Greed, Empire, and Identity

Reading “No Name in the Street,” James Baldwin’s mid-70s memoir, and watching Ken Burns’ six-part documentary “The West,” I understand more clearly the brutality of America’s conquest of the West (which we justified in the name of American Exceptionalism), the lasting impact of the  incredible Gold Rush madness (which spread a passion to “strike it rich quick” that persists), and how deeply embedded is America’s unique affirmation of rugged individualism (which declares we are on our own, as individuals or as a nuclear family).

The recent #myeconomy Marketplace survey found that 79 percent of Americans believe that hard work plays a bigger role than luck in getting ahead. That result, which takes personal responsibility to the extreme, boggles my mind. 

While in France when that country was losing its empire, including Vietnam, Baldwin wrote that the attitude of the French police toward immigrants, “which had always been menacing, began to be yet more snide and vindictive. This puzzled me at first, but it shouldn’t have. This is the way people react to the loss of empire — for the loss of empire also implies a radical revision of the individual identity — and I was to see this over and over again, not only in France.”

Does that ring a bell? As the American Empire declines, America continues to define “leadership in the world” as the ability to impose its will, as with one “regime change” or another, whether with soft power or the military. And its police are far too often brutal and vindictive, as Americans lose their sense of being members of a White, Christian nation.

Baldwin also reflects on a visit with an old, formerly close childhood friend:

He seemed as little touched by the cataclysm in his house and all around him as he was by the mail he handled every day. I found this unbelievable, and, given my temperament and our old connection, maddening. We got into a battle about the war in Vietnam. I probably should not have allowed this to happen, but it was partly the stepdaughter’s prodding. And I was astounded that my friend would defend this particular racist folly. What for? For his job at the post office? And the answer came back at once, alas — yes. For his job at the post office.

That too rings a bell. Selfishness and self-centeredness reign supreme, as life becomes, as a passenger of mine said, “Work, buy, and die.”

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