Broadside Opinion

Alan Moore, Broadside Contributor

A colleague in one of my classes, whom I have nothing but the utmost respect for, referred to “America’s Dirty Little Secret” in class the other day in the context of the widespread oppression in the United States of America. Another person alluded that Marxism should be mulled over more in the U.S. because when people are being oppressed it should always be considered. They spoke as if Marxist governments embodied some romantic, revolutionary, blue-collar paradise and that we should be ashamed of wrongdoings committed by some people in this country.

Huh? After hearing that I felt like I was taking crazy pills or something.
America is not only a country, but an ideal. The ideal that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This was written by great men who were truly being oppressed by a tyrannical foreign government without direct representation. The point being that the individual is responsible for his or her actions, not a country. To label this country as having a “Dirty Little Secret” is utterly ridiculous and offensive. That would imply that all residents of our country are oppressors in some fashion or another
You’ll have to forgive me, I didn’t know.

Americans are put in office through the democratic process. These caretakers, as with all humans, can act responsibly or irresponsibly. Most would agree that they acted responsibly when they liberated Europe and Asia from Nazi and Japanese imperialist domination. Others argue that they acted irresponsibly when they enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. But it was the caretakers who did this, blame them if you insist on looking back to judge people who are no longer here to defend themselves and did not consider the morals of future generations, but do not blame America.

With Marxism there is no other political model that when put in use has caused more death and destruction at the hands of a government. The Communist regime of the USSR was responsible for millions of deaths, with estimates ranging from 20 to over 60 million murders in labor camps or through Stalin’s purges, and deaths under squalor conditions. Over 65 million have been killed under Mao Zedong and the Communist Regime in China. Numbers are not known for sure in North Korea, but it is known that political dissidents, Christians, and three generations of their families are murdered in gas chambers similar to those found in the infamous concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Does Marxism really sound like paradise? Maybe this time it can be different, you ask? Well, how many times must we bang our head against the wall before realizing it hurts?

The ideal that Marxism represents is evil, plain and simple. To even suggest that America should resemble the governments for which these atrocities took place is shortsighted and reckless. Butchers like Stalin, Mao, and Kim Jong Il were and are the true oppressors in society, not the United States of America or any of its elected leaders.

Yes, there are some small-minded people in the U.S. There are racists and sexists who push the right of Freedom of Speech to the very limits. But, to lump all Americans together for the unjust actions these sick people have committed is inappropriate. Furthermore, to somehow insinuate that others are responsible for these past transgressions based on race, gender, or socio-economic status is beyond incomprehensible and has no place in our society.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Call me an idealist but I believe wholeheartedly in that statement.

Individuals have the right to be whatever they want, to achieve whatever dreams they may have. Class warfare and compartmentalizing society on ethnicity, gender, or any other physical attribute is counterproductive and can be destructive even when the intentions are good.

Instead of creating artificial equalizations by pushing people down and raising up others based on these attributes let us celebrate the fact that the ideal of the U.S. allows all of us to have the opportunity to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Let us focus on character and how the individual can be free to pursue their own interests instead of crying foul by playing the victim card. If you believe that you absolutely cannot succeed because America won’t let you then, please, attempt to see how far you can get in a place like North Korea or China.

So what is America’s Dirty Little Secret? There isn’t one, and I refuse to apologize for it.