What does it mean to be an American? This is a question with a wealth of answers, and very few would be objectively wrong. The values of being an American are easy to individualize, and different Americans will hold different values in high regard. It’s hard to generalize the thought process of the average American, but today I want to highlight the values of the radical American.
What we radical Americans want more than anything else, is change. Change that has been promised our whole lives, but has never actually come to fruition. We look to our left and right, and are dissatisfied with the culture and way of life that we have adopted. America has adopted this culture of convenience, and over time our primary consideration for what we want is exclusively becoming how convenient it is. As long as the convenience is present, we won’t question how it became so convenient for us to have. We drive forward with this toxic and mindless consumerism, buying literally more things than we can afford. Taking on debt so we can have the newest car, and the latest fashion trend, and the shiniest new sleek piece of garbage. When you think about the logistics of how our widespread consumerism is supported, it can be a little overwhelming. Amazon is able to give you basically anything you want overnight. Sometimes they need a day or two, but there’s enough cogs in their goliath logistical network to bring anything you want to your front door at the push of a button. Fantastic for the mindless American consumer, but what about the cogs in the machine?
Amazon has a storied history of aggressive union busting, and refusing to recognize the rights of their employees to organize. There are regular concerns about poor working conditions, and underwhelming pay to the people who make this convenient service possible. Despite having a GDP that outperforms 92% of countries in the world, Amazon can’t seem to find the money to bring their overwhelming success to the pockets of their labor force, who actually make it possible. The cogs slave away, so the American consumer can have unparalleled convenience, and at some point we have to consider the impact of our way of life.
To be an American is to be the benefactor of a lot of other people’s exploitation. Beyond the domestic Amazon worker, you have international citizens of the world who are being extorted for the sake of exponential growth in the American stock market. The sweatshop belt of Asia relies on the labor of women and children to produce the goods that drive their GDP, without bothering to ensure those women and children’s working environment is safe. The pay is high enough to be appealing to poor laborers with limited options, but they aren’t close to seeing a reasonable amount of the total money being made.
America operates similarly to The Capitol in The Hunger Games. The districts of the world produce goods and extract resources, which are then funneled to the US, and the districts are left with barely enough to survive. Meanwhile, we Americans take our abundant access to resources for granted, using them excessively or outright wasting them. It’s estimated that 30-40% of the food in America gets wasted, and as we throw our food away, other people starve.
The rate we generate garbage is astronomical compared to the rest of the world. Our 4% of the world’s population produces 12% of the world’s trash. We recycle at a pathetic rate, and our carbon footprint per capita is 4 times higher than the global average. We treat plastic like a disposable product, even though it’s very environmentally damaging, and our plastic recycling rate sits around 5%. I get a little angry when I unwrap plastic packaging, and then throw it in the trash or recycling, knowing it won’t actually make a difference, because they won’t actually recycle it regardless.
The uncomfortable truth of being an American, is that our way of life is completely unsustainable. We consume finite resources as if they’re inexhaustible, but eventually the wells will run dry. Our culture has to change, and if we wait too long then it will be because we don’t have any other choice. If we get ahead of it, then maybe we can give the future generations of humanity a world that still has the things that they need to thrive. The change required needs to be a global effort, but it starts right here, in the heart of capitalism. Once we prioritize the well-being of all humanity and the environment over profit and convenience, we can begin to save the world.
This is the basis of the radical American. An American who condemns the old ways of capitalism, imperialism, and consumerism. An American who states with conviction that we care about all people, and we care about the fragile earth that we all live on. Also, we care deeply about leaving enough resources for the generations of people who will live on this planet thousands of years after we are gone. We will have change, because it is necessary. Those who will mindlessly pollute our environment, extort our neighbors, and burn through resources as fast as they can until they’re gone are our enemies. America needs heroes who will save it from the morally corrupt who will sacrifice anything just to make more and more money. Will you help save the world, even if it isn’t convenient?