Making AMERICANS Great Again!

 

"Make America Great Again!"

Pretty catchy, eh?

But let me be blunt . . . it doesn't quite cut it.

In fact, lacking just two letters it is entirely wrong!

A wealthy America doesn't come from a strong dollar, skyrocketing stock market, or how many billionaires it has.

A strong America doesn't come from how many nuclear-tipped missiles or military bases it has across the globe.

A great America doesn't magically emerge by stomping from one continent to another as a belligerent bully making every other country cower and kowtow.

As appealing as this facile notion of "American greatness" is, how about some perspective?

Here's the way I think the meme should go . . .

"Make Americans Great Again!"

Mind you, the idea that every American can be great doesn't mean every person will be famous, a billionaire, or become president. It does mean that every individual is supported and encouraged to realize their individual greatness.  You can be a great mother or father or sister or brother.  You can be a great teacher or bank clerk or mail deliverer.  You can be a great baseball coach or a great neighbor.  You can be a great friend.

Let's be honest.  Maybe Americans were never really great.  Certainly, it has had its share of oppressed citizens, victims of racism, exploited underclasses, even desperately poor.  These folks never had a chance to be great on any terms.  The persecuted, disadvantaged and marginalized are forever scrambling, living on the edge of desperation.

But at least at one time most of us shared a belief that there was a potential for greatness in each of us, and we not only promoted that ideal but often actively encouraged it in our places of worship, neighborhoods, communities, schools, and among family and friends.

Values have shifted.  America is now perpetually at war and divided as never before by wealth inequality and class apartheid.

This is both sinister and entirely by design.  Thus . . .

We must rise above the 24/7 deluge of propaganda and manipulative and destructive narratives . . . and reconnect with where our personal strength and power comes from.

This is something we can do individually and personally.  This is how we free ourselves from the mind-numbing and dis-empowering nonsense, the resulting dysfunction and paralysis which has become the new normal.

When I say "mind-numbing and dis-empowering nonsense", I put slogans like 'Make America Great 

Again' right at the top of the list.

Recognize . . .

It is faith in oneself and those significant others which we directly impact in our personal lives, not faith in the destructive power of America's nuclear arsenal which is empowering.

It is confidence by each and every person in what they do -- confidence in themselves -- and that what they do will make a difference, that gives clarity and vigor to our individual and collective lives, not some misplaced confidence in leaders who clearly have their own agenda which rarely aligns with that of everyday citizens.


It is the belief held by each individual that he or she is significant and an indispensable member of our society -- a belief in oneself -- not a knee jerk belief that America is the indispensable nation just because it has declared itself so, which generates aspirations, and the energy and courage to move forward.

National pride is not about flags and military parades.  National pride grows out of the collective sense of self-worth of American citizens, each able to feel that their contribution to their families and communities embraces the personal ideals of a decent and moral life.  Patriotism is the natural result of each and every individual giving their all to each and every other citizen, starting with their family, friends, and community.

These are the true and enduring sources of American greatness.

America will become great again when Americans are great again.

And crucially . . .

Americans will be great again when the impediments to individual potential are removed, when each person has the opportunity and resources available to them to participate and contribute as full and active citizens in an open, receptive, and appreciative society.

The impediments are certainly obvious:  It's class division, wealth inequality, racism, and political paralysis, fostered by the ruling elites to maintain their privilege and undermine independence and individual potential. 

The mechanisms are also quite obvious:  The ruling elite uses their pay-for-play puppets in high echelons of government to keep us begging.  This is a proven, time-honored strategy that stretches back to the beginning of recorded history.  And we are again falling for it.

Thus "making America great again" is doomed to failure at the outset.  And any blather about making America great without making Americans great is just more hollow and manipulative sloganeering.

Have we had enough of the jingoism and self-congratulatory hype yet?

Isn't it time to take our country back?

I think we owe it to ourselves and future generations.

There is no guess work here.  You either have power or you take it.

"Power concedes nothing without a demand."  -  Frederick Douglas

Let the difficult but infinitely rewarding work begin.

Make AMERICANS great again!

