Mereja Forum

[Naga Tuma]

I don't know if it is just me opening up my eyes more lately or if there have been many others who have failed to make sense of it as well and that I have been unaware about it all along.

The continental lab for the experiment belonged to Native Americans who have been marginalized and largely exterminated after the onset of the experiment.

A large swath of people were imported from another continent for labor for the experiment.

The democracy for the experiment was imported from ancient Greece.

Its spirituality is an import from ancient Egypt.

Its legalese is arguably borrowed to a large extent from the British Magna Carta, principally if not literally. So far, its constitution has seen about 25 or so patch works in the form of amendments.

To a large extent, its scientific foundation is arguably Europe. Some of the greatest scientists in human history, including Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein were European scholars. Its aviation was imagined by the European Da Vinci long before it was realized here in America. Its launching of rockets into the outer space come subsequent to the former Soviet Union's Sputnik moment back in 1957.

It has seen 46 Presidents so far. 40 of them, about 87 percent, have some level of or full English heritage. This is subsequent to the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus coming to America first after getting sponsorship from the leaders of Spain at the time. So far, no Italian or Spaniard has ever become the highest executive public servant in America. This piece of data in of itself suggests that the melting pot has not been cooking uniformly and that it has been led largely by English numskulls and that some thinkers and a bunch of clowns are its residents.

I did not know America as much as I know or seem to know it now. As much as I know or seem to know the American experiment fails me to make much sense of it. This comes after many, including me, have had the perception that its rule of law are better than those in their own countries.

Out of all of these, it has become the most prosperous country on the planet, at least until China overtakes it in the future as some argue publicly. The advantage that the latter has is that it doesn't seem to have much of the above baggage and that its rise in recent times happened at a much quicker pace.

What explains the prosperity of such an experiment? Funneling of global treasures to its shores, or to the shores of Native Americans to put it correctly, so ruthlessly may be one factor. The geography, a vast continent, may have been suitable for such an experiment.

However, is it rationally a long lasting experiment unless it rediscovers itself and others and make amends? I do not think so.

Rediscovering itself starts from Thomas Jefferson, the father of the experiment, speaking figuratively. He was a student of Europe's Renaissance. It was by a mere chance that I stumbled upon a primary letter that he authored, which was published in a Humanities course text book. It was a short letter that has stuck in my memory ever since. I respected his inclination for art but was disappointed in his expedient judgment.

Rediscovering oneself and others may not come easily. Discovering oneself is what Thomas Jefferson failed to do. I do not know exactly where the name Jefferson originated. It may be likely that it is a variant of Joseph. If it is possible that the word bearing his family name descended from Africa, it makes him rediscovering himself all the more important. Then again, I have little idea about the origin of his name. And that matter less. Renaissance matters more, much more.

It is common knowledge that people have wandered around in the world starting in ancient times. In doing so, they have lost memories and rediscovered memories. The hunter gatherer age may sound so distant in the past. Then again, it feels as if it is staring us in the face in this era.

The idea of divide and rule may sound strange among settled societies of the world, which is much of it in this age. Evidently, it is not so strange among conquering societies of the world in this era. They are stuck in the distant past but wish to be the frontier to lead the settled societies of the world.

The evidence of conquering societies as opposed to settled societies is in abundance. An officer of such a frontier has no shame to state in public that such a frontier has the most lethal force on the face of the planet. Humbly stating that it has the best polity in the world doesn't come for him naturally. Lethal is not civil. Polity is more than civil that can grow to become noble.

Isn't the urge for the most bounty in this ear in terms of capital reminiscent of the hunter gatherer age? Isn't the urge to imagine, plan, and establish a five-eye-intelligence gathering mechanism reminiscent of the hunter gatherer age? Is it what people like Edward Snowden find repulsive and choose to settle among the settled societies of the world. If that is the case, the future will make them not the exceptions but the norms.

A correct statement that I remember Hillary Clinton say during her campaign in 2016 was that she is not a natural politician like former Presidents Obama and Clinton, her husband. A British can say Monarchy and Magna Carta. Can he or she naturally say Renaissance? I do not know. May be this is the kind of question to take to former President Clinton because he seems to have synapses of his own. I also do not know if former President Jefferson or former President Clinton can say renaissance better. This question is better left to historians of the two former Presidents of America.

In my understanding, the quest for renaissance is natural. It was natural in Europe after it experienced its colossal medieval carnage. By the same token, I would argue that a quest for a new renaissance in America in this age would be natural after its experience of gun violence in the last several years.

I would also argue that the urge to conquer using divide and rule vice is also natural. That is exactly what I understood in a single statement in Hillary Clinton's book that was published a few years ago. I do not think that it occurred to her that her statement in that book about using divide and rule vice is untoward to write and publish.

A new renaissance in America that I talk about here picks up from where Thomas Jefferson failed. As much as I respect his inclination for art, he failed for not discovering the art that existed before Goddess Athena and the Pantheon, speaking figuratively. He was a student of Renaissance 1.0. Renaissance 2.0 that I think to have been missing would start from Pharaoh Akhenaton and the Pyramids, speaking figuratively. It has been said: በከ እት ኩፍቴ ምት፣ በከ እት ሙጩጫቴ እላል። It roughly means look not where you fell, but where it was slippery.

This is to suggest that if the American experiment has become a failure, a new generation of renaissance thinkers may be necessary to diagnose it well enough and lead it to success. They wouldn't start from a scratch. They only need to fix the shortcomings of the world's treasures that have already been gathered here by its hunter gatherers.

[Naga Tuma]

I read yesterday that the Iroquois Confederacy inspired the writing of the U.S. Constitution.

I remember hearing once Senator Mike Lee of Utah suggest that the federal structure of Native Americans inspired the federal structure of the U.S.

So far, my source of U.S. democracy as an import from ancient Greece's Classical Civilization has been Stephen Greenblatt's book "The Swerve: How the World Became Modern."

I certainly do not want to discount the contributions of Native Americans to American democracy. I did not know about the Iroquois until yesterday when I stumbled upon it by chance.