This July 4 comment is adapted from my book What's So Great About America. For more information on that or my other books, go to dineshdsouza.com
America is today the most loved society in the world--and the most hated. At a time when we are constantly lectured about our nation's flaws, it is useful to be reminded of the other side of the story. This July 4 weekend, it's worth thinking about what this country does right. The forgotten truth is that America
is still the most attractive society in the world, and its appeal is felt even by the children of the America-haters.
Whatever the flaws of American policy and American culture, let's remember that immigrants from every continent continue to brave dislocation and hardship to come to America
. Why do they do it? The conventional wisdom is that immigrants come to
for one reason: to make money. This notion is conveyed in the "rags to riches" literature on immigrants, and it is reinforced by 's critics, who like to think of America
as buying the affection of outsiders through the promise of making them filthy rich. But this Horatio Alger narrative is woefully incomplete; indeed, it misses the real attraction of Ameica
to immigrants, and to people around the world.
There is enough truth in the conventional account to give it a surface plausibility. Certainly America offers a degree of mobility and opportunity unavailable elsewhere, not even in
Europe . Only in America could Pierre Omidyar, whose ancestry is Iranian and who grew up in
, have started a company like eBay. Only in America
could Vinod Khosla, the son of an Indian army officer, become a shaper of the technology industry and a billionaire to boot.
In addition to providing unprecedented social mobility and opportunity, America
gives a better life to the ordinary guy than does any other country. Let's be honest: rich people live well everywhere. In fact if you are very rich, my advice to you is not to live in America
. The reason is that in most countries, but not in the United States
, money buys you the pleasure of aristocracy-the pleasure of being a superior human being. Americans, however, share a social ethic that is deeply egalitarian. Americans believe that no matter how much money Bill Gates has, he is not better than they are.
America's greatness is that it has extended the benefits of affluence, traditionally available to the very few, to a large segment in society. America is a country where "poor" people have television sets and microwave ovens, where maids drive rather nice cars, where plumbers take their families on vacation to
Europe . Recently I asked an acquaintance in Mumbai why he has been trying so hard to relocate to America
. He replied, "I really want to move to a country where the poor people are fat."
The typical immigrant, who is used to the dilapidated infrastructure, mind-numbing inefficiency, and multi-layered corruption of developing countries, arrives in America to discover, to his wonder and delight, that everything works: the roads are clean and paper-smooth, the highway signs are clear and accurate, the public toilets function properly, when you pick up the telephone you get a dial tone, you can even buy things from the store and then take them back. The American supermarket is a thing to behold: endless aisles of every imaginable product, many different types of cereal, fifty flavors of ice cream. The place is full of numerous unappreciated inventions: quilted toilet paper, fabric softener, cordless phones, disposable diapers, and roll-on luggage.
So, yes, in material terms America
offers the newcomer a better life. Still, the material allure of
does not capture the deepest source of its appeal. Recently I asked myself how my life would have been different if I had not come to America
. I was raised in a middle-class family in India
. I didn't have luxuries, but I didn't lack necessities. Materially, my life is better in the United States
, but it is not a fundamental difference. My life has changed far more dramatically in other ways.
Had I remained in India
, I would probably live my entire existence within a modest radius of where I was born. I would undoubtedly have married a woman of my identical caste, religious and socioeconomic background. I would face relentless pressure to become an engineer, like my father; a doctor, like a couple of my uncles; or a computer programmer. My socialization would have been almost entirely within my ethnic community. I would have a whole set of opinions on religion and politics and society that could be predicted in advance. In sum, my destiny would to a large degree have been given to me.
By coming to America
, I have seen my life break free of these traditional confines. At
Dartmouth
College, I became interested in literature, and switched my major to the humanities. Soon I developed a fascination with politics, and resolved to become a writer, which is something you can make a living doing in America, and which is not easy to do in India
. I married a woman of English, Scotch-Irish, French, and German ancestry. Eventually I found myself working in the White House, even though I was not an American citizen. I cannot imagine any other country allowing a non-citizen to work in its inner citadel of government.
In most of the world, even today, your identity and your fate are largely handed to you. This is not to say that you have no choice, but it is choice within given parameters. In America
, by contrast, you get to write the script of your own life. What to be, where to live, whom to love, whom to marry, what to believe, what religion to practice-these are all decisions that, in America
, we make for ourselves. Here we are the architects of our own destiny.
Some critics, both in
and abroad, have noted that this freedom to shape one's own life is not an unmixed blessing. Freedom can be used well or badly. Some Americans do indeed make mistakes with freedom, as the country's high divorce and illegitimacy rates suggest. These are unfortunate social trends, but we should remember that while freedom allows vice its scope, it also gives greater luster to virtue. It is no great achievement for an Indian couple to keep its marriage together, because the social stigma against divorce is prohibitive. By contrast, American couples who stay married deserve greater credit because they have chosen the good when the good is not the only practical option.
