|
My
friend Rob has invited us to envision the future. One of the most important things we can give to our fellow
Americans is a new vision built on our forefathers’ original vision for
our democracy. I
believe in a vision of our country in which we lead through example rather
than force, where our country asks its citizens to engage in creating the
most enlightened, compassionate, innovative government we humans can
imagine. I like what Thom
Hartmann said: Conservatives
believe in private morality while liberals believe in public morality.
As a liberal, my vision centers around our public morality.
America
is at a point in its history where it must grow up and take full, adult
responsibility for how we impact the rest of the world.
We have to take a serious look at the suffering, the famine, the
social unrest, the sickness, the poverty, and the wars that afflict the
rest of the world and understand how our own policies (corporate and
political) create some of those horrors.
It’s time for Americans to wake up and value both the privileges
and the responsibilities of living in America, before we lose that freedom
to our own laziness and unconsciousness.
We have to examine our values and understand that this is one of
those turning points in history where we can stand up for the ideals of
our country in true patriotism, or we can follow the call of our leaders
in a pseudo-patriotism which could lead, in the end, to that awful fear of
the Cold War – the fear of WWIII, total destruction.
I don’t believe in that vision.
It won’t be easy on us and we’ll have to examine our ideas of
American privileges, but I know we can turn things around and come into
our full power as the leader of a free world, the leader until all other
countries are living with the same freedoms and rights we Americans have.
Then we will all sit at the Round Table as equals, and maintain the
peace and prosperity that all human beings long for.
So my vision for
America goes something like this:
Government – When our government was created to be by, of, and for the people, there was no mention of economics as the
central principle of our system. I
don’t believe that capitalism – certainly not the capitalism of the
past decades – is necessarily the truest economy for a democracy such as
ours. The common good is not
served by a capitalism where the bottom line rules. That ethos fosters the
worst in human beings, as we are seeing today; but in truth, capitalism
has always been prone to that kind of corruption.
American industry was founded by slave traders and robber barons.
So, in my vision this compassionate capitalism, which is really a
form of Socialistic Capitalism, would regulate the commodities that now
serve our basic needs: water, energy, communications, and education are no
longer up for grabs. Everyone
has easy access to these basic necessities.
The economy becomes one aspect of a strong culture, and it is
balanced by the other aspects of the common good.
Education
– Education is the source of strength for our people and our nation.
Our education policies must be totally revamped.
Children are first and foremost taught what it means to be human.
That means how to understand themselves, the world and their peers.
There will no longer be standardized tests.
Tests will determine how well the lessons of being human are
learned. Children will train
not only their minds, but their intuition, their feelings, their
sensations. Even their 6th
sense. They’ll study and
understand their dreams. Problem
solving, original thinking, creative imagination will be taught and
encouraged in all aspects of life. We
will teach people how to be in relationships, both personal and business,
so that we all learn to respect each other’s point of view.
The arts become a major vehicle of learning; wilderness learning
and physical work will be part of the curriculum, especially in middle
school when the hormones rage. We
will get the kids in their bodies while their bodies are changing. This will engender a whole different relationship to our body
and our health. All children
will participate in worldwide student exchange programs to form bonds in
other countries.
The
Economy – this is certain not my area of expertise, but we have to ensure
that our children are not burdened by our monetary mistakes.
We have to get the deficit down again, then create real laws that
keep the budget balanced. The economy should become a means to an end – a stable
lifestyle and a creative outlet – rather than the end itself. No more boys playing Monopoly or even worse, Risk.
There will be no more monopolies.
Anti-trust laws will be enforced.
Corporate
Bill of Rights –
corporations should have their own bill of rights, and so they will.
It will be a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities (R&R).
Corporations will no longer horn in on our Bill of Rights, which is
for human beings. In
their Bill of R&R, greed is outlawed and everyone’s prosperity is
the bottom line. The WTO, NAFTA, the IMF and the World Bank will be
reorganized or dissolved and new trade agreements settled upon with the
same benefits for all workers, in all countries.
