I have always believed that is has been my penultimate good fortunate to be born into this place and at this time in history. The span of my life has seen the greatest advancements in science & medicine as well as in human engineering and technological achievements of any half-century in all of recorded history.
It is my ultimate great fortune to share this most wondrous epoch in history, and the adventure of living in it, with my true love, Tamara.
Here are "Three Pillars" upon which we may begin to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure of America. There are many areas where the physical, 'brick & mortar', infrastructure of America is in desperate need of repair, and that may the best place to start, but it doesn't end there. There are many areas where our "human infrastructure", so to speak, is crumbling as well. Too many in America are finding that what used to be referred to as "The Great American Dream" is just that, only a dream.
If America is going to be the nation that leads the world into the future, as we would like to think, it will require two major changes in the mindset of a plurality of Americans. First, we must learn that we lead by example. As people and as a nation our actions speak louder than our words. Second, Liberty is priceless but it is not painless. As Americans we are "endowed...with certain unalienable rights" and these rights have been protected and preserved for us at great cost in "blood & treasure", we owe our children's children's children nothing less than to protect and preserve these rights, these precious liberties, and to leave the world a better place than we found it.
It will require a strong commitment to the role of America and a belief in the value of American leadership in the 21st century, a strong enough belief, in fact, to spur action in pursuit of its realization. As Neil Peart wrote in the lyrics of the song "Second Nature": "Folks have got to make choices, and choices got to have voices."
The middle-class of America, once the single greatest driver of the American economy, has been getting smaller, as a segment of the overall population in terms of percentage of wealth, for most of the last fifty years. The rich have gotten richer, the "middle-class" has gotten smaller and the ranks of the poor, working or otherwise, have grown larger. The division of wealth between the top 20% and the other 80% of us that actually do the work, the living, the dying, the sacrificing for our children's sake, the 80% that did the things that built the nation we have been fortunate enough to inherit, has grown wider and wider over the last 35 years. We need to rebuild and replenish the American middle-class if America is going to remain relevant into the 21st century.
How we, as a nation and as individuals, respond to the challenges ahead of us will determine the role America will play in the world going forward. Here is my "3 Point Plan" for how America can lead the world, by example, into the 21st century:
1. Energy Independence is vital to our national security.
We must never allow this nation to ever again become dependent upon anything, especially an energy source, which we cannot produce, in sufficient abundance for our needs, domestically. To do so is to risk surrender of our liberty, even our national sovereignty, to the whim of another country's allegiance. There is no better example of this than energy and oil:
America has become utterly dependent upon petroleum. America does not have the capacity to produce enough of it to meet our own demands, thus we are at war in the Middle-East against a group of religious zealots and a tactic (Al Qaeda, the Taliban and 'terrorism'). This is a war, so we were told, for the purposes of establishing and maintaining a "stable, democratic state" in the region.
The stability in the Middle-East that is most important to America and the American economy is the flow of oil to the west. We must end this situation and we must end it now!
I am absolutely convinced that this country, the nation that put man on the moon in less than 10 years, is more than capable of achieving complete (100%) domestic, sustainable and environmentally sound energy production in less than 25 years. Looking back at any 1/4 century period in our nation's history we can see examples of how America faced a challenge and was able to overcome the odds, emerging stronger and freer as a people and a country. This has always come at a cost, sometimes at the ultimate cost in 'blood & treasure', sometimes at a financial cost (taxes), sometimes at great personal sacrifice (public service). Americans have, in times of greatest challenge, always known that this is the price to be paid for the security, protection and defense of our liberties.
2. Liberty is priceless but it is not painless.
It is, in my opinion, the ultimate act of selfishness to take the rights, privileges and other advantages that accompany American citizenship while at the same time being unwilling to serve your community or the country that has preserved those rights for you to enjoy.
The rights enumerated in the constitution are not granted by the government or by the power of any military force, they are the natural rights of all people endowed upon them by their creator. The government of the United States of America is charged with, among other things, the protection of those unalienable rights for all Americans. Since the government of the United States is, when you get right down to it, a government "of the people, by the people and for the people", it seems proper that all Americans take an active part in making our governance truly representative of the governed. This is why I believe that some form of "Compulsory Service" for all Americans between the ages of 18-24 is necessary.
The expectation should be that every American should serve their community in some capacity as a (relatively) small contribution toward a collective debt of gratitude that every American owes to the men and women that sacrificed of themselves to preserve, to protect and to defend the liberties we are able to enjoy today. This does not mean military service only! While I do believe that we owe those men and women who do choose to enlist in military service, and serve their country honorably, are due a special premium commensurate with their sacrifice. No American military veteran should ever be allowed to want for anything, ever.
To allow our greatest servants to go without the medical and mental health services they require, to go hungry, to go homeless, or to go through life believing they are unappreciated for their sacrifice and commitment to America is utterly shameful. We, who have never known that level of sacrifice, owe the US military veteran the respectful gratitude they have well-earned by their service.
There is, however, plenty to do for everyone. Those that do not wish to engage in military service can opt for some form of civilian service within their local neighborhoods or communities. Serving on a city, state or even on a national level for a couple of years, either full-time or spread out over 5-6 yrs on a part-time basis, similar to the Army Reserve or National Guard. Giving one weekend per month and 2-3 weeks during the summer for a few years is not too much to ask and it puts a little "skin-in-the-game" for everyone. It might make getting into situations like being lied into a war over WMD's, that never actually existed, more unlikely.
3. The greatest defense of America's national sovereignty, the greatest "Homeland Security" that America will ever achieve will be for every American child to master the fields of mathematics & science, of global history and politics, of the world's religions and mythologies.
"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." (Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard Price 1789)
It does not make it easy to govern when the people being governed are well educated and well-informed, but it is the solid foundation upon which Liberty stands. To this end, I believe that a full public education ought to be the birthright of every American. I do mean a "full education" through a 4-yr degree or vocational training program for every American. If you can pass the entrance exam to get into a University or College you should be able to take advantage of the opportunity to get that education, and the benefits that will come with it, without having to worry about paying for it. You pay for the services your country provides to you when you provide your service to your country.
