Introspection in America

As the tidings out of Washington seem to lurch from one negative to another, Americans have at long last begun to question, albeit somewhat tentatively, how they have got themselves in the mess they now find themselves. Interestingly, given the American veneration of their President there is now open questioning of the present incumbent in the White House. And well they might....

"Now that most Americans no longer believe in the war, now that they no longer trust Bush and his Administration, now that the evidence of deception has become overwhelming (so overwhelming that even the major media, always late, have begun to register indignation), we might ask: How come so many people were so easily fooled?"

That is the introduction to an introspective and thoughtful analysis of the US and how it rates in the overall scheme of things in a piece in AlterNet ["Removing America's Blinders"].

This is not the sort of thought-process readily found in America....

"What is the idea of our moral superiority based on? Surely not on our behavior toward people in other parts of the world. Is it based on how well people in the United States live? The World Health Organization in 2000 ranked countries in terms of overall health performance, and the United States was thirty-seventh on the list, though it spends more per capita for health care than any other nation. One of five children in this, the richest country in the world, is born in poverty. There are more than 40 countries that have better records on infant mortality. Cuba does better. And there is a sure sign of sickness in society when we lead the world in the number of people in prison -- more than two million."

Read the complete article here.

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