Human rights are tied to economic development – this is one of
those R&R’s that Corporations will have to abide by, since they are
the ones who go looking for cheap labor, disregard human and environmental
safety, and trample on a country’s sovereignty.
I know this needs more thinking.
Everyone, feel free to help create a Corporate Bill of Rights and
Responsibilities.
The
Environment – We will lead
the world in cleaning up the environment.
We will hold corporations responsible for the pollution they
create. We will no longer
give away our natural resources to corporation free of charge.
Instead, they will oversee the resources for the American people.
The environment will come before economic development, since once
the environment is gone, we will be too.
We will put our tax money (which we all owe for the privilege of
living here in America: Thom Hartmann I believe) into the environment to
clean up toxic sites, to not only set clean air and water standards but to
enforce them, to set our scientists to finding ways to transform our
hazardous waste/nuclear waste into useable material, and to developing new
sources of renewable power. The
new technologies we develop will in turn help 3rd world
countries to develop in an environmentally friendly way.
We will slowly phase out our dependence on cars for everyday travel
and develop light rail systems to handle the ‘daily commute’.
Our cars will run clean and be for personal use only.
We’ll let the remaining oil do what it was probably originally
created to do – lubricate the earth’s plates and keep everything
sliding smoothly. We
will help develop ‘environmentally sensitive’ park areas all over the
earth to be the seed ‘nurseries’ for the regeneration of our flora and
fauna and wildlife. These parks will become educational centers for all our
children, so that they grow up knowing and appreciating the land they live
on as well as the other beauties of the earth they may visit. Wilderness areas will become our ‘outdoor’ temples to the
Great Spirit, so that human beings can go and renew our spirits.
The
Media – We’ll get the
media back on track, out of corporate hands and into the hands of our
artists and visionaries and teachers.
The media becomes a vehicle of education as well as entertainment.
The media serves as a vehicle for the expression of our collective
hearts and visions. Storytelling comes back into style big time.
Instead of making movies that cater to young men between the ages
of16-32, movies are made for all ages and interests.
And most of them are good. (All
writers have to go into therapy before they can sell a movie.)
The media creates a video library of the entire ‘true’ history
of the world – myths, philosophies, creativity, events, etc. -
so that we no longer have to repeat our pasts, but can come to
understand who we are and why we are here, which is the true purpose of
the arts. Oh, advertisements
are non-existent. We no
longer bombard our children with thousands of ads each year. Ads are
banned from the media. Instead,
corporate sponsors can back media shows and events, live sports events and
charitable functions. People
buy things because they read the label or like how it looks.
Or how it smells. Or
how much it costs.
The
Military – Let’s stop calling them soldiers.
Let’s call them warriors and really train them to live up to a
code of honour that protects and defends and explores. Let’s expect our
warriors to exhibit intelligence and personal responsibility for what they
do instead of just obeying orders. Our
military will be downsized to be appropriate for a world at peace,
although it might be prudent to train all our citizens in unarmed combat. If you want to fight, then you must put yourself in equal
danger of being hurt. America
has to stop building weapons of mass destruction so that others will stop
as well. We have to stop
creating wars. We know
everyone wants to emulate America, so we have to learn to walk our talk
and be an example. As a
mother, I know that to get my kids to grow up with the right values, I
have to live those values. They
have to see an example of what it looks like and they have to be expected
to live up to those ideals. Maybe
we could make it cool to be honorable, courageous and idealistic, like the
code of knightly honor, but better. I
think we have to acknowledge that the warrior archetype is still alive and
well in the human psyche, but we can encourage and expect that archetypal
pattern to be lived consciously and well.
Needless to say, we no longer need the obscene amounts of money for
the Pentagon. The extra will be put to better use cleaning up the
environment, feeding the poor, rebuilding our infrastructure, creating
educational centers, helping fund creative community projects, etc.
