The United States: Stars, Stripes and Things that Can't Be Done

Al Gore recently made public his wish to replace the old energy producing technology with environmental-friendly technology. The reaction was of course that it could not be done, that it is too expensive and that Al Gore is a dreamer. Meanwhile, the US is involved with two wars that are both getting very expensive.

Barack Obama has recently toured Europe. If the election had been held in Europe, Obama would have won by a huge margin. In the US, the race between Obama and McCain appears to be close. Obama has a lead about the size John Kerry had at this time four years ago, and Obama may thus lose. And even if he apparently would've done better in Europe, the idea that the Obama story could only happen in the US appears to be taken for granted.

The American health care coverage is good, but it does not cover everyone. Americans pay a lot more than Europeans, and those who pay are lucky recipients of good health care. However, if Europe had paid as much as Americans for health care, would it not be as good as that in the US? Would not the waiting time in Europe disappear? Still, many Americans are without health care, and they are also the only people in the developed world without such.

These three cases tell something about the US. It has become a country where the status quo is favored among many - regardless of the quality. The fact that McCain has a shot at winning the presidential race, despite following the same approach Bush has, the fact that Obama is having a hard time winning votes, and facing baseless claims that he's empty or a flip flopper (McCain really did flip flop as much), the fact that energy supply cannot be reformed and the fact that health care stays the same, says a lot about where the US has gone. It has become a country where change is wanted, but little is done.

Obama has made "change you can believe in" one of his slogans in this presidential race. Unfortunately for him, many people do not believe in this change. They do not believe in withdrawing from Iraq, a changed foreign policy from threatening allies to talking with them, they do not believe that respecting other countries might make them more interested in cooperation, they do not believe in health care reform and they do not believe in a more environmental approach.

In fact, many Americans do not believe in global climate change and McCain has grasped this by making himself a spokesman for people who do not believe in change. His campaign seems to be most about change you can't believe in. McCain is thus arguing for the status quo - or at least he was until Bush changed his approach in foreign policy. McCain wants to be hard on other regimes such as the Irani regime, he wants to stay in Iraq, undermining the democratically expressed wishes there, he wishes to create a League of Democracies fighting to impose democracy on other countries, he continues the lies made by the Bush campaign, such as stating that Iraqi cities are safe and that the "surge" caused the Sunni's to turn against al-Qaeda. This is simply not true. McCain furthermore wants to extend tax cuts, which is economically very questionable. At some point the US will have to pay its debts too.

I think that when the US was formed, the idea was that the country should constantly attempt to get better. The country should offer something to their citizens, such as freedom. But how can Americans be free if you do not have health care coverage when they get sick? How can Americans be free when the economic situation in the US is so dependent on China? How come Americans are willing to increase this dependence by not doing something about the growing debt to China, and the growing trade imbalance?

I believe the answer is that doing that is change you can't believe in.