Republicans Are the Most American
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 7:00 AM You may be surprised to hear me say such a thing, but this post is most likely not what you're expecting. Republicans have often touted as part of their logic that they are the most patriotic, that they uphold American values the best. And to that I say, they're right.
When we think about American values, we think of a highly individualized culture. You should be able to do whatever you want with your money, what's most important is that you feel good about things. But why do we attach ourselves to such values so readily? If we were to examine other cultures, we would find a much more collective feel to the people. While the individual is important, it is not so important that it forgets about the greater good of the whole.
Let's take a practical example in the news, Universal Health Care (UHC). One proposed idea for UHC is to raise taxes on people but provide health care for everyone in the United States. Immediately the individualistic part of ourselves cry out. We say, "No one should be able to tell me how I can spend my money." It's an interesting argument when you think about it, because you would be spending that same money on health care anyway. The only difference is that you are choosing to spend that money instead of it being spent for you.
Now individual choice and freedom is an important thing. Without individual choice and freedom, we become mindless drones. There is always room for critical thinking. But there is something interesting happening in the collective conscious of the people where perhaps focusing on individual values alone isn't going to cut it. Perhaps there are more noble goals to live for. As the world becomes a smaller place, it becomes harder to ignore the needs of the ones around us.
So I'll make the claim again: Republicans are more American than any other political party. But here's the question. Are those American values really what we should be holding to? It is immediately at this point when someone makes a comment like this that they are branded an anarchist or wanting to take down America. I don't want any part of that. But I have to ask, what are those values?
Freedom? What exactly does freedom mean? Does freedom mean wanting to have a free market economy, but not the freedom to allow people to make their own moral choices about abortion? What about liberty? Is there more than one specific way to choose to display one's patriotism for their country? Is it possible to be pro-America without abusing hegemonic power?
These are but a few critical questions about American values. I do think as a people, we need to do some serious examination about what exactly American values are and if we want them to be the things that we hold as our paradigm. When doing so, we may find that there are other values that are more important that the ones we've been told are true and good.
