Have we ever been great? Compared to what we could be, the answer is no. When we shun all lies and disinformation and value openness, honesty and transparency--that will be a great achievement. When we have at least 7 of the largest political parties participating in presidential debates, that would be an accomplishment that we could feel great about.

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Have we ever been great? Compared to what we could be, the answer is no.

When we shun all lies and disinformation and value openness, honesty and transparency--that will be a great achievement.

When we have at least 7 of the largest political parties participating in presidential debates, that would be an accomplishment that we could feel great about.

When we value solar and wind, eliminate nuclear power and weapons, and encourage the cultivation of hemp in all of its biodegradable uses--that would be great for the ecology of the planet.

When all of our lives we study math, science, social studies, and language arts and share what we have learned with our children and grandchildren--that can lead to greatness for all.

When we start using more trains and busses and far less cars, that would be a great accomplishment.

When we eliminate imperialism, capitalism, racism, patriarchalism, nationalism, and materialism from our hearts and minds and motivations--we the world will be great for the first time.

When there is universal acceptance of members of the LGBTQ community so that they will never need to hide their sexual orientations--that will be a great sign of social progress.

When we build democratic, consensus, intentional, autonomous, and interrelated communities from the grassroots level to the global level, building from the bottom-up--then we will have a great world to live in.

When we encourage neighborhood control of neighborhood schools to create neighborhood togetherness and intentional community-that will be a great innovation that has never been tried yet.

When political parties that capture at least one percent of the vote are represented in a Constitutional Convention to create a new national constitution with every new generation as Thomas Jefferson encouraged--that would be a great milestone in our social progress.

When we implement public banking, proportional representation with a unicameral national legislature, ranked-choice voting, the elimination of the Electoral College System, and the empowerment of multiple political parties--then we can feel great about ourselves.

When we are concerned about taking care of the needs of every person and species on the planet--the world will consider us great.

We we strive to be a vegan for ecological, ethical, and health reasons--we will be a model for the greatness and sustainability of future generations.

When we create a democratic world government from the bottom-up, instead of succumbing to a new world order imposed on us from the top-down--future generations will consider us great.

When we have single-payer health insurance and free public education for all at all levels, then we can be as great as many other nations.

When workplace democracy is welcomed by all, that would be a great economic and social improvement.

When we as a nation stop intervening into the affairs of other countries to promote our own agenda, that will be great for the world and the planet.

When the United States leads the world in reducing all military spending, and it leads the world in removing all nuclear weapons from the face of the earth--that will be the greatest achievement of all.

(Article changed on October 31, 2018 at 08:14)

(Article changed on October 31, 2018 at 22:21)

Authors Website: http://www.WorldWithoutEmpire.com

Authors Bio:

February 11, 2023

I grew up in a church that said you had to speak in tongues to get saved and go to heaven. I often prayed fervently starting at the age of 5 for the experience in the prayer room at church, where people would cry and wail, and roll on the floor. One 80-year old lady would sometimes get happy in the spirit and run laps around the church during church services. That was always entertaining.

About my sophomore year in college, I became transformed by the protest of the Vietnam War, the anti-nuclear movement, Eastern philosophy, the study of psychology, smoking reefer, and democratic socialism, which I started believing could save the world. However, the Covid crises that began in March 2020 caused me to become disillusioned with the Left, so now I would say I am more an anarchist or a libertarian, but I don't support corporate or crony capitalism. Many libertarians think it is perfectly fine to aspire to be a millionaire or billionaire, but I think incomes above certain amounts should be taxed at much higher rates. Libertarian capitalists, like socialists, are against imperialism, and I will always resonate with that.

Here is a definition of anarchy that I have always liked: Anarchy: a self-governed society in which people organize themselves from the bottom-up on an egalitarian basis; decisions made by those affected by them; direct democratic control of our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, towns and bio-regions with coordination between differing groups as needed. A world where women and men are free and equal and all of us have power over our own lives, bodies and sexuality; where we cherish and live in balance with the earth and value diversity of cultures, races, and sexual orientations, where we work and live together cooperatively.

Two times in my twenties and thirties, I had brief periods where I went back to being a Christian fundamentalist or an evangelical Christian. Later going to a liberal seminary, where I studied the New Testament like a scientist, caused me to doubt believing in the virgin birth, the trinity, and the literal resurrection of Jesus in the way that evangelical Christians believe. Now I believe that Jesus could have been a highly evolved yogi to achieve the various things he allegedly achieved.

Growing up in an anti-intellectual home, I had the most trouble with high school courses like U.S. history, which seemed like a boring subject that was a waste of time. Later in my life, European history would become an important and fascinating subject. Lately I have been interested in studying the history of Christianity again using the excellent textbook I read in seminary.

Fascinated with yoga and meditation, I starting reading many of the books written by Swami Rama. When I later met him in person and was initiated and given a mantra (which I never did repeat over and over as suggested), I remember that being in his presence was the most powerful spiritual experience I have ever had in my life: I felt rapturous love and indescribable bliss. So I became convinced that meditation and spiritual disciplines can transform a person. My ex-wife, by the way, thought there was nothing special about Swami Rama.

In my mid 50s, I started advocating the integration of the Perennial Philosophy (that's the term Aldous Huxley used; it is also referred to as Ageless Wisdom, describing the nondual, mystical experience) with a democratic form of socialism as a way to save individuals and the world. I created a website called www.NowSaveTheWorld.com because the website name "SaveTheWorld.com" had already been taken by somebody else. I created this website in 2010 right before I retired at age 60 from teaching. I was a high school special education teacher of Algebra, English, and Social Studies, but during the last 6 years of my career I taught general elementary, mostly third grade. In March 2020, I changed the name of my website to WorldWithoutEmpire.com.