History as a Teacher: The Lack of an Empirical Approach to Policy in America

History repeats itself. At some point in our lives a wise elder or a professor has reminded us of this rather simple but profoundly true statement. You would think that after a while someone might grasp onto the actual implications of a statement like this, though. Each generation seems to recognize that history is important because history is the exposition in every countries ongoing story. What is strikingly obvious is the fact that in American political, economic, and social issues there is no attention to detail in terms of historically based arguments. People seem to think that history is there to pick and choose facts from in order to bolster a point that is of dire consequence to their overall argument. It is the lack of respect for historical accuracy, in fact gathering especially, and the omission of outcomes or original causes that leaves many people in our nation unable to argue coherently.

The degrading status of the education system is a major factor in America for the lack of intelligent and, in some cases, literate human beings. Throw in an economy that has been on the decline for nine years and the brain power of a nation really takes a hit. But who really cares anyway? Celebrities and athletes get the most attention in our media, right up there with wacko pundits. As a kid I watched a lot of T.V. What I saw has changed drastically from the 90's till now. The thing I liked about T.V. was that it showed you a story and then was done. There was no stuffing morals or subliminal advertising in your face for 30 minutes, just shows. But now everything is an advertisement or a corporate owned programming attempting to indoctrinate the youth with strong capitalist values (greed, lack of emotion, and a good sense of the bottom line). Of course, we can't blame the media for every problem in America, that would be too easy. There has to be a sense of self responsibility, right?

As an empiricist, I look to history to try and find a foundation with which to shape my understanding of the current frenzied status of America. For the right the problems have always been crazy liberals, rap music, a lack of religiosity (well really just a lack of Christian values), too much government, and marijuana (okay well drugs, but they usually go to weed first). For the left the problems have always been corporate takeover, too much religion in politics, unfair distribution of resources, a military-industrial complex, and marijuana not being legal. And the middle, well who cares what the middle thinks anyway? Talking points have been in great abundancesince last year. With the right seemingly losing their grasp over American politics and Armageddon only four years away in the eyes of the large population of evangelicals throughout the Midwest and bible belt, the tension in America over "the issues" is so thick and juicy you could cut it with a butter knife. But is this the first time this has happened? Or is this just a natural progression that we have entered into as a young nation?

History would seem to be against us in terms of our nation as an empire. Empire's come and go. Rome wasn't built in a day, but it sure collapsed quicker in power than it ascended to power. And even in America we can look back and see the devastation that being an empire brings. Think about how our own history could have been different if our leaders only took a second to think about their consequences in terms of history.

Former Attorney General John AshcroftJohn Ashcroft wrote in his book "Never Again" about detaining foreigners of Arab descent soon after 9/11 took place in order to minimize the threat of a repeat occurrence. Had Ashcroft and President George W. BushPresident George W. Bush looked into the annals of history they might have spotted a similar policy that was adopted shortly after an attack on American soil (or soon to be American soil). The internment of Japanese Americans and Japanese citizens in California after the bombing of Pearl Harbor was done in an effort to control any other attacks from the Japanese within America already. Guantanamo Bay and the interment camps are two peas in a pod separated only by time, not in ideology. America as an enforcer found a problem group and eliminated the possibilities of that group firing a shot at the walls of our empire. Surprisingly, 50 years of growth did nothing for our general sense of decency when it comes to our treatment of human beings. Poll numbers during the policy of detention adopted by the Bush administration showed that a majority of the American people were in line with the detention of innocent people with no evidence of their supposed threat to national security. So we can assume that we as the American people, for not standing up and making our government realize its mistake before they made it, were devoid of any knowledge of history as well.

Of course this is just one example in what could be described as a plethora of mistakes made by our country in the last nine years. And it is "our countries" mistakes, not our presidents or our policy makers. The American people are rejecting our own history of groundbreaking innovation and tolerance. There are many people to blame for the current political, economic and social situation we find ourselves in, but at least now we have a foundation from which we can build a house on. History continues on each day marking down what we do and logging it for future reference. In an era where progress is stressed on both sides of the aisles of Congress, retrospective thinking has been abandoned for proclamationsof "what if." Instead of going into our arguments blindfolded and repeating what others have said on T.V. or the radio, Americans need to take the time to study. Instant gratification with the Internet and other technological inventions have made us a cocky species. Hard work and dedication are not archaic models of learning. Without a complex approach to understanding an issue (which for the most part our politicians are attempting to do but then have to explain to the dumb masses in words that usually don't end up coming out right) there is no point in arguing. We might as well end up devolving into a monarchy or oligarchy because right now we are groups of people following misguided leaders. Until we become an nation of independent, well educated human beings satisfied simply with being alive, we are forced to pick sides and duke it out till someone backs down. That is unless we decide to stop being foils to our own historical drama and start being the author.