God Bless America (and don't forget to curse all the other nations!!!)

I don't know if you caught any of Obama's State of the Union Address the other week. In case you missed it, here's a 10-minute clip of his speech, which lasted well over an hour (seriously, do they need to clap after everything the guy says?!). I'll be focusing in specifically on what Obama had to say in the first three or so minutes of this clip.



I must admit, after having spent significant time overseas these past few years, I see and understand things a bit differently than I did before. For example, growing up, if I had heard someone talk about "advancing industry" and "dominating the global economy," my response probably would have been, "Amen!" followed by a hearty, "God Bless America!"

But now, when I hear this kind of talk, I'm forced to wonder, "Dominate the global economy?...at whose expense?" I mean, for America to be #1, who do we have to trample on? Which nations or groups of people at the bottom of the food chain do we have to exploit to stay on top? Or, at the expense of sounding utterly unpatriotic, consider this: For all America has generously done in the public limelight to offer help to poverty-stricken Haiti in this time of crisis, how many other countries have we held captive in poverty so that our ideals, the American Dream, might be preserved? How many brutal African dictators did America bankroll during the Cold War, simply because they promised to spread "democracy" and fight off the evil Commies? Meanwhile, the people of these nations remained as oppressed, abused and mistreated as ever--sometimes even worse off than they were before America came in and "saved the day."* Something is definitely wrong here...

In conclusion, I certainly don't expect our American political system to ever reflect the politics of Jesus, but I do expect American Christians to view politics (and every other aspect of life) through a KINGDOM perspective. Otherwise, I think we've entirely missed the point.

What sparked these thoughts? Well, today I received an email from a friend of mine in South Africa. As a joke, she attached this picture:


It's okay to laugh when you see this (at least I hope so because I did!). It's quite the caricature of the average American's perspective on the rest of the world, but like most caricatures, there's definitely some element of truth involved here. And, I believe this way of viewing the rest of the world starts at the top, with our President. When Obama (or Bush or every other President before them) makes statements about America being #1, I believe what he is really saying is: "America should be #1...no matter who we have to trample on to get there." And when the average American uses a phrase like "God Bless America," I believe what we are essentially saying (whether we realize it or not) is: "God, Bless America...even if You have to curse all the other nations for us to remain 'blessed.'"

Thoughts?

*If you don't believe this, check out Martin Meredith's book The Fate of Africa. It's one of the best books I've read in recent years, and it will give you a perspective on American foreign policy that you most likely didn't get in your American History class!