---

Make no mistake about it.  We have an enormous struggle ahead of us.  But every journey begins with a few single steps.  Every action and all activism begins with ideas.  Here are my ideas for how we begin.


 

Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve was published in September 2015 and also is available both in every popular ebook format and as a deluxe paperback . . .

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The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World is now available both as an ebook and deluxe paperback at many of the usual outlets . . .

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[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Making AMERICANS Great Again!

National Values 103

My previous blog was on air. So far the rich and powerful have not figured out a way to sell us the air we breathe. That's not to say it isn't coming. I can easily picture a future where the air is so foul and toxic, that we all are toting around behind us on little wheels, mobile tanks of breathable air, with plastic tubes running up to our nostrils. They'll probably have a Monsanto logo on them.

In that piece, I attacked the compromising and abuse of one of our most fundamental biological rights. Bush's comically-named CLEAR SKIES is a perfect example of the lords of industry writing the rules for their own advantage, condemning tens of thousands of us to die prematurely by cutting corners on our basic human right to breathe clean air.

In this posting, I want to focus strictly on how you and I are being systematically robbed of yet another thing, something so basic to life, something so pervasive and necessary, that lacking it our entire planet would look like the moon. We look at another one of those fundamental absolutes that is being stolen from us in the name of progress.

In his powerful speech "Where Do We Go From Here?" on August 16, 1967 in Atlanta, GA, Dr. Martin Luther King asked, "Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that's two-thirds water?"

Damn good question.

To single out this remark is not a trivialization of this great man's vision. He was talking in general about our system of ownership, where a small elite of well-to-do capitalists wield the power to exploit everyone else.

Think about it . . .

Water.

The human organism basically is protoplasmic material floating in around 42 quarts of water held in a big sack made of skin. Water is about as basic to being human as it gets. We are 60% water.

Why should we have to pay for water?

Does asking this making me some raving pinko commie socialist?

Water has gradually become commodified. We used to just go down to the well in the center of the village. Then cities and counties provided water treatment facilities, publicly owned then later very tightly regulated by municipal governments. This held the price for access to high quality water at a bare minimum. Now it's slowly being privatized. And the quality of municipally available water is being gradually degraded so that it's no longer safe to drink. We end up going to the supermarket to buy water in large plastic jugs.

What happened to being able to turn on your tap and drink some H2O?

When did our community decide it was no longer its fundamental responsibility to provide something so basic to life as water?

And I don't mean water laced with cyanide, mercury and other heavy metals, containing sludge and industrial waste, stinking of human urine and feces, tainted with every widely distributed hormone, prescription drug, anti-depressant, steroid, antibiotic.

I mean the kind of water that our bodies have always required and contained.

The kind of water which is as basic to human survival as . . . well, water.

This attrition of the public domain __ those things which constitute the fundaments of a organized and humane society and a healthful nurturing community __ is always a very gradual step-wise process. The privatization and commodification of the basic elements due to members of a community creeps up in very small increments. Tiny decisions are made one by one, each seeming like a rational or at least more convenient way to do things. Then somewhere down the line, we look back and say, "What happened?"

When things as basic as breathable air and drinkable water are commodified, it doesn't bode well.

Many political scientists and international experts have been predicting for some time now that wars in the foreseeable future will be fought over water.

There's a method to this madness. Corporations and capitalists can sniff out opportunity anywhere and everywhere. This is what they do. It is what they are designed to do, driving the engines of the economy, revving them higher and higher, sucking in what they need and blowing $$$s out the back end.

Think about it. If corporations can completely control and charge for basic necessities, what a perfect plan! It's not like lipstick or adding cruise control to the options on a new car. You don't have to convince people of the value to drink water. If they don't they die.

There is no doubt capitalism has energized much of the world and been the major force behind development across the globe. But economic growth has never been nor is it now the only measure of progress. Not everything of worth has a bar code.

Look into the eyes of your child, your spouse, members of your family and community. Can you tell me how much a moment with someone you love is worth in dollars? What should we charge for a sunset? How much for a walk in the park?