Those who have tasted the exhilaration of freedom-which entails responsibility for one's own choices and one's own life-can hardly imagine living in any other system. The core American idea is the "pursuit of happiness," which means that happiness is not a guarantee, but that
you have a chance to find it for yourself. No wonder that so many young people throughout the world are magnetically attracted to what
America represents: they find irresistible the prospect of being in the driver's seat of their lives. So, too, the immigrant discovers that America
permits him to break free of the constraints that have held him captive, so that the future becomes a landscape of his own choosing.
Reader Comments ( Page 7 of 11)
91.
`````````````So, too, the immigrant discovers that America permits him to break free of the constraints that have held him captive, so that the future becomes a landscape of his own choosing. ````````````
As long as his choosing conforms to DD's ideas?
What about all the people you deride on a regular basis here Dinesh?....They are free as well?
mac at 7:24PM on Jul 4th 2008
92. It's amazing to think there are still those out there who believe that science supports creationism. The universality of science is absolute only in the natural world, and scientific investigation is absolutely limited to the natural world; it is of no use in any attempt to confirm or deny supernatural events or beings such as miracles, or souls, or universe creators, so science cannot and does not confirm or deny supernaturalism. Science is not supernaturalism, cannot use supernaturalism, and cannot be used to promote supernaturalism. Science can only offer natural explanations of and for the natural world.
Imagined concepts (speculations and hypotheses), whether or not biased by preconceived ideas, are inspired by historically (previously) observed phenomena, tested by experimentation and observation, checked for parsimony, and rationally analyzed to determine if they are upheld (correct) or falsified (incorrect). Simplified, and without much scholarly jargon, that is the scientific method as it has evolved.
Until a scientific explanation is falsified by this method, it is accepted as scientific fact. When the scientific community accepts a concept as correct, it is considered to be a scientific theory and is used to explain phenomena for which there was no previous (or a less satisfactory) explanation.
For those who may not be familiar with the principle of parsimony, it demands that the number of entities required to explain anything should not be increased beyond what is necessary. Creators are clearly a step up in the level of difficulty in any scientific explanation, even the original singularity, and therefore cannot be considered. Because there are an infinite number of explanations for any phenomenon, the principle of parsimony demands of any scientific explanation that it is the least complicated theory that satisfies the original hypothesis. Supernatural explanations such as creator beings or plutonian princesses cannot be considered in science. They are the domain of belief systems.
Scientific theories are considered to be fact, but are never considered to be the absolute, immutable truth. Scientific theories make brain surgery and rocket science possible, and are not to be confused with ordinary speculation or conjecture.
Natural Puppy at 7:53PM on Jul 4th 2008
93. Seriously guys, this made me laugh so hard.
You have a saying in America that goes "you need to get out more"...this applies to most of you.
You see the average American is so ignorant of anything outside of the USA, and more often than not, ignorant of most things outside of their city or state.
You have all been brainwashed so badly that you actually believe that America is "heaven on earth" or it's equivalent on earth.
It totally baffles us Europeans when we hear you rant on like the author of this blog.
Do you honestly believe that people can't make money elsewhere and better themselves??
My advice to you all is to educate yourselves about other countries, their social, political, health, education, juridicial systems etc. before you continue blowing your own horn in such a manner that it makes the rest of the world think worse of you than we already do.
For example look into promises America makes to aid agencies all over the world, and how often it keeps these promises, you are in for a big dissapointment i assure you.
It only paid 20 years of NATO contribution AFTER 9/11 happened and it needed the NATO.
Every country has it's good things and it's bad things, my country does, but so does yours.
I'm proud to be an Englishman, but i don't make a fool of myself my proclaiming to all who will listen that England is the best country in the world and everyone envies us and wants to live here because the truth is, they don't and i assure you, not many Europeans would want to live in the USA.
I see many things in your comments for which you beat yourself on the chest for because you have, or can do these things in the USA...wake up, we have had ALL those things and more for so long that to us they are normal things, hardly worth mentioning.
One good thing is happening in America recently, and thats a man called Barack Obama.
My advice to you as someone who bears no ill will to America, is to give him a chance and let him bring you into the 21st century and maybe he and you can build and America together that you actually CAN be proud of, because lets face it, up till now America hasn't done much to be proud of at all.
And trust me, it really pains me to say that.
Rick Callaghan at 8:23PM on Jul 6th 2008
94. My advice to you as someone who bears no ill will to America, is to give him a chance and let him bring you into the 21st century and maybe he and you can build and America together that you actually CAN be proud of, because lets face it, up till now America hasn't done much to be proud of at all.
