The Death of the American Salesman

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Though born a few years after the war, I still felt and saw with my own eyes that powerful spirit of patriotism everywhere in our society, even with our racial minorities. We weren’t Democrats or Republicans; we were Americans and we weren’t embarrassed about it. Our pride was everywhere, and it didn’t discriminate by bank account balances. Our factories and farms were humming with activity and we were seeking new markets for our products and our services. Americans were on the move enrolling in universities and heading for Wall Street, Main Street and Madison Avenue. We were builders, makers and sellers of everything under the sun.

We knew in our hearts that in unity there was strength. After all, didn’t we defeat Hitler and Tojo and a million other bad men along the way? Sure we celebrated diversity, but we put it into perspective. Assimilation was more important. Stressing our differences was antithetical to teamwork. We had a common purpose and that was what made us strong. We were able at long last to break down a few stubborn color barriers, most of the time without calling in the National Guard.

America had its share of domestic problems, but we had a common identity above everything else, traceable throughout history, all the way back to our founding documents and which followed the trail of blood spilled in freedom’s name. We were determined not to go backwards and seek cover from our social responsibilities. During the sixties and seventies, our political tectonic plates were shifting, mightily, and we found ourselves dangerously close to coming apart at our cultural seams.

You needed to be there, at that precise moment in our history, to understand just how close we came to a total meltdown, but if you weren’t there you need only look at our country today and you will get a taste of that same foreboding feeling. America is divided along gender, racial, ideological, economic and political lines and we are now experiencing a déjà vu of frightening proportions. Our fragile culture has all but forgotten what real pride – the kind that’s based on actual historical accomplishments – is all about.

We have fallen into a cultural quicksand that is gradually swallowing us up and no one is on steady ground to throw us a rope. On the contrary, people are cheering for us to drown and shouting at us: “Serves you right, you white oppressor. Take your systemic racism down with you. You deserve worse, but we’ll settle for your death and demise.” While we have seen this ‘movie’ before, this is one of those rare times when polite discussion is not going to solve the problem.

We must find our way back to the path of the truth about ourselves, that we are a true work in progress. It would seem that our political, social and cultural divisions are placing us squarely on a trajectory that can only lead to our dissolution as a people unless we are able to re-ignite the fire of common purpose and replace our divisions with it. “America First” (a concept that goes back to our Revolutionary War) is not a destructive force. It is simply the recognition that our nation is sovereign and international, that we understand our place in the world of nations and we are determined to maintain both without rejecting either one.