It’s all too easy to overreact to yet another mass shooting in America. But the two shootings on Saturday, hours apart that killed 29 and wounded dozens more, seem in some respects to be the last hurrah of an America that I once knew.
The recent tragedies have been met with all the usual tropes: hand-wringing by editorial writers; meaningless clichés from the White House and political leaders; calls by the left to ban all guns; calls by the right to stop name-calling. And on and on. None of this counts for anything at all and will be trotted out at the next massacre in exactly the same terms and language as has happened after these tragic events.
When I arrived in the US in 1991 as an immigrant from England, I felt privileged and excited. America was a country I had visited often and always admired for its humanity, its inclusiveness, its morality and its determination to change itself and the world for the better.
I also loved the passion with which every American seemed to greet the world and the equal enthusiasm with which they seemed to embrace even the most insane ideas. There was this extraordinary sense of possibility that was unrestrained by education and upbringing. Just get on with it and see what bounties life can offer, everyone seemed to say.
Over time, I have seen a steady erosion of the values I so admired. This is not so much a criticism of Democrat vs Republican or liberal vs conservative but more a steady emasculating of the very values that seemed to set America apart in what has always been a troubled world.
I often wonder, as I get older, if the jaundiced view I feel is a reflection of my own challenges where I have seen too much death and destruction, too much war and killing. But I do, in fact, think it is much more than just memory colouring my perspective because I remain filled with passion and driven by values I hold dear – just as I have always been.
What I see is a collapse of civility and not just from this White House, although its language and tone continues to astonish me every day. Congress, too, has descended into a morass of dysfunction where name-calling is more the currency than is the passing of legislation (at the lowest level today than for many, many years). And although this is unfair (and I am old too), everyone bloviating on television seems like they are from another century and so irrelevant to this new one.
As I look at the political leadership today, I actually see no leaders, no men of vision who stand ready to lead us into the Artificial Intelligence revolution that is arriving at lightning speed. Instead, I see men and women who are all too eager to continue to feed at the trough of the public purse with little thought about the honour they have to serve the voter and the duty they have to serve the country.
Ordinary Americans can look and see for themselves. The sense of disenchantment and despair that I feel seems to be shared up and down this country by young and old alike as every recent poll has affirmed.
This is all unfolding not so much against a background of gun massacres but against the increasing irrelevance of the government and the decisions it makes. For a growing number of Americans, wages have been stagnant or falling for the past 20 years. Corruption in state and local government seems to be running rampant and the growing unequal gulf between rich and poor grows every day. The honest value of fairness seems to have been lost and most Americans realise this has happened, but feel there is nothing they can do that will make any difference.
Meanwhile the politicians trumpet and blather and appear to have no ideas whatsoever. Reform education to make it relevant for a new generation? Not on the agenda. A national jobs programme to prepare for the many professionals and members of the middle class who will lose their jobs because of technology? Nowhere to be seen. Any measures to address growing income inequality? Not at all. And what can be done to cut through the torpor? As Winston Churchill once said about the Russians: ‘It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.’
I fear that history will not be kind to this generation of political and business leaders who appear unable and unwilling to do anything different than their predecessors. What little they actually do is more about posture than substance and every decent American looks for something better and finds no answers. And so other massacres like last week’s are inevitable and they will be followed by the same empty hand-wringing and inaction.
There are grounds for optimism. I recently traveled with my younger daughter to an ultimate frisbee competition with three other women. All were in their 20s, all super intelligent, highly articulate and passionate about the future of their country as only young, idealist Americans can be. It was inspiring and affirming to hear these women talk and it gave me hope. The future of this great country remains, as it has always done, with its passion, commitment and patriotism. Now, if we can only get some leaders of both political parties who can share in those ideals, America might return to the country I always knew it could be when I became a citizen all those years ago.
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