The Foreign Service Journal, December 2003

of years ago. By catamaran? We read and debate the origins of our peoples, whether they hail from Kerala or Orissa, why the Finnish and Tamil languages have so much in common. But only in the last few generations, of these post-indepen- dence boys and girls, do we see large-scale departures from the island. Trouble in paradise? Has the American Dream become a monopoly? What about the French alternative, the Third Way, non- alignment? “I am large, I contain multi- tudes,” wrote Walt Whitman in “Song of Myself.” Whitman was drawn to the roiling masses. He devoted another important poem to India, although I am not sure he vis- ited its shores. Whitman was an idea generator, an ad man you might say, for the long and sweeping line and for immigration, the ballast of American experience, and dreams and innovation in poetry. He was also one of the first poets Allen Ginsberg introduced me to on a har- monium in Honolulu in 1977, a cou- ple of years after my arrival in the United States. I have written above about an invitation to drink Kool-Aid, of cow- boys and Indians, and the American Dream, first among dreams. Whether first or last, the American idea continues to draw migrants from throughout the world. In my case, it allowed me to adopt a new language, redraft the rules of my particular civic discourse, dream of forming part of a great majority. However, that majority has little to do with race or ethnicity; it does not spring from a careful calibration of university seats to ethnic percent- ages. I write fully aware of the Great Society programs, the Civil Rights movement, the assassination of Martin Luther King and the Kennedys, protests against U.S. engagement in Vietnam, the literal tug-of-war in which American soci- ety has won hard-earned freedoms for all of its citizens. Yet I want to celebrate a different kind of majori- ty, the one that kicks in with a vote for a representative, a letter to the editor, a neighborhood poster cam- paign against the polluter on the hill. Americans have taught me to be ornery, feisty, and to demand the rights of a participant, a stakeholder, a democrat. The American Dream I can hear naysayers remind me of low voter turnouts, apathy, a cli- mate of fear caused by terrorism that is chipping away at long-held privacy protections. Yet, checks and balances function in the United States. Stays of executive orders are granted by courts. Interest groups inspire legislation in Congress that can mollify a particularly strident or partisan policy in the executive branch. Remember, there are three branches to the democracy tree: the executive, legislative and judicial. They work in tandem, at cross-pur- poses in a wonderful balancing act that keeps the freedom song playing and the resulting dance rip-roaring, cheerful and ultimately full of opti- mism — what some wags would call American naïveté. D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 71 Americans have taught me to be ornery, feisty, and to demand the rights of a participant, a stakeholder, a democrat. “...I thank you for speaking out, having the courage of your convictions ... that’s what my people are supposed to do. I encourage all of my people to stand up for what they believe, speak out, let us know what they think.” —Colin L. Powell Secretary of State 2004 AFSA AWARD FOR CONSTRUCTIVE DISSENT Make an awards nomination. Go to www.afsa.org/awards.cfm Deadline: February 2004. Give a one year Journal subscription to the school of your choice. PASS IT ON J O U R N A L OREIGN ERVICE S F