It’s Superman’s iconic motto. Corny? Maybe. But it spoke for most of the country at one time.
Superman first arrived as a comic book hero in 1938 when the Depression was ebbing ever so slowly, when Hitler was taking Czechoslovakia, then Poland, on his quest to take Europe and Russia in WWII.
Life had a grim horizon.
The Superman motto was a pick-me-up after a financial tsunami that had spread waves of hunger and pain from the beaches to the plains to the mountains to the beaches of this country, from the Americas to Europe and Asia…and maybe Mars.
Superman helped in WWII, too, at least in the comic book world. He beat this stuffing out of bad guys and made little kids – and not a few grownups – feel better, like there was a chance of beating the devil. Which, eventually happened, just as Superman would have done it.
Truth, Justice, and the American Way became a beloved slogan for decades.
Superman was just one of a long line of heroes created during the first two hundred or so years of this country. From Kit Carson to Danial Boone to George Washington and more, historians glamorized stories of American heroes, people who fought and died for truth, justice, as they created the American Way.
Fictionists in the 20th Century picked up the baton by creating new heroes like The Shadow, The Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger and the guy from a Galaxy far, far away. In every case, integrity and ethics, the rule of law, justice for all, the nobility of the individual, protection of the minority – the American Way – was threaded through the story lines like the steel wire that holds up bridges.
Much of it was an aspiration, our culture’s way of competing with the Greek and Roman myths. But it was also great inspiration: liars, cheats, and thugs were the exception, not the rule.
Sure there were the Billy the Kids and Al Capones, but there were also Clara Bartons and Teddy Roosevelts, Sgt. Alvin Yorks, Amelia Earharts and Martin Luther Kings, Audi Murphys and Jonas Salks, Dwight Eisenhowers and Maya Angelous, and so many others who came to embody Truth, Justice and the American Way.
Then, sometime into the second century of this unique experiment, the myths began to lose luster. Truth, Justice and the American Way became first tired, then corny, then, more recently, the object of cynicism and disdain.
It may have started in the 50’s when Attorney Roy Cohn helped Senator Joe McCarthy use fear of communism and lies to attack the State Department, the Truman Administration, the Voice of America, and the US Army. They shook our faith in government like an infant in the hands of an enraged drunk.
Or it may have been in 1968, when “the most trusted man in America”, Walter Cronkite, used truth and justice in the form of simple images to strip open the lies behind the Vietnam War, tarnishing the glow of The American Way and the legacy of World War II.
Eventually, little cracks of distrust began to appear as singers like Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez to questioned the American Way. Hollywood, in films like Jaws, The Godfather, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’sNest, and Serpico created more cracks.
In 1973, 27 year old Donald Trump, a racist, wanna-be real estate tycoon and his real tycoon father were sued by the Federal Government for discrimination against black people. Instead of settling, under the tutelage of Roy Cohn (yep, that one) they attacked, smeared, and lied. And then settled.
The next year Tricky Dick Nixon was caught in the Watergate Scandal and fled the White House in disgrace. In later years, Bill Clinton took fellatio to new political heights. Bill Belichick made the Chicago Black Sox look like school kids.
In 1987 Gordon Gekko’s famous line, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good!” in the film Wall Street marked a turning point in the culture as we began to accept lying, cheating and stealing as the new American Way.
Today, we are a country awash in Roy Cohn – now Donald Trump – ethics. Canada and Europe distrust us. Mexico, Central and South America fear us. Scandinavia watches us like a grandparent protecting a newborn.
Our own citizens now look upon Federal Police with fear, disgust, and fury. Anyone with brown or black skin is liable to be shipped to prison in another country. Even small kids are being kidnapped.
Our President, a mob boss and 34 time convicted felon, has become a fountain of corruptions. He continues to try to undo the last election and sabotage the next one. His Cabinet is incompetent and corrupt. With rare exceptions, Republicans in Congress stand by and watch it happen.
As Europe and Scandinavia hold people accountable for Epstein connections, the US holds back millions of files.
In a little over 50 years, oligarchs like Musk and Bezos have started taking over capitalism and MAGA politicians are now threatening democracy.
Have we become inured to lying, cheating, and stealing?
Is growing public anger at ICE, a corrupt President, Republican lackeys, and a sycophantic Supreme Court enough to turn the tide?
Does might make right, now? Or will right make might once again?
Will something as corny, but vital, to democracy, as Truth, Justice and the American Way return to favor?
I still believe in it. Do you? Do enough of us to save the country?
We can always hope…
…or vote.