“That’s not who we are.”

Heard that one before? Of course you have. You hear it on a daily basis, to the point where you might have said it about yourself: “That’s not who I am.” Well, if you did or said it, then of course it’s who you are. You weren’t temporarily taken over by some malign spirit that forced you to do or say something out of character, so shaaad uuup. It’s become a convenient, stock phrase to use to exonerate yourself of any wrongdoing.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the ex-mouthpiece of ex-President Trump, launched her campaign to be the Republican candidate for governor of Arkansas by stating, ever-so-Americanly: “We’ve seen violence in our streets, at a Congressional baseball practice and our Capitol. This is not who we are as Americans. To remain free, we must have law and order and resolve our differences peacefully.”

So, sweet, little Sarah, Trump’s shield against the press barrage, is telling us that violence is not the American Way, that it’s not who they are. Let’s see if that’s true, shall we?

As has been shoved down our throats ad Mel Gibson nauseum, the USA was founded after the heroic struggle for ‘freedom’ from the tyranny of Edward Longshanks…err, hang on…from British imperial tyranny, thereby inventing Democracy and the Masonic Pursuit of Happiness and, at the same time, drawing up a constitution the likes of which had never been seen before and would never be seen again. To top this all off, an electoral system was invented, the likes of which would never be understood. George Washington did a great job, even with wooden teeth.

So, after an understandably violent beginning to the US of A, peace reigned in the valley for the rest of….naaah! No sooner had the ink dried on the constitution and the US army went up against the might of the Cherokee nation. From then on, a certain pattern emerged: the Northwest Indian War, the Quasi War, the 1st Barbary War, Tecumseh’s War, the War of 1812, the Creek War, the 2nd Barbary War, the 1st Seminole War, the Texas-Indian Wars (which caused the extinction of some tribes), the Arikara War, the Winnebago War (I would like to have seen a bunch of winnebagos charging each other), the Blackhawk War, the Texas Revolution, the 2nd Seminole War, The US-Mexico War, the Cayuse War, the Apache Wars, the Puget Sound War, the Rogue River Wars, the 3rd Seminole War (they did like a scrap, didn’t they?), the Yakima War, the 2nd Opium War (why not the 1st?), the Utah War, the Navajo Wars, the 1st and 2nd Cortina War (they fought over curtains?), the Paiute War, the American Civil War…phew, and we’re only up to 1861, a mere 78 years after the final defeat of the Dastardly Brits at Yorktown.

Ok, a deep breath and we’re into Round 2: the Yavapai Wars, the Dakota War, the Colorado War, the Shimonoseki War, the Snake War, the Powder River War, Red Cloud’s War, the Comanche War, the Modoc War, the Red River War, las Cuevas War, the Great Sioux War, the Buffalo Hunters’ War, the Nez Perce War, Bannock War, the Cheyenne War, the Sheepeater War (what?), Victorio’s War, the White River War, the Pine Ridge War, the Garza Revolution, the Yaqui Wars, the 2nd Samoan Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Phillipine-American War, the Moro Rebellion, the Boxer Rebellion, the Crazy Snake Rebellion, the Border War, the Banana Wars (seriously), the Occupation of Nicaragua, the Bluff War, the Occupation of Verzcruz, the Occupation of Haiti, the Occupation of the Dominican Republic, World Wa-ar I (sung to the tune of ‘5 go-old rings’), the Russian Civil War, the Last Indian Uprising, World War II, Operation Beleaguer, the Korean War, the Laotian Civil War, the 1st Taiwan Straits Crisis, the Lebanon Crisis, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Simba Rebellion, the Vietnam War, the Communist Insurgency in Thailand, the Korean DMZ Conflict, the Dominican CIvil War, the Insurgency in Bolivia, the Cambodian Civil War, the War in South Zaire, the Intervention in Lebanon, the Invasion of Grenada, the Gulf of Sidra Incident, the Bombing of Libya, the Tanker War, the Invasion of Panama, the Gulf War, the 1st US Intervention in the Somali Civil War, the Bosnian War, the Intervention in Haiti, the Kosovo War, Operation Infinite Reach, the War in Afghanistan, the Invasion of Iraq, the Iraq War, Drone strikes in Pakistan, the 2nd US Intervention in the Somali Civil War, Operation Ocean Shield, International intervention in Libya, Operation Observant Compass, the American-led Intervention in Iraq, the American-led Intervention in Syria, the Yemeni Civil War, the American Intervention in Libya…and rest. Well, just a breather really as many other ‘actions’ should get a mention in dispatches, such as the overthrow of the democratically elected governments of Iran, Guatemala, Chile and the brutal dictatorships that followed, amongst many others, the ‘dirty’ wars in Argentina and Mexico and the equipping of the Contras in Nicaragua; in short, a plethora of proxy wars, insurrections and coup d’etats. Add to all this the thousands of Americans who are killed every year in gun-related violence and Columbine-style massacres.

It must be really comforting for Americans to know that violence is not who they are.