As my career with the Bell System neared its end, AT&T decided that it could be served best by my spending the final seven or eight years being involved in Correspondent Relations. The term Correspondent Relations is an anachronism and an antiquated description of my duties. When the various telephone companies around the world began to become involved in transoceanic transmission, the first elements of that effort took the form of written communications. Later, the Correspondent Relations advanced to telegraph and finally were succeeded by international telephones. But the quaint and antiquated term Correspondent Relations remained. It meant merely that every government had a telephone company that was involved in international relations including, of course, the United States.
My job had to do with promoting good relations with our foreign correspondents, which involved my visiting them in their headquarters cities. My records and recollections suggest that in a period of a typical year, I spent a cumulative three and a half or four months outside of this country, visiting our correspondents.
The visiting and the negotiations with the foreign correspondents took place after 1977 and before I retired in the fall of 1984. For much of that time, the President of the United States was Ronald Reagan. Mr. Reagan was the official cheerleader for the American government. On many occasions, Mr. Reagan would proclaim that this country was the finest and the most beautiful creation by the celestial beings who look over such affairs. The reports of Reagan’s cheerleading found their way into foreign newspapers as well as into The International Herald Tribune, which was widely read, even by non-English speaking people. When Reagan would cheerlead while I was abroad, I found it necessary to cringe with every exaggeration. Simply put, I am an American who has paid his taxes, done his duty with the armed forces, and tried to be a good representative of the United States. When Reagan and similar politicians proclaimed that this country was the most beautiful creation that God ever made, particularly when I was abroad, I recoiled with embarrassment. The fact of the matter is that this country is full of blemishes and we are not necessarily the greatest nation to have ever seen the light of day.
In the current presidential contest in 2008, the politicians are at it again. Specifically, John McCain claims to be a direct descendant of Ronald Reagan politically. Today this country has more blemishes on it than when I traveled abroad about 30 years ago, so I am sure that if I were to travel abroad today, I would be forced to make explanations of the remarks of our politicians.
Parenthetically, I might remind myself that there is very little likelihood that I will travel abroad these days because of the weakness of the American dollar. The hotel rooms that I used to rent for perhaps $100 to $150 per day are now in the $500 range. The meals that I used to put on my expense voucher would now be so expensive that I would blush with embarrassment. So I suppose I will stay at home, conserve what is left of my deflated American dollars, and laugh at the politicians’ excesses.
When our politicians contend that the creators of the universe have blessed us excessively, there are those abroad who will say, “How come you do not have universal health care?” In nearly every civilized country in the western world, universal health care is available. It may take a long time for that universal health care to treat patients with serious ailments or illnesses, but it is superior to the situation here in the United States where there is no such thing as universal health care. Our neighbors in Canada have universal health care. Unfortunately it stops at Canada’s southern borders. In this country with the downturn in the economy, many patients are forced to forego treatment. Until a universal health system applies in the United States, it would be difficult for us to proclaim that this country is a paragon of virtue.
Then there is the matter of education. As time has gone on, it is clear that everyone needs a college degree. But getting that degree is a costly proposition. Tuition and board at a good many private institutions now comes with a tab of $50,000 per year. Even the state schools have raised their tuition so much that people who are in a precarious financial situation find higher education unaffordable. Contrast that situation, for example, with Denmark and the Czech Republic, where the student may pursue studies up to the doctoral level basically without charge. When it comes to providing affordable college level studies, this country has very little to brag about.
Then there is the electoral situation. As some of my friends have politely pointed out to me, this is not much of a democracy in that the winner of the popular vote may be thwarted by the imposition of the Electoral College. In the year 2000, Al Gore received 500,000 more votes than George W. Bush, but the electoral system, which we call the Electoral College, made Bush the winner. Before Bush was named the winner, he had crucial help from a Republican member of the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia.
