“If Not Now, When?”

Now that the dust is beginning to settle on Election 2012, we are beginning to see the real agenda of those in political power and the yet-to-see evidence that the reality of it all is beginning to settle into the minds of the American people. Our Commander-in-Chief is already touting his greatest stock in trade, Compromise, and what will surely be a continuation of his agenda to seduce the people who voted for him and to pander to those who sought to unseat him. I was moved to tears when he indicated that he is willing to “wash John Boehner’s car,” and “walk Mitch McConnell’s dog” if it will bring his much coveted “compromise” and “bi-partisanship” to the table. Distilled to its most basic denominator, it translates into “grab the petroleum jelly,” for his eternal quest for change is being renewed and cutbacks to government spending and entitlements will soon be upon us. He didn’t really mean all that stuff about working for the people who put him in office. He was just “funning y’all.” The progressives are ecstatic and corporate news media are in a complete state of rapture that their much coveted place of privilege and power with government, big money and corporate America is guaranteed.

I honestly believe that the good and decent people of this country want to see a massive assault on every conceivable form of self-indulgence and graft on the part of big money, big business and big government. The sheer magnitude of the problem is, however, so overwhelming that it is difficult to get a handle on how big and complicated the problems are. Moreover, to grasp what it will take to define what we face and develop a plan of action to combat it is, in and of itself, almost beyond comprehension. The agendas of the rich and powerful are further reinforced by the skills of big business, the entertainment industries and the image makers. They literally create and feed our appetites in order to grow and prosper at our expense.

I applauded the rise and success of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but it seems to have sputtered and stalled. The purity of what they stand for and the means for addressing it are noble and admirable. However, ideals and dreams are, at best, illusory. It is only when they become reality with a life of their own do they become forces with which to be reckoned. I just don’t see how the movement, or any other like it, can become a force for meaningful change and social justice without a strategy that is codified and a plan of action that becomes a clarion call to inspire people into action that is both effective and lasting.

So long as we are content to remain compliant and placid against those who seek to reduce us to serfdom and a lifetime of poverty, we play into their hands. It is from that they derive their strength and power. Those who are identified as the “working class,” the “working poor,” and the “impoverished:” live at their mercy. This land and all of its resources belong to all of us. We may contribute in different ways, but what we have, collectively, is all we have and it cannot be co-opted by a very few at the expense and suffering of the many.

We cannot rely on what those who are our adversaries choose to tell us, we must insist that they show us and prove to us that they are credible and share a common concern for all the people of this nation. They cannot rightfully claim a disproportionate share of our resources and expect the rest of us to be content with a pittance.

We can no longer sit around and hope that things will get better. We must see a real concerted effort to make our dreams a reality. We must have all classes striving for the same results, and a government that works for all of us. There are massive numbers of informed, well-intentioned people who share a deep and abiding concern about how to fix the many facets of our political, social and economic systems in order to restore them to robust health which will serve us with a commitment to a fundamental sense of decency and fairness that will apply to all of us. That storehouse of knowledge should not be allowed to remain dormant. We are not the proverbial “Chicken Little” going around in circles warning that “the sky is falling.” We are not locked in fear to the point that we have to tolerate and humor a system that is totally dysfunctional. But, for all that talent among us, we have yet to figure out how to approach an effective and meaningful way to redefine who and what we are, and to restore all that this democracy promised and should be. Difficult though that may seem, can we not look at the cup and see it half full rather than half empty? Can we not mine the human resources that exist among us and ask them to take up the challenge and put this country back on a path of hope for all of us? I think we can.

I see the following as just a few of the many examples of some of the major challenges to making ours a better system, rooted in forces that seem to exert a disproportionate influence and danger on why we cannot continue on the path we have chosen for ourselves in the last half century.

1. A dysfunctional and corrupt system of government.
2. A bankrupt and self-serving social system.
3. A massively corrupt and ominous financial system that serves the few at the expense of the many.
4. The influence of massive amounts of money in our national and local politics.
5. The restrictive and corrupting influence of a “two-party” system. By whose authority and wisdom are we limited to only two? Why should there be any restriction on the number at all?
6. The shroud of secrecy that envelopes every branch of our government and the work they profess to do on our behalf.
7. The rules and regulations adopted and exercised by every branch of government, ostensibly for the general welfare of the electorate but, in reality, are more self-serving of the privileged class they have become.
8. A “politically” dominated Supreme Court rather than one that ties current actions of government back to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights through objective and impartial judicial review.
9. The out-of-control defense and intelligence agencies that, again, are shrouded in secrecy, consume gargantuan sums of money and are obscenely self-serving in their relationships to private contractors and the political power that enables them.
10. A “free and unfettered press” that was intended to be independently owned and operated to ensure that government and its agencies would serve the citizens of this country, not corporate or absentee ownership.
11. A system of laws and regulations that would ensure a government that served the needs of the people, not special interests and the appetites of massive wealth.

The sheer genius of the Founding Fathers as set forth in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights put this nation on a course that would be the envy of the rest of the world. All that is codified in those documents should remain sacrosanct and serve as the bedrock for governing this nation for all time to come.

I just don’t see how we can continue much longer on the path where we find ourselves. That the system is broken is clearly apparent. That it no longer works for the common good is evident all around us. The only way to fix it is to embark on some kind of an assessment tied to what was intended vs. what we have today. We have the talent to do that. They are to be found in our universities and colleges among the academicians and students who are immersed in the study and knowledge of all the key disciplines that impinge on how government functions. There is no shortage of legal scholars, economists, social scientists and other disciplines tangential to carrying out such an audit.

We need to start by setting up an organization of academic minds in a non-partisan commission, the work of which should be tied to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as the basis for such an undertaking. Moreover, those should be the guiding principles by which to evaluate what it would take to restore what we now have in place to what was originally conceived by our Founding Fathers. They would have the knowledge and experience to establish and organize the work of such a commission, and put in place the means for informing the citizens of progress on their work. Their fiduciary responsibility would be to the electorate, free of any encumbrances from outside influences or special interests.

I cannot believe that there are not a few millionaires and billionaires among us who are imbued with a sense of altruism and who would possess a sense of social responsibility and personal generosity sufficient to financially underwrite such an endeavor. Of course, they would have to maintain an arms length and impartial relationship to the Commission.

Obviously, as work progressed, it would become apparent that there would be dichotomies between what was seen as appropriate at the time of the founding of this republic vs. what may be required in order to be appropriate to the world of today, and how to effectively resolve those conflicts within the framework of the law.

I rather suspect that there is as much need to simply clean up the mess that we have inherited as to make dramatic changes. But, a good physician would never render a diagnosis and prescribe a regimen without weighing all the possible contributing factors. I wouldn’t pretend to have the background and skills to make any of this happen. But I do know that I share the same concern and a sense of helplessness and hopelessness that seems to be permanently woven into the fabric of this country. At some point, we simply have to stop wringing our hands and gnashing our teeth, and begin the job of turning this ship of state around. I just don’t see how we can keep it on the back burner much longer.  At some point we have to overcome the malaise that keeps us in the passive state, hoping that something can and will be done.

The sheer energy generated by the Occupy Wall Street movement and all those who have lamented the gargantuan difference between the wealth and power held by the top one percent and the rest of us has to be harnessed and translated into a plan of action to put us back on the course that was envisioned by a few visionaries over two hundred years ago. Words never acted upon eventually ring hollow and die with the wind. What those brave souls started is much too precious to end with a whimper and to simply die a slow, agonizing death. Time is simply no longer on our side.

If not now, when?

Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
November 15, 2012