Introduction

Recently, the Government of United States of America was in news throughout the length and breadth of India regarding the decision taken by it to block the essential and much needed raw materials required for manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines. Netizens came out on social media to “expose” US and its inherently self-centred ways by giving a historical account of how it has failed to provide the much needed succour in times of need for example, the refusal of cryogenic technology  to India, the refusal to share GPS data during the Kargil war and so on. Consequently, due to the diplomatic pursuits undertaken by the Indian Government and as the result of global pressure, America yielded.

In this backdrop, it is essential for not just the policy makers but also the common citizens in India to understand how America actually works because this self acclaimed “land of the free” with its arrogant outlook about the world and stereotypical mindset about various peoples of the world certainly needs a re-work and re-balance if India has to be successful in establishing itself as the “Vishwa Guru” as has been the outlined in the Modi Doctrine of Foreign Policy post 2014.

The American Dream

This 244 years old country, which by the way, is a small time in the history of the world especially when one compares the same to Civilisational States like India that trace its history to as far back as 5000 years and even further, has since its inception relied on what it believes is “freedom”. This concept of freedom forms the backdrop of the American Dream. “The land of the free, where anything and everything is possible” is sold excessively through their cringeworthy dialogues in their globally famous movies. But there’s a serious issue with this concept of American Dream. This Dream isn’t about being free in the true sense of the word. To be free, means to be free from shackles that prevent us from being the best version of ourselves. But America sells “freedom” as an aesthetic face of excessive utilitarianism. To be free, for America, means an unconstrained hunger and want for money, power and fame which to a Yogi, Buddhist Bhikshu and a Jain Muni in India is everything that’s wrong with the world. Utilitarianism for Jeremy Bentham, the father figure of utilitarian political theory in the West, means “greatest happiness of the greatest number”. 

What must be noted here is the focus on “numbers”, a hallmark of American way of life, its diplomacy and ways of business. So long as the “numbers are looking good”, America thinks there’s success. But little does it remember what Mark Twain has remarked, “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” It is not a surprise that for long, Climate Change and Global Warming have not been taken seriously by the West in general and America in particular because as long as the numbers that make up industrial production are good, the damage to the environment isn’t of importance. Even presently, the Biden administration, the election  campaign of which had its core as Climate Change activism, has not been serious about any concrete action regarding curbing USA’s carbon emissions, which according to the data from International Energy Agency remains the highest in the world.

This American Dream is also more about ignoring the crucial element of human psyche which is that of feelings and emotions. The excessive focus on numbers, cut-throat logic that American State and its institutions focus upon completely eliminates the consideration of how a human is actually guided by her feelings in most situations. It isn’t, therefore, a surprise that American political scientists love to disregard the French and their focus on humanely feelings as one of the core issues about organising human life. Even the celebrated French political philosopher- Jean Jacques Rousseau whose entire Contract Theory of the State is based upon the concept of utilising humanely feelings for furthering the good of the people, is hounded by the American theorists as some kind of drunk, sex addict French with neurotic behaviour (stereotypes are made in American intellectual circles only). Certainly, Rousseau’s comment in this regard is important, “humans are naturally ‘good’ and sympathetic, but human goodness is eliminated by the undying greed to pursue property, thus, humans are made to be ‘bad’ by how the State is organised and how it enables pursuit of accumulation of property by one set of people at the detriment of others. It is for this reason, that even though humans are born free, yet we see them in shackles everywhere.”

American Dream is only and solely about material gain at the cost of developing a humane society and the same is reflected in not just their rap songs (wherein women, cars, dollars, expensive drugs, designer clothes are glorified as the epitome of success) but also the highest rungs of American diplomacy as is proved by the recent fiasco of America banning the essential raw materials needed for COVID vaccines.

American way of life: the violent faultlines

In the 1960s and 1970s, an organisation called the “Black Panthers” was on rise with membership increasing drastically, in response to the embedded and explicit racism and white supremacy in the American society at that time(which is only implicit in today’s times). The Black Panthers sought to establish a communist state as a counter to not just the supposed capitalist greed, but also to eliminate the racism against the Afro-American community. At the same time, other reformists like Martin Luther King Jr., a moderate; Malcolm X, an extremist had already laid the groundwork of Afro-American participation in mainstream American politics. On December 4, 1969, aged just 21 years, the Chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panthers- Fred Hampton was brutally massacred and killed by the police by shooting him in cold blood in his own home. The only reason for this was Communism inspired speeches given by Hampton, utilising his ‘freedom’ of expression which had led to a large mobilisation amongst the Afro-American community of Illinois, Chicago.

There’s a deeper meaning behind the analysis of this instance. The American institutions are made and established on the basis of violence, racism, hatred, excessive control and surveillance of the people. It’s only sold as “freedom” because America provides the fertile ground for unconstrained pursuit of earning money and property. When people are blinded by this greed and when they taste material gains, they’ll automatically “fall in line” and for this reason, the American State can treat anyone who represents a threat to this “American way of life” in whatever way it wants. Certainly, it’s not just the Ku Klux Klan(KKK) that wants non-whites dead, but in fact, it’s the entire American State and its associated organisation that is highly hostile against the non-whites. 