Work
– All types of work will be rewarded with a living wage, so that work
can be balanced by personal creativity.
Better work and more downtime.
Work will become a means of self-knowledge as well as a way to earn
a wage. When the economy
takes a downslide, corporations and companies will protect their workers
and take a cut in profits so that workers stay on the job.
Who kicks out their people when times are hard?
Stockholders come after workers when it comes to money.
Once they all come through the hard times together, the good times
will roll again, probably more often than before.
Workers own shares of their companies and take pride in their work
because it pays off. Work and
money are once again in a proper relationship.
We will insist that all countries have similar standards for their
workers, so corporations will stay in their own countries and hire their
own workers.
Healthcare – Everyone has universal health coverage, which includes
alternative forms of medicine. Prevention
is the first priority. Drugs
companies are also regulated.
Taxes
– Taxes are for the public welfare, and there are no special interest
exemptions. Corporations will
pay a large percentage of the taxes collected, as will extra-ordinary
wealth. People will be able
to allocate where their tax money goes on the tax forms.
Any surplus will be used for new programs or kept for future use.
Food:
Farmers and Fishermen – People
who work in these all-important industries will be rewarded for good
stewardship practices. Big corporations will be banned from receiving the tax breaks
that small farmers and fishermen will receive.
The quality of our Food
will be protected by law: more natural foods, no more genetically altered
foods, no more radiated foods, and definitely no food poisoned by
chemicals. The fisheries will
be monitored and only small fishermen will be allowed to fish until the
stocks replenish.
Violence
and Crime – We will root
out the causes of violence through therapy and better education.
Drugs are decriminalized and crimes that don’t involve violence
will be handled by therapy and community service.
Crimes of violence might still entail imprisonment, but with
rehabilitation. Gun
laws must be enforced, and all assault weapons take off the market.
Arms dealers (both local and international) will be treated as the
criminals and terrorists that they are.
Terrorism
– Terrorism begins with fanaticism, usually of the religious kind.
But it is also fostered by Corporate and Political contempt for
cultural differences. We get
to the root of terrorism by recognizing our part in the process and
working to make amends. As we
work to bring our ideals into balance with our actions, we can ensure that
before we engage in terrorism or war, we will have a mechanism of respect
and judgment that will handle disputes.
Foreign
Policy – We recognize our responsibility to act in concert with the rest
of the nations of the world; we abide by international law; we do not
support repressive regimes for political power.
We understand that a balance of power is always more desirable than
power being concentrated in one nation.
As we walk our talk, other nations will walk theirs and we will
form a world alliance for everyone’s good.
Once again, the ideal of the Round Table comes to mind, where all
are equal.
Community
– the idea of community makes a big comeback.
We leave our TV sets behind and emerge back out into our
communities and get to know our neighbors. This also happens when we all
take the light rail to work. It
does take a village to raise a child! - ask any mother who’s been
sequestered behind four walls raising her children by herself.
With the TVs shut off, our local musicians, actors, and
storytellers entertain their neighbors and encourage discussion and
collective planning.
This visioning
process was a lot of fun for me. Although
lots of theory must go into building the practical aspects of this vision,
I believe that if we can collectively come up with THE STORY of the future
of America, it might help during the elections.
People tend to take a story to heart before they integrate a bunch
of facts. The conservatives
are telling an old story that’s been around for centuries.
That’s why so many people are comfortable with it.
We progressives also have history on our side, the history of our
spiritual and humanistic beliefs. We
need to become better storytellers than the conservatives and win over our
people’s hearts. We have the better vision, one that I believe most of the
American people desire as well.
Cathy Lynn Pagano, www.fountainofdreams.net,
is a Jungian psychotherapist, mythologist and teacher. This article is copyright by
Cathy Lynn Pagano
, but permission is granted
for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media so long as this entire
credit paragraph is attached.
|
|