IF YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM

We have a lot of problems in this country right now and we are more divided over how to solve these problems than we have been since the Civil War. Fanning the flames of discontent won’t solve any of these problems. It just makes them worse. Stupid and insulting memes and nasty comments on social media won’t change anyone’s mind. They just drive us farther apart and make it impossible for us to seek common ground, negotiate and compromise, which is how problems actually get solved. Eliminating, isolating or trying to control the people you believe are causing the problems is even less likely to solve these problems. Any such attempt will only escalate the conflict that has already erupted in violence and, if not deescalated, will eventually lead to armed warfare that will accomplish nothing more than obliterate everyone and everything in its path.

What could solve our problems is setting aside what we want, because we will never all want the same things, not in the United States of America - the most racially, ethnically, culturally, religiously, educationally and economically diverse country in the world - and focusing, instead, on what we all need. Desire is personal. Necessity is a human condition that we all share; and even if we don’t all need the same things at the same time, we can understand other people’s needs because we have likely experienced them ourselves at some time in our lives.

It always amazes me to remember how, since the beginning of civilization, the wisest among us have recognized that we humans have a serious flaw. We have a sense of self-importance, which we now call ego, that is easily inflated and powerful enough to override both our intellect and our natural instinct to survive and cause us to behave in ways that are both individually and collectively self-destructive. Religion was the earliest known attempt to control these destructive behaviors. Incurring the anger of the polytheist gods, being out of harmony with nature, the Ten Commandments, the Seven Deadly Sins, reincarnation and karma are all basic theological principles that were established in an attempt to curtail our self-destructive tendencies. Unfortunately, religion being a human invention, it was quickly corrupted by our egos and twisted to justify the very same destructive behaviors it was intended to curtail.

Then along came science, which supported faith with fact. It proved the many of the behaviors driven by our egos were destructive to humans both individually and as a species, but it, too, was quickly corrupted by our egos and used as a tool to increase and intensify the very same behaviors it proved were self-destructive. And here we are today with the capability and enough people with out of control egos to wipe out the entire human race.

The founders of our nation, despite all their flaws, came up with a brilliant, innovative plan to govern ourselves and structure our interactions as human beings in a way that would at least limit, if not totally eliminate, our self-destructive behaviors. They created a democratic republic based on the rule of law. Under this democratic republic, as described in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America and its subsequent Amendments, government’s responsibility is to ensure that every citizen has an equal opportunity to get what he or she needs. We do not elect people to public office and give them the power to enact, implement and enforce our laws so that they can decide who will get what they want and who won’t. That’s what monarchs and dictators did...and still do. Our Founding Fathers intended our system of government to be limited to ensuring we all have an equal opportunity to get what we need -  ”life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” all being basic human needs.  Getting what we want is our own personal responsibility, provided we pursue our desires within the law and don’t deprive other people of their opportunity to get what they need in the process. That’s where capitalism comes in. It enables people to compete for what they want in a way that rewards talent, skill, knowledge, initiative, hard work and good judgment. There will be winners and losers, but that’s OK. None of us is entitled to everything we want. However, like religion and science, capitalism is also subject to being corrupted by our egos.

One of the complaints I hear a lot these days is that the government keeps expanding it’s reach further and further into our daily lives and businesses. It is. However,, there is a reason why this is happening. I admit there are a lot of ridiculous government regulations, but having spent my entire career working with and for government at the local, state and federal levels, I can assure you the vast majority of regulations imposed by government have been in response to large numbers of people and businesses (which are run by people) changing the laws, circumventing the laws they can’t change and outright breaking the laws they can’t circumvent in order to get what they want, even though when they do that, it diminishes their fellow citizens’ opportunity to get what they need, The reason government has been reaching further into our lives and businesses these past several decades is really quite clear when you stop and think about it. It is because the frequency and the ways in which individuals and businesses have been getting what they want have been increasing exponentially, especially since the introduction of digital technology and the internet. And the fact is, we have been incapable of stopping them, or even slowing them down, by ourselves. The deceitful and disingenuous behaviors they call marketing strategies, which were called propaganda when the Nazis used them and brain washing when the communists used them, whether they are selling products, services or ideas, are just too sophisticated and too powerful for the average person to defend against.

