Newly Minted US Citizenry Antidote for Bush Doctrine of Intolerance

"The fate that befell Roman and British empires seemed unavoidable as American democracy was drifting away from the loftier precepts of citizenship. The reversal came with the marked emphasis that Obama brought to the public square. "



by Philip Fernando in Los Angeles for Sri Lanka Guardian

(November 23, Los Angeles, Sri Lanka Guardian) Hegemonic empires like the Roman and British left behind legacies far beyond their spheres of actual domain. The American presence in the international arena was no exception. The newly minted citizenry in America generated by the Obama win at the recent polls brought a restoration unprecedented in the history of US politics. They reversed the erosion of public spiritedness experienced inside the American democracy for sometime, culminating with the Bush presidency. What’s right about the US sprang out of advanced citizenship norms practiced there to enhance loftier tenets of purpose. It was the antidote to Bush legacy.

The fate that befell Roman and British empires seemed unavoidable as American democracy was drifting away from the loftier precepts of citizenship. The reversal came with the marked emphasis that Obama brought to the public square. Someone noted that when Americans voted on November 4th, they had a dozen more issues to consider and not merely to vote for a president. For example, there were ballot initiatives in California to define marriage and gay rights, how best to treat war veterans with greater dignity and even mundane requirements of basic health standards at animal shelters were voted on. The issue how durable is US democracy lingered in the back of their heads.

Even from high school days, most were getting used to a higher level of citizenship. The questions posed at the final interviews prior to granting US citizenship often were when was what are the 3 branches of government and why are they separated, what wasa the New Deal of Roosevelt or when is Thanksgiving day celebrated in America and why. Those signals sent a clear message: join the mainstream as fast as possible. Many other countries are now adopting similar approaches when granting citizenship.

The rule of thumb for new immigrants is unless you participate in public affairs you are not advancing faster enough. So parents attend ”open house” days to talk to teachers about how their kids are doing in school, join church, temple and mosque events to show solidarity and often take part in fund raising events during the election campaigns.

The recent elections were exceptionally active days. People participated willingly in many events and watched presidential debates with great interest. The Great Depression of 1929 gave birth to Roosevelt’s New Deal in the US. Sometimes crises propel countries forward, enabling them to remake themselves more progressively. One analyst wrote thus: "this is the path the US opted for, with the election of Barrack Hussein Obama as President. The Obama Presidency will not make the economic crisis go away; but it will improve America’s capacity to deal with that crisis”. People rejected Bush’s knee-jerk reactions to national problems. They wanted leaders to think through problems from a multi-dimensional perspective.

During a time when US was facing a deterioration of its military and economic power, Obama seemed a particularly suitable President because he showed everybody that he was shaped by and open to diverse global influences. The election of such a man to the Presidency of the United States proves that any civilizational divide can be bridged and that the 'Clash of Civilizations' need not be the future of the world any more than it was the world’s past.

Obama's election has given rise to much soul searching in many parts of the world, especially Europe. Successful empires were the ones which accepted diversity. Rome was the byword but other successful imperial states, from Persia through the Caliphate, the Ottomans and the Moguls to the British embraced diversity and practiced tolerance to various degrees. The failure of imperial Spain was sourced mainly in her intolerance; her ceaseless attempts to impose uniformity enthroned unreason and killed creativity, paving the way for external defeats and internal unraveling. The British lured us with the English language and the game of cricket.

Because of the election of an African American to the Presidency, America has won a moral victory over its enemies and detractors. Gone are the ways of George W Bush, dubbed the 'divider' with a 'bunker mentality', by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. Obama’s victory embodies the defeat of the irrational and the triumph of diversity, reason and progress, according to most commentators. Since hegemonic empires set political and economic trends, America’s return to the ethos of Enlightenment cannot but affect the global climate of opinion. The heegeemony itself would not be a matter to be boasting about. - Sri Lanka Guardian