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Our Political System Threatens Humanity an Open Letter to President Obama
Dear President Obama,
Congratulations on your extraordinary accomplishments. You’ve generated a new wave of hope that continues to reverberate around the globe.
In these exceptionally trying times your message has touched the hearts of hundreds of millions of human beings. Your historic inauguration has brought new hope to America. But you’ve also inspired vast numbers of the disadvantaged and oppressed throughout the world to have the audacity of hope for a better future, one that promises a new world order, where peace and prosperity is the standard for all humanity.
This enormous response emphasizes just how important U.S. Government policies are to the well-being of people everywhere. Mr. President, for better or worse, the policies of our government impact the lives of every human being on earth. Thus it’s not surprising your call for real change has struck a deep chord among all the citizens of this planet.
But real change won’t be easy. Those in power will strongly resist any real change. They’ll resist by exploiting our political system’s built-in mechanisms that can thwart change and obstruct reform. But without real change, without changing the basic way our government does business here and around the world, the inequality and injustice that saps the spirits of so many of our fellow human beings will continue unabated.
We privileged few can’t afford to ignore the unjust suffering of our fellow human beings here and around the world. Their suffering is our suffering. Mr. President, their misery is our misery, especially when it’s our own government’s policies that cause or contribute to that misery. We are all one race, the human race. When one of us suffers unjustly, we’re all degraded. Real change isn’t just needed, it’s desperately needed.
But real change can’t happen unless we change the engine of change. Mr. President, if we Americans expect real change, if we want to make our world a better place, not just for us but for all people, in all nations, then we must start by coming together in mutual respect and radically reforming the engine of change, our intellectually dishonest political system.
Real change
This engine needs much more than a tune-up. It needs a radical overhaul. It’s become all too obvious that our political system is deeply corrupt and has been for many years. Mr. President, unless we fundamentally reform the system, we’re sure to get more of the kind of “change” we’ve endured over the past eight years—or much worse.
It’s very important to understand that the vast human suffering caused by the unending, costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the vast human suffering caused by the meltdown of our financial system and economy, and the vast human suffering caused by a host of other entrenched U.S. government policies, does not represent a breakdown of our political system. Quite the contrary. These extremely destructive situations and policies are the natural products of a political system working exactly as it is designed to work. A deeply corrupt system is bound to produce deeply corrupt results.
It’s clear from the non-results of the 2006 elections, that merely changing personnel is not the solution. Like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, electing new politicians, who are then forced to work within the same deeply corrupt system, will accomplish little real change in the long run.
From your experience in the U. S. Senate, you know there are many highly intelligent, honest politicians with well-reasoned, progressive ideas for real change. But they are rendered powerless by a political system with entrenched policies and procedures specifically designed to protect the status quo.
Our political system has a virtual tool chest of policies and procedures that are regularly exploited to not only unjustly tilt the playing field, but more important, to diminish or effectively eliminate careful scrutiny and honest debate about virtually any issue, including and especially reform.
Mr. President, the change we need (and we need it now) is an open, careful, critical analysis of our political system that produces a specific, detailed plan for radical reform. It must focus primarily on these entrenched, blatantly dishonest, policies and procedures that are regularly exploited for unjust, special-interest advantage.
We need a political system that seeks truth, instead of one that often hides, manipulates, and even manufactures “truth”. We need a political system that creates legislation and policy using rational argument and open debate, instead of one that creates legislation and policy using wheeling and dealing and coercion.
