(Take #The2016Pledge)

One day, an asteroid will hit the earth, causing a catastrophic event, possibly our extinction. Astrophysicists have told us so. Perhaps within the next one hundred years, global warming will make many of our coastal cities uninhabitable and wreak havoc on our supplies of fresh water and arable land. Many scientists have told us so. If we fail to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons and/or to disarm existing nuclear powers, the earth may one day be ravaged by a drifting radioactive cloud, laying waste to all in its path under a stifling canopy. Many world leaders have warned us of this death-dealing specter slowly suffocating all terrestrial life. But do the Cassandra pleadings of these learned individuals have any more bearing on our daily lives than the Biblical or Koranic promise of an end of days and the final Judgment Day?

An individual life is short enough to limit our concerns solely within its boundaries. For many generations of human existence, the focus has been to overcome the immediate hazards, to struggle to survive, or to succeed with those temporal ambitions circumscribed by a singular lifespan. But I wonder whether the brave, new world we are entering may force us to expand our vision beyond the life of any individual, community, or even nation. Social media, for example, has made us aware of a refugee baby washed ashore in a distant land, of hurricanes ravaging a densely populated island, of kidnapped women killed, raped, and enslaved on another continent, of epidemics, of tribal conflicts, and of those suffