The Devastating Double-Separation That’s Crippled the U.S.

I’ve been trying to understand exactly why the U.S. is doing so poorly, in general, and is facing so many daunting social and political challenges. In fact, I’ve been pondering this for years and have never arrived at any truly satisfactory answers.

Then, the other day, it forcefully hit me: the U.S. really IS unique among nations, in that it is a very new nation, based on a new type of government and society, on a newly-colonized continent. Our overall, ongoing motto has been: ‘Out with the old, in with the new.’

But all that ‘newness’ comes with a hefty price tag: along the way, traditional ways and cultural roots get lost, connection to the past gets lost, and social cohesiveness and identity get lost as well. (Note: this is probably exactly why the ‘genealogy craze’ is so big here; people are desperately searching for connections and their lost roots.)

Of course, this is not really ‘news’; in some ways, it’s common knowledge. But the other day, I realized just how deep and painful all these long-term losses have been and ARE.

The U.S. has often been called a ‘melting pot,’ with the idea being that former national identities and cultures are all ‘melted down,’ mixed together, and combined in new ways — and that this is a strongly positive development.

But in many ways, it has not been positive. For most people, it amounts to a devastating process of loss, confusion, and chaotic socioeconomic growth… and results in a painful inner void and ‘emptiness.’

Former national or cultural identities were ‘melted down’ or ripped away — but then there’s nothing to adequately replace them… except, perhaps, capitalism, selfishness, and greed. (And these are not good or healthy replacements.)

Why is it SO crazy in the U.S.?

Given all the bizarre, frightening developments in the U.S. over the past decade, in particular (think Trump and MAGA), people around the world are wondering: “What the hell is happening in the U.S. — and why is it SO crazy over there? What the hell is wrong with those Americans?”

Well, I’ve started to realize that what we’re seeing in the U.S. is probably the inevitable end result of a long-term social and political experiment gone badly awry.

In this experiment, people were ripped away from their original cultures (even if they chose to flee their homeland, unlike Black slaves), ripped away from their societal roots, torn away from their connection to the lands where they grew up, and plunked down in a new land with new rules and laws and only minimal social or cultural support.

In terms of the old ‘nature vs. nurture’ debate (loosely defined), the new Americans suffered greatly on both counts.

They lost their connection to the old Europe or Africa and the lands of their birth, literally, and to European or African cultural and spiritual traditions as well — meaning they lost a deep sense of connection on both a physical ‘nature’ level and the spiritual level. Plus, they lost most of their cultural connections or cultural support systems, and often their sense of social or ethnic identity as well.

A nation overflowing with emptiness

This meant they rapidly lost the majority of both their inner and outer foundations. In many ways, the settlers and colonists (and slaves) were left with nothing.

They had left behind their connections to nature and their familiar Earth — but they’d also forsaken or been ripped away from the cultural forms or social matrix that used to support them. In many ways, they experienced an ongoing state of persistent forced separation and were, in fact, emotionally bereft, both in terms of ‘nature’ and ‘nurture.’

Scarily, in many ways, the American ‘melting pot’ tore away peoples’ former identities and beliefs — and then foolishly tried to replace them with nothing. And we called that nothingness ‘freedom.’

But ‘nothingness’ is never a good replacement for meaningful cultural identity and support. If we feel torn away from our roots and from our cultural and religious traditions, we’ll likely feel a stark, painful emptiness inside — as we struggle and ‘try to adapt’ to the swelling of nothingness.

But no one can truly fully adapt to such deep loss and emptiness. It’s a deep, soul-level wound — and such wounding and ongoing nothingness are a very poor basis for a new society.

Photo by Josh Johnson on Unsplash

Why are we so alienated, anxious, and unhappy?

Of all the people in all the nations of the world, today’s Americans are among the most alienated, anxious, and unhappy. Many recent studies confirm this.

To my mind, this pattern is the direct result of our long-term immersion in the awful nothingness of our American ‘melting pot’ and of our long-term deprivation on both the ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ fronts.

In a sense, most Americans seem like needy, greedy orphans to me: lost, lonely, anxious, and pining for some sort of love and stability.

But in a society based on strident ‘individualism’ and hatred of ‘socialism’ (read: working social support systems), there’s not much love, support, or stability to be found. Instead, there’s the never-ending competition of the ‘rat race.’

In this deeply dysfunctional, ‘modern’ experimental nation, many of our most basic human needs — for love, connection, stability, and meaning — simply aren’t being met. Then these vital inner needs, and the accompanying inner pain, just keep growing — and our unmet needs soon turn sour (very sour) inside us.

Our deep, unmet needs turn into endless neediness, anger, and gnawing, unending inner pain, which we then attempt to assuage with money-making, consumerism, and endless consumption.

It’s a grim scenario, for sure. Any nation populated by needy, anxious, and unhappy citizens is bound to end up in a dark, dangerous place that looks and feels a lot like… today’s America.

Any superficial changes are bound to fail

For all these reasons, any short-term, superficial changes on the social or political levels are bound to fail.

The founding ideals of the U.S. seemed positive, and seemed beneficial, initially — but as time passed and our nation grew and developed, its inherent limitations and dangers were revealed, and became more and more apparent and obvious.

You can’t just strip away all the things that people believed in and built their lives around — and still expect them to be healthy, happy, and satisfied.

You can’t take away most of what gives meaning and stability to peoples’ lives — and then (foolishly) expect to create and experience a stable, functional society.

Human life just doesn’t work that way — but the American experiment was designed to disprove this and show that a wonderful new society and way of life could literally be created from nothing. ‘Out with the old, in with the new.’

It’s taken several centuries, but now we can see this super-ambitious experiment is failing, big time, and is in danger of complete collapse — along with the mental health of its anxious, unhappy citizens/guinea pigs.

A new American Reality is desperately needed

It’s way past time, now, for a total revision/re-visioning of our ‘American Dream’ — because the initial dream and the nightmare it eventually became were both born of utterly unrealistic and dangerous assumptions about ‘human nature’ and human beings’ needs.

Human beings need stability, ongoing nurturing, and healthy social and cultural support — and do NOT do well with nothingness, emptiness, excessive individualism, endless competition, and an ongoing lack of nurturing and social support.

Sadly, the modern U.S and its citizens are both highly dysfunctional, and teetering on the edge of collapse, because the U.S. was set up to be exactly this way. But it’s clear now that our American experiment is failing badly, for all the reasons mentioned above.

A new American dream, and a much better, more realistic, and healthier American dream, is now desperately needed.

Better yet, a more grounded, healthier, and far more humane American reality is desperately needed.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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