I visited the wonderful Museum of the
American Indian on the Mall last Monday. This museum does not
concentrate on the history of the American Indian, though the
American people should definitely learn more about that. Instead, it
concentrates on present-day American Indians and their vibrant
culture.
I particularly like the art of the
Northwest Coast tribes. These indigenous people lived along the
Pacific coast of America from the California border to Alaska. They
are noted for their totem poles, which feature elaborate stylized
figures of animals and humans. Their style is unique and instantly
recognizable.
The store at the Museum is stuffed with
beautiful and unusual merchandise. I noticed two neckties with
beautiful Tlingit designs on them. I considered buying one for a few
moments, but then realized that I couldn't wear them at work in DC.
Then I began to wonder why.
America is filled with different
cultures. Tlingit art is attractive, but so is Navajo pottery from
the Southwest. Mexico has a large number of distinct cultures, each
with its own style of art and manner of dress. Yet when you walk
about DC on a weekday, all you will see is dark suits and plain ties.
I come from California, where I worked
for years in the computer industry. The required uniform there is
informal, depending on the company, but sometimes nothing more than
shorts and a tee-shirt. The engineers there have dressed like that
for decades.
About 1981, an employee from IBM
arrived at Microsoft's office in Redmond to inquire about buying an
operating system for a new desktop computer. He was met at the door
by a young man in a sweater. He assumed the man was the office boy,
but he was wrong. The man was Bill Gates, not yet a household name,
but already the head of Microsoft. In Silicon Valley today, if you
are talking to a man in a suit, you can assume he doesn't know
anything about the product.
Many managers in DC require their
employees to wear expensive, uncomfortable clothes. They expect women
to wear high-heeled shoes, although everyone knows that style of shoe
causes degenerative arthritis and other painful conditions. Many
women wear athletic shoes during their commute and carry their
high-heeled shoes in a bag.
Men employed in DC likewise must wear
heavy leather shoes, tight collars and tight neckties. Boring
neckties.
America has been successful because of
its diversity. Freedom of thought produces innovations in science and
industry. Rigid and conformist thinking brings stagnation and
regression.
America after World War II was a
forward-looking country with great energy and a belief in itself.
President Truman installed the Marshall plan, an innovative policy
that brought Europe from starvation to prosperity in just five years.
The Marshall plan was unique in history because it gave loans to
nations that America had just defeated in war.
President Eisenhower championed the
interstate highway system, which was begun in 1956 with $25 billion
in federal funding, equivalent to $214 billion in 2013 dollars. The
interstate system eventually cost $450 billion and has been called
the largest public works project since the pyramids.
John F. Kennedy proposed a space
exploration plan in 1961 that would put a man on the moon within 10
years. The Apollo project cost $158 billion in 2013 dollars.
Today, there is no similar program.
America is in the grip of a spiritual malaise. We do not believe in
the ability of government to do anything positive, despite the
unquestioned success enjoyed by each of the 3 projects mentioned
above.
Americans do not believe in science,
despite the accomplishments of the Space program and the enormous
wealth created by the electronics and computer industries. Americans
know that these things exist, but they seem ignorant of the fact that
government created them with the assistance of the scientific
community.
Americans today would never approve the
Marshall plan, which gave American money to foreign governments,
despite the fact that the plan led to a prosperous and peaceful
Europe. Somehow we have lost the ability to see beyond the price of
something and recognize its value.
In line with America's failure of
vision, our government employees must all wear the same fashions
(from the 1940s) and espouse ideas that went out of fashion when
their clothes did. They must all think prescribed thoughts and reject
any new ideas.
They must not wear comfortable shoes or
neckties with Tlingit designs.
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