Michael Barone

Is America a Good Country or Not?

April 10, 2008 RSS Feed Print

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Periodically pollster Scott Rasmussen asks voters whether they think America is basically fair and decent or whether America is basically unfair and discriminatory. In the latest survey, 64 percent say America is basically fair and decent, and 22 percent say it is unfair and discriminatory. Men (70 percent) are considerably more likely than women (59 percent) to say that America is fair and decent. As one might expect, blacks tend to think America is unfair and discriminatory rather than fair and decent, by a 47 percent to 37 percent margin. Whites take a positive view (67 percent to 18 percent) and so do "others" (63 percent to 33 percent), a category that I assume is mostly made up of Hispanics. Republicans by a wide margin (78 percent to 12 percent) see America as fair and decent, while Democrats are split (49 percent to 36 percent).

This poll was conducted on March 31 and April 1 (registration required). Rasmussen has asked this question 19 times since November 2006; the fair and decent response peaked at 64 percent then and in early February (because of Barack Obama's showings in the primaries?). The most negative response (54 percent to 32 percent fair and decent over unfair and discriminatory) came in July 2007.

I think this split among Democrats is a permanent problem for the party. The Democratic base is split between those who like hearing good things about America and those who like to hear the nation denounced or, if that's too strong a word, criticized. Bill Clinton was skillful enough to weave together rhetoric celebrating America and apologizing for its past misdeeds, but not all Democratic politicians are so deft.

You see a similar pattern in the responses to another Rasmussen question, should the United States do what its allies want or should the allies do what the United States wants? All: Allies should do what the United States wants, 42 percent to 29 percent. Republicans: Allies should do what the United States wants, 66 percent to 13 percent. Democrats: United States should do what the allies want, 39 percent to 30 percent. Interestingly, voters under 30 come out on the side of allies doing what the United States wants, 57 percent to 28 percent.

There's little equivocation on whether people who move to the United States should adopt American culture or retain their home country culture. American culture comes out way ahead among all voters (78 percent to 11 percent), Republicans (89 percent to 4 percent), and Democrats (69 percent to 16 percent). Multiculturalism has a very small base in our country.

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magine for a moment that somewhere in the middle of Texas there was a large foreign military base, say Chinese or Russian. Imagine that thousands of armed foreign troops were constantly patrolling American streets in military vehicles. Imagine they were here under the auspices of "keeping us safe" or "promoting democracy" or "protecting their strategic interests."
Imagine that they operated outside of US law, and that the Constitution did not apply to them. Imagine that every now and then they made mistakes or acted on bad information and accidentally killed or terrorized innocent Americans, including women and children, most of the time with little to no repercussions or consequences. Imagine that they set up checkpoints on our soil and routinely searched and ransacked entire neighborhoods of homes. Imagine if Americans were fearful of these foreign troops, and overwhelmingly thought America would be better off without their presence.
Imagine if some Americans were so angry about them being in Texas that they actually joined together to fight them off, in defense of our soil and sovereignty, because leadership in government refused or were unable to do so. Imagine that those Americans were labeled terrorists or insurgents for their defensive actions, and routinely killed, or captured and tortured by the foreign troops on our land. Imagine that the occupiers' attitude was that if they just killed enough Americans, the resistance would stop, but instead, for every American killed, ten more would take up arms against them, resulting in perpetual bloodshed. Imagine if most of the citizens of the foreign land also wanted these troops to return home. Imagine if they elected a leader who promised to bring them home and put an end to this horror.
Imagine if that leader changed his mind once he took office.
The reality is that our military presence on foreign soil is as offensive to the people that live there as armed Chinese troops would be if they were stationed in Texas. We would not stand for it here, but we have had a globe-straddling empire and a very intrusive foreign policy for decades that incites a lot of hatred and resentment towards us.
Shutting down military bases and ceasing to deal with other nations with threats and violence is not isolationism. It is the opposite. Opening ourselves up to friendship, honest trade and diplomacy is the foreign policy of peace and prosperity. It is the only foreign policy that will not bankrupt us in short order, as our current actions most definitely will. I share the disappointment of the American people in the foreign policy rhetoric coming from the administration. The sad thing is, our foreign policy WILL change eventually, as Rome's did, when all budgetary and monetary tricks to fund it are exhausted.

truth of AZ 8:47AM December 24, 2011

no TTH LOL REALLY

AD of AL 7:41PM November 28, 2011

amanda, those middle eastern dictators are all installed by the united states, including sadam. even bin laden was supported by the u.s.. america seems to go into these countries, overthrow leaders, and replace them with dictators who enjoy stoning women to death. i like how youre focusing on the dictators but not on why they came to power. maybe you are still waiting for your liberal media to properly inform you. i dont really blame admedinejad for wanting to wipe israel off the map. for the past 40 years, israel has not been defending itself. rather it has been offending people. why is it that israel seems to be at odds with all its neighbours. seems like israel is the problem, and not everyone else. how exactly does lining up for blood after 9/11 make americans good people? it only makes them selfish. now if theyre lining up to give blood to iraqis, then i might actually be touched. after all, it is american troops who are murdering millions of iraqis, and afgans. funny how you bring up katrina. guess what the u.s. govt did after katrina? they sent in blackwater troops to protect the asets of the elite, and was beating and shooting at poor people who they accused of being looters. how exactly do you figure half of anyones pay check is going to welfare? its obvious that you dont know where taxes go. half of u.s. taxes go to military, which of course goes to blow up people around the world, or black male them into doing favours for multinational corporations. a few billion goes to israel to oppress palestinians. a few billion more go to these middle eastern dictators that enjoy stoning women. the other half of your taxes probably go to prisons or cops to help make the u.s. a perfect police state. im complaining. youre sick of it, and want people to move to canada, or france. yet, arent you the same kind of people who claim this is a "free country". well, i guess i am only free to make right wing statements, or something in agreement with the status quo. is this what american freedom is?

doug hartunian of MA 10:07AM May 01, 2011

Is America a Good Country or Not?

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