As Oscar Wilde's character replied in Lord Darlington when asked what a cynic was: "A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."

So where do we draw the line?

Maybe the better question is: Since we failed decades ago to draw sensible lines which safeguard our individual participation in a society which respects each and every citizen and assures basic decency for everyone equally, what do we do now?

I'm not here to lecture you on the basics of government and citizen responsibility. Actually, if anything I'm here to lecture myself, to remind myself of some things that have been long buried by the shit storm of nonsense, diversions and distractions that is the news media today. I'm here to try to cut through the tsunami of irrelevance and ignorance that has swamped our national dialogue __ the one you and I should be having about the America we want to have and pass along to future generations __ and try to focus my own thinking.

I'm here to remind myself, and hopefully a critical mass of other concerned individuals, that many things we should be able to take for granted __ breathable air, clean drinking water, safe nutritious food (that'll be the topic of National Values 104), and some others down the line __ are rightfully ours and they have been stolen.

It's time to get them back.

It's time to put aside right, left, liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, Libertarian,
Socialist, gay, straight, black, white, yellow, brown, red and blue. Because there's a lot we agree on.

We just need to clear our minds and talk about those things.

We need to talk.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

 

National Values 102

We breathe air.

Unlike abortion and gay marriage, there seems to be a lot of agreement on this. We all accept that breathing is not a luxury, not a hobby, not a pastime, not entertainment.

Breathe in, breathe out __ it's something as constant as our heartbeat and only stops when our heart stops.

Isn't breathing an absolute? Isn't air __ or more accurately the oxygen in the air __ one of the fundamental building blocks of life for us human beings? Is there anything contentious or controversial about our need and our basic natural biological right to breathe air?

In National Values 101 I stated, however, we're not talking any old air. We're not talking about air that's full of industrial smoke, automotive particulates, carbon monoxide, or invisible toxic gases. We're not talking about air that burns the eyes, irritates our nasal passages, makes it painful to breathe, turns our lungs black, and consigns us to living on a respirator. We're not talking about air that is carcinogenic and will lead to tumors and kill us before our time is due.

Can we all agree on this?

Yet too often we are given false choices:

If you want a job, then you'll have to put up with "acceptable" levels of pollution.

Either you want the economy to grow or you want the government regulating everything. You can't have it both ways.

This is not only nonsense. It is propaganda __  the polite term for boldface lies  __ and is irresponsibility at its worst. It is abandoning our public duty and a priori commitment to live in a country where concern for its citizens __ concern for one another __ is central and paramount. It is ignoring our constitutional mandate as citizens in a democracy to promote the general welfare.
I know there are libertarians and other minimalist ideologues out there who dispute this.

If anyone out there has a coherent justification for saying . . .

"I have no problem having my children breathe air which makes them sick, will cause them cancer or emphysema, compromise the quality of their lives, and resulting in them dying younger than they should."

. . . please send it to me. I'd love to see what your craven mind has conjured up.

Does this sound melodramatic?

It's not.

Sometimes things are that simple.

To poison or not poison. That's the question.

The issue is not where we draw the line __ what constitutes acceptable levels of poison in our atmosphere __ but how we hold the line that respects human life and good health.

The general welfare.

Of course, where it gets dicey and muddled by a lot of self-serving propaganda, ideological dogma and outright deception, is what role government has in protecting the quality of air.

Let's cut to the chase.

Can each individual household afford to have its own fire brigade available in case of fire? Can each individual household hire someone to drive an envelope over to the bank to pay the mortgage payment? Can each individual household raise an army, equip an air force, deploy a flotilla of battle ships and nuclear submarines to protect itself from invasion by hostile foreign militaries? Can each individual household afford to pave the road between home and school, home and work, home and the grocery store?

Can each individual household muster the necessary legal team and cash to stop a factory down the road from spewing toxic gas into the air?

Government, especially one which consists of the citizens of the country, is by definition __ as delineated in our constitution __ the way we collectively do those things which we cannot individually do. And it is the strength of our system, certainly not a weakness, that government performs services on behalf of all of us for the betterment of all of our lives.

We've forgotten this.

I'm not pointing fingers. I'm just as much a victim of the tsunami of sheer nonsense that fills the media and the overwhelming cyclone of bullshit that passes for discussion of the "important issues of our times." It's all but impossible to keep a clear head and the needed focus to make sense out of our relationship to the institutional machinery in place to do our bidding, often to assure some of the most basic items to a healthful, productive life.

Like clean air!

This is the point of what some may perceive as very facile, simpleminded blog posts. But I sincerely believe that we need to get back to the fundamentals again. What are the basics? What are those things which we not only should treasure and hold dear but are areas of universal agreement?

We often get so caught up in the fighting, name calling, assigning blame, bickering, that we forget that our nation was predicated on some very solid fundamental values, drawn from the Bible, the teachings of great philosophers and legendary teachers, the wisdom of the ages, even drawn from the ministry of Jesus Christ during his short time on Earth.

National values.

Somehow we've lost sight of them. We've lost sight of the obvious.

I'm reminded of a story __ and I have no idea whether it's true or not but it's a great story __ I heard when I was a teenager.

There was a large tractor-and-trailer rig which got stuck under an overpass. This was right in town, on a single lane road, so it was creating havoc and causing a bad traffic jam. They had hooked up giant powerful tow trucks and diesel-powered winches. The truck wouldn't budge. They were now going to resort to huge metal cutting wheels and blow torches to carve off the top of the trailer.

A 10-year-old boy was walking home from school and happened on the unfolding drama. As he passed a burly man wearing a safety helmet, at that moment in the heat of directing the team to start cutting the truck up, the boy tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir. But I was wondering. Why don't you just let the air out of the tires?"

Sometimes the answer is staring you right in the face.

You just have to look.



[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

National Values 101

We need to decide.

And to decide we need to have a talk.

What's the latest fashionable euphemism? Aaaaah! . . .

We need to have an adult conversation.

The question is: What are the basic conditions, perks, priorities, entitlements, services __ it doesn't really matter what you call them __ that the set of institutions and organizations collectively known as government, is responsible for providing the citizens of this country?

What's the bottom line? As an American, what can I expect?

How we answer this question pretty much defines where each of us falls on the political spectrum that stretches from "conservative" to "liberal".

Which is irrelevant!

So forget about it. Forget conservative, liberal, progressive, libertarian, anarchist, and most certainly forget Republican, Democrat, Green, Socialist, Communist, and all of the rest of the political parties.

Let's just answer the question.

And while you're thinking about it, here's what I have to say:

Air. I don't mean just air. I mean clean air that doesn't choke us, make our eyes water or create the conditions for cancer. Seems fundamental. Amazing how it's brushed aside.

Water. Again we are talking about clean water. Not Evian or Poland Springs. But water that we can drink, bathe in, cook with, irrigate our gardens with. The human body is over 75% water. Without a constant supply of healthful water, we become dust.

Food. Sustaining life is pretty basic. Famished or dead people don't do well. And I don't think this should be frivolously interpreted. Yes, we can eat dog chow. But I am proposing good nutritious food that supports healthy development and healthful sustenance. This is not too much to ask.

Education. Maybe first and foremost, we need to know, understand, think, and learn how to go about knowing, understanding and thinking. Lacking education a person cannot properly function as a social, economic or political being __ an ignoramus cannot begin to participate in society or fully contribute as a citizen.

Health and Basic Health Care. Why is this so contentious? Being sick is a drag. It's personally a drag, it's a drag on those closest to us, it's a drag on the economy. There are no winners when people are sick. To have a fruitful, functioning society, we must be at our best __ physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, socially, politically, intellectually. When we are physically sick, everything else is compromised.

Safety and Security. This is a big one. Excluding items under other categories, like non-toxic air to breathe and food that doesn't poison us, there are many areas which through our government we safeguard ourselves as citizens. A person should be able to walk down the street, or sit in a park or their back yard, without fear of being attacked, molested, robbed, raped, murdered. We should be able to be in our homes or work places knowing that a poorly maintained commercial airliner or a missile launched from North Korea won't crash into our roof and incinerate us. We should be able to use a microwave oven without it exploding in our faces. We should be able to drive across a bridge without it collapsing underneath us. Related to that, we should be confident that everyone on the road knows how to operate their motor vehicles. If our house catches on fire, we should be able to count on firemen coming to put it out. The list goes on and on. You get the idea.

