Not My Party

There is something wrong with our government and they way it is run. I’m not just talking about the federal government either, but our state and local governments as well. Lacking common sense leadership, beholden to corporate interests and finances, cornered by special interests and threatened lawsuits, and muzzled by political party philosophies, our governments are about as responsive as a sea sponge and accountable to nothing. Overlapping regulations, agencies, and missions create an atmosphere of duplicity and waste while creating barrier after barrier between themselves and the people they purport to serve.

To make matters worse, the American public has become so distrustful of the government that they distance themselves from it at every opportunity. With smaller percentages going to the polls, and an even smaller number actually knowing much about the candidates or propositions before them, government rules and leaders are often picked according to who has the better sound bites, bigger budgets, and nicer hair. Such actions only serve to ensure that government will become less responsive to the public who largely ignores them, thus causing further estrangement by both parties, and on and on. The cycle perpetuates itself until it spins out of control. Propelled by its own inertia, an unchecked government moves backwards in history, becoming less responsive to the needs of its citizens and less representative of the people as a whole.

So what can we do about it? How can we retake our government and make it accountable, efficient, and responsible? The biggest problem in government today stems directly from the political parties themselves. Although nothing in the Constitution requires or advocates it, our government is largely controlled by two main parties- the Republicans and the Democrats. (There are numerous other small parties as well, but we’ll deal with “The Big Two.”) The Democrats and Republican parties seem to have created a representational system of sorts, allowing constituents the opportunity to “choose a side.” In an effort to gain members, each party portrays the other side as bad for America, bad for families, bad for you and me. Their messages have become so successful in fact, that the American people are now practically split 50-50, creating a gridlock and animosity of epic proportions. Their successful attempt to make government look like a boxing match has the added benefit of distracting Americans from paying attention to what is really happening. While we’re all busy socking away at each other, our political parties have quietly carved up the country into “political safe havens,” where they can be sure of re-election, and thus less responsive. While we’ve been watching our tax dollars disappear, they have been securing fat cat deals for benevolent corporate donors and lining up lucrative post-public careers. And all the time, we’ve forgotten that government isn’t supposed to be a sport. Government is a public service, a public duty, and a public privilege.

Republicans and Democrats alike proclaim to have differences big enough to drive a truck through. Big Business vs. Pro-Labor. Tax and spend vs. fiscal prudence. Law and Order vs. Nanny State. In truth though, the two parties have much more in common than they would have you believe. Their real goal is to consolidate power, not for the benefit of providing the public with better service, but for personal gain for their benefactors and themselves. They are both beholden to large corporate donors and labor unions, which, due to the bizarre nature of our campaign regulations, bankroll their ambitions to public office. These kinds of politicians may start out altruistically enough, but the minute the take their oath of office, there are but indentured servants, paying off a debt through favorable legislation, selective enforcement of regulations, and preferential treatment. They are at the mercy of their party leaders, who in turn are being controlled by the corporate and industry demands. Neither party has an interest in simplifying our government so that it can better serve the people. Neither party has an interest in fiscal responsibility. Neither party has a respect for the laws of this country, finding every loophole and exploiting every nuance. And neither party has respect for you, the taxpayer, the citizen, the American.

Government was created to provide certain basic needs of society. It provides public security. It regulates and enforces laws. It creates and regulates an economic base for business and labor. It provides some level of infrastructure. It defends the inherent rights of humanity, namely freedom of religion and thought and the chance for a happy life. Everything that our government does should fall into one of those main categories.

I think we could all agree that we expect the government to protect the integrity of our borders from attack and to defend our interior to its best ability. We expect our government to fight for our interests abroad to further our safety as a country. We expect our government to enact laws that apply to everyone and to enforce those laws equally. We agree that acts like murder, rape, theft, and assault, in all their many forms, should be illegal and punishable. We value the freedom to worship any religion we choose, to learn what we want to learn, to go where we want to go. And we expect our government to respect those freedoms and nourish them. We all want our children to grow up happy, in safe neighborhoods, and going to good schools. We all want to be able to provide for our families and to give them something special now and then. We all want to enjoy good health and the access to good health care. We have a lot more in common than the political parties would have you believe.

It is true that in finding our way to a common goal, we often come across many rivers that lead to the lake. The trick is in navigating the best stream at the right time. Unfortunately, our politicians aren’t even in the same boat. By focusing on their task of division, they are trying to get us to ignore that we have so much in common. They want to keep us at odds and so they muddy the waters by obscuring the true tasks of government and instead highlighting manufactured or sensationalized differences between “them and us.”

The only way to shake off their grasp on a stagnant government is to abandon the parties en masse. A successful American government need not be dependant on artificial labels. Americans from both “sides” should re-register as independents, cast aside their party platforms and recognize the candidates who use Common Sense. Choose leaders who shun the labels but stand on principals that we all agree on. Understand that public service is a duty and an honor and choose leaders who believe that too. Only by denouncing the politics of partisanship can the business of government truly take place.

This would be but a start in putting government back into the hands of the people. The very nature of democracy demands compromise before advance, and in this current political split, we need to not only abandon the parties individually, but abandon the politicians too. Doing anything less would prevent any meaningful reform. At every election, reject a candidate affiliated with any political party. Don’t let yourself believe that a party affiliation truly reflects who they are, or who you are either. Choose only from among independent candidates and find out where they stand on the issues. If no independents are on the ballot, find one and support them. Make our politicians stand on their own feet and explain why they deserve the honor of representing our interests rather than letting them hide behind boorish party line talking points. And to ensure that there will be plenty of non-affiliated candidates, encourage and support potential candidates.

We must always remember that we do not owe it to the politicians to keep them in office or to agree with their policies. Rather they owe it to us to defend our interests and to ensure that their policies are in line with our needs. We owe it to ourselves to make sure they deliver.

America, America

The United States is often described as the best country in the world, mostly by us, but by many millions of others too. Since it’s beginning, America has held out a glimmer of hope for the oppressed people of the world and it has provided a measure of freedom and democracy to those who live here. But there are also other views of our country, and they aren’t nearly as flattering. We are viewed as arrogant and greedy. We are viewed as oppressors. We are viewed as two-faced liars. We are viewed as weak and immoral. Some of these viewpoints are directed at our government, but others are pointed straight at us, as individuals and as a whole people. Some of the people who don’t think too highly of us are actively seeking ways to destroy us and our way of life. Obviously, we must not let this happen. We have the strength to fight back. We have the resources to fight long. We have the desire to win. But will we?

Winning the fight with our enemies will require many years of hard fought battles, and many of the casualties will be innocent civilians. But the fight between cultures, for let’s use our common sense here and call it what it is, will not be won just by spilling blood. Many will die, let’s be clear, for that is inevitable in a war where one sides stated goal is to kill all of the other. There is no way to win this without the use of force and violence. But we must also deploy all the other tools in our arsenal: diplomacy, assistance, and investment.

I called this a fight between cultures, and because I don’t want any confusion about what that means, let me explain. Our primary enemies today are not all members of the Islamic religion, but Islamic hard-liners who follow a particularly strict interpretation of their religion. Their goal is to return the state of civilization to a pseudo-medieval arrangement. They seek to impose their ideals on the rest of the world, spreading from their original homelands, primarily in the Middle East and Africa. The most effective of these enemies, Al-Qaeda, is not even a foreign government who we could wage a more conventional war against. Instead, they are scattered across the world. For while America is their primary target, they seek to cower to entire world before they are done and they spread their violence and terrorism to our allies as well. They operate a well-financed organization, obtain highly trained scientists and tacticians, and maintain a steady influx of recruits. Their culture is inherently different from our own. Their laws and governments are written and run by the clerical hierarchy. Their interpretation of their holy books dictates daily life. Personal freedom is nearly non-existent and public dissent forbidden. Were they to win, we would lose everything we hold dear.

We, on the other hand, represent a way of life that embraces personal freedom. We are made up of many factions, and rightly so, for to our enemies, anyone not with them is a legitimate target. And because we embody so many different beliefs, we rule ourselves with tolerance. These two ways of governing are not compatible. Only one will ultimately win. Currently our way, or variations of it, has proven to offer a quality of life unknown in much of the world. Their way offers a life of slavery. Given the choice, I’ll fight for our way every time.

Still, we have our faults and they are great. The time has come for us to really look at what we are doing in the world and determine how we could be doing it better. We never asked to be the world’s Superpower. The world asked us. And as a result, as we went on our prosperous way, enriching our lives and strengthening ourselves, the world looked at us in a new way. They sucked our culture up like a coke fiend at an all-nighter and then cursed us when the stuff turned out to be laced. We never sought the limelight and we never went looking for trouble. But the world came asking and we took up the challenge. And in doing so, we turned into management. The problem with being in management is that you tend to stop looking at the individual and begin looking at the goals of the whole. Good managers know that you have to do both. A good manager isn’t afraid to use common sense, but we haven’t always had good managers. Our government today has few, if any. And without good managers, both the whole and the individual begin to fail. The policies and the actions of our government have not always been designed to benefit us as citizens, or even us as a country, but to satisfy the greed of autocratic businessmen or power hungry bureaucrats. As such, we have made enemies without even knowing it, at least, not until it’s too late.

