Thirty Minutes with an American Patriot
It isn’t easy being an American these days. It seems that everybody either wants to kill us, rule over us or sell us something overpriced so that they can use that money to kill us or rule over us. On top of that we have a ruling progressive class that is naive about the world, alarmist about the environment, bigoted against religious people, intolerant of any opinion that disagrees with their own and deprecating of America and its values. After years of this I’ve found myself losing my faith in this country, my belief in a better future for my family, seeing only darkness in our nation’s future.
Today I listened to a man from India who has lived for 12 years in the United States tell me how wonderful America is. The conversation had begun when I told him that the Wife and I were musing about a trip to India, especially since the Kashmir is open again and she had fallen in love with the place on a visit there a long time ago. But as we talked he hijacked the conversation, telling me how different India was from the United States. For the next 30 minutes he spoke about things both real “To get my birth certificate in India I have to go to one office to get a form, then another office to get a stamp, then to another to get a signature – and I have to bribe each person to do their job. Here I can order a copy of my son’s birth certificate online for a few dollars,” – and what strikes me as idealistic, “In India if you pay a teacher a 1000 rupees, he will teach you a 1000 rupees worth of knowledge. If you pay him 10,000 he will teach you 10,000 rupees worth. Here in America my son’s teachers love to teach. They send progress reports home all the time for each student, I can’t believe it.”
Thirty minutes. I found myself humbled by this man who endures a painful separation from his parents and brothers in southern India, only visiting them every 2 years because the trip is terribly expensive for him to take his family back home, “But I want them to know their grandparents and their uncles, aunts and cousins – and still enjoy life in America.” He is an extremely intelligent man who knows more computer languages than I can name let alone program in, and though his accent is heavy, his words were light and uplifting.
His words reminded me why my Irish ancestors arrived on these shores half starved after the Potato Famine. His words showed me why my Bohemian great-grandparents paid their last ducat in emigration tax to the Austro-Hungarian empire 40 years later to journey to a land where central Europeans were viewed as simple peasants.
His words gave me hope that no matter how screwed up America gets, no matter how far we’ve traveled down the wrong path, there are men and women like him, born on foreign shores who come here ready to move us forward, and put us on the path we belong.
Jack:
Scott, where have you been? I find it a bit sad that you are coming to this realization now. The producer of my films is from India, as is a sizable percent of my investors. In recent years (years I would characterize as successful filmmaking years), I have met and done business with people from around the globe who now call America home. They think America is a fantastic place to live! I’ve also done business with those in other countries since the vast majority of our revenue comes from overseas.
From the world perspective (at least those business people I know), it’s the “progressive class” (as you call it) that is trying to take America in the right direction. The conservatives are viewed as the problem. I’ve had some interesting discussions (from around the globe) about the debt ceiling crisis of last year; known worldwide as rightly manufactured by the Republicans and how they (always) put party/ideology before country. Those I know didn’t appreciate them risking the world economy for political gain.
My first film has made millions of dollars, the vast majority of which is from overseas. The devaluation of the American dollar (brought on by the Republicans) is offensive to me. I’m a productive member of our society, globally-minded economically, globally-active in business, living the American Dream and I see (clearly!) that it’s the Republican’s getting in the way of people like me; artist/entrepreneur trying to make it. Unlike most people, I don’t get my “information” exclusively through cable news, magazines (online and print), and blogs. I get it directly from the people who walk the streets of the world.
Do I think the progressive are doing everything right? Of course not. Do the people around the globe that I’ve talked to think the progressives are doing everything right? Of course not. But all I have to say about the alternative is this: Todd Akin = Paul Ryan. It makes me (and them) shutter.
28 August 2012, 11:01 amScott Kirwin:
Jack
I’m glad your films – and you – are successful. You have come a long way since Fatal Exam.
It’s funny you mention Todd Akin. He’s the new boogie man of the Left, who exemplifies the War on Women even though the GOP broke the sound barrier skedaddling away from the troll. His comments about rape are obscuring his stand on abortion, that Life begins at conception and that it’s morally wrong to punish an innocent for the crimes of another which many people sympathize with even though they might disagree with him as I do. After all I canceled a spaying appointment on a cat once I realized it was pregnant. The result is that I have 4 more cats than I need in my life right now, but hey, that’s the consequences of taking in a homeless cat dragged home by my Kid. One of them is sitting next to my hand as I type; it was born on my son’s bed.
As a libertarian I want to be left alone by the gov’t. That’s it. Leave me the f**k alone. I simply don’t want the gov’t telling me what to do. If I’m pregnant and want to kill my unborn child, that should be my decision alone – and that’s why I’m pro-Life AND pro-choice. Ban abortion and the law of unintended consequences state that someone somewhere is bound to suffer as a result. Better a dead baby than a pregnant rape or incest victim.
Still, I cringe at how progressives are making abortion into a sacrament. It’s a necessary evil at best, and one that is being used in the true War on Women: the aborting of young girls in China, India and even here in the USA. Such action supports the very patriarchy that feminism seeks to destroy, yet supporting “choice” ignores the fact that worldwide women tend to be more conservative than men. In the Sahel, female circumcisions are not done by men, but by women. One hears about the lifestyle police in Saudi Arabia or Iran but most Saudis and Iranians will tell you that it’s the women of the house that demand their use. The law of unintended consequences means that in China 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls. One can’t blame George W. Bush for that.
28 August 2012, 11:50 amJack:
Scott, your perception of the left’s view on abortion are skewed by the noisy extreme left. Here is what I’ve heard from the vast majority of liberals for decades: “Abortion should be legal but rare.” Period. That’s it. The idea that all liberals want abortion as a form of birth control is propaganda. I know many liberal women who would never consider getting an abortion but want it kept legal.
As far as the government staying out of our lives, I agree with you. Where we disagree is in which party will do the most damage on that front. Sadly, I think both can potentially cause plenty of damage; just on different topics.
28 August 2012, 12:13 pmScott Kirwin:
Jack
I’ve never understood why the Right wants gov’t out of our lives EXCEPT in the bedroom. The Left is the exact opposite. They’ll tell you what you can put in your child’s lunch as they do here in NC (I’ve butted heads so many times with public school administrators that I have a perpetual headache), and what soda you can drink in New York City, but then suddenly their rule stops at the bedroom.
Now combine the two: The Right’s power that stops at the bedroom door, and the Left’s refusal to cross that boundary and you have libertarians – which is where I find myself these days. The only problem with libertarianism is that it’s full of potheads, paranoids and perverts – and I can’t decide which one I am right now. 😛
What you don’t see is the Libertarian stream within the GOP. That’s where I am, along with writers like Walter Russell Mead, Glenn Reynolds and Reason’s Nick Gillespie. Is there a libertarian stream on the Left? If so I don’t see it. In fact I’m finding a social conservative left that I’m hoping draws the social conservatives out of the GOP into the Dems. Until then I’ll stick with the GOP. At least that party pays lip-service to small gov’t unlike the Democrats.
28 August 2012, 2:59 pmJack:
I think you went through your pothead stage, and only you can say whether you’re a pervert (and I don’t want to know :-)), and some (not all) of your writing has a paranoia ring to it.
I’m sticking with the Dems, they seem less extreme to me. And I think most of any politician’s platform is lip-service so I don’t even think about that.
28 August 2012, 5:25 pmNavyOne:
What a great story! I love talking to people who love this country who have only been here a short while. It is always refreshing and inspiring. . .
30 August 2012, 9:05 pm