Does America Deserve to Be Hated?

Published at OpEdNews.com

In our cocoon of flag-waving patriotism, it is easy to protect ourselves from the harsher truth of the moment: America has too much power in the world and it is not wielding it with wisdom. We are playing God with other countries, wrecking havoc environmentally, and siphoning as many resources as possible from the developing world. We have the largest military budget to protect our “assets,” while we spend the lowest per capita on development aid of any advanced nation. We have over 700 military bases in more than 100 countries. We are aggressively self-interested.

We are, in short, an empire. And not a particularly benevolent one.

I know it’s hard to stomach this. It’s much easier to wave the flag, sing patriotic tunes, and wax poetic about the American dream. Everyone wants to be the good guy. But, at the moment on the world stage, we are not.

America HAS been an extraordinary catalyst for the world at times. We have led boldly. We’ve played the heroic savior, such as during World War II. I don’t want to deny positive credit for what our country has done, from laying foundations for democracy to advancing women’s rights to propelling technological revolutions. We do deserve kudos and there are ALWAYS individual Americans who carry the torch of greatness with grace.

But we cannot look only to the past or to individual heroism. We must look at the big picture of the moment and the scene is not pretty. We are running the world like a petty tyrant, demanding allegiance and obedience, punishing those who disagree with us, and conquering in the name of greed. Our leaders lie often and egregiously. Our populace is fattened with gluttony and sedated by hours of TV. Our political system has become increasingly corrupt and our cherished rights undermined. Our media is increasingly a tool for propaganda.

As a country, we have outpaced the rest of the world in terms of power. This essentially makes us the world’s dictator – we can dictate what happens and when. Benevolent dictators are a rare breed and America is showing that even a nation founded on noble principles can, upon assuming the reins of unchecked power, become addicted to that power, addled by it, and march towards tyranny.

Inasmuch as America is becoming a tyrannical empire, perhaps we do deserve some of the world’s hatred of us.

Hate is a reflection of positive life force being thwarted. It is like fire, directed at whatever holds back the next stage of growth. For the planet as a whole, America is now the single biggest barrier to world peace and healthy development. It’s the single biggest threat to the environment. Put simply, America is the greatest threat to life on this planet. And we are showing few signs of using our power for collective benefit.

We now wield the power of the patriarch in the family, but operate with the moral code of the teenager. Our power has grown faster than our sense of compassion and this disconnect creates suffering. As a country, we take as much money as possible from the rest of the world, spend it lavishly on ourselves, and use our military, CIA, and FBI to quash dissent both internally and externally, even using torture, while also engaging in wars of unilateral aggression.

Most foreigners are too generous with America right now, preferring to blame our government and not our people. Of course, some go to the extreme of turning hate into actual violence, which I do not support or advocate. But I do think outrage, disgust, and disapproval towards the American people is warranted, if only as a spur for us to wake up. It seems to be the only thing that can burst our self-congratulatory bubble.

If we really feel the hate of the world, we are gradually forced to shift our understanding of ourselves: in what ways are we no longer the world’s hero but the world’s exploiter? How have we become a tyrant among nations? Are we leading the way in addressing the most serious problems or are we making them worse?

These are important questions for us to ask in order to grow into true adulthood as a country and fulfill the promise of our noble ideals. The world cannot passively wait for us to make this shift: the stakes are too high for us to be the petulant king on the hill.

The true king rules in service to the kingdom, not himself. A true king lays down clear tracks towards democratic governance. A true father in a family makes the first and greatest sacrifices.

Right now, America does none of these.

America needs to go through a profound maturation and the only way to do so is by facing the truth – the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It means seeing through the lies of our government. It means demanding democracy. It means dismantling power structures that have been corrupted. It means taking the reins of power from those who cannot wield them with wisdom. It means repealing the Patriot Act and dismantling the war machine. It means creating an empowered citizenry and doing so fast.

If it takes the rest of the world’s outrage to turn up the fire that propels us into adulthood, I welcome it. I want America to become the glorious leader we are capable of becoming. But the stench of rotted ideals and corrupted power is strong at the moment and the forces of self-serving empire grow more entrenched every day. We need a cleansing that goes far deeper than removing Bush from power. We need a full transformation.

Nothing less than a humble acknowledgment of our misdeeds, a committed effort to make reparations, and a generous use of our power for the collective good will suffice. That will not happen with Bush at the helm. But it will also not happen with a mere changing of the guard. The American people themselves need to go through a second revolution, a revolution of heart and truth resulting in a more mature relationship with power. We do have the potential, unlike past empires, to grow beyond decadence and corruption into a nobler destiny. Or, we may crumble, perhaps financially under massive debt. Or morally. Or militarily. Empires are brittle and the cracks are already showing in the armor. The choice is ours about how to proceed.

I believe that America needs to use its vast power in the service of leading the world towards the next stage of peace, sustainability, and prosperity. When we stand in integrity and loving service in that role, THAT is when America will earn the love of the rest of the world. Until then, I suspect we need to keep turning up the heat.