Monday Morning Quarterbacking

Rhetoric Aside, Check the Label

Les Aaron


After listening to the president's speech about ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ and committing ourselves to ‘saving the world from tyranny’, it was hard not to puffed up with all of the good feelings about being an American… Yes, it was true, we did have our doubts, but the president’s words seemed to have the desired affect of reading a child a happy bed time story. In the world of GWB, there would be end to ‘tyranny,” freedom from oppression and good times for all.

Despite the cold, Americans were jumping up and down and applauding their good ole’ boy president who told them what they wanted to hear. In fact, Americans were acting like well, you know, typically Americans. There was a resurfacing of that ‘can-do’ feeling; that feeling that tomorrow would be a brighter day.

It sure felt good to hear from the president that everything was going to be better. We were all going to have jobs; our dear Aunt Ethel would get the medical treatment she couldn’t afford before under the current rules; Uncle Louie was going to get that back brace from the VA. And the kids were going to get a better education. And that we would even be able to afford to buy the medicines we needed and put food on the table at the same time just like in the good old days.

I only had a few reservations. GWB didn’t say anything about bringing back jobs, or new initiatives on education or saving our forests or committing to alternative fuels and clean air and clean water. I’m sure that was only an oversight given to how little time he had for the major issues like’ liberty’ and ‘freedom’ and ending tyranny which certainly sounded worth doing even though none of us are quite sure what it involves. .

And who could deny the good times. There were more balls and luncheons and get-togethers this weekend than the country had seen in a long time. Of course, you needed about $250,000 to have lunch with GWB so that it was not really one of those egalitarian luncheons that would seem consistent with someone touting freedom and equality and liberty. (Conversely, perhaps, more the Marie Antoinette gesture reaffirming that life at Court will go on as before even if the masses do not have bread to eat.) We'll with all of the parades and balls, no matter the estimated $40 million plus cost (More than $17 million for security alone! How many Head Start programs might that underwrite?), America was on a roll. And if anyone wanted to extend that high all they had to do was go to the local gift shop. Actually, we found one within a mile and a half of the White House and decided to stock up on all that stuff that goes on the shelves at home to remind friends and family that we are the penultimate patriots who wave the flag and buy into all of the symbols of the most unique experiment in history, America—leaders of the world.

Once we popped inside the door, you would be literally overwhelmed by all of the gadgets, gimmicks, clothing, toys and household items you could get that were identified as special for the Inaugural of GWB. There wasn’t one category left out. Want a golf tee? Three or four different choices including golf ball sets. Want a cap? You could get every color, every size with a whole variety of insignia ranging from the White House to the American Flag to Lady Liberty and on and on… There were mugs, jackets, shirts, caps, mugs, coffee holders, tea spoons, and just about anything you could speak of all with America’s Inauguration theme. Surely, this fantastic display of wealth and variety was what made America number one.
And my heart beat a little faster to see such a rich display thinking to myself, “Gosh, how great we are!”.

. I picked up a cap and I was ready to salute when I saw the symbols on the cap. Then I turned it over, and I was proud to see the little American Flag inside. And then just like that, it seemed that everything was wrong. I lifted the little flag, and underneath it a little message read "made in China." In other words, the little flag was designed to conceal the fact that this symbol of America was made in China. Made in China? This didn't make sense. This was America. What was a cap made in China doing among all of this Inauguration stuff.
Something was wrong here and we needed to sort it out now..
I looked further. I was sure that it was an aberration; somehow the wrong stock got mixed in with the stuff going to Washington. That was it. There could be no other explanation. But just to be on the safe side, I picked up a little jacket. There was the same flag inside. i opened it up and peered underneath. The same little message appeared underneath. This can't be I thought to myself and in a near panic, ran around the store twisting up all of the little message signs, and they all said 'made in China."


My God, what has happened? I asked myself. I felt as if I couldn’t catch my breath. Me, a veteran of War saluting to a flag made by other side? . A guy who had spent more than three years on active duty in the service of his country, whose dad spent five years and received wounds in virtually every theatre of operation? I didn’t get it.. . I had to do something quickly..
I asked to see the manager. "What's going on I asked?" He seemed quite shame faced. "He said, yes, it's true. Most of the stuff is made in China. There's very little made in the United States anymore. And if there was, we'd be glad to buy it!"

Could this be true? The richest country in the world had to go to China to buy stuff for its own Inaugural? Did that make any sense at all? At our very own Inauguration celebrating America's leadership position in the world, the emblems of our strength and solidarity, including our flag, made in a nation that is contemptuous of the things that we value most, ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty.’ Isn’t that insulting to America, American workers? A form of ridicule perhaps. Was this some kind of an absurd joke?

I had heard that a lot of stuff was being made in China. But didn’t think much about the fact that China was now one of America’s leading trading partners; that America had now become virtually a retail nation rather than a nation known for manufacturing. But I really wasn’t clear on the fact that we had a negative balance of payments with China. I looked into it and discovered that we were losing about twenty five to thirty billion monthly just on our trade to China.

Someone once told me that the definition of a third world nation is one that exports agricultural products and imports manufactured goods and sustains losses on its trade. Guess what? That’s us in 2005. In fact, we don’t even make the machine tools that build the machines that let us make new products anymore. (I don’t know how our great planners can conceive of wars when we can’t even make the machines we need…)

Yes, I know we were exporting low tech manufacturing jobs to Southeast Asia and China. And I knew we were exporting high tech jobs to places like Bangalore and Singapore. And about the only thing left we have in America anymore are service sector jobs. But it seems to me that if we’re so good at exporting our jobs, I can’t understand why we simply don’t export our wars. It would be cheaper. And we wouldn’t have to lose our best and our brightest for all of the wrong reasons.

I guess when the flag you love and died for is now being made in China, you can’t have too much confidence in a government that wraps itself in a flag that is made in a country that puts no value in any of those things, and, as a result, is beating the pants off us economically. . And I mean I’d hate to die in support of democracy and freedom under a flag that was made in China by convicts. It just wouldn’t seem right. And as long as I’m on the subject, it’s also pretty troubling to think that we’re willing to allow young boys to die for the freedom and liberty of American businessmen to send their jobs to Equador, Kula Lumpur or Shang-hai.
I only hope that mom’s apple pie isn’t really being made in Beijing. That would destroy me completely. In the meantime, I’ve learned a lesson. Before you buy the words, read the label. It will probably tell you more than you want to know.


les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon