Dual Image of America as a Shining City on a Hill - Report Example

on a Hill When the Massachusetts Bay Colony was first formed in 1630, it was done so with a famous sermon delivered by John Winthrop. He based his sermon upon a story from the Gospel of Matthew often referred to as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (World Future Fund, 2007). Within this sermon, Winthrop told his followers that they were establishing a bright and exemplar city for future generations to hold in high esteem. Because everyone was watching to see whether they prospered or died, Winthrop told his followers they had to pull together and behave as the closest of families in order to ensure that they prospered and made everyone understand that God smiled upon them for their righteous ways. If they failed, he said, “we shall be made a story and a byword through the world, we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all professors for God’s sake, we shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants” (Winthrop, 1630). From that long ago day to this, Americans have continued to carry this dual image of America as a Shining City on a Hill, the chosen people of the world, shadowed by the underlying fear of failure, disappointment or bringing shame upon ourselves through admission of mistakes. Because we’d rather forget about the weight of responsibility and the consequences of buried, rather than fixed, mistakes, Americans tend to center their focus on the idea of the city on the hill as the promised land, making them the ‘chosen people’ of the present age. America’s self-perception as a chosen people can be seen in its current stance as the world’s foremost authority on protecting human rights and in its previous and, to some extent, still prevalent stance on those it considers to be ‘not American’, particularly those to the south who might have some legitimate previous claims to the land it holds. With this promising beginning, the American colonists began arriving by the boatful into a land that was already well populated by entire nations of people who had been living on the land for generations. However, with their dark skin and savage, immodest ways, they were viewed at best as the children of Satan by the Puritan settlers who were now convinced they had been selected by God to inherit this utopian Garden of Eden on the other side of the Atlantic. While some colonists managed to live in relative peace with the native tribes, others were openly at war with them, pushing them off their native lands or deliberately ruining them through alcohol and other vices as a means of eradicating them. After the formation of the United States as a country, the continued general impression of the nation as a chosen nation ‘under God’ continued to prevail, still with the definition of America as a race of European descended chosen white people. Continuing their effort to establish their social and political dominance, the government initiated clashes with the natives, making and breaking many treaties. “The Trail of Tears represents the lack of responsibility which the Government dealt (and still deals) with Native Americans. Numerous broken treaties and the mistreatment of people consisting of an independent sovereign nation exemplify that the Government’s word means nothing” (Casner, 1997). Progressively, the native population was diminished by several methods. They were killed as a result of wars and vigilante violence in addition to their introduction to new types of disease. Many Indians also died while being forced to relocate, a sanitized way to refer to the ethnic cleansing of tribes which were formerly located in the area east of the Mississippi River. This social dominance didn’t stop with just the Indians, though. As the nation grew and has continued to grow, this guilty resentment and oppression has continued with the brothers of the Indians, the Mexicans who have entered this country in search of a better life. Some areas where Mexicans have supposedly ‘taken over’ such as Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California and a large portion of Texas were originally their lands usurped by the more powerful and influential United States. Now, when descendents of people who had been pushed off their lands many years ago return looking for work as a means of survival, American citizens oblige by providing them with menial unskilled labor, few if any worker’s rights and continued harassment when they seek to rise above their proper station. Although most of the workforce rebuilding New Orleans is Hispanic, for example, moving in specially for the purpose from other parts of the United States, the prevailing attitude of returning long-time residents of the area continue to look upon these helpful individuals as somehow less deserving of the city’s admittedly stretched services and limited jobs. “For all the economic muscle these workers have supplied, their presence has also fueled tensions: over language barriers and over education and health care needs … concern is rising that migrant laborers have diminished job prospects for others” (Chu, 2007). Regardless of whether they are here legally or illegally, many of these workers are forced to accept a lower than acceptable wage simply to be able to pay their expenses, yet they are held accountable for the laws and practices that make it difficult for them to organize and no one seems to resent the companies that exploit them. This same sort of double standard can be seen to apply on the international level as well as politically, Americans see themselves as somehow the police force of the world. This is perhaps no where more evident than in the country’s treatment of Iraq. Although we now know otherwise, a great majority of Americans were sold on the concept of war in Iraq as a means of liberating a severely oppressed foreign nation of people from a psychopathic dictator. Although there are numerous examples of this sort of political arrangement in multiple nations throughout the world, this particular one just happened to have oil in it and happened to have some spurious, unproven connections to a particular terrorist group blamed for attacks on U.S. soil. It was up to the Americans to go in and save those poor people from their misery. According to Michael Egan, this is a common theme through most of American history. “William Appleman Williams suggested that in spite of its best intentions, American foreign policy was based largely on a one-dimensional American belief that Americans and American democracy had all the answers” (Egan, 2003). This attitude exemplifies the concepts that were placed in the American psyche back in 1630, the idea that ‘our way is the best way and everyone must follow our example.’ The political clout that America was able to pull in order to make the invasion of Iraq a reality, as well as the success of the nation in ‘ending’ the major wars of the modern age has only contributed to a concept that America is God’s chosen people. As with their social treatment of those of native or Mexican descent, there remains a shadow on the crown. Although American contend they are the ‘chosen people’ with all the right political answers to lead to a happy, healthy and productive nation full of self-determined individuals, they are unable to deliver the most basic necessities for modern life in Iraq or elsewhere and, because of their prideful maneuverings, have found it difficult to ask for assistance from other nations. It is not difficult to understand why the myth of Americans as the ‘chosen people’ has been perpetuated from as long ago as the 1630s. With their ample availability of land, three coasts, a variety of climates, geography and resources, America truly does seem to be a land of milk and honey. As arriving conquerors, the early European colonists had little difficulty feeling superior to a race of humans who didn’t even have the sense to fashion proper clothing and knew nothing about the inherent properties of gunpowder and subsequently oppressed them in many cases to the point of extinction. The precedent having been established, those races found to the south of claimed property have continued to receive the same dismissive treatment as the Indians long ago even into modern times. Having gained its prestige and enjoying its distant proximity to the bickering European nations, the United States has also had an opportunity to mature and grow strong with the additional protective barrier of the Atlantic Ocean until the invention of modern machinery. With this ability, they were then able to establish military dominance over foreign nations and had the luxury of fighting wars on other nations’ soil, thus incurring none of the damage. Anti-war strategies also managed to keep the United States out of worldwide conflicts as well, allowing them to enter at a point when they were strong and fresh and other nations had been worn down by attacks and counterattacks as well as the economic strain of sustaining war. The ability to enter and exit these conflicts on a strong foot enabled the country to establish itself first as one of and then as the only superpower on the planet. This, combined with the concept of a chosen people, has further convinced Americans that they are somehow the police force of the world, insisting that all people should have the right to determine their own futures, yet deciding what that future will be by forcing democracy upon them. While Americans continue to think of themselves as a chosen people in many ways, closer examination of these ideas would necessarily force them to rethink just where their ideas came from. If Americans truly want to be the chosen people, they must find some means of returning to the more altruistic goals of a speech that promised utopia. Works Cited Casner, N. “The Rape of the Native American People.” Disasters. Boise State University. (May 4, 1997). July 16, 2008 Chu, Kathy. “Dreams of Steady Work Fade for Hispanic Workers.” USA Today. (July 16, 1007). July 16, 2008 Egan, Michael. “The Relevance of William Appleman Williams.” Counterpunch. (August 9, 2003). July 16, 2008 Winthrop, John. “City upon a Hill.” (1630). July 16, 2008 World Future Fund. “A Shining City Upon a Hill.” Alexandria, VA: World Future Fund, (October 2007). July 16, 2008 Read More