To change the world out there we must change ourselves. The question for America is: Will we prefer to blame THEM rather than CHANGE OURSELVES?
Here is the Epilogue of Are Americans Really this __________? Are Politicians Really this __________? If you would rather listen than read CLICK HERE.
Are Americans really this stupid?
We have squandered a magnificent opportunity. Not that we ever had it all right; not even close. But after World War II we were on a roll. We were pulling together. We were taking on challenges, and we were dreaming big again. Then we began to drift away from “we-us-together” and we began to focus on “I-me-my.” And the decline began.
The United States has gone from the greatest creditor nation in history to the largest debtor nation in history in the span of sixty years. Norm Franz once wrote:
Gold is the money of kings.
Silver is the money of gentlemen.
Paper is the money of peasants.
Debt is the money of slaves.
We have chosen debt as our money. We, most Americans, have enslaved ourselves. And we keep piling on more debt as fast as we possibly can.
Americans are so busy fighting over scraps we are in the throes of committing suicide. A few are succeeding spectacularly well – concentrating wealth and power – while the masses increasingly struggle just to get by.
On the face of it, it seems like monumental stupidity.
Maybe we really are this stupid.
But maybe the course of our journey is beyond our control.
Nature ebbs and flows. Empires rise and fall. Maybe we do not have the ultimate say. Maybe our task is to endure the tumult, learn what we must and do the best that we can.
Rather than leave our fate to the whims of chance, I believe we can choose differently and generate better results. Perhaps we can help a phoenix rise from the ashes.
People naturally move from a we-us-together orientation to a I-me-my orientation and the competition begins. For the last sixty years, in families, in communities, in corporations, and in governments we have been playing a political game – a power game. And in so doing, we have been eroding trust. We have been eroding the foundation of society.
When people connect, collaborate, and cooperate communities prosper. Prosperity however, sews the seeds of its own undoing. Prosperity makes room for individuals to maneuver for status.
Nature says, “compete to survive.” To survive we must rely on one another. We must come together, connect, collaborate, and cooperate. When we do – when we come together, connect, collaborate, and cooperate – we thrive. But nature advances in cycles. Nature dictates the cycle of life: birth, growth, maturing, decline, death, decay – rebirth. The cycle works for each individual and the many together. Maybe the cycle is beyond us to affect. But maybe not.
We get to decide what we think, where we go, what we do and how we feel. We can change our individual course. When we do, we change our destination and our destiny. Why can’t we change our collective course, our collective destination, and our collective destiny?
Much is required to fix America – to get the United States on the right track. Progress hinges on the people – Americans. The enemy is not THEM, “People who do not look like us or sound like us or even think like us.” The enemy is within.
We need to open ourselves to grace. We need to rebuild trust. If we can trust each other enough to come together we can figure this out.
How?
First we must get off the fear-and-hate-victim-train. We must stop clinging to delusions feeding self-righteous hubris. We must finally realize that people who see things differently are not enemies.
A functioning democracy requires moral, educated and informed citizens. America is falling short. We would rather not seek truth, or we would rather deny an uncomfortable truth, than face and deal with the reality that truth presents. Too often we seek the easy way. We choose the easy wrong way over the hard right way.
Those who compete well, choose to compete and dominate. Those who do not compete well fail to see the truth. We refuse to embrace our personal power, as we lack the courage and conviction to shoulder personal responsibility. Being unwilling to embrace personal responsibility we are not worthy of trust. And the social network crumbles.
If somehow, we can become trustworthy, and if we can trust, together we can do anything.
That anything we must do is reclaim our personal power. Reclaiming personal power reestablishes the opportunity for trust and the potential to redistribute power. Then we can get moving forward again together.
Politicians are hired by a few to consolidate power for those few. American politicians do an extraordinary job. They have no interest in changing a system they are succeeding in, so I propose three foundational reforms:
- A grass-roots leadership and educational effort to reorient Americans to the truth about power, freedom and responsibility.
- A constitutional convention to fundamentally reshape public service and redesign our election process. We must eliminate our “pay to play” system. No more career politicians who are easily bought and paid for by corporate interests.
- A fundamental redesign of our corporate system. Malfeasance abetted by legal but corrupt corporate practices allows the powerful to pillage and plunder anonymously at will. We must stop the few from stealing from the many.
Democracy only works if we empower the people.
Because of the corrosive nature of power, concentrating power undermines community and prosperity. The solution is not “socialism” – absolving people of personal responsibility and the motivation of personal incentive. The solution is showing people the potential of their personal power.
The United States of America was founded on ideals of freedom, justice and opportunity, equal treatment under the rule of law. Those ideals mean nothing if all the people do not have a stake, if all the people do not have a shared common view of reality, and if all the people do not do their part. Trust is broken; the result of political misdirection to concentrate wealth and power. The truth is as simple and as complex as that.
Civility is a reasonable start. But America’s politics and politicians are entrenched. Every administration and every congress continues to play musical chairs with disastrous results. If we are interested in saving these United States, Americans must do something bold and must do something now.
We must change ourselves, then purge the corruption. I believe in my heart, as difficult as bearing personal responsibility may be, Americans can – can and will – step up to the challenge.
Nations prosper when many share the burden and the benefits, yet the American system has evolved to enrich the few at the expense of the many. The cycle continues. We just happen to be at the low point of the cycle: the crisis and chaos phase. It is time for something really radical. It is time for people to actually think. It is time for honesty and integrity. It is time to stop the charade of lies and deceit. Enough.
For America to survive this transition; for America to be reborn, the people must be willing to think. People must muster the courage to bear the burden of responsibility and stop blaming the powerless.
If Americans really want America to be great again, we must stop expecting politicians will fix things. Politicians are playing the power game. Nothing is going to get fixed unless and until Americans revise the game and change the rules.
Of the people, by the people, for the people, it is up to the people to change. Saving America requires we the people change.
Extraordinary men have tried to guide us to overcome fear and hate before: Jesus Christ – executed; Abraham Lincoln – assassinated; Mahatma Gandhi – assassinated; Martin Luther King, Junior – assassinated. Overcoming fear and hate is not easy. No one is standing on the moral high ground to show Americans the way. It is up to the people together to do the right thing.
The people must gather the courage to claim and use personal power, not for wealth and privilege like the elites, but for good. The people must act and act together. If Americans do not act; if Americans do not come up with the courage to connect and collaborate, to trust, to remake the fragile democracy, then it is not: May God bless America. It is: May God have mercy on us all.
This concludes the book preview of Are Americans Really this __________? Are Politicians Really this ________? Please let me know what you think in the comments section below. Till next time, All the best, Scott