Progressive Ponderings: Self

08/18/2005

Joe Mayer
August 17, 2005

By chance of birth I live in America: greatest nation ever formed; wealthiest in the world; most powerful in the universe; God’s choice to dominate the planet; first and foremost democracy ever established; possessing resources others would kill for; discovered by white people; peopled by Christians.

By accident of birth I’m male: same sex as God; dominant and powerful; heterosexual; intelligent and logical; the summit of “intellectual design”; chosen by God to “rule the earth”; competition breeds success; life mimics athletics; survival of the fittest; self-reliant.

By fortune of birth I’m white:  same race as God; superior intelligence; leader of civilization; founder of economic progress – capitalism; designer of democracy; envy of colored.

By luck of birth I’m American middle-class which puts me in the top three percent of the world’s population: free education K through twelve; family motivation and aid through college; believer in patriotism for world’s greatest country.

By fate of birth I’m from a Christian family:  the one true religion; rewards good members with wealth and power; patriarchal; family values; disciplined; our national religion; law and order; self-control; self-discipline.

I’m a self-made man: I’m just like my country; we don’t need those hypocritical United Nations types; we’ll go it alone; we can whip ‘em all--if we can’t we’ll buy them; manifest destiny is also personal; we take the resources we need; super-patriot.

I’m a self-made man: we males were made to fight, to protect, to dominate; our women like men who “put them in their place”; can’t stand those homos, an insult to my manhood.

I’m a self-made man: I sympathize with those other races but they shouldn’t try to compete or assimilate our superiority; I believe slavery actually had its benefits – it followed the natural order; foreign immigrants are ruining our country by taking our jobs; interracial marriage is an insult to me and God--if they keep it up we’ll all be alike and then who’s going to dominate?

I’m a self-made man: I always earn my keep; taxes are just government theft of my hard earned resources; my selfishness keeps the economy going; the poor have no one to blame but themselves; we’re all born equal; I can’t stomach bleeding-heart liberals; everybody can get an education if they try--I did.

I’m a self-made man: I’ve always followed the one true God; why can’t those other people understand; God sent his own son and they still don’t get it; seems to be a race thing; won’t accept the white man’s God; the hell with them--literally.

I’m as self-made man.
I’m a conservative.
I’m a compassionate conservative.
I’m an oxymoron.

Inspiration for this pondering originates from George Lakoff’s Book “Moral Politics” and a talk given by a conservative legislator to high school students.)