I started something I see I can’t finish in one sitting, I bit off more than I can chew but I like the taste of it and plan to keep on eating. I figure it’s time for some offense and this is start, if it becomes an essay it might be called “Benevolent Dictator What Would You Do? Wherein we discuss potential cures for what is obviously a malfunctioning society, what is wrong with it and how might it be improved if you were in a position of absolute power and free from the restraints of political infighting.
Example: We have twelve people and the goal is to get a large rock to the top of a hill, if all twelve pull together in the same direction it is an easily accomplished task, no sweat or very little anyway, it can be done. Or as we see it happening in our government today six of the people get on one side of the rock and the other six get on the other and pull with all their might and to what effect, you guessed it no effect at all; the rock just sits there wondering what all the fuss is about.
We have a bit of a problem at the moment our house is divided, just cleaved down the center with a large kitchen knife and now the space between them grows and grows. Our political parties aren’t talking to each other and any progress that might have happened has ground to a halt while the children we call politicians grope in the dark waiting for the sun to rise and shed some decent light on the knot they are trying in vain to untangle.
They say that houses this divided cannot stand for long, the foundation will not support the weight unequally distributed like it is. And eventually the gravity of the situation will bring it down on its residents one and all like Godzilla taking Tokyo apart while Raymond Burr looks on askance and without Barbara Hale to lift his spirits or take his notes.
If I could I would like to set that all aside for the moment and ponder some potential solutions to our many woes and burdens, knots and differing ideologies; squabbling is getting us nowhere and it is sapping strength we will need when that sun finally comes up in the morning. Before that happens we should get a plan together we should make some notes about just how we want to continue; realizing that any plan needs to be flexible and ready to adjust to the circumstances as called for.
We probably need to decide if running a country is the same as running a business; for profit that is, what is good for the people is not necessarily good for business and when we mix the two the people are coming up short so we really need to reduce the influence of money from government; whose goal should be the welfare of the people all the people first and foremost. Frankly our problems are not that hard to solve but solving them would require new attitudes more than new laws, we need to alter our national consciousness from one which highlights competition and replace it with a resolve to cooperate with one another for the good of all.
The American dream of climbing to the top over the broken bodies of those beneath us would be better served at another restaurant; one that leveled the playing field and gave more opportunities to more people, where all of the kids get to play not just a select few. Competition carries a lot of viruses, it brings out a lot of negative traits in humans beings, it lowers their character, it makes them more like animals, it causes them to cheat; to win at all costs even their integrity.
Sure competition may be good for business but as I said running a country is something altogether different at least it should be. If we want to get somewhere we need to first define what it is we want, there has to be a clear picture in our minds of the final goal, just how do we want to live our lives and treat each other and make it solid in our imaginations. If you don’t know where you want to go you’re not going to get there--- I said that but it seems real possible that George Carlin said it before me.
If we want to make something good happen we have to imagine it first like a dream and then bring that dream into reality by building on the positive foundation that dream has created in our consciousness. For instance if I were to dream a little dream for American it might go like this.
Ok, first off I want everybody to be happy or at least as happy as they can be, have the opportunities to broaden their horizons and nurture their unique gifts so that those around them are lifted on buoyant gusts of shared happiness. Happy, cheerful, well meaning people make good neighbors, they make good workers, they make good wives and husbands and good mothers and fathers, so my dream is for the common happiness of my fellow citizens, don’t laugh.
So that’s my goal, now is the time for a plan to make that happen; to make my dream a reality. How hard could it be, what is standing in the way of making my dream come true? Making people happy is not an unknown, unknowable mystery we all know perfectly well what it takes to be happy because we have experienced it.
(cross posted from MLW)