[Rhodes22-list] Thanksgiving

[Steve]

That's excellent, Brad. 
Steve


--- brad haslett <flybrad at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Here's something to give thanks for - the time
> between
> Turkey Day and Christmas is "nut cuttin" time in the
> supply chain delivery business, formerly known as
> air
> cargo.  I'm busy and and its only getting worse
> between now and 2005.  Besides, the CoraShen is
> going
> back in the water at the end of the week.  Folks,
> solve the world's problems without my input.
> 
> Yeah!  Yeaaaaaah!  Enjoy!
> 
> I'll be lurking but not responding.  Have a good
> Thanksgiving and Holiday Season.  If you don't hear
> from me by Chinese New Year's, just show up at our
> house.  Invitations and prior permission not
> necessary.  You too Bill!
> 
> Here is a parting message from a writer I greatly
> respect.  Good luck, ya'll.  Brad
> 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 
> America is under attack as never before -- not only
> from terrorists but also from people who provide a
> justification for terrorism. Islamic fundamentalists
> declare America the Great Satan. Europeans rail
> against American capitalism and American culture.
> South American activists denounce the United States
> for "neocolonialism" and oppression. 
> 
> Anti-Americanism from abroad would not be such a
> problem if Americans were united in standing up for
> their own country. But in this country itself, there
> are those who blame America for most of the evils in
> the world. On the political left, many fault the
> United States for a history of slavery, and for
> continuing inequality and racism. Even on the right,
> traditionally the home of patriotism, we hear
> influential figures say that America has become so
> decadent that we are "slouching towards Gomorrah." 
> 
> If these critics are right, then America should be
> destroyed. And who can dispute some of their
> particulars? This country did have a history of
> slavery and racism continues to exist. There is much
> in our culture that is vulgar and decadent. But the
> critics are wrong about America, because they are
> missing the big picture. In their indignation over
> the
> sins of America, they ignore what is unique and good
> about American civilization. 
> 
> As an immigrant who has chosen to become an American
> citizen, I feel especially qualified to say what is
> special about America. Having grown up in a
> different
> society -- in my case, Bombay, India -- I am not
> only
> able to identify aspects of America that are
> invisible
> to the natives, but I am acutely conscious of the
> daily blessings that I enjoy in America. Here, then,
> is my list of the 10 great things about America. 
> 
> -- America provides an amazingly good life for the
> ordinary guy. Rich people live well everywhere. But
> what distinguishes America is that it provides an
> impressively high standard of living for the "common
> man." We now live in a country where construction
> workers regularly pay $4 for a nonfat latte, where
> maids drive nice cars and where plumbers take their
> families on vacation to Europe. 
> 
> Indeed, newcomers to the United States are struck by
> the amenities enjoyed by "poor" people. This fact
> was
> dramatized in the 1980s when CBS television
> broadcast
> a documentary, "People Like Us," intended to show
> the
> miseries of the poor during an ongoing recession.
> The
> Soviet Union also broadcast the documentary, with a
> view to embarrassing the Reagan administration. But
> by
> the testimony of former Soviet leaders, it had the
> opposite effect. Ordinary people across the Soviet
> Union saw that the poorest Americans have TV sets,
> microwave ovens and cars. They arrived at the same
> perception that I witnessed in an acquaintance of
> mine
> from Bombay who has been unsuccessfully trying to
> move
> to the United States. I asked him, "Why are you so
> eager to come to America?" He replied, "I really
> want
> to live in a country where the poor people are fat."
> 
> 
> -- America offers more opportunity and social
> mobility
> than any other country, including the countries of
> Europe. America is the only country that has created
> a
> population of "self-made tycoons." Only in America
> could Pierre Omidyar, whose parents are Iranian and
> who grew up in Paris, have started a company like
> eBay. Only in America could Vinod Khosla, the son of
> an Indian army officer, become a leading venture
> capitalist, the shaper of the technology industry,
> and
> a billionaire to boot. Admittedly tycoons are not
> typical, but no country has created a better ladder
> than America for people to ascend from modest
> circumstances to success. 
> 
> -- Work and trade are respectable in America.
> Historically most cultures have despised the
> merchant
> and the laborer, regarding the former as vile and
> corrupt and the latter as degraded and vulgar. Some
> cultures, such as that of ancient Greece and
> medieval
> Islam, even held that it is better to acquire things
> through plunder than through trade or contract
> labor.
> But the American founders altered this moral
> hierarchy. They established a society in which the
> life of the businessman, and of the people who
> worked
> for him, would be a noble calling. In the American
> view, there is nothing vile or degraded about
> serving
> your customers either as a CEO or as a waiter. The
> ordinary life of production and supporting a family
> is
> more highly valued in the United States than in any
> other country. America is the only country in the
> world where we call the waiter "sir," as if he were
> a
> knight. 
