The Land of Opportunity?

Yesterday, Tuesday, January 17, 2012, the Austin American-Statesman published an opinion article entitled "America's unlevel playing field won't get flattened by Romney," written by Paul Krugman.  It contained some interesting assertions.

1.  "Americans are much more likely than citizens of other nations to believe that they live in a meritocracy."

2.  "[T]his self-image is a fantasy."

Mr. Krugman supported this second assertion with an equally interesting assertion.

"America actually stands out as the advanced country in which it matters most who your parents were, the country in which those born on one of society's lower rungs have the least chance of climbing to the top or even to the middle."

While I find these assertions interesting in and of themselves, I find them particularly interesting because they are things I have been saying for some time now.  I did not make the assertions up.  They are based on hard statistical facts.  In America, it is much less likely that you will die at a higher socio-economic level than the one you were born into than it is in most European countries.

Now, to be clear, I am not saying that America is bad.  Hardly.  As someone long ago once told me, the test is:  Are they trying to get out, or are they trying to get in?  While not so much as they used to, they are still trying to get into America, not out.

But, we are not the "Land of Opportunity" that we tell ourselves we are.  And it is interesting to hear a Nobel-Prize-winning economist agree with me.

Not long ago, I was having dinner with some friends.  All three of them were naturalized U.S. citizens.  They are Americans now, but they had all been born citizens of other countries.

One of them asserted that America was the "Land of Opportunity."  When I disagreed and tried to explain that the facts showed that the assertion simply was not true, that many countries offered more opportunity to their citizens than did America, he refused to be dissuaded.  When I asked him how he could continue to believe the "Land of Opportunity" motto in the face of rather stark facts, he replied, "I don't believe the facts."

At that point, the only thing to be said, if anything, is what Senator Moynihan is reputed to have said:  "You are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts."  Rational conversation is over.

Later, I was castigated by one of those at the table for disagreeing with the one who asserted that America was the "Land of Opportunity."  "He was just trying to compliment your country."

I thought about the implications inherent in the idea that it was my country, not the country of all those seated at the table, but I passed that over.  But, what I thought about was:  Why did I dispute him when he said something apparently complimentary about America?

One thing I can promise is that it was not because I am anti-American.  I do not hate America.  On the contrary, I love my country, and I consider myself to be among the most fortunate men on the planet for the single reason that I was born in America.

But, because I love my country, I want her to be as good as we can possibly make her.  As good as she is now, I want her to be better, if that can possibly occur.

It cannot occur if we lie to ourselves.  This is as true of a nation of people as it is of an individual.  If we are convinced, or convince ourselves, that we are perfect, we are never motivated to improve.  Thoughtful, accurate self-criticism is not bad.  Thoughtful, accurate self-criticism is good.

Consider the difference between looking in the mirror and saying to yourself, "Ah, I'm not that overweight.  In fact, a little girth looks good on me.  I don't need to be careful about what I eat or whether I exercise," and "Hmmm.  I think I'm gaining too much weight.  That won't be healthy.  I think I'll be a little more careful about what I eat and I'll start getting some more exercise."  One is self-delusion which allows us to continue our bad habits uncontrolled, and the other is thoughtful self-criticism which allows us to recognize where we need to improve and start taking steps to be better.

Our nation is exactly like that.  When we tell ourselves that we are the "Land of Opportunity," it may sound like a compliment, but actually we are self-deluding and we won't be motivated to actually improve opportunity for Americans.

We need to speak truth to ourselves so that we can be even better than we are.  If we truly love America, we will tell the truth about her, and we'll be happy when others do the same.