First up, why should I, as an Englishman in Scotland, give two hoots about whoever the damn Yankees elect to strut around in front of old glory for the next four years? The first answer to this is about power, and the second more interesting answer is about legacy and philosophy and dreams. The first answer is obvious, so its the second one I want to dwell on here for a moment.
It was F Scott Fitzgerald that called the United States the 'last and greatest of human dreams.' America is the expression of some of the finest impulses and traditions that have shaped my own country and my own beliefs. It is ultimately an enlightenment project, an attempt to create a country and system of Government based on reason, self determination and, to quote one of the greats, government of the people, by the people and for the people. While its self conscious striving towards this ideal has been tarnished by some horrific acts, those acts are no different than those of every other industrialised country, but we hold America to a different standard. I'm not looking to downplay its crimes here, just to point out that the US suffers in comparison with its flighty rhetoric, but at least it has the rhetoric and it lives up to it more often than I can quite credit It is the best, bravest and most important attempt to make the idea of democracy and freedom stick, which is why its actions and elections are so important. If the yanks can't make this work, it probably can't be done. The American Caesar, the man to break the republic and establish a tyranny of fire and glory is always closer than we care to think.
The ideas that animated the founding fathers and still course though America today are ideas that spring from my country, or counties in fact. It was the infringement of ancient English liberties that so enraged the colonists. It was said in the build up to the English Civil War that 'magna carta is such a fellow that he will have no sovereign'. That was as true in the fields of Virginia was it was in the downs of Sussex. In fact, it could be said that the American Revolution was a replay of the English Civil War (minus some of the religious headbanging) and the same side won. The US is the finest expression of the better angels of the English political nature. The Scots shaped it too. The extraordinary flowering of the Scottish enlightenment forged ideas that became the tools of the craft of Constitution building in the hands of Jefferson and Adams. Hume and Adam Smith's thoughts on the nature of man and the best form of government to manage him directly inspired the founding fathers. In other words, the project of America is the project of all of us who see ourselves in the enlightenment tradition, especially if we are at all proud of what the sons and daughters our own lands contributed towards it.
My next observation is a bit less pompous. This election has been so much fun. I'm going to miss it. I've really enjoyed the musings of Michael Tomasky and Oliver Burkeman at the Grouniad, and Fivethirtyeight's been brilliant. If there's a rookie of the years for this election its surely Nate Silver (though a certain Mr B Obama might run him close.) The Economist's multi coloured bloggers at Democracy in America have great too (and funnier than I ever expected.)
Finally, and for the first time in a long time, I feel like we are on the threshold of something glorious in the election of Obama. America needs to dream itself up again and he can do it. Something extraordinary is happening. He'll let us down, the world is a hard and unforgiving place, the challenges he faces are colossal, and he's just a bloke, but for a glorious moment here I feel like I can believe in a political system, believe like I feel I should be able to.
Live up to yourself, America. There are some of us out here that share something deep in our souls with what you can be. Be true.
No comments:
Post a Comment