So while we must continue to fight the enemy on the battlefields and in the cities, we must also look within ourselves and recognize that while we didn’t ask for this war, we can’t win it without changing ourselves too.

Diplomacy is not a tool that can be used directly with our Islamic enemies. Their goals allow no concessions, their purpose to win by slaughter or submission. We can’t hold a dialogue with an enemy who cuts off our head when we sit at the table. But diplomacy can and must be used to prevent the terrorists from gaining ground in other Middle Eastern or under-developed nations. And diplomacy can and must be used to maintain our allies and bring in more who will help. Diplomacy will allow us to show the world that they are part of the “us” in the “us versus them” equation. We should be prepared to offer our support to nations who join in the fight against the enemy. That support should be offered in ways that include technology sharing, medical training, and infrastructure support as well as financially and militarily. By offering these things, we would be showing our friends as well as those on the fence, that we too are one of “us” and that in order for “us” to survive, “we” must work together. By working to end the culture of haves and have-nots, we eliminate one of the reasons for others to hate or envy us. It’s time to change our unspoken national motto from “Greed is Good” to “Greed Can Be Deadly.”

Assistance and diplomacy go hand in hand. By working with other nations to improve the lives of their citizens, we make ourselves safer. Why should the people of the world strive for the American Dream? Do they really want to leave their homelands and families? Why don’t we help them create their own dreams? What’s wrong with striving for the Afghani Dream or the Mexican Dream or the Thai Dream? By helping them develop their own national dreams, they create a culture that would naturally reject religious totalitarianism like that of Al-Qaeda. And if they help us now we should begin to help them now.

Of course, diplomacy and assistance require investment, both in capital and in time. As members of an expensive and fast paced culture, these are two commodities that are dear to us Americans. We often pay lip service to diplomacy but we are reluctant to offer commitments without specific parameters. But mutually cooperative agreements don’t need to be held on a schedule. They should continue until both sides have achieved their goals. If we are asking for friends then we must be ready to be a friend. Everyone knows what it’s like to depend on someone and then have them let you down. After a while, you don’t think of them so much as a friend as an adversary. It the geo-political world, adversary is just a stones throw from enemy. So in order to succeed in the non-combat areas of this war, we need to listen to our allies, offer what we can and expect them to do the same. At the same time, we must change their negative impressions of us by seeking better ways to manage and share global resources, technology, and education.

America is a great country. Our biggest problem is that we have spent too much time in management and are out of tune with our world. The ninety percent of the world that wants us to succeed in this war includes Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, pagans, atheists, and quite possibly Druids and Jedis. We must all work together to conquer the enemy and ensure the quality of our lives. We have so many problems facing us as a species that we need to put an end to this culture war once and for all.

It will not be won without sacrifice from each and every one of us. In ways that we don’t even think about consciously, we have to be ready to change how we live and relate to the world. We have to be prepared to sacrifice now so our children can have a better tomorrow. We have to see beyond ourselves and our immediate desires to ensure that we are creating a foundation for the future generations. It will be painful. It will be costly. It will be worth it.

What Is Common Sense?

Common Sense….an inborn trait that most of us possess. Common sense is the ability to view a situation and discern the proper thing to do. Proper as defined by our system of laws and morals. Common sense developed to warn us that all was not right in the world around us. Its daily application probably kept our ancestors from becoming dinner long enough to propagate the species. Without this ability, humankind could not have gone as far as it has. As our capabilities progressed, as we tamed nature, common sense spread into more areas of our lives. We learned to hone the instinct of common sense and apply it to all areas of life. Common sense lets you know that an umbrella can keep you dry on a rainy day. Common sense reminds you to use the bathroom before boarding a seven-hour flight. Common sense says that robbing the bank will get you arrested. We all possess, to some degree, a measure of common sense.

Why then does it seem that so many of our legislators and educators and scientists lack this innate ability? Or do other, less attractive traits overshadow the application of common sense in today’s daily life? It is difficult to believe that the highly educated leaders or our society could lack such a basic survival skill as common sense. Therefore, we can only surmise that they suppress this ability for some purpose. What could cause someone, especially someone entrusted with the public welfare, to abandon the one trait that warns of trouble or danger? Whatever it could be, you can be sure that the suspension of common sense is often accompanied by two things- personal profit of some kind, and eventual downfall.

