have to do – tear down everything and rebuild, not from the original foundations, but from new foundations more in tune with present-day knowledge and attitudes. Meanwhile, if you live in the United States, do your truly patriotic duty and make sure you are registered to vote, then get your bottom to the polls.
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