The Power of (Overweening) Pride

The Power of Pride
America and the 7 Deadly Sins
by Alan Bisbort

July 31, 2006 Hartford, The bumper stickers read "The Power
of Pride" with the blue letters following the red and white contours of
an unfurled American flag. That ’s all the bumper stickers say. But what
are they really saying? What makes the bearers of this sticker so proud?

That the nation is in the hands of the most hated man on the planet, who
has dragged America’s good name through the mud, a stain that will take
two generations to remove, if indeed it can be removed?
That America is always right, even when she ’s wrong?
Or that America is proud even when the government behaves in ways that collectively shame us?

On the other hand, maybe the people who put it on their cars don't think
about it, or much of anything, at all. Chances are they have a child or
a loved one in uniform and this sticker is their hedge against their
being harmed, a charm to ward off evil spirits. Nearly 3,000 American
families know that feeling, tens of thousands more are coming to grips
with loved ones wounded in body in spirit. And many more will experience that unimaginable pain before we are rid of the cancer in the White
House and Congress.

In that case, one can understand their need to believe that the Liar in
Chief and his inner circle of sociopaths, megalomaniacs and enablers are
actually competent, decent, honest leaders and that what they do in
their nation's name is something about which they can take pride. Their
power of denial is almost as strong as their power of pride.

Eventually that denial,when they realize they've been lied to, their
children murdered under false pretenses,will break and all hell will be
loosed. The recent ugliness in Lebanon, which America did nothing to
prevent or, once started, to stop, will likely have only two major
impacts, both bad: Many more Americans are going to die in the Middle
East and the price of oil will rise to unprecedented levels, causing
financial ruin to millions of Americans while the Republican Elite,
their portfolios stuffed with petroleum and defense industry stock, will
line their pockets.

Still, though the power of denial is one thing, the power of pride
baffles me. Pride in small doses can be a good thing, taking pride in
your work, your appearance, etc., as long as it ’s not the overriding part
of your personality. I confess to a certain amount of pride when I've written something that raises the blood pressure of even one
right-winger, gotten him so worked up that he suffers a wave of anxiety, usually relieved by penning an anonymous personal threat to me or calling my house and hanging up when I answer. And so on.

But, no, since you asked, I am not swelled with pride about America. I
do not feel that "Power of Pride", nor do I think pride is warranted
right now. Just for the record, and to preempt all those pride-swollen
self-appointed patriots who will take exception with this, I did feel
pride for my nation at one time. I grew up, the son, grandson and nephew
of decorated U.S. Army colonels, feeling that my country was a beacon of
freedom to the world. The happiest days of my childhood were spent on
American military bases around the world. It might indeed be that
experience that has made me more sensitive to America’s failings. As
Neil Young sings on his extraordinary new album Living With War:
"America is beautiful but she’s got an ugly side.”

I've now lived long enough to realize why Pride (aka superbia or hubris)
is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, along with gluttony, greed, lust, envy,
anger, sloth. (Imagine someone with a bumper sticker that reads “The
Power of Sloth” or “The Joy of Envy”).

Pride is, however, the all-powerful sin. It, in fact, has been called
"the father of all sins.” Gluttony, for example, is thought of as pride
in one’s consumption; Envy is a craving for the pride of others; Sloth
is the sin of those too proud to consider anything new; Anger takes
pride in violence; Greed takes pride in possessions and money; Lust
takes pride in sexual consumption or the desire, usually unconsummated,
for same.

According to the Bible (Proverbs 6: 16-19), God was clear on this score:
"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto
him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a
heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running
to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth
discord among brethren."

While many definitions of pride have been tendered, Dante's might be the best of all, and the one that most accurately describes America’s
current excess, embodied by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the various
assorted pundits of the mainstream press: "love of self perverted to
hatred and contempt for one’s neighbor."

Dante believed that Pride was the root of all sins. Thus, in the
Purgatorio, he showed how all souls must be purged of that sin first.
Then, they suffer diminishing horrors and punishments for the other six
deadly sins. How, then, can there not be a space in Hell already
reserved for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Hannity, O’Reilley, Matthews, Hume,
Lieberman, Lott, et al, after their "Shock and awe” campaign amounted to
the Nazis’ preemptive Blitzkrieg campaigns against Poland, Belgium,
Denmark, the Netherlands and France? Or the announcement of “Mission
accomplished” when the mission had not even been named? Or “Enduring
freedom” for a country—no, an entire region—now reduced to total chaos?
All of these are terms of overweening pride.

America’s sin of Pride, its worship of the Power of Pride, has had
predictable results. The Pew Global Attitudes Project, which interviewed
93,000 people in 50 countries over the past four years, has shown the
rest of the world hates the United States now and the taint of Bush,
Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al., has now "trickled down" to the rest of us.
Regardless of how we feel about these criminals in power, simply because
we are Americans we are hated almost equally by Europeans, Asians and
Arabs.

As the Times of London reported, Majorities around the world think
Americans are greedy, violent and rude, and fewer than half in countries such as Poland, Spain, Canada, China and Russia think Americans are
honest. Few analysts expect more than marginal improvements, short of another Sept. 11. The dislike is accelerating among youth. The
problem is Americans, not just [President] Bush. In increasing numbers,
people around the globe resent U.S. power and wealth and reject specific actions such as the occupation of Iraq and the campaign against
democratically elected Palestinian leaders America’s image problem is
pervasive, deep and perhaps permanent, analysts say, an inevitable
outcome of being the world's only superpower.

The Power of Pride has pissed away 230 years of American history.

Heckuva job, Bushy!