Recently, our new president sat down with Bill O’Reilly from Fox News. At some point during the interview, Bill called Putin a killer. President Trump responded with, “there are a lot of killers … do you think our country is so innocent?”
Many Americans are upset that our president would have the audacity to suggest, even for a moment, that Russia could be compared to the United States of America when it comes to its moral and humane treatment of its own citizens as well as of people abroad. Offended by this comment, Joe Scarborough of MSNBC reminded his viewers that America, “Which by the way for the record has fed and freed more people than any country in the history of this globe and the USSR that Vladimir Putin mourns for has killed over 50 million of their own people and enslaved an entire continent until we helped liberate it along with our allies.”
Many of us are fully aware that the USA is not 100 percent innocent when it comes to “bad deeds.” We also genuinely believe that we do a great deal of good in this world and that compared to countries like Russia, we are that shining city upon a hill. But I’m sure there are some amongst us who heard President Trump’s comment and paused for a minute, sat back in their chair, folded their arms, raised their eyebrows, slowly nodded their head, and thought to themselves, “Maybe he has a point. Who are we to thumb our noses at other countries when we have also done our share of dirt?”
Just 30 years ago, we had a president in office who sold drugs to US citizens so that he could advance a political cause that most of us do not even understand. That same president hypocritically waged a “war on drugs” which basically served as a veiled scheme to rid our streets of black and brown people. This is the only country in the world that has ever used nuclear weapons on its opponents, while at the same time setting itself up as the moralistic authoritarian over who gets to have nuclear weapons and who doesn’t. This is the country that began by using terror methods to rid itself of its oppressors, and now that it’s well established, has set out on a vendetta against the use of terror at home and abroad. Let’s not mention the millions of Africans and Native Americans who were slaughtered by this country.
Given our tumultuous history, it is extremely hypocritical for us to condemn other countries for any wrongdoing. But it seems that hypocrisy is in our DNA. Our founding documents that we hold in such high esteem like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, along with its amendments, are the epitome of hypocrisy. They promised freedom and liberty for all, while the men who authored and signed them had a very limited commitment to those ideals, if any. Yes, these men laid a foundation for what’s arguably the greatest and most stable and powerful nation in the history of the world, but within that foundation, they also set in stone a system of racism, discrimination, and dishonor that may never be overcome, no matter how well intended we become.
For the record, I have absolutely no problem with the manner in which our government goes about in this world to advance the interests and benefits of the citizens of this country. The men and women who run this country and set our foreign policy are privileged to information and situations that are far beyond me. My only concerns are that they put the interests of the American people above their own and that they be upfront and honest with us. What I have a problem with is when our country does dirt covertly, while parading as a moral juggernaut. The only people who buy this garbage are Americans. The rest of the world sees right through this mess. As the young people say: Let’s keep it 100.