The personal profit derived can take shape in many ways. For some, financial reward is enough to do the trick. For others, it is the thought of gaining power that makes the sharp eye dull. Some just seek the perception of greatness, even if only over a peer. The form of profit is as different as the people who throw away their common sense. If their transgressions come to light, though, and the clarity of what should have been done is addressed, those who seek profit usually end up taking a fall. And eventually, when the cards come tumbling down, the mess they leave behind lingers like an old piece of Limburger cheese.

Today, our leaders seem to embrace the lack of common sense through the use of “Political Correctness.” The belief that calling a black kettle blue will result in more harmony between all the pots and pans has not proven itself true. The hope that by embracing all behavior types or offering all things to all people will create a better world has been refuted by the state of our society. Our schools, in an effort to be all things to all people, have instead failed in doing what they were designed to do, which is to teach our children the fundamentals of knowledge. Our industries, in an effort to earn more profit than the competitor, have shown our workers that loyalty is passé. Our government, in an effort to consolidate power through targeted pandering, has sold our freedom to the highest bidder or the biggest whiner. And in proliferating the use of “PC Lingo,” this insidiousness has penetrated all of our lives. Political correctness has made us afraid to tell the truth in plain, common terms. We obfuscate, intimidate, procrastinate, and segregate ourselves while the policy wonks look on. We marginalize our similarities and exacerbate our frivolities to the point of absurdity in an effort to gain a supposed advantage over someone or something. And in the process of playing along, we suspend our common sense. We forget that we are the ones getting the short stick. We buy into the nonsense and blissfully go along for the ride.

This has been happening now for a generation at least. The “Why can’t we all just be friends” crowd has morphed into the “You’ll never suffer like I have so just pay up and go away” crowd. We act like a bunch of PC morons, bumping into walls that we helped to build. And the worst part of all is we’re passing it on to our kids. We are not only managing to handicap them with this madness right from the start, we’re crippling them by not nurturing their common sense. Because we’ve already turned ours off. I’m no conspiracy goofball, but if the goal of PC-ness was subjugation of the masses by way of mental anesthetizing, the organizers must surely be pleased. What better way to control everyone than by not letting the truth be heard and judged accordingly. What better way than to create so many obstacles to the common sense way that no one bothers to look for it. What better way than to brand your opponent as insensitive, surely today’s equivalent of heretic, blaspheme, or barbarian.

Most of the world’s problems come from either a lack of common sense or a lack of will. Ruthless, corrupt, or self-aggrandizing organizations or governments that cause only harm to their people operate on a lack of common sense and the exploitation of lack of will. Common sense dictates that if success is derived from productivity, and if productivity relies on content people, then to harm the people will not cause success, and failure is at some point certain. But the exploitation of the people’s lack of will to change their government, either through fear and repression or by apathy and ignorance, usually guarantees that those “in charge” will be around long enough to cause some long term damage. Often, when they are exposed, they are replaced by another with the same tactics, albeit different goals. And so the whole circle begins again.

We hear and see examples of this growing menace, this lack of common sense, every day. We read stories in the papers about stupid criminals or corrupt politicians or spoiled entertainers and the stupid things they have done. We laugh or shake our heads and then forget about it and go on our way. We act outraged though when public policy appears to slight anyone, and enact legislation to ensure that everyone gets their daily hug of encouragement. We attempt to make the world fair for everyone, often forgetting that by changing a rule to favor Jane, we have now altered John’s world and have to make a rule to cover that, which screws up Jack’s day and on and on. We used to learn that life isn’t fair and that the world is a tough place. Well that’s still true today. And while it’s noble to try to make everyone happy, we can’t forget to use our common sense in doing so. Rekindle the spirit of compromise for the general good and extinguish the PC nonsense. We have the capacity, as a species, to work and live harmoniously and still disagree about things. We have the ability to organize our societies in ways that benefit the majority without subjugating the minority. These are things that we have the means to achieve. We just have to use our common sense.

Our great task is to show that only through the generous application of Common Sense can we ever hope to live in peace and have the chance for prosperity. The traits for survival exist in us all. Societal survival requires mutual trust based on the common welfare. I know, in my heart of hearts, that we are not completely lost. There are enough of us out there who still believe in calling a black kettle black, and if the kettle has a problem then he ought to look in the mirror. The truth is what it is. And common sense helps us recognize the truth.

A Return to Common Sense

It is said that in order to accomplish your dearest dreams, you need to have a fire in your heart. Your desire to see your hopes, ideals, and fondest wishes become real must drive your every action one step closer to fulfillment. Those who possess this fire occupy the highest levels of industry, government, and science. They also work in charities, as emergency personnel, and educators. These are the ones who shape our communities, our laws, and our lives.

