Economics is a tool of nations, not the wealth of nations.
Many have lost track of civilized behavior by concluding the business of the nation equals the nation itself. This daft misconception has grown like a cancer, leading to much of the dishonesty and graft that we now see in America. The grime of corruption, mismanagement, and societal divisions run so deep, that patching up of the corrosion seems to overwhelm us. Pundits hint at a misplaced understanding of national maturity, which declares that we have no choice but to endure the decay we see around us and to move forward through a banana-republic framework. This false sense of maturity falls far short of the worst issue. Acknowledging corruption and not combating it is defeat for a nation, an endgame lost.
Those that fare well in the current situation do not want change. Why should they? Their lot is peachy. They do not wish to be subjected to the tribulations of transformation. Rather, they crave a mastery of evil. This petulant obstructionist view is the genesis of our two-tier society. A battle line exists between those who foster commerce and those who foster the national ideals. So how will the citizenry convince those garnering the benefits of a corrupted structure, to give up their support for that corrupted structure? Sadly, a coddled, uncaring leadership cannot fathom nor appreciate the taste of liberty for its people.
Those who founded the United States sought to lessen inequality. They acquired our liberties through agreement and codification of certain ideals as our nation’s guiding principles. Implicit in those principles is the clarity that a nation, in practical terms, is more than its economy and less than its ideals.
Even so, there have been changes in society that could never have be anticipated when our country was founded. Those changes have been exploited, leading to governance through intimidation. Politicians flounder in fear, paralyzed to the point of inaction by the specter of evisceration in a well-coordinated media barrage. Doing their best to work inside the net that holds them like fish, they dread finding themselves displayed on the monger’s table gutted and impotent. Flawed, our politicians seek to function. That effort deserves respect, but their failure cannot gather the citizenry to defend the nation against the cunning of those that thwart our liberties. Our politicians, by their actions, act like the corruption is unassailable.
That trend, coupled with a misinformed citizenry withering under a barrage of falsehoods manufactured by synthetic entities who have hijacked citizen’s rights–and a leadership unwilling to put the nation and its citizens above comfort–has delivered America to political apathy and rust. Ignoring the healthy flows of national responsibilities, a leader’s inability to galvanize an electorate who already recognize a setback, has little reason to indicate leadership means anything more than an effort to swim to the top of the spittoon. If a leader cannot retain our national ideals, fight for those ideals, and have faith that others will embrace the worth of ideals then that so-called leader is a looter. An effective leadership promotes the principles of this nation not the flaws or fears of its citizens, not merely the interests of commerce enhancing entities. Leadership cannot achieve lasting progress with rhetoric, but instead by their actions behind closed doors, in their heated negotiations, and most importantly by their steadfast defense of our country’s guiding principles. Those leaders willing to further the social contract that formed this nation can decontaminate our political landscape–so long as their actions retain a sense of sacrifice for the nation.
The rest can just go home. Citizens will not waste effort on weak or corrupt leaders.
Directing the priorities of our country through consistent, ongoing involvement is the citizens’ duty in every free nation. Our challenge is to recognize the well-coordinated information mugging, the highly paid PR people sporting no ethical center, outside interests seeking retention and enhancement of power, as well as unethical corporate donors feeding lobbyists with a taste for money and distaste for moral values. Propaganda, apathy, corruption, and fear pollute our environment: from the ephemeral to the physical. Let’s be clear. Round one goes to the bad guys hiding behind computational technology and media indifference inundating the population with debilitating blather. Amoral entities have polluted our national interests.
The unbridled ability to disseminate false information on a large scale appears to be the curse of nations. It paralyzes politicians by undercutting critical thinking on the part of the electorate. Reliable information is a blessing, even unpleasant information. With reliable information, we begin to clean up our ecosystem.
The corrupt ones declare idealists fools. More to the point, an idealist who will not promote, and stand for, his or her ideals is a fool. Losing a battle has little to do with an ideal, except as method for furthering that ideal.
The wealth of a nation is not some merchant seeking lucre. The wealth of a nation is a unified citizenry.
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