I Want To Be a Real American

Welcome to the Nu Deal Podcast!
By Gerry Nutini

I was born in a relatively small town in Rhode Island. By all accounts, I am an American. I was born in this country, I was educated in this country, my family lives in this country, and I even served this country.

Growing up I’d pledge allegiance to the Flag. I’d sing God Bless America in school. I’d put my hand over my heart for the national anthem. And without fail, when I thought about what it meant to be an American I was proud.

As I grew older that changed. Sure, part of it was simply not knowing better. We learn America’s checkered history as we go through school. Columbus, Slavery, Jim Crow, Japanese Internment Camps, the bombing of Nagasaki and Fukushima, McCarthyism, Reagan — but all those things are in the past, and so I could feel good about building a more positive future — a better America.

Until now.

It wasn’t the Trump presidency that sent the clear signal. It was sad and sickening to see racism rear its ugly head in 2016 — along with a backlash fueled by angry white men who couldn’t bear to suffer a highly-qualified, extremely well-educated woman with decades of experience leading the nation.

It was almost expected. Men are fragile. I know. I am one. And fragility yields fear and fear yields bad decisions and bad decisions yield Donald Trump.

Most people had no true expectations of Trump. What could a trust-fund baby turned corporate celebrity offer the working middle-class American worker? Not much. He came from a different planet entirely. He never knew hardship. Ever. And since it was always obvious that he was nothing like most Americans, it was almost an inevitability that he would simply do damage.

No, the clear signal is at this moment.

When Joe Biden took office, he promised he would pass legislation and that he would do his best to work in a bipartisan manner. Immediately, he passed the American Rescue Plan, and then he was able to garner enough Republican support in the Senate to pass the pending Infrastructure Bill. It looked like the government was working again. Rohan had answered the call. Hope was rekindled.

And finally, a plan was coming that would offer direct benefits to the middle-class. It is arguably the first of this kind since the 1960’s. Not since The Great Society and The New Deal before it has such a comprehensive focus been placed on elevating the middle class.

The plan isn’t just some small tax cut. It’s a major tax cut for families, with the potential to be permanent. It caps how much we will spend on healthcare and on childcare. It aims to provide new parents with up to 12 weeks of paid family leave. It finally puts into action over 30 years of ideas and innovations to combat climate change just as time is running out, while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process.

And finally, the ultra-wealthy oligarch class would be held accountable for the taxes they owe this nation — enough new revenue to fund this bill and more.

There is something in this bill for everyone. It would change the landscape of American life and tilt the scales back in the direction of the working class and very slightly away from the wealthy elite.

However, none of that matters. It doesn’t matter to enough Americans, and so it is being stripped away from us.

I want to be clear — on a global scale, there is absolutely nothing remarkable in this bill. Paid family leave, universal healthcare, low-cost prescription drugs, affordable childcare and paid vacation time are the standard in almost every other industrialized nation. This bill is not American innovation at its best, and this bill would not place us among the most forward-thinking nations. This bill would just get us in the ballgame. Instead of being the 0–7 Detroit Lions, we could be the 1–5 Jacksonville Jaguars, coming off their first win of the season. We wouldn’t be winning any awards, but hey, we’d be out of the cellar.

Currently, about 71 nations offer free healthcare to their citizens. About 16 countries offer free college to their residents, with some even offering free tuition to international students. The average couple in the US currently puts 32% of their income toward childcare — the third-highest rate in the world only behind the UK (33%) and New Zealand (37%).

We are one of only 7 nations in the world that do not have guaranteed paid vacation days— with most other nations offering a minimum of 4 weeks paid vacation, plus holidays. In America, it takes the average worker 20 years of service to reach 20 vacation days.

By our own definition, we are probably the least American country on the globe. We have ceased to be Americans. We are no longer citizens of that nation we were once so proud to call home.

What made America “America,” was that it was founded upon principles that were so new, so contrary to the status quo, and so innovative that many other nations could not see such a system working. The emphasis of our Constitution was that power was with The People, and not a monarch or dictator. And that our government would be for The People and by The People. And it worked pretty well until recently.