My polite friends abroad say that they do not understand the workings of the Electoral College. Neither do I. The facts are that, in the beginning, the slave-holding states held out before the American Constitution was adopted so that they could overcome the popular vote which would deny them the right to hold slaves. My recollection is that our Declaration of freedom was announced in 1776, but that the American Constitution did not occur until 12 or 13 years later. The delay had to do with the slave-holding states refusing to join the union unless they had a device such as the Electoral College.
In recent years, we have an Amendment to the Constitution that bars holding the presidency for more than two terms. This amendment was passed by a Republican Congress intent upon punishing the memory of Franklin D. Roosevelt. So if we had a man who was capable of leading a country such as ours out of a morass of difficulties, and if he had served two terms as president, he must retire to the side lines after his second term and hope for the best.
There are other blemishes on our record. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was so fiercely opposed that the slave-holding states entered a civil war against those who wished to free the slaves. In the mid-1960s, Lyndon Johnson signed an act that was intended to provide voting rights for all of our citizens, regardless of color. Prior to that time, the states that constituted the old Confederacy were usually considered solidly Democratic. When Lyndon Johnson signed that act, he commented that this was the end of the Democratic Party in the old Confederacy. As you will notice, the states of Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and other states below the Mason-Dixon line are now solidly red or in other words solidly Republican.
What brought all of this debate so forcefully to mind that I felt a need to comment upon it was John McCain’s tendency to proclaim this country as being the greatest in God’s creation. I am fully aware that when a politician calls attention to our blemishes he will have a short career in politics. McCain is not alone. I am reasonably certain that the two Democratic contenders for the presidency will cheerlead as well. My point is very simple. We have a great country here and I am proud to be an American citizen. But there are other countries that have a right to claim greatness for themselves.
I have said earlier in this essay that most of my friends abroad were very polite when they pointed out the shortcomings in this country’s political system. There is one exception having to do with my great and good friends in Australia, such as Randy Paine and John Hampton. Those two men were Australian soldiers during the Second World War and our conversations were punctuated by soldierly talk. Soldierly talk is not always polite, but it makes a point, surely and efficiently. On one occasion, after an evening of great dining punctuated by a few drinks of whiskey, Randy and John offered the opinion that the United States is a great country but that, in some aspects, it is all fouled up. Sunday school superintendents read these essays so I found it necessary to clean up the remarks by Randy and John and say that from to time we were all fouled up. They used soldierly talk and told me on occasion that we were all f—-d up. Those two men were articulate gentlemen and when it came to such things as the Electoral College, I had to agree that we were fouled up.
Well, those are my thoughts today about cheerleading for this country. I am an American and I intend to live here if for no other reason than that our political system provides us with superior entertainment. But I sincerely wish that our politicians would suppress their desire to claim that we are the greatest. Ira Gershwin, may have said it best. One of the songs from the memorable Broadway play, Porgy and Bess, was called “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” a composition by his brother George, to which he supplied the lyrics. So when you hear a politician proclaim that we are the greatest of all time, please hum a few bars from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and say that “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”
E. E. CARR
April 16, 2008
Essay 307
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Kevin’s commentary: So I thought I’d publish this one with the Olympics starting up, since the title made me think it would be nationalist and cheery. Of course I was mistaken, which is probably for the best because that would have made for a boring essay. This one was much better.
Also I’m publishing this one a little late — it’s actually going up the night of the 7th. I didn’t get one posted yesterday because I was in transit to New Jersey of all places. I got to hang out at Pop’s residence all day and hear a couple stories that I hadn’t caught before.
Anyway, more on topic I think the US actually represents itself pretty well abroad. I’ve actually read a little bit about it and aside from the fact that we’re loud and fat we tend to be pretty polite and we’re good tippers. That is to say, generally Americans are well-liked abroad even if the country itself fucks up sometimes. I also thought the comments on healthcare were pretty funny considering what Obamacare is trying to do — maybe we can pull ourselves back to respectability one policy at a time.