The Soul of America

Al Gore laid out last week (read here, and listen here)the reasons why the prison abuse scandal, along with other excesses of the Bush regime, is so destructive to America. He talked about a lack of policy—“Dominance is not really a strategic policy or political philosophy at all. It is a seductive illusion that tempts the powerful to satiate their hunger for more power still by striking a Faustian bargain.” But most importantly, he talked about the “soul of America.” And I hate to use that phrase because it’s has Christian overtones which I don’t understand. I’m using “soul” to describe the moral make-up, or as Gore called it, the “moral authority,” of America.

The moral authority of America, he said, comes—or rather came—from the fact that America had, “moral authority in the world derived from the hope anchored in the rule of law.” And because of Bush’s blatant disregard for the rule of law, he has destroyed America’s credibility.

I think a lot of people in the world have thought that America has been unjust for a long time, perhaps since the seventies. I know I saw distrust of America when I was a child in Pakistan. Among people from Muslim countries and people who were aware of what America did in the Americas and even America’s conduct in Iraq prior to the current war, all eroded America’s moral authority. Of course there’s so much more, and Israel, to say the least.

But things are now at a point where some Americans are starting to wake up and realize that there’s something wrong. I wonder if Gore, and Dean, and average Americans who are now dissatisfied would be happy if all that Bush has done could be undone. Should we have been satisfied with the soul of America before Bush? Was there nothing to worry about then?

Gore’s speech impressed me because it was so genuine. And he talked about the real matter: doing what’s good and right. He didn’t strategize, although doing what’s right is the best strategy. And that’s really where I derive some hope for America too, that there are Americans who thinks about such things and take action. The real problems of this world are all about the soul: "Lo! Allah changeth not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts" (Quran, 13:11).