What has America become?

in another thread i read Gil's new sig - "America: it was good while it lasted." & it made me think a lot of things. America was founded by people not interested in freedom, but interested in creating their own exclusive, strictly religious & moral Utopia. and the country's freedom was won by rabble-rousers & hotheads who wanted freedom for themselves, but not necessarily others. let's not forget that the country where "all men are created equal" was greatly supported by slavery, and that racism & sexism still worms its way through & is still partially supported by the government. for 200 years or so this imperfect system has been working out the flaws & making itself into a world power, but still has a lot of problems left to fix.

my point is that america is not perfect, & it'd be naive to think that it is. and like any system has to be to avoid stagnancy, the american government is changing (however slowly.) this country was based on imperfect revolutionary ideas, and still is. of course i haven't been around for all this country's history, but america seems to be doing exactly what it has been for the past 250 years - tryign to fix itself while the repairs just bring out more small flaws.

please don't read this as anti-american. just because i think the system has a few problems doesn't mean i don't appreciate the things it offers (like the ability to vote, & freedom of speech/religion). but even the most pro-american reader cannot deny that this country is not perfect. it has never been so, and in a country with so many individuals with varying viewpoints, the american system will never be able to please all the people all the time. that obvious point is possibly the country's biggest flaw right now - whoever wins this "election" will have the support of half the country, and will have to convince the rest of teh citizens that yes, he is the man for the job. let us not forget: leaders lead only with the consent of those below them.

this also raises a question - will this system ever work out its flaws & become the perfect system that it attempts & pretends to be? to create a strict conformost society where everyone is exactly equal removes a lot of freedom from the citizens' lives, and freedom (or the outward appearance thereof) is arguably the most important "binder" that the american people have. oppositely, screaming-liberal anarchist societies are impossible to run & will unravel the country in mere days. so the same arguments will continue, more than likely until this country's demise: "liberal or conservative? which side will prevail?" egalitarian societies don't have a very good track record, the way america will survive is for it to remain imperfect in the eyes of most of its citizens, and to NOT try to please all the people all of the time.

aryne *