And trust me, it really pains me to say that.
Rick Callaghan
I have a great curiosity as to why it pains you to say that????? The trust is yours if your answer seems trustworthy.
Jerry Brown at 9:55PM on Jul 4th 2008
95. Rick-You are obviously a young man, but much of what you say I can agree with. Haven't been to England since the 50's, but have always admired it. Been to 15-20 countries, from Sweden to Pakistan, also in the 50's. I'm sure there is no comparison to what they are today, and you know why? Much has to do with America's willingness to share in the prosperity.
Notice I didn't say America's benificience? America has always benefitted the most from boosting worldwide economies, from her participation in the Marshall Plan to the resurrection of Japan, Germany, etc,.
Problem is, she's bedded down with lots of rascals and suffered from lots of hubris and arrogance, reflected by her elected leadership. It ain't perfect, but it's just about as good as it's been able to get up to now.
It's a pity to see her decline.
Natural Puppy at 10:47PM on Jul 4th 2008
96.
Best 4th of July ever:
Jesse Helms, the human hate bucket, is dead.
If there was a Hell to go to, Helms and Falwell would be watching the fireworks right now.
T.Brough at 11:04PM on Jul 4th 2008
97. Dedman-
Great to see you have forsaken vulgarity, if only for the moment. Perhaps there is a chance that reason can become part of your repertoire, also. Good luck.
Natural Puppy at 11:07PM on Jul 4th 2008
98. If the Founding Fathers magically reappeared tomorrow they, once again, would "mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." In order "... to secure these rights (, certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness).Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,...........
What in the F*** are we waiting for?
olymonn at 1:07AM on Jul 5th 2008
99. There is no question that Dinesh D'Souza is self regarding, vain little prick who normally posts utter nonsense regarding evolution and religion. I started to read this post assuming it would be as irritating, stupid and self regarding as all his others. But it's not. I write as a non American, living in the UK and I have to say I found this piece moving. It has an honesty so conspicuously absent from his other posts and conveys a real sense of the ideals that made America such a magnet to so many people. I suspect those values may be disappearing fast from the States, swamped by ranting conservative pundits, racist loathing of immigrants and religious bigotry but it was good to see them articulated in this post.
timbo at 6:37AM on Jul 5th 2008
100. "It's amazing to think there are still those out there who believe that science supports creationism"
It isn't really amazing is it? Stupidity is pretty much the cornerstone of religious bigotry. And it is a relatively simple exercise for creationists to cherry pick data and wrap up their absurd claims in 'sciency' sounding terminology to convince those who wanted to believe it in the first place. 'Creation Science' is preaching to the converted.
timbo at 7:42AM on Jul 5th 2008
101. Rick Callaghan at 8:53PM on Jul 4th 2008 posted:
[edits are mine]
93. Seriously guys, this made me laugh so hard.
You have a saying in America that goes "you need to get out more"...this applies to most of you.
You see the average American is so ignorant of anything outside of the USA, and more often than not, ignorant of most things outside of their city or state.
[Really?!]
My advice to you all is to educate yourselves about other countries, their social, political, health, education, juridicial systems etc. before you continue blowing your own horn in such a manner that it makes the rest of the world think worse of you than we already do.
For example look into promises America makes to aid agencies all over the world, and how often it keeps these promises, you are in for a big dissapointment i assure you.
[Dissapointment? Oh, you mean disappointment. Is that the king's english I've heard so much about? Wait a second... how could I know that? Ahm jes uh big ol' ignerunt amurikan redneck.]
*******
Rick, it's been said that only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. You prove that point well, old chap. Time for some sunscreen.
It only took me about fifteen seconds to find the following on the web. It's a humanitarian aid database. You can compare just who spent what over the last year and a half around the world.
The first link shows U.S. aid. The second one... just for kicks... shows what the United Kingdom did during the same period. And it seems that they show figures for what was pledged and what has been contributed or is currently committed. You can find figures for any nation or combination of countries rendering aid to any nation or group of countries. Oh, the disappointment! *sob*
All figures are in U.S. dollars to make things easy to compare. (Go ahead and beat your chest about the devalued dollar. It will bounce back, as will our economy. The ink is still wet on your euros. And we ALL know how well you Europeans get along so well with each other - especially all of our G.I.s who fill cemeteries on both sides of the Atlantic.)
United States
http://ocha.unog.ch/fts2/pageloader.aspx?page=search-reporting_display&CQ=cq050708105119KE2PE4JWBB&orderby=Decision_Date&showDetails=1
United Kingdom
http://ocha.unog.ch/fts2/pageloader.aspx?page=search-reporting_display&CQ=cq050708110634wrd2qfw8nn&orderby=Decision_Date&showDetails=1
I still hear laughing, Rick. It's coming from us.