It would be nice to think that many of these people who live with the fire had only the best intentions as their fondest dreams. And in fairness, many of them do, if only secondarily. But for all the driven people who strive to do deeds that benefit humanity, there are just as many driven people who have motives in direct opposition to the common good. Due to the very nature of these people, they almost all rise to the top in one way or another. They become our political leaders, our religious teachers, our military commanders, our professors, our inventors. Some of them are purely idealists, and of those, you have as many motivated by personal reward as by philanthropy. Others are activist in nature and become the public face of the idealist’s designs. In all cases, you will find these groups sort themselves into two types of driven people. One group wants to help people. The other wants to help themselves. Regardless of the challenge, one group will find a solution that works best for all; the other group will find a solution that works best for them.

So the question then becomes, which side do you fit in to? I know that most people don’t have the fire. At best, most of us are lucky to have a bright spark flare up from time to time. In our newer, better, faster world, who has time to get fired up? And who has time to pay attention to everything that happens anyhow? But regardless of where you stand on an issue, at the core you either care about people in general, or you care about you and yours and not much else. Now, I’m not trying to take issue with people who are just out for number one. At times, we all need to take that attitude. But when it comes to public life, to politics and finances and public safety, there can be no place for the selfish.

In our society, we began an experiment not before undertaken on such a scale in human history. Our forefathers endeavored to create a society for the benefit of all, with those at its helm acting for the public good. (Lofty ideals for sure, and history is full of inconsistencies, irregularities, and flat out flagrance in the application of these ideals.) The concept was pure, and it remains pure today. But just as in the prominent religions of the day, while the base tenets are sound and mutually agreeable, the application of ideals upon the human creature is flawed by the human itself. Blame it on biology or chemistry or plain old evil, but the transition of creed to practice rarely works in real life like it does on paper. The human element interferes with the soundness of the plan. The selfish spoil the soup. And we all go hungry tonight.

The state of our current social-political fabric could best be described as thinning. It has become like an old t-shirt, worn too long, washed too little. Stained from abuse and apathy. Ready to come apart at the seams. We can still wear it around the house, but we’re uncomfortable being caught with it out in public and when we are, we pretend that it’s the best shirt in the drawer. Our leadership is selling our children’s future for their own limited reward. They are doing this because we’ve let them. Slowly, we have stopped paying attention. We learn through 10-second sound bites, we form opinions by co-opting them. We have stopped teaching our children that society is a group effort, where the gains benefit many and the failures touch us all. We have traded our common sense for cheap entertainment, corporate profits, bigger cars, and Big Macs. If our society is heading down the wrong path, we have ourselves to blame. And it will be to our shame if we continue to let it go.

There is another group of people I haven’t mentioned yet. This may be the largest block of people of all. These are the people who haven’t yet gotten the fire, but have had a long simmering spark, a spark that has been stoked gently over the years until it becomes the flicker of a flame. These are the people who work hard every day and try to do the right thing. These are the people who want their children to have a happy life, full of rewards yet filled with challenges and empathy. These are the people who are becoming increasingly frustrated with the way we have let our society go. They are like the slow burning fuse on a stick of dynamite. Once the fuse gets going, it picks up speed until it explodes, changing the face of everything in its path. This is the group who really cause societal shifts. And when they decide to act, no one, not even the driven few, can stem their rise.

This last group of people is again starting to stir. Many of them are just starting to recognize the signs. The growing discomfort when they hear the news. The high speed pace of daily life. The lack of time to enjoy each other’s company. The disgust with public policy. The lack of common sense in everyday life.

I fall into this last group. For many years, I have danced an internal dance with socio-political concepts and their applications. I have felt the spark flare up from time to time and I have become involved when the spark was stoked. But for several years now, the spark has become more of an eternal spark. It is growing into a flame that hints at consumption if it is not sated. It is the flame of common sense.

If I can tame this flame and nurture its growth, I plan to expose the lack of Common Sense in our world today. I will also share possible solutions to our maladies. I will offer a plan of action for the benevolent spirit, the servant of the public, the helper of humanity to follow. This effort will garner many foes, to be sure. And there will need to be areas of compromise. But you can be equally sure that those who will most oppose these designs are the ones who stand to lose personal power or fortunes. Those who will denounce them loudest do not have your interests at heart. Those who will belittle them at every point will be the ones who want to hold you down or destroy what you deserve. You deserve…we all deserve…peace and a chance at prosperity.