The instances like Watts riots of 1960s, the violent streets of “gang-banging” Compton in Los Angeles, and the more recent George Floyd killing are only manifestations of these violent faultlines. America is built and established on dead bodies of native Indians/Americans whose land was taken away by way of gun and the same is even celebrated as part of mainstream American culture in the form of “Wild West” which actually glorifies gun violence in the name of freedom.

Violence is embedded in the very psyche of the American mind, “freedom” is only an aesthetic to mask this deviant behaviour, an extremist predating wolf masked as a liberal, benevolent sheep.

American Abrahamic Insanity

A famous comedy, albeit, crass and racist American movie called “Borat” is globally famous for the way in which the central figure: Borat Sagdiyev played by Sacha Baron Cohen is portrayed as an uncivilised Third World villager coming from Kazakhstan which is shown as a country of savages, and in his pursuit to become ‘civilised’ he decides to go to America and learn its “manners”. There’s a scene in this movie, wherein Borat attends an American Christian preacher’s convention. Here, as is done by the Christian preachers, sounds and chants of “hallelujah” along with the associated screaming is being done wherein Borat is supposed to be fainted by these acts of the Christian Preacher and realises Jesus Christ who would “save him” from the misery of the world.

Although fictional comedy, the same is highly prevalent throughout America, actively supported by the Vatican itself. Even though many American Priests have been found to be involved in paedophilia, corruption and all that constitutes the “devil’s work”, the supposed Christian values continue to dominate the American mind. The usage of phrases and words like “bad guy/good guy”, to see the world in black and white i.e. good and evil are only manifestations of the same. The American mind is inherently not capable of understanding that the human society works in shades, and not absolutes of “right or wrong, good or bad, black or white”. One cannot be entirely wrong or right, but only partly wrong and partly right. It is for this reason that even American diplomacy takes the form of straight bullying as has been repeatedly proved. It is for this reason, that “Captain America always needs a bad guy” in the world to defeat and kill. Christianity and Abrahamic religions in general proceed upon the premise of “mine and thine”, “my God versus your God” and “holier than thou” attitude. It is no surprise that the most number of innocent Muslims in the Middle East have been killed by warring Christians during the Crusades in the middle ages and the same idea of “mine and thine” continues even today which has influenced the American mind in the most gruesome manner possible. This Abrahamic insanity is what leads the American mind to disregard the genuine needs of those who are considered “others” vis-a-vis Americans as was reflected by its vaccine nationalism recently.

American State and its Foreign Policy

American political leaders take pride in claiming that when all the other countries collapsed, it was only their so-called land of the free that survived. The fall of Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the associated American egoism regarding the same is only another manifestation of how America thinks and works.

The truth is that it’s almost impossible to defeat this nearly $20 Trillion behemoth by way of guns. But the biggest underlying factor behind not being able to deal with America successfully is not the lack of guns or lack of money, it is the failure to understand the American state. Russia has the most advanced weapons, China is soon going to leave behind America in terms of economy but both cannot defeat America for the simple reason that both have failed to understand America in their pursuit of egoistic realpolitik based diplomacy. This gives a very good opportunity to “middle powers like India”, as Dr. S Jaishankar would say, to assert themselves. 

The key to understanding American State is not actually politics, but business. What Soviet Union and before it Nazi Germany, and presently, China and Russia fail to understand is that United State of America isn’t a political state in reality. It’s a corporate house helmed by the Federal Government as the CEO, the State Governments as shareholders and the Constitution of America as Articles of Association of the body corporate.
As is the case with any body-corporate, it is solely and only for profit, and numbers are its only reasoning and logic to define its policies and strategies. The American corporate does not and cannot work on the lines of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”. It simply is not capable of understanding the concept of global citizenship, much less world family. The reason for this is again, its focus on numbers and cut throat logic while neglecting the “feelings” aspect of humans because living in a family requires concessions, compromise and sympathy, all of which are a joke to American policy makers which they so precisely reflect in their actions, in their dealings with other states. Even American Presidents have not shied away from exhibiting this aspect, President Theodore Roosevelt once remarked “talk softly and always carry a big stick, you will go far.”

The US always prides itself in “working for freedoms, human rights and dignity” in the world but its foreign policy is the living epitome of a hypocritical, double standard based actions. Human rights violations by American military like the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse and rape in Iraq, the blatant mockery of human rights associated with Guantanamo Bay, the actions by the American military in Vietnam, vicious and racist behaviour against Afghans are only a few examples of how America due to its influence has successfully kept the global narrative away from its own abysmal record of human rights violation. Both at home and outside, the American state with its racist fangs devours those who it considers as “different” only for the reason that it’s able to protect the so called American way of life and its associated utilitarian lifestyle.

Thus, it is highly important for India to understand how America works. It’s true that due to its civilisational roots, India has leverage over the US when it comes to arm-twisting techniques, cultural warfare and hegemony, but Indian policy-makers must understand the ways of Kautilyan warfare in its dealings with the US. A strong headed, strictly realpolitik based approach devoid of egoism, feelings and sentiments is required to deal with America using its own tools, ways and means. Concepts like Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam are good but only as a “liberal tool” of foreign policy and must be used in the same manner of “talking softly but carrying a stick” as President Roosevelt has described. 

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