A rchive Date
[ 18-08-2005 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/London/Nicole_Langlois/2004/10/30/692611.html
Perplexed by U.S. political puzzle
NICOLE LANGLOIS, For the London Free Press
2004-10-30
I used to think the word "ambivalent" meant being in a state of indecision, of not really caring one way or the other how something turned out. Over time, I've come to see it instead as a state of being torn between equal and opposing forces, of wanting two very different and contradictory outcomes.
In a book called The Walls Around Us, author David Owen concisely demonstrates ambivalence: "My own feelings about fancy kitchens are somewhat complicated. On the one hand, I think that ostentatiously elaborate kitchens are wasteful, exhibitionistic and dumb. On the other hand, I want one for myself."
As Nov. 2 approaches, when Americans will head to the polls, I'm struck by the contradictions - the ambivalence - of our neighbours to the south.
The U.S. is indisputably the most powerful and influential nation in the world, home to some of the most profound thinkers and greatest innovators in every field of endeavour. Yet it is also the source of most things unapologetically base, silly, superficial and in poor taste.
Only the United States could spawn both Henry James and Howard Stern, Sojourner Truth and Paris Hilton, Annie Dillard and Hilary Duff, the League of Nations and the Backyard Wrestling League.
If Joseph de Maistre was correct when he stated, early in the 19th century, that "every nation has the government it deserves," what can we expect from a country that suffers a perpetual identity crisis? (If we think it's hard to define Canada, that's only because we haven't tried to define the U.S.)
I try to imagine being myself, a 34-year old woman, living in the United States. What social dictates would I follow in my everyday life? Would I be obsessed by fashion, appearance, wealth and popularity, as youngish women are so often portrayed in books (Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series), magazines (Cosmo: "Land that Man, Ace your Job, and Look your Sexiest Ever!"), and television (The Swan)?
Would I then have to do an about-face every four years, when election time rolled around, suddenly bringing my attention to matters such as foreign policy, health-care, or, say, the war in Iraq? And if I did, what preparation would I have to make an informed choice?
American men, incidentally, are in no better position than women to make decisions about such weighty matters. They, too, are encouraged to live lives of stultifying banality and superficial pleasures, asked to be satisfied by a steady paycheque, regular sex, Monday Night Football and a case or two of Coors on the weekend.
Few causes have received as much newsprint, or spilled as much blood, as democracy. Yet the more accustomed we become to democracy, the less we seem to know what it is. U.S. governments rush to export democracy, but worry little about its own electorate being ill-equipped to make informed decisions.
In fact, among the people themselves, there seems to be preference for ignorance: Witness the difficulty that John Kerry has had in getting his message out. His handlers have had to find ways of making him sound less intelligent, because being an egghead will turn voters off.
But being informed - caring about issues that matter, every single day and not merely on election day - is a prerequisite for a functional democracy. Anything else is a farce, not to mention a danger, especially when an ill-informed electorate has the capacity to elect the most powerful leader in the world.
Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and an American too, once said, "Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire."
When I think about the conflicting desires and ambivalent traits of the American people - strength, power and nobility, but also triviality, shallowness and self-obsession - I can't help but feel puzzled by what might happen on Tuesday.
And, given either outcome, just where they'll go from there.
Nicole Langlois is a freelance writer based in Embro. Her column appears Saturdays. Home Page
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