Mythologies Task: The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. is far more than the official
residence of every U.S. President since John Adams. Rather, with its grandiose
gardens, of grass measured to exactly 2 2/3 inches, and shining, bright facade; it has
become the defining image of a nation and government obsessed with aesthetics and
rhetoric. For the image of the mansion is defined by what it is not. It is not hidden, it
is not obviously fortified and it is not, at immediate glance, the centre of political
decision making; to the extent that it is projected as a family home. And so that,
therefore, is the myth: it is not an historical landmark or a stately mansion, but a
heart of judgment where decisions impact upon the security of the entire world and
the symbol of a culture steeped in hypocrisy. Much like the United States of
America’s competition with the Soviet Union, to see who could construct the tallest
building either side of the Berlin Wall; Washington’s most famous tourist spot has
become an image of capitalism and an image which, most importantly, is interpreted
in varying ways depending on what anthem you sing, or which box you cross on
election day.
Looking across the Atlantic the hypocrisy is obvious: an attempt to make
physically and internationally evident the wealth and power that seemingly comes
with capitalism, while preaching the ability of any citizen to rise to prominence by
his proverbial bootstraps. This ideology is what hides behind the walls, philosophy
founded in self-contradiction, romanticism and hyperbole. Not merely a building, but
a representation of a government’s self-superiority. A country is a collective group of
people who all recognise themselves as being of the same nationality; there is no way
to ‘love’ a country, and no way can it be morally superior to another. Thomas
Jefferson’s belief in “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” is a prime example.
Simply by phrasing what is a pretty common means by which life has been lived for
centuries does not make one the originator of such an idea, but that is beside the
point. The main issue behind the ‘American Dream’ is that it is exactly the
mythology represented by the President’s place of residence. The glossy facade is the
dream; nice to look at and think about, but not substantial. Behind the mask is reality.
A building where men are sentenced to death without trial and a concept which
inoculates and suppresses the masses, who continue to believe social mobility is
possible when, in actual fact, they are fixed in their unenviable positions.
Paradoxically, it is an object, when perceived from within, of aspiration; the pinnacle
of this ‘American Dream’, its colour giving an almost biblical significance and
holiness. Whereas one can almost make out where “the hapless soldiers sigh / Runs
in blood down [the] Palace walls”, the majority of the nation are inoculated by a
generations old myth. And the difference between Blake’s London and modern
America is this mythology, and the hopeless optimism it provides. Countless films,
books and television series have been produced about the supposedly unique
American system of social mobility. Very few have dealt with its mythology and
impossibility, while those who do become marginalised by society and even accused
of the most heinous of crimes under the U.S. legal system: communism. Effectively,
this is a combination of fear mongering and evoking patriotism, in order to hide
socio-economic irregularities and governmental wrong doing, so as to preserve a
public inoculation which has served the United States so well throughout her
existence.
But the ‘American Dream’ only makes up part of the White House mythology.
Beyond the hopeless obedience of the majority of the public, is what such obedience
allows a government to do. Leaders are in place in to act, if not in the electorate’s
views, then at least in their best interest. The White House myth allows the nation’s
leaders to fall not only blow this minimum standard, but to disregard what is
considered to be morally right. Ethics are an incomprehensible abstract of human
existence, but in 21st Century life there exists a charter of how a nation is allowed,
and not allowed, to act. Furthermore, the agreement made upon election is, to a
greater or lesser extent, legally binding. This is the written fortification which
supports the ethics of the common man. Such ethics could be interpreted as a form of
inoculation in itself, but that is in ignorance to the freedom of human thought and
choice which exists outside of the White Houses’ glare. So if men are capable of
judging what is right and wrong, one is able to adjudicate that an action above and
beyond the restriction of power and the empowerment of trust is precisely that. If you
are elected by a people you must, at least, act in their best interest. It is this failure
that the White House myth hides. The leader of a nation with such destructive power
sitting within pristine white walls is nothing if not ironic.
America sees itself as the centre of democracy, however modern democracy as we
understand it, is an adaptation of principles held by ancient Athenians, concerning
fairness and societal contribution. Deception, inoculation, rhetoric and hyperbole are
what have evolved from this utopian ideal. While the Athenians themselves laid the
groundwork for many of these issues to arise; no nation has ever tarnished the ideals
of democracy in such a way as modern America. The myth of the White House
operates as crime in plain sight; acting not only with a political freedom surpassing
what is morally and legally correct, but convincing much of the nation and the world
that what is occurring is democracy. But to say that is to underestimate the myth’s
success. For America is not merely a democracy, but the greatest democracy in the
world; the home of freedom. To believe that the U.S.A. is such is to adopt and accept
Washington’s greatest myth.