I was born in the middle of the Great Depression, lived through World War Two and the Viet Nam debacle, and survived a string of Republican silliness, including the worst President America has ever seen. All through these most difficult of times America has muddled through and has come out stronger than ever. Because of all this I have become a true believer in the American idea, in Democracy for the people. In spite of all its troubles around the world, the idea of people deciding for themselves seems to have caught on with almost everyone.
My Grand-Dad was elected City Treasure of our small town on the Roosevelt ticket in 1932 and continued in that position until 1944. My Mom worked hard in the restaurant business throughout the Depression and eventually became a huge success. During those years we tracked the advance of our troops across the Pacific and through Europe on wall maps and listened regularly to FDR on the radio. We observed the rules laid down for the war effort, including gasoline rationing, food shortages, and victory gardens.
Surprisingly enough, the war effort enabled us to pull our way out of the depression and even help both Germany and Japan rebuild their countries. In short, America came out of its most difficult times stronger, both physically and spiritually, than it ever had been. Of course, since then it has continued to be challenged by different enemies and its own various indifferences and short-comings, most notably its inability to completely shake off the evils of racism. In spite of these difficulties we have for the most part defeated Communism and various stupid efforts to take over our government, including Trumpism.
All of these experiences and realities have led me, in my 90th year, to have a great deal of confidence in America, both as an idea and as a political reality. In spite of all these challenges over the past ten decades we have managed not only to survive but to prosper. Of course, there are still many challenges out there – there always will be- but America has proven to be both an extremely powerful idea and reality. If we can continue to repeal and repel the extremists of the “far right” the short-term future looks rather bright.
Throughout these years the idea, indeed the reality, of the democratic way of governing has grown and spread throughout the world. Of course, there are those countries that only pretend to be democracies, but they generally are short-lived. In addition, the way we implement the idea of capitalism often causes difficulties around the world, we generally have found ways to curb its excesses. We still have a long way to go with regard to combatting sickness and poverty world-wide, but some important progress has been made and more is in the offing.
As near as I can tell, the Trump years brought us about as close as possible to our own demise. Although we have still not recovered completely from that horrible debacle, we are finally on our way. The thing about America is that no matter how bad and desperate things seem to be, the American people come together to identify and irradicate, or at least nullify, the threat. When I was a little kid what we today call “The Superheroes” were invented. Actually, Superman and I are almost the same age.
These characters, all the way from the Green Hornet and Blackhawk to Flash Gordon, Batman, and Wonder Woman in a funky sort of way symbolize the power behind both the American dream and the American reality. They always show up in the nick of time and manage to conquer the bad guys. Sure, its all a fantasy reality, but in some strange way it symbolizes what we call the American Spirit. Of course, this seemingly naïve view of things may prove to be wrong. But I wouldn’t bet on it !!