Why Is America So Content With Mediocrity?

I had intended to write this entire piece and then go back and remove the 'g' from every word that ended in one.

But then I thought that would make me a churlish, smart-arsed, lefty
stereotype and alienate the very people I want to try to hear me.
(Although I imagine there ain't gonna be many of them readin' the
huffpost, huh?! Wait for the audience to realize they should clap
and/or boo, nod, smile even more, carry on.) Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Ok, this is basically it: Over the last few weeks I have watched
with mounting bemusement as John McCain and Sarah Palin have constantly
referred to the American work force as the best in the world, how
America is a force for good in the world, how America is the best at
(fill in the blank here depending on who you're talkin' to, wait for
applause, wink, smile, and on).

You know what? I'm sorry to be blunt, and I wish it were not true,
but America isn't any of the above. Its poor downtrodden, unhealthy,
under-educated and depressed workforce cannot surely believe it towers
above all others in some sort of World Worker Idol type way? If so, why
are its bosses firing so many of them and giving the jobs to people in
other countries?

And although the notion of America being a force for good is noble
and beautiful, the reality of how the world sees America is very
different: America is an imperialist power that invades oil and mineral
rich countries on little or flimsy evidence, and at the same time turns
a blind eye to blatant genocide taking place in other parts of the
globe. Perhaps if Ms Palin had a passport before 2007 and had a little
less xenophobic viewpoint, she would have experienced, as I have, the
terrible sight of American friends of mine being afraid to open their
mouths when abroad for fear of reprisal for their nation's 'force of
good.' (And I'm not talkin' about scary, rearin' their head places like
Russia or Iran. I'm talkin' about in like cool places like London.)

This country is a mess. It is entering a depression. It is waging
two wars. It has an administration so blatantly corrupt that the world
is baulking at its arrogance. It lets its poor die.

And on top of all this, one of the presidential options available to
its voters - although having cynically plagiarized its opponent's
keyword of 'change', and positively wearing its flaws and shortcomings
as a badge of honor - is actually endorsing the past eight years and
playing down the gargantuan problems!

Now I understand that election stump speeches are partly about
trying to make people feel better/confident/happy/deluded but I am
really shocked that a political party in a country that so trumpets its
democracy and freedom is offering its voters such a shoddy product, and
WORSE, they are still buying it!! (I thank you, my fellow Americans!)

So why? Is loyalty the value that Republicans vaunt above all
others? Above common sense? Are the right of America all colluding in a
giant version of the Emperor's New Clothes?

When I encountered a Republican TV pundit at a party in New York
last week I reeled off my litany of reasons about why I feel the
appointment of Sarah Palin is a disgrace and a terrible blight on
America's history, and I was met with a thin smile, a nodding head,
maybe even a nascent wink and the line: 'She's learning.'

She's learning? (Gosh yes, she's only been doin' this for, what, five weeks? Smile, shout out to class 3, ignore question, on.)

I actually have so much sympathy right now for the hundreds of
Republicans out there somewhere - well intentioned, well-informed,
prepared, lucid for goodness' sake - who must be utterly furious that
they were overlooked for the VP post. Imagine being a doctor and
thinking you're about to be made a partner in the practice and then the
receptionist who's a big fan of Grey's Anatomy gets it over you and we're beginning to understand how those poor people must be feeling.

But back to the Republican pundit: I then moved on to say why I
thought the policies - the policies, remember those? - of the
Obama-Biden ticket were better for America. Again the smile, a little
attempt at an argument in that she wasn't sure that all those great
ideas could be achieved, to which I responded that yes, in the light of
the economic holocaust caused by the greed and corruption that her vote
had validated, perhaps these plans might take a little longer to
implement now, but didn't she agree with the thrust of them? That
crazy, trying to help people who weren't doing so well thing?

She looked at me, a little hurt.

'You're not going to say you're a fiscal conservative, are you?' I asked.

'Actually I was going to say I'm an economic Republican,' she smiled. Checkmate, I could see her thinking. But I wasn't done.

'You know what I think a fiscal conservative or an economic
Republican means?' I asked. 'I think it means you are clever enough to
agree with the notions of what Obama stands for, you'd love everyone to
have access to healthcare and good education and to be treated
equally...'

She was nodding slightly now.

'But when it comes down to it, when you're in that polling booth,
you actually think 'Screw them' and you vote with your pocket. And I
think you use that phrase as an excuse to not care!'

She looked a little taken aback. I thought I might have gone a little too far. But no.

'I love your passion', she said and turned to her colleague. 'We should have him on the show.'

You see, I think that when it comes down to it, American politics is
split into people who think it's their duty to care about other people,
and those who think it's every man for themselves. That's it. That's
why I think the system is systematically flawed and is in dire need of
a third party to shake things up a little.

But I digress. I truly think that Americans, some Americans, are
comforted by mediocrity. Even those who have been battered the most by
the last eight years can be reticent to the idea of change, because
they are told to fear it and to leave things as they are, sit down and
open a six-pack and forget their troubles. And so, all the more reason
to take our hats off to Barack Obama and the Democratic party for
making that scary word the touchstone of this election campaign.

I have lived in the United States for ten years. When Obama began
his presidential campaign I was so inspired that I decided to start the
process to become a naturalized citizen of this country. I am, at
present, a resident alien (or green card holder), which basically means
I do everything here -including pay taxes - except vote.

I wanted to become a citizen in time to vote on November 4th, but
the immigration system of America is a little slower than it was when I
first came here and I will not be sworn in properly in time. However,
the point is that I want to be a part of America's future, of its
potential, because I am fed up with mediocrity.

Obama has a combination that is rare in a modern politician. He has
the rhetoric and the charisma to inspire whole swathes of the hitherto
dispossessed to engage in the political system. And he has the
real-life experience of prejudice and poverty to both understand and
make people trust that he understands their needs and his desire to
help them. But he also has the intelligence and the sophistication to
deal both in big ideas and incredibly detailed plans. His election
campaign has been a model of harnessing a generation's desperate desire
to be heard and making them integral to the future of our society.

I hear him and he makes me excited about the prospect of being an
American, an American that looks out for other Americans, in an America
that is indeed a force of good in the world.

(Smile. Wink. Thumbs up. Wave.)