Tom’s Tidbits- Who are we? Who do we WANT to be?

Greetings,

In 1992, Ross Perot’s running mate Admiral James Stockdale became famous for two questions… “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” Stockdale asked as self-deprecating humor, but I wonder if every political campaign shouldn’t start with exactly those two questions. People often think they have answers to both, but that’s frequently because they’re not really trying to answer. Deep, considered answers to ‘Who are we?’ and ‘Why are we here?’ as a country have consequences. The answers immediately beg the question “Who would we rather be?” and only after answering that can we ask the fundamental political question… “How do we get there from here?”

DyvsfvmUYAA-JR2 Who ARE we? Vapid “patriots” know without ever having had to think about it… 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. Demagogues know this and eagerly spout platitudes and buy flag pins to avoid difficult questions. They’re wasting their money, though, because 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 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 patriots’ answer… the Lefty replied with “diversity and opportunity”, the Righty with “freedom and freedom”. A third, after much thought and prodding, made the heretical statement that we are NOT the “greatest country”! But 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 way of looking at individual rights for the world, yet we were built on slavery and genocide. We created a form of government “of, by, and for the People” yet it has been 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 of countries in one another’s affairs, yet we’re a world-spanning and very politically 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, through our government, can support those goals… ‘Life’ through uninhibited access to medical care, ‘Liberty’ through a justice system not compromised by a profit motive, ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ through access to education to improve ourselves without incurring lifelong debt.

IF we WANT to be a peaceful people, then our policies shouldn’t promote war. War may sometimes be necessary, but profit from arms sales isn’t. If we’re ‘peaceful’, then we could work to reduce our bloated military and rein in private arms sales by slashing and limiting profits on weapons manufacture. 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 effective representation. Default voter registration, voting day holidays, legislative transparency, no gerrymandering, no voter suppression, limiting corporate ‘free speech’… that’s just the 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’d help foster both. If we hold each individual accountable for themselves, then there’s nothing more cynical then 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 on us as a society to give everyone fish, but it IS on us to teach them how to fish.

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 must 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 descendants, 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 the 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 move to 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 the most fundamental questions in life, so it’s not surprising they’re the most fundamental and divisive questions of politics. But the society we live in is not like the weather. We don’t just have to lie back and deal with what comes, we can and do influence the system with every decision we make. We certainly can’t control the fine details, we can’t 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 each and every day.

Make a great day,