> 
> -- America has achieved greater social equality than
> any other society. True, there are large
> inequalities
> of income and wealth in America. In purely economic
> terms, Europe is more egalitarian. But Americans are
> socially more equal than any other people, and this
> is
> unaffected by economic disparities. Alexis de
> Tocqueville noticed this egalitarianism a century
> and
> a half ago and it is, if anything, more prevalent
> today. For all his riches, Bill Gates could not
> approach the typical American and say, "Here's a
> $100
> bill. I'll give it to you if you kiss my feet." Most
> likely, the person would tell Gates to go to hell!
> The
> American view is that the rich guy may have more
> money, but he isn't in any fundamental sense better
> than anyone else. 
> 
> -- People live longer, fuller lives in America.
> Although protesters rail against the American
> version
> of technological capitalism at trade meetings around
> the world, in reality the American system has given
> citizens many more years of life, and the means to
> live more intensely and actively. In 1900, the life
> expectancy in America was around 50 years; today, it
> is more than 75 years. Advances in medicine and
> agriculture are mainly responsible for the change.
> This extension of the life span means more years to
> enjoy life, more free time to devote to a good
> cause,
> and more occasions to do things with the
> grandchildren. In many countries, people who are old
> seem to have nothing to do: they just wait to die.
> In
> America the old are incredibly vigorous, and people
> in
> their seventies pursue the pleasures of life,
> including remarriage and sexual gratification, with
> a
> zeal that I find unnerving. 
> 
> -- In America the destiny of the young is not given
> to
> them, but created by them. Not long ago, I asked
> myself, "What would my life have been like if I had
> never come to the United States?" If I had remained
> in
> India, I would probably have lived my whole life
> within a five-mile radius of where I was born. I
> would
> undoubtedly have married a woman of my identical
> religious and socioeconomic background. I would
> almost
> certainly have become a medical doctor, or an
> engineer, or a computer programmer. I would have
> socialized entirely within my ethic community. I
> would
> have a whole set of opinions that could be predicted
> in advance; indeed, they would not be very different
> from what my father believed, or his father before
> him. In sum, my destiny would to a large degree have
> been given to me. 
> 
> In America, I have seen my life take a radically
> different course. In college I became interested in
> literature and politics, and I resolved to make a
> career as a writer. I married a woman whose ancestry
> is English, French, Scotch-Irish, German and
> American
> Indian. In my twenties I found myself working as a
> policy analyst in the White House, even though I was
> not an American citizen. No other country, I am
> sure,
> would have permitted a foreigner to work in its
> inner
> citadel of government. 
> 
> In most countries in the world, your fate and your
> identity are handed to you; in America, you
> determine
> them for yourself. America is a country where you
> get
> to write the script of your own life. Your life is
> like a blank sheet of paper, and you are the artist.
> This notion of being the architect of your own
> destiny
> is the incredibly powerful idea that is behind the
> worldwide appeal of America. Young people especially
> find irresistible the prospect of authoring the
> narrative of their own lives. 
> 
> -- America has gone further than any other society
> in
> establishing equality of rights. There is nothing
> distinctively American about slavery or bigotry.
> Slavery has existed in virtually every culture, and
> xenophobia, prejudice and discrimination are
> worldwide
> phenomena. Western civilization is the only
> civilization to mount a principled campaign against
> slavery; no country expended more treasure and blood
> to get rid of slavery than the United States. While
> racism remains a problem, this country has made
> strenuous efforts to eradicate discrimination, even
> to
> the extent of enacting policies that give legal
> preference in university admissions, jobs, and
> government contracts to members of minority groups.
> Such policies remain controversial, but the point is
> that it is extremely unlikely that a racist society
> would have permitted such policies in the first
> place.
> And surely African Americans like Jesse Jackson are
> vastly better off living in America than they would
> be
> if they were to live in, say, Ethiopia or Somalia. 
> 
> -- America has found a solution to the problem of
> religious and ethnic conflict that continues to
> divide
> and terrorize much of the world. Visitors to places
> like New York are amazed to see the way in which
> Serbs
> and Croatians, Sikhs and Hindus, Irish Catholics and
> Irish Protestants, Jews and Palestinians, 
> 
> all seem to work and live together in harmony. How
> is
> this possible when these same groups are spearing
> each
> other and burning each other's homes in so many
> places
> in the world? 
> 
> The American answer is twofold. First, separate the
> spheres of religion and government so that no
> religion
> is given official preference but all are free to
> practice their faith as they wish. Second, do not
> extend rights to racial or ethnic groups but only to
> individuals; in this way, all are equal in the eyes
> of
> the law, opportunity is open to anyone who can take
> advantage of it, and everybody who embraces the
> American way of life can "become American." 
> 
> Of course there are exceptions to these core
> principles, even in America. Racial preferences are
> one such exception, which explains why they are
> controversial. But in general, America is the only
> country in the world that extends full membership to
> outsiders. The typical American could come to India,
> 
> 
> live for 40 years, and take Indian citizenship. But
> he
> could not "become Indian." He wouldn't see himself
> that way, nor would most Indians see him that way.
> In
> America, by contrast, hundreds of millions have come
> from far-flung shores and over time they, or at
> least
> their children, have in a profound and full sense
> "become American." 
> 
> -- America has the kindest, gentlest foreign policy
> of
> any great power in world history. Critics of the
> United States are likely to react to this truth with
> sputtering outrage. They will point to long-standing
> American support for a Latin or Middle Eastern
> despot,
> or the unjust internment of the Japanese during
> World
> War II, or America's reluctance to impose sanctions
> on
> South Africa's apartheid regime. However one feels
> about these particular cases, let us concede to the
> critics the point that America is not always in the
> right. 
> 
> What the critics leave out is the other side of the
> ledger. Twice in the 20th century, the United States
> saved the world -- first from the Nazi threat, then
> from Soviet totalitarianism. What would have been
> the
> world's fate if America had not existed? After
> destroying Germany and Japan in World War II, the
> United States proceeded to rebuild both countries,
> and
> today they are American allies. Now we are doing the
> same thing in Afghanistan and Iraq. Consider, too,
> how
> magnanimous the United States has been to the former
> Soviet Union after its victory in the Cold War. For
> the most part America is an abstaining superpower;
> it
> shows no real interest in conquering and subjugating
> the rest of the world. (Imagine how the Soviets
> would
> have acted if they had won the Cold War.) On
> occasion
> the United States intervenes to overthrow a
> tyrannical
> regime or to halt massive human rights abuses in
> another country, but it never stays to rule that
> country. In Grenada, Haiti and Bosnia, the United
> States got in and then it got out. Moreover, when
> America does get into a war, as in Iraq, its troops
> are supremely careful to avoid targeting civilians
> and
> to minimize collateral damage. Even as America
> bombed
> the Taliban infrastructure and hideouts, U.S. planes
> dropped food to avert hardship and starvation of
> Afghan civilians. What other country does these
> things? 
> 
> -- America, the freest nation on Earth, is also the
> most virtuous nation on Earth. This point seems
> counterintuitive, given the amount of conspicuous
> vulgarity, vice and immorality in America. Some
> Islamic fundamentalists argue that their regimes are
> morally superior to the United States because they
> seek to foster virtue among the citizens. Virtue,
> these fundamentalists argue, is a higher principle
> than liberty. 
> 
> Indeed it is. And let us admit that in a free
> society,
> freedom will frequently be used badly. Freedom, by
> definition, includes the freedom to do good or evil,
> to act nobly or basely. But if freedom brings out
> the
> worst in people, it also brings out the best. The
> millions of Americans who live decent, 
> 
> praiseworthy lives desire our highest admiration
> because they have opted for the good when the good
> is
> not the only available option. Even amid the
> temptations of a rich and free society, they have
> remained on the straight path. Their virtue has
> special luster because it is freely chosen. 
> 
> By contrast, the societies that many Islamic
> fundamentalists seek would eliminate the possibility
> of virtue. If the supply of virtue is insufficient
> in
> a free society like America, it is almost
> nonexistent
> in an unfree society like Iran's. The reason is that
> coerced virtues are not virtues at all. Consider the
> woman who is required to wear a veil. There is no
> modesty in this, 
> 
> because she is being compelled. Compulsion cannot
> produce virtue, it can only produce the outward
> semblance of virtue. Thus a free society like
> America's is not merely more prosperous, more
> varied,
> more peaceful, and more tolerant -- it is also
> morally
> superior to the theocratic and authoritarian regimes
> that America's enemies advocate. 
> 
> "To make us love our country," Edmund Burke once
> said,
> "our country ought to be lovely." Burke's point is
> that we should love our country not just because it
> is
> ours, but also because it is good. America is far
> from
> perfect, and there is lots of room for improvement.
> In
> spite of its flaws, however, American life as it is
> lived today is the best life that our world has to
> offer. Ultimately America is worthy of our love and
> sacrifice because, more than any other society, it
> makes possible the good life, and the life that is
> good. 
> 
> Dinesh D'Souza's "What's So Great About America" has
> just been published in paperback by Penguin Books.
> He
> is the Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at
> Stanford University. E-mail: thedsouzas at aol.com. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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