This bill for the middle-class is going to be stripped away from us because two Democratic Senators decided they didn’t feel like being Democrats anymore. Beyond that, they didn’t feel like being Americans anymore. When they put the needs of the few above the many, they betrayed America in the name of something darker and more twisted. It is one thing to advocate for your constituency, and quite another to actively deprive 328 million Americans of all the benefits listed above for the supposed benefit of 1.7 million West Virginians. That’s called selfishness. That’s called sabotage.

And we can’t forget the 50 Republican Senators who have so egregiously abandoned American idealism that they wouldn’t even consider taking up discussion on this bill. In fact, they seem to be content to stop legislating altogether, their minds addled by dreams of authoritarianism coming to our shores.

Many of The People have also lost interest in being ground-breaking. They have lost interest in leading the world, setting good examples, and proving that yes, a better society is possible, and a better world is possible. That life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, along with equality, are not only worthy causes but achievable ones.

Or maybe they are too tired and too overworked to be able to pay attention. Maybe they don’t know what could have and what should have been if the original 3.9 Trillion dollar compromise bill (down from 6 Trillion) had become the law of the land. Maybe their one week’s vacation, which they can’t afford to take because over 30% of their income is required for childcare, isn’t enough time to be able to pay attention. I think this is the more likely case.

Either way, it has never been so clear that America has no interest in being America anymore — and that Americans aren’t interested in being American anymore — not in the way we are used to thinking about ourselves. We are no longer working to perfect the framework our founding father’s left us, but rather we are dismantling it, removing power from ourselves — The People — and handing it, along with our resources and our dreams, to a select few people that many middle-class Americans defend tooth and nail, even to their own detriment.

I am frustrated on an existential level that Joe Manchin has almost single-handedly guaranteed that America will not rise to meet the basic standards that the rest of the world holds.

I am frustrated that Democratic leadership hasn’t made it clear to every American that Joe Biden and Kyrsten Sinema are going to cost American families thousands of dollars in yearly savings.

I am frustrated that progressives, who have just as much, if not more leverage than Joe Manchin, are not walking away from these bills entirely. Yes, I know we need to get something done. But we aren’t doing enough to make it clear that the only reason we don’t have infrastructure and spending bills is because of the greed of two Senators afraid to upset their donors.

Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are bullies. And Americans do not cave to bullies.

Finally, I am frustrated and somehow still surprised, at Republicans and their lack of dignity, and lack of will to make America a better place for working Americans and not just the corporate elite. What was just a decade ago a party that supposedly represented the “American Family” has devolved into a murder of crows, annoyingly squawking nonsense to whoever will listen while waiting to pick apart the corpse of the country they claim to have loved, but have been intent on destroying.

I always thought America was a country that looked at the top spot across all major categories — healthcare, religious freedom, education, worker’s right, affordable housing, clean water — and wouldn’t stop putting in effort until it was #1 across the board.

I always thought America was a country that put the middle-class first and made sure that the bedrock of society was well-taken care of before allocating any resources to the very wealthy who aren’t in need of more resources.

I always thought America was at its heart, a nation that craved equality, and wanted to prove to the world that past transgressions were not representative of who we are as a people.

But we aren’t innovating like other nations. We aren’t putting the middle-class first like other nations. We aren’t at the top of any of the major categories, and we are close to the bottom on more than a handful. We’ve stopped putting in any serious effort. We have prioritized the ultra-wealthy over the hundreds of millions of Americans who put in the daily grind every single day. And we have seen with the rise of Trump, a renewed and sickening enthusiasm for racism, xenophobia, sexism, and hatred of exceptionalism and intellectualism.

And so when I see news like today’s — that paid family leave is no longer on the table for us, that cheaper drug prices might not be on the table for us, that permanent tax cuts for families might not be on the table for us — I feel a deep anger. And that anger is there because I know I am less of an American every single day. That despite my hope, and despite my enthusiasm and devotion to creating a better America, we continue to choose a path of continued mediocrity, and I am ashamed.

I am ashamed to be an American. I do not deserve to be called an American. The true Americans have been lost to us, and we can only hope that somehow, someway, through some hard-hitting stroke of fate that those Americans will find their way home.

I hope they do. And I hope we can help them find our way.

Because I’d really like to be an American again.

Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels