I have deep empathy for the realization that political affiliation is pointless in a system of rigged elections and mass disinformation. In my view, the underlying cause is our American values. The highest aspiration of American life is to achieve financial independence…to perfect the practice of accumulating wealth to ourselves. Like most phenomena, self-interest and free market capitalism works within a range of activity, and fails to work as intended beyond that range.
Historically, the institutions of government and the media have facilitated necessary corrections when concentrations of wealth and power exceeded the effective range. Over the last 45 years (Google “Lewis Powell memo”), the investment class contributed a material portion of their earnings to co-opt universities (research for commerce over scholarship), government (lobbying and Supreme Court packing – Powell was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Nixon in 1972), and media (conversion of news independent of entertainment to news as entertainment – spin over information) to prevent the correction that would have happened after the financial crash of 2008. The Obama recovery has locked in severe financial inequality, effectively accelerating the already dangerous siphoning of income from working-class and middle-class Americans.
In the absence of healthy institutions, we, the People, are all that is left to bring about the change we need. While much has been written about the need for us to look past the manipulation that distracts us, I encourage our search to go deeper to challenge the values we hold as truth.
The investment class are advancing their interests by any means necessary, which encourages each of us to do the same. We must resist this urge, and come to the realization that the best way to advance our self-interest is to fully serve and support our common interest.
It is a fact of modern life that we as individuals survive, thrive, and even suffer, primarily based on the actions of other people. The interdependence of humanity is our defining strength. We cannot reach the full potential of our physical, emotional and spiritual selves if we don’t honor our natural interdependence on each other.
This is the way forward.
