A few weeks ago, I posted the diary below. It was suggested that it be published again after the election. In the mean time, I've been reminded of Winston Churchill's famous quote after the Battle of Brittan:
This is not the beginning of the end, it is, the end of the beginning
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My motivation is that there is a significant mandate for change. How that mandate is spent will decide the fate of the mid-term elections. The mid-term elections will decide the fate of our resurgent progressive agenda. Expectations are very high. Can we deliver?
That change is going to require sacrifice on everyone's part. Rather than wait for Government, what are each of us, as individuals, willing to take responsibility for, to be the change we want to see?
Given the dismal state of the (global) economy, national debt, climate change, education, health care and America's world standing (to name but a few), I believe the mandate will be needed to make choices about what reductions are made.. My challenge to everyone (including myself) is to answer the question: what will you give up? Not what the other guy should give up, but what will you give up?
There is a lack of individual responsibility that permeates our culture. We expect Government to fix things for us. We're quick to blame someone else. We sue companies for making us fat. Rarely (if ever) do we look in the mirror and as Cassius said in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar:
Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
When was the last time you looked in the mirror? When was the last time you were the change you wanted to see?
Now that I have your hackles raised, I am as guilty of this mind-set as anyone.
Mea-Culpa.
And I am going to have to look into that mirror and bravely decide what I am willing to give on in order to achieve wider, less tangible, goals. I'm asking you to do the same. I'm asking myself to take personal responsibility for my lifestyle and the effect it has on the economy, debt, climate, education, etc.
I'm not going to wait for politicians to change things, though I will continue to badger my elected representatives to seek that change. This change has to bubble up to the political leadership so that we drive the change that aligns with our progressive agenda.
The coming mandate must be used to drive an individual responsibility to promoting the common-wealth that we all share. Improving that common-wealth will increase our progressive "base" and help with a long term progressive agenda. There's not a lot of money to go around. What are you willing to cut back on to promote that common-wealth?