Think about this for a moment. Have you noticed that no matter which political party is in power certain business interests always seem to get what they want, usually at our expense. When, in your memory, have the oil industry, the defense industry, the banking industry, the insurance industry, big pharma, big agriculture, real estate developers and Wall Street not gotten what they want? Never, right? They always get what they want, don’t they? That’s because they have changed, circumvented, and/or ignored our campaign finance and election laws so that they could buy our government officials. And that is exactly what they have done. Business interests and the super wealthy Americans who own those businesses also now own both political parties, which is why they will continue to get what they want even though that usually means it will be much more difficult for the rest of us to get what we need.  

That brings us back to all the problems we are having in our country right now, which is where I started this post. I believe that in a democratic republic it is reasonable for people to have to compete for what they want. Having been a competitive athlete most of my life, I believe competition is healthy. It builds character and encourages progress. I also believe that in a democratic republic where the government’s mission is to ensure that every citizen has an equal opportunity to get what he or she needs, it is not reasonable for citizens to have to compete for that opportunity. If there is not enough opportunity for every citizen to get what he or she needs in the wealthiest and most technologically advanced country in the history of the world, we are abusing the gift our founders gave us and clearly not living up to their expectations or our potential..

If we want to be part of the solution to our problems instead of part of those problems, we need to stop fighting with our fellow citizens about what we want and sit down together with them to identify our common needs and figure out how we can ensure that all of us have an equal opportunity to get what we need. That will require us to stop putting what we want ahead of ensuring we all have an equal opportunity to get what we collectively need, which is another way of saying, controlling our egos. The alternative is the wealthiest among us will continue getting everything they want while the rest of us continue losing the opportunity to get what we need. That will eventually set us back 120 years to the “Gilded Age”, when the Robber Barons had everything and everyone else had absolutely nothing - no rights, no property, no education, no health care and no real protection against rotten food, harmful drugs, dangerous products, hazardous working conditions, and rampant fraud, theft and violence.

Yes, we’ve made a lot of cultural, educational, medical and technological advancements since the “Gilded Age”, but all those advancements were initially fought tooth and nail by the Robber Barons and resisted by the general public when they were first introduced. It took the collective effort, struggle and sacrifice of large numbers of American citizens working together for the benefit of those advancements to start reaching down to and improving the lives of all our citizens. If you are not familiar with those struggles look up Women’s Suffrage, the Labor Movement, the introduction of our Public Education System, the New Deal, the Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Lib, the Cultural Revolution and, most recently, the LGBTQ Rights Movement. We still have a long way to go to ensure all Americans have an equal opportunity to get what they need, but our history tells us we can continue to make progress if we have the will and work together.

The decision is up to you. You can continue to be part of the problems we’re facing and continue to blame the government for everything you think is wrong with this country. But that dog won’t hunt anymore. We The People choose our government and if we  keep electing people to public office, regardless of political party, who care more about their political careers and financial futures than about the needs of the people they were elected to serve, which is us, then nothing will change and you can turn the lights out because the party is over. Or, you can become part of the solution to our many problems by setting your wants aside and working together with your neighbors to put people in public office who actually care about your needs and then hold them accountable for putting what you and your neighbors need ahead of what the rich special interests, who will no longer own them, want.

This is not a partisan issue. This is common sense. It is about not letting your ego push you into self-destructive behavior, or as comedian Flip Wilson’s famous character Geraldine would have put it, “Don’t let the devil make you do it.” We were all born with common sense, so I know you have it. Use it. Take our government back from the people who have bought and paid for it because it belongs to us, the American people. It does not belong to the rich special interests and they had no right to buy it because it was never for sale.