Greetings,
The first two months of America’s New Golden Age don’t seem to have brought a renaissance quite yet. Instead, they’ve brought confusion and fear as America’s government, values, history, community, ethics and more have been up-ended with no specifics proposed to replace them. If our Federal Government is destroyed SOMETHING will have to replace it, but what? I can’t pretend to know, but I did run across a ‘Tom’s Tidbits’ from 2019 that I think asks important questions about what it COULD be. I’ve dusted it off a little, and I think it might just still be relevant today…
Tom’s Tidbits- Who are we? Who do we WANT to be?
Posted on February 18, 2019, revised Mar 2025
In 1992 Admiral James Stockdale became briefly famous for two questions… “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” Stockdale, Ross Perot’s running mate, asked as self-deprecating humor but there’s nothing funny about the questions themselves, and deep, considered answers have consequences. Answers immediately beg the question “Who would we rather be?” and only after answering that one can we ask the most fundamental political question… “How do we get there from here?”
Who ARE we? Vapid “patriots” know without ever thinking… we’re ‘Mericans, dammit, we believe in freedom and capitalism, and all the world is jealous of us. These people look no further than shallow jingoism and empty symbols, so demagogues eagerly spout platitudes and buy flag pins to avoid deeper answers. But people fooled by flag pins weren’t asking the difficult questions in the first place, much less trying to answer them.
Who ARE we? Thinking people, citizens, aren’t satisfied with flag pins. In a powerful clip from HBO’s “The Newsroom”, when asked “What makes America the greatest country on Earth?”, two panelists jumped up to present the vapid patriot answers… the Lefty replied with “diversity and opportunity”, the Righty with “freedom and freedom”. A third, after much thought and prodding, made the heretical observation that we are NOT the “greatest country”! Then, after a bleak but realistic assessment of who we ARE, he came to the most important point… “America is NOT the greatest country. But it CAN be.”
Who ARE we? We’re a paradox. America created a new paradigm of government and individual rights for the world, yet we’re built on slavery and genocide. We created a form of government “of, by, and for the People” yet it was corrupted by moneyed interests from the start and is now crumbling from the strain. We believe in opportunity and reward for hard work, yet our policies spit millions of cogs into an insecure, insufficient, soul-killing economic machine. We decry interference by countries in one another’s affairs yet we’re a world-spanning and very assertive empire. We believe in science and technology yet starve our schools. We believe in peace yet we’re the largest weapons manufacturer in the world. We believe in neighbors helping neighbors yet balk at universal health care. We’re a nation of schizophrenic hypocrites… no wonder we’re so tribalized and bitter!
Who ARE we? If the answer is “a paradox”, then the next question is who would we RATHER be?
IF we AREN’T living up to our founding principles of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, then we could support those goals… ‘Life’ through ready access to medical care, ‘Liberty’ through a fair and impartial justice system, ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ through education to improve ourselves without incurring lifelong debt.
IF we WANT to be a peaceful people, then we shouldn’t promote war. War may be necessary sometimes but profit from arms sales isn’t. If we’re ‘peaceful’, then we could work to reduce our bloated military and rein in profiteering arms manufacturers by slashing and limiting profits on weapons. We could lead the creation of frameworks to deal with disputes without military action… maybe a UN that works?
IF we BELIEVE democracy is a good idea, then we should try it! We should be doing everything imaginable to enable not just the vote, but actual, effective representation. Default voter registration, voting day holidays, legislative transparency, no gerrymandering, no voter suppression, and limiting corporate ‘free speech’ would be a great start. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, the person stealing your vote is your enemy!
IF we ARE a country that believes in the dignity and power of the individual then we should help foster both. If we want each person to be individually accountable then there’s nothing more cynical than pretending they have the tools to succeed when they don’t. Education and training for a living-wage job shouldn’t beggar anyone. It may not be society’s job to give out fish, but it IS on us to teach everyone how to fish, and our failure when we don’t.
IF we ACTUALLY care about truth and transparency in decision making, we should promote and protect it. Government meetings, panels, discussions, records or any other activities should be transparent and open by default. A Media owned by 6 companies should be broken up to allow different viewpoints to be heard. Basics like releasing tax returns should be required!
IF we ARE people who care about ‘our posterity’, then (at a minimum) we should be committed to leaving a usable planet for them. Climate Change and environmental breakdown threaten all we are as not just a nation, but as a whole human race. In WWII America unequivocally decided that we WERE going to protect the world from an existential threat and worked with the rest of the world to do it. We were proud to lead then… ARE we strong enough to do it again in the face of Climate Change?
If we BELIEVE in the critical social need for a Middle Class then we could support it. We’d grow the economy from the middle out rather than waiting for scraps to drop from the tables of billionaires. We’d have a tax system that didn’t allow any individual (and CERTAINLY NOT a corporation) to become so powerful that they can hamstring government. We’d have a tax plan that discouraged hand-me-down dynastic wealth. We’d tax capital gains (the income of the rich) at AT LEAST the same rate we tax wages (the income of the middle and lower class).
Who are we? Why are we here? What will we do? These are some of the most fundamental questions in life, so it’s not surprising they’re some of the most fundamental and divisive questions of politics. But our society isn’t like the weather, we don’t just have to lie back and accept what comes. We can and do influence the system with every decision we make. We certainly can’t control the fine details or legislate some utopia, but we CAN work toward a dynamic and free society rather than a predatory and authoritative one. Decisions WILL be made and laws WILL be written; the question is what direction they’ll take us. And it’s up to US, each of us, to answer that question every day.
Make a great day,
Digging Deeper…
The Distribution of Income Depends on How We Structure the Economy, by Janine Jackson on TruthOut, Feb 2019
What ISN’T for sale? Are there some things beyond price? Should there be? By Michael Sandel in The Atlantic, reprinted in Your Car Matters, June 2013
No, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t want 70% of your income, by Dion Rabouin on Axios, Jan 2019
What are some strong arguments why government should not be run like businesses? Thread on Quora, 100+ answers
Capitalism or Democratic Socialism, You Choose, video, Jefferson Smith hosts The Thom Hartmann Program, Feb 2019
What is wrong with America?, Thread on Quora.com
The Very Quiet Death of the Middle Class, Tom Dwyer Automotive Newsletter, Dec 2015
Tom’s Tidbits- What’s wrong with billionaires? Maybe this…, Tom Dwyer Automotive Newsletter, Sep 2023
Book Spotlight- “Billionaires- Reflections on the Upper Crust” by Darrell West, Tom Dwyer Automotive Newsletter, Sep 2023
What is the “Dark Enlightenment”? Tom Dwyer Automotive Newsletter, Nov 2022
