In thinking about this latest ‘‘trend’’ that we, in some
unidentified fashion, and with no known goals as to achieve
it, what exactly does making ‘‘American Great’’, actually mean?
It seems to be about making America, again in some unexplained
fashion, great…which involves bombing a girls school and causing
massive amount of civilian casualities… and how exactly does that
make America great? and where exactly is the connection between this
allege regime change and this ‘‘greatness of America?’’…
But Kropotkin, we are just ‘‘protecting’’ ourselves…in exactly
the same way we have since 9/11… and how does that pretend
‘‘protecting’’ ourselves lead us to greatness? In the same way that
we lost our moral high ground, by the torture of individuals,
by the kidnapping of individuals, by the killing of people by
drones or missiles strikes… How exactly does this MAGA?
Is the greatness of a country, say America tied into its military
capabilities? Or is the greatness of a country tied into something else?
I have railed of late against those whose words fail to match their
actions, and America has been of late, the last 25 years or so,
has failed, in virtually every way, this test of matching the words
of a nation with its actions…
‘‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’’‘’
and we have failed in even this small example of the American
spirit… if we reduce or remove our freedoms in place of security,
we, as Ben Franklin noted, don’t deserve either one…
I hold that the true message of a country greatness lies not
in the bombs it drops or the massive military might that we have,
or even in our economic superiority… a country greatness
is not connected to any of these things…So, what is it attached to?
What is the basis of a country’s greatness?
As I have noted before, what human beings must do, is to meet
their needs, and those needs are both physical and psychologically…
we have the need for love, and food/water, shelter, education, health
care, as bodily needs and our psychological needs are also love, but
safety/security, self-esteem, the need to belong…
All human beings, indeed, all life, must meet these needs,
and so, for my money anyway, the greatness of a country
lies in meeting these needs…That is why I hold Europe
as being far greater than America and why I consider America
a failed state… in the name of money, we have allowed people
to starve and be homeless and go without meeting their basic
needs… both bodily needs and psychological needs…
The greatness of a country lies in meeting its citizens needs…
and that includes moral and ethical needs… some might call
this, spiritual needs, I won’t go that far…but theoretically,
I could… So, what would need to happen for us to meet
our moral/ethical/spiritual needs?
What isn’t meeting our spiritual, moral, ethical needs is this
administration and its constant negation or as its called,
its nihilism… this administration attacks on gays, trans,
liberals, the poor, the old, in fact, everyone not white and rich…
This negation, this nihilism of the US is not greatness but its
opposite…as I have stated earlier, what is the opposite
of nihilism? I have called it ‘‘ad meliora’’ toward the better…
and what has the United States done in the last year that is
''ad meliora?" the two military attacks, Venezuela and Iran,
has done nothing ‘‘toward the better’’, in fact, I would say that
it has done the exact opposite… those attempts at MAGA,
have completely failed to do so…
What is called for is a reevaluation of what makes a country
great? I would say it isn’t the military or economic or political
strength, but something completely different… we are trying to
MAGA but in ways that is the complete opposite of MAGA…
to really make a country great, this is the path… one, people
have the right to make their own choices, which is to say, voting
rights, people have the right to be educated… for to be educated is
to be inform of one’s possibilities and strengths… that everyone has
enough of their bodily needs met… where the emphasis is not
to become wealthy or seek out fame or power or material goods,
but to part of a society/state that does take care of its citizens,
that people do have enough to meet their needs,
that part of the human goal is to be educated and have
their food and water and shelter and medical needs all met…
but one might say, but Kropotkin, who is going to pay for that?
and therein lies the current state of nihilism…
Who is going to pay? thus making money the essential aspect
of existence, for who is going to pay for people to have their
needs met? that is really a choice between money and people…
and ‘‘soul sick’’ people will choose money, every single time…
is money more important people being able to eat or to have
a roof over their head or be able to meet their medical needs?
Is money really more important than meeting people’s needs?
the fact of the matter is that America, its people are focused on
the wrong goal, the wrong actions… we shouldn’t be,
as I have stated a few times, focused on the trinkets of
existence… which is money, fame, power, titles or material possessions…
and to be so, is to be ‘‘soul sick’’ because those things are
really ‘‘ad hoc’’ of the moment… does money last long? nope,
does fame last long, nope, and power and titles, do they have
a long shelf life, nope… and material possessions, houses or
cars or TV sets, do they have a long shelf life? NOPE…
America in pursuing those trinkets, are seeking out the exact
things that doesn’t create greatness… What is a country’s
greatness? by the quality of life of its citizens… and that
quality of life includes such things as meeting the needs of its
people… like food, water, shelter, education, health care and
the psychological needs of love and safety/security, and a sense
of belonging…let us examine one of these psychological needs,
that sense of belonging…
as all people need a sense of belonging…that is one of
the primary psychological needs of people… but how can one
have a sense of belonging if the country is attacking your basic rights…
for example, the current attack on gays or trans people, how does
this attack improves their own sense of belonging? It doesn’t…
it reduces their sense of belonging… for it is a denial of their basic
right to be who they are…if I am being denied my own sexuality,
as being gay or trans, then how can I have a sense of belonging in
my own country? If I am being attacked as being black, or a minority,
how do I keep my own sense of belonging to America? My very person
is under attack… how is that, in any way, shape or form, making America
great? or how does it help me gain my own psychological needs,
if they are under attack? I hold that these attacks, both bodily
and psychologically, against its own citizens, is extremely
damaging to America… and how is that MAGA?
How does attacking old people by denying them their ability
to feed or house or to buy medicines, by reducing their Social Security
checks amounts? How does that MAGA?
I would say that every single action of this administration has damaged
America… it has done the exact opposite of MAGA…
And those who support this president and this administration,
has done pretty much the opposite of MAGA…
One what grounds are we to judge the idea of what makes
a country great? What makes a country great?
Kropotkin
