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A
New America!
Now
that the 2006 elections are over, and the Democratic Party has gained
the seats it needed, we find ourselves waiting, as usual, as our hopes
and dreams for a better future continue to flounder.
Was it foolish to expect more?
Yes, they're trying to improve things. Democrats
and Republicans, each with their lockstep priorities. How is it then that
things never improve, and often get worse?
Perhaps the bible gives us a clue. It tells
us that we shouldn't pour new wine into old wineskins.
Both parties, and most of the American people
along with them, are stuck in a rut. We never hear any new and positive
thinking anymore. Just the monotonous drone of entrenched power, using
words and ideas that haven't excite us in decades. For example, they persist
in labeling ideas as liberal or conservative. Once that happens flexibility
and real change go out the window. We end up defining ourselves by our
own inadequacies. We let misguided pride make decisions for us. Or two-dimensional,
juvenile clichés coined by schoolyard bullies, like "cut and
run." Or being so full of pride that we refuse to talk to our enemies,
even when it would be in our best interests.
The world may respect our strength, but
they no longer look to us for leadership. Our moral monologue has become
stale and archaic in this bold new world, especially when that moralizing
does not live up to our own actions.
Even with war we allow pride to direct us
more than common sense. We lose face by doing so. We know it, but just
can't stop ourselves.
If we look at global events with an open
mind, economically, politically, morally, we discover that we live in
a new world. The old answers don't work anymore-largely due to the advancements
we propagated! The Age of Pseudo-Imperialism is over now. People
are far too sophisticated.
We need to move forward, even if our leaders
fail to keep pace. Don't worry. They'll catch up-or not. Either way, we
cannot wait for them to take the initiative. They've been pushing us backwards
far too long, and know little else.
We, the people, all of us, need to think
differently about who we are and where we're going. Manifest Destiny
has already manifested. It's time to move on. We need fresh ideas, not
just promises and rhetoric.
We need a new Renaissance. A resurgence
of intellect and art and virtue.
We desperately need a new Pax Americana—no
longer measured by the past, but by future as we can see it. We have to
understand that not all American interests are worth hurting or killing
people for. We are greater than that. Our traditions are greater. Our
religions are greater-despite the confusion of recent years.
We need to remedy our jaded conscience so
that political spin is no longer acceptable. We do that by becoming intolerant
of lies and corruption as we are of treason, for in the clear light of
day they are one and the same.
We need a renewal of the primary philosophical
principle that America was built upon: that the true benefit of freedom
is the good that results from it, not the sleaze or ungainly profit or
the power we can acquire over other people.
We have to learn from our past mistakes
that there is no them against us in this nation. There's only us. If we
look to "win or lose" among our own people, no matter what race
or religion or neighborhood we live in, we all lose.
We cannot wait for a leader to carry us
forward. It would not be a new Renaissance if we did. It has to come from
us. The way we see things. The excitement of building something new and
better. The liberation of freeing ourselves from the ignorance of the
past. There can be no fundamental energy if we cling to old ideas and
long-time grudges. For starts, throw away those old labels of conservative
and liberal. They've restricted our creativity for too long, so that for
every step forward we take one step back. Liberal dreams and conservative
trepidations are senseless to the here and now and what needs to be done.
Good will is final arbiter. Respect for others. A dissolution of group
think, that only betrays its own principles in the end.
The new Renaissance will not begin in Washington.
Or in Rome. Or in the Middle East. It begins with the liberation of your
heart. You. Not George Bush or Hillary Clinton. Not John McCain or Barach
Obama. It's time to wipe the stars from your eyes. It begins by examining
your own beliefs and discarding what doesn't work anymore. It begins by
listening, not automatically contending. It begins with a commitment to
truth and life, which in turn creates a better commitment to all.
The people have to change before leaders
change. That's us. Now, I could tell you my views about, let's say, abortion.
I might even convince you to accept my views as your own. But that would
be wrong. You have to formulate your own opinions. And after a lifetime
of being proselytized to by everyone you meet, you have to separate what
you truly believe from what was injected into your psyche. That's what
freedom is all about. It's about freeing your mind from the shackles of
other people's opinions. It's not about following or leading. It's about
encouraging free thought in everyone.
Now, those who control you won't like that
idea. They know that the original Renaissance eventually toppled the aristocracy,
leading to the Enlightenment, from which our great democracy was born.
They like things the way they are.
The
question I want to leave you with is this: DO YOU???
