America Never Changes...Quickly

If you consider the history of the United States of America as one static picture, you wouldn't be far from the truth.

In the beginning there were people seeking religious freedom or the freedom from European's limitations, so they came to America for free land, freedom to seek a better life, freedom to practice their spiritual faiths any way they pleased, and freedom from an oppressive European history. America was the new land. Today we have in Congress the "Freedom Caucus" which seeks to avoid oppression from a government which they say is "out of control" and which interferes in their business interests as well as their religious interests.

If you consider America after it had grown a bit, say around the time of our Civil War, we had very wealthy people (by the standards of that time), poor 'peasant' farmers, but still a lot of room to grow westward if you didn't mind having to continue the killing spree (against natives). The one addition to the picture which had become more noticeable over the years was slavery.

If we had been more of the former original colonies, we would have grown wealthier and perhaps more pious, but we would have had to slaughter natives to take the continent. That and slavery were equivalent moral depravities.

So, there, in a nutshell are the fundamental elements: land, freedom for commerce and religion, the abuse and use of non-white peoples.

Today we have seen the "Left" fight for freedom for "people of color" and to limit the awfulness of wars around the world against anyone of color and the "Left' has fought for better education for everyone, better basic standards of living, equal treatment under the law (guaranteed in the Constitution, but not always enforced well), and generally peace & prosperity with religion for anyone. On the "Right" they have fought to maintain the prerogatives of the wealthy, who originally were both landowners and human owners. They view the law as a nuisance to their freedom to do as they please, both domestically and abroad.

Perhaps the one outstanding element of change which prevents this picture from remaining static forever is the rapid growth of technology backed by great scientific research and development. America has until recently had more Nobel prizes for scientific endeavors than any other nation on Earth. If that continues to slide it will be a strong indicator the wealthy have simply decided American peasants don't need the best education and that they can proceed to rule the World and use the smarter kids from other places. That will be great for the standards of living of these other people, but it will mean stagnation for Americans.

Looking at America from 1968 until today shows this pretty clearly. After World War II Americans prospered in unprecedented and really surprising ways. One of the great developments to boost that was the interstate highway system. It has been much more influential and helpful than even the transcontinental rail lines or the airlines. Again, technology's effect on America has been powerful. However, when the American political establishment of the 1950s and 1960s decided the anti-war movement was "out of control" and damaging to THEIR view of America, they had to crack down (both figuratively and literally). Viewing America from that time forward we have seen the same understanding of America's society from the Right in each of the Republican presidential administrations, including during the Ford and George H. W. Bush administrations. They have all sought, along with Congressional Republicans and Conservative business leaders and Conservative religious leaders, to 'crack down'. Beginning with the root of all Evil, the Nixon administration, they started the 'War on Drugs' to punish and restrain the drug culture and the African Americans they perceived as a political threat. Reagan supported the "three strikes and you're out" and other severe punishments for drug offenders laws. Ironically it was also the Reagan administration which enabled the introduction of Americans to cocaine. During the politically successful days of the Reagan administration the Republicans were stunned at their good successes and predicted a virtual Fourth Reich. They were in charge and they were going to stay there. Despite their draconian policies America continued to uphold the more Liberal political policies (gains) of the 1960s and 1970s. Despite what they saw as setbacks (the Clinton and Obama years) they tried during the George W. Bush presidency to simply overturn all the old laws they disliked. That proved difficult, so they started a new strategy. They decided to emulate Franklin Roosevelt and 'pack the Court'. During the Reagan and Bush years they had managed to put a lot of Conservatives on the Federal bench and to achieve a 5-4 advantage on the Supreme Court. With the unprecedented actions of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to deny an appointment to the Court a hearing and vote, they stepped up their game and gave the next nomination to Donald "The Liar" Trump (who incidentally had won in a surprise upset against the first woman, Hillary Clinton (D-NY), to ever gain the nomination of a major political party). Given that Trump had worked hand-in-hand with Russian president Vladimir Putin, the entire idea that he could put someone on the Court was preposterous. But, that was their plan and they were devoutly following it.

So, the picture of the ruling class of landowning white men of a certain age, upholding "law & order" and keeping the 'darkies' and women folk in their places still exists. With the exception that technology and small steps of social progress along the way has made America a civilized place for the most part.

America never changes...quickly.