Is America Losing Her Freedom?
By Ronald C. Manalastas America is not losing her freedom. But her competitiveness behaves in an inverse relationship with the improvements made by her global counterparts. American competitiveness has suffered a "chipping off" that causes dysfunctions and discontinuities in the life of the American people. This development, borne out of the adverse impact of globalization, has cultivated that erroneous public perception that American freedom is being lost. It is difficult to imagine how America can lose her freedom, not an iota of it, the country being a bastion of freedom. America upholds and puts high premium on rights, liberty, and equality. It is for this reason that we will continue to see a headstrong America persistently fortifying her offense and defense against any erosion, deterioration, or loss of the sacred word "freedom." Just like any politically independent and sovereign nation, America, with a dominant super power status, has the proven capacity to assert the primacy of the American interest in the global community of nations. The predisposition of America to freely act in order to advance her strategic interest is rich in historical content. The American "manifest destiny" that led to major westward expansion and acquisition of Mexico, as well as the fateful intrusion in Vietnam, gives a clear idea as to what America can do in the exercise of her freedom to exist as a sovereign nation. In some circles, the Five D's of American imperialism (i.e. destiny, duty, deity, dollar, and democracy) are considered active ideological muscles that America can flex any time when politically or economically necessary. In contemporary times, the hotly debated issue of American war involvement in Iraq is a similar manifestation of the strong American bias for freedom, regardless of its global diplomatic impact. But while freedom is not lost, life in America has become much different from what it used to be. The socio-economic malaise now constricting America continues to dispossess people of what they were accustomed to fully enjoy before. And it is exactly the paradox: there is freedom, yet there is socio-economic dispossession among the broad ranks of Americans. America is just immersed into new and cold adverse realities, which, as a nation, she never had the thought of going through. We can cite the key causal factors as to why people think they are losing their freedom when, in fact, they are not. These factors are:
1. Restricted Choice of Goods and Services
The range and quality of goods and services available to the citizenry have deteriorated. "Made in America" for many consumer goods (e.g. clothing, shoes, belts,
appliances, household wares, and personal computers) is a thing of the past. Whether they like it or not, consumers have to contend with the influx of goods coming from China, Vietnam, India, Japan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Hongkong, and Indonesia). The bewildering low production costs in these Asian countries simply have made it impossible for American companies to profitably compete head-on. In the shoe market alone, traditional US-made Florsheim, Cole Haan, Sebago, Hush Puppies, Bostonian, Converse, and US Keds are still available in the country, but all of them are made somewhere else outside of America. Yes, there is complete freedom to purchase, but the choice is limited to the cheaper versions of US-made items that were then conveniently available to the American public.
2. Depressed Employment Opportunities
The threshold of immigrant and non-immigrant workers, blue-collar and white-collar included, to unconscionably low pay rates are claimed to have unnecessarily depressed salaries in America. Inasmuch as US citizens are resistant and opposed to accept working compensation below the American standard, what happens is that many job opportunities go to immigrant and non-immigrant workers. Employers feast on low entry-level non-American workers as Americans generally remain nonresponsive to the call of the "dignity of labor." Yes, there is a grain of truth in this job market abnormality. All job contenders, however, have the same freedom of choice, except for the downside that the options for Americans in the labor force tend to be much narrower.
3. Wilting of Family Solidarity
As Americans long grapple with adverse economic climate, the situation forces the wife to seek employment to let both ends meet. The kids, in their young formative ages, are left in the homes with none of the parents available to attend to their development needs. This fracturing of the family as a basic social unit has critically dismantled the highvalue system that was once the foundation of American family life, where the husband works, and the wife stays at home to rear the children to be productive members of society. The rebellious juvenile sectors of America in under-privileged communities are a product of this pathetic socio-economic upbringing. Yes, there is complete freedom for the families to live a life of their choice within their economic capacity, but the choice as to what decent kind of life to trek is just an alley bereft of reasonable comfort. What has happened to America? Why does she appear incapable of now providing the range of goods and services previously enjoyed by its citizenry, a capacity befitting a fully-developed economy?
The answer borders on tragedy. America has chipped off, if not dramatically eroded, its global competitiveness. Once a hopeful and competitive nation, America has weakened its tenacity against the inroads of more circumspect global competitors, who with awareness, foresight, dexterity, and industry, had capitalized on their internal strengths in producing world-class products and services in derogation of American economic interest. In the area of social development, the educational foundation of American society has likewise suffered serious setbacks, with America tailing Japan in the present quality of education especially in the fields of Physics and Mathematics. In written communication, many Americans do not fare well against their foreign counterparts who use English as their second language. The filth and dirt of key American cities are no-match with the clinical cleanliness of Singapore and the gorgeous beauty of many European cities. Even on the political front, where America used to be incontestable, strong voice of opposition and anti-American sentiment can always be heard against American foreign policy pronouncement and initiatives. It is unfortunate that the American foreign policy spectrum is always externally tainted with doubt and suspicion despite America's best intentions. It is considered both highly protectionist and exploitative.
What is the proximate cause of all the problems that America experiences today?
I think it is the way the American culture has changed and retrogressed, from a high culture of excellence to a coagulant culture of liberality, contentment, and mediocrity. America is a democratic and permissive society where individual freedom reigns supreme at the expense of restraint; where people expect too much from the government; where living standards and preferences rise much faster than what people have accomplished for themselves to be future-ready; where the family has generally become so fragile and fragmented to be a catalyst for growth; where community life lacks intense human interaction because people believe they have their own individual life to live; and where the actual compelling purpose of business and commerce is largely profit-driven.
Does it mean then that America is really bound to soon lose her freedom?
Not necessarily so. It simply means that America cannot exercise its autonomy and sovereignty in whatever way she wants it. American freedom has to be viewed in the dynamic context of the global community and the internal capacity of America to compete and grow in that community. Following the thoughts of the Swiss-French philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau, we can say that "America is free, and everywhere she is in chains." While America has the
complete freedom to chart the destiny of its choice, it cannot be insensitive to the fact that she is bound by a controlling social contract to do good things and perform its best for the sake of humanity. As Rousseau further stated, "the strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strengths into right, and obedience into duty."
What does it take to bring back the quintessence of competitiveness to America so that she can fully enjoy the bounty of freedom as a sovereign nation?
The simple answer is: Abandon the culture of unreasonable liberality, contentment, and mediocrity. Restore the culture of excellence that allows vision, commitment, industry, and quality to set in as a way of life. Bring this culture to the doorstep of every American household, and freedom will never be beclouded or, at worst, vitiated by incapacity. When this happens, sooner than we all think, the American dream can be an infinite reality.