We have and always have had a LOT to be proud of. Our holiday is called Independence Day for a reason. Remember? It's from when we waxed your asses the first time. We then broke free from the largest empire in history. The British Empire. You know, the one that tried to make a colony out of the entire Earth. Nice try.
Do try and cheer up old chum. Keep a stiff upper lip.
torquemada at 7:07AM on Jul 5th 2008
102. In response to the first paragraph of Mr. Polasky's essay:
::Until the founding of the United States of America, all governments, ancient and modern, were managed by the politics of religion. Politics, from the Greek word polis (city, citystate), are the forces which influence the method of governance of nations and other divisions of society. Religion was the most dominant political factor in all nations and governed societies from prehistory until 1791, when the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States were ratified. In the United States, secular, constitutional law has replaced religion as the primary influence in the regulation of society. That is what makes our country unique. That is why we can consider ourselves special.
A couple things in response.
First, a Constitution is useless without the general will of the people embracing it, and that requires certain conditions in the people themselves. As John Adams wrote, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Religion, therefore, is not "replaced" as the "primary influence", but as the *primary legal means* of regulation at the Federal level (paradoxically, it seems that sane secular law only remains such when established in a generally religious will).
Second, secular law doesn't necessarily equate to good law, it is only when it's founded upon natural law that it is indeed good, that is, just.
"A free people claim their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate." -Thomas Jefferson
Third, when the first amendment was ratified, along with the other nine, it did not prevent States from establishing their own religions -- at the time, that was a matter for the States, some of which (if I rightly recall) had established denominational preferences.
Fourth, it is not the replacement of religious law with secular law that "makes our country unique", or "special", as if that vague replacement is an end in itself -- religious law could be incidentally just, and secular (Communism!) unjust -- it is the fact that natural law (part of traditional Christian religion) became the basis for Constitutional law; and that, significantly, in a predominately Christian people.
The Founders clearly believed that religion was an indispensable support to the aims of our Constitutional Republic, outlined in the Preamble; thus they favored nonsectarian religion over non-religion, evidenced by facts which must so puzzle our friends at the ACLU -- like prayer before sessions of Congress begin, and money directed toward converting the Indians to Christianity.
I find the rest of Mr. Polasky's well written article a bit cryptic, but the implications are evident enough. By religion I think he has in mind support of creationism, and opposition to abortion, and homosexual marriage; but those are not matters of religion -- as much as the impetus may come from religious texts and pulpits --; they should be viewed within the context of natural law, and thus should be tried by rational inquiry. The problem, however, is that (the modern) Christian and atheist alike seem to have no conception of the traditional distinction between nature and grace (natural law and articles of faith): the distinction which in practice actually does "make our country unique".
Jesse at 8:55AM on Jul 5th 2008
103. Rick, as a fellow Englishman I have to say your post was just a
little pompous. I don't think us Brits have the right to lecture the
Yanks on how they should 'enter the 21st century' Is our own society
so great? You mention Barrack Obama who stands a good chance of
becoming the next President. When is a black guy going to have a
chance of becoming the next Prime Minister? It is true there is much
to dislike about US but the knee jerk anti Americanism that so many
in Europe indulge in is just fuck witted. Think about American
contributions to culture and science. An Englishman (Tim Berners-Lee)
may have created the protocols that made the Web possible but can
anyone have any doubt that it would have been impossible without
America? Moving on, Torquemada (nice screen name) if your response to
Rick was supposed to be comic I can only say don't give up your day
job (assuming you have one) Your idea of English slang seems stuck
back in the 1920's and surely it's time for Americans to stop
bringing up the 2nd World War whenever anyone in Europe questions
some aspect of American policy. I mean, thanks for helping out but it
was quite a few years ago wasn't it?
timbo at 9:49AM on Jul 5th 2008
104.
"From some of the liberal, left wing stalkers that haunt this D'Souza blog comments, I can reasonably assume that EVERYTHING that is good, conservative, or Christian makes them sick"
By 'liberal left wing stalkers' you mean 'those who disagree with me. It is ironic that the conservatives who bleat so loudly about 'freedom' seem so outraged when it is exercised. What makes 'liberals' sick is not decent Christian conservative values but the repellent self regard, callousness and ignorance that seems to characterise Conservatism in the States today. The post that I quoted from is an almost perfect example of all of those things
timbo at 10:01AM on Jul 5th 2008
105. For 50 years poor people have been voteing democrat, and they are still POOR. Think about it.
P. Conover at 10:37AM on Jul 5th 2008