Home of the shameless
by Tom Sullivan
Americans ought to be ashamed. We are not, of course. Shame is for losers.
We love to pledge allegiance to the flag, sing the Star Spangled Banner, and pat ourselves on the back for how much we love the home of the brave. Then we turn tail and run from our own values at the first sign of fear itself.
In the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday 242 Republicans and 47 Democrats voted to erect further barriers to Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the United States. President Obama threatens to veto the bill. This follows governors of at least 31 states “either opposing, refusing, or suspending the resettlement of Syrian refugees into their state — either permanently or until after a security review.”
The Nation‘s Julianne Hing was not surprised:
Never mind that none of the identified suspects in last Friday’s horrific Paris attacks were refugees, as was initially rumored. Put aside the fact that current US refugee policy prioritizes the most vulnerable: children, female-led households, victims of torture, and those requiring medical care. Never mind, too, that adding more lengthy checks to a processing time that currently averages two years can directly endanger people who are stranded in war zones. Remember, instead, that we’re living in a twisted political moment when the rules governing Republican political discourse seem to be remarkably simple: The more obscene the better, and there isn’t a blow too low when it comes to going after immigrants, refugees, and outsiders.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid vows to filibuster the bill. Meanwhile, Donald “Buzz” Trump calls for what he himself said would have been “unthinkable” a year ago. Trump would consider closing mosques and creating a database for tracking Muslims. The Democratic mayor of Roanoke, VA ponders internment camps for Syrians, citing the WWII precedent with Japanese Americans.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries sheWith silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
How swiftly Americans throw down their values and run in the face of a real or imagined threat from The Other is breathtaking. Especially when our own propensity for lashing out violently in fear gives the rest of the world greater reason to fear us than we them. What have Americans to fear from terrorists? We kill each other in far greater numbers every year.
Our own unholy blending of church and state has made being an American like being “born again.” Once saved, always saved. You don’t really have to live up to the gospels to claim the faith and shove it in others’ faces. And Americans born or naturalized? We don’t really have to live up to our professed ideals either. Or even vote, for that matter. (Plenty of Republicans would prefer that we don’t.) No, this nation of immigrants is free to shout liberty and freedom from the rooftops while brandishing weapons and melting down in a “full-fledged xenophobic hysteria.”
We have proven to the world this week just how situational and disposable our vaunted American values have become. Less a system of operational values than a brand. (Team America: paraphernalia imported from China.) We are just that exceptional, and shameless. Do what we say, don’t watch what we do.
No, you do not really have to live your values to claim being a Real American anymore. You only have to show up wearing them on your sleeve. Everybody goes home with a participation trophy.