Equality Before The Law. The law is the law. It shouldn't play favorites. No one is more or less important before the law. Violate the law, there will be penalties. Violate another human being, that person will have remedies in a court of law. It doesn't matter if you're Angelina Jolie or Donald Trump or Barack Obama. "Justice" is portrayed as holding a scale and blindfolded. And so it should be.

Opportunity. Opportunity comes in many flavors and is not unlimited. Everyone cannot be President of the United States. Not at the same time for sure. And impediments always are being erected to our realizing our individual potential. All too often they're internal __  defeatism, low self-esteem. So the last thing we need are more barriers from without. When a society erects barriers based on class status, wealth, ethnic identity, religious belief, sexual orientation, and so on, it becomes fragmented and loses its vitality. It can become hostile and end up at war with itself. We have on the books right now legislation and constitutional amendments to discourage this. It's time we lived up to the language and spirit of these laws.

Democracy. Who gets to run the country? I was under the impression it was each and every one of us, participating on an equal footing. One person = one vote. It's not that way anymore. Now it's who's got the cash. So are we going to have a democratic republic or an oligarchic tyranny? Democracy seems like a good idea to me.

Freedom. Freedom has its limits. But it should constantly expand until it reaches those limits. What kind of freedom? To dress, speak, sing, dance, live, love, worship, socialize, assemble, organize as we see fit, respecting the rights of others to do the same. It's in the Constitution. This should not be rocket science. And it should be on everyone's mind and part of every discussion about our nation. Freedom requires constant vigilance. It requires an ongoing adult conversation, no holds barred, no nonsense. The alternative is division, racism, conflict, disintegration, civil war, or totalitarianism.

Why am I bringing all of this up? These "American values" seem so obvious.

You would think so.

But all hear in the media is . . .

"So-and-so declares all government bad."

"We need to cut spending, then cut it even more."

"Get government out of the way so we can get something done."

"We can't afford it! America is going bankrupt!"

"Fiscal cliff! Debt ceiling! Apocalypse!"

Often these are the same blowhards who are saying America is the greatest thing since mastodon burgers and pterodactyl nuggets. So why do they find it so easy to denigrate it? Why do they want to destroy it if it's so great?

The point is, I don't see anyone talking about the essentials for making America, not just an okay place to live, minimally tolerable. But making America a place where we citizens can thrive, realize our individual potential, be the bad ass exceptionalists we claim we are.

Are any of the "values" I described above so controversial, so offensive, so ideologically obtuse or extreme, that they don't deserve that adult conversation I mentioned at the beginning of this article?

I sure don't see it in the media. I don't hear any discussion of this being prompted by our so-called "leaders" __ please refer here to "Take me to your leader!".

Yet, it is at the heart of everything about our country.

What we hold to be true and dear is the beating heart of America.

We can't sit around waiting for Obama or Biden, Boehner or Reid, Pelosi or McConnell, Cantor or Chief Justice Roberts to get around to it.

They won't.

We the people of the United States need to discuss and decide who we are and what we want America to be __ meaning what kind of nation and society we will pass down to our children. Then we need to keep those priorities first and foremost in mind when we the people of the United States decide what to do.

No excuses. No equivocation. No distractions.

No "we can't afford it" or "that's socialism" or "that's Tea Party".

Let's stop the name-calling, end the soap opera and the games.

Let's cut with the nonsense and get to work.

We can do this. We're the greatest nation in history, right?

We're the baddest, the best . . . we're #1.

Let's prove it.

I say, when politicians go into their usual patronizing him-haw blather, let's keep a roll of duct tape handy to shut them up. We go back to our list of values and say . . .

"Either this makes America the country we want or it doesn't. That's the issue."

What do you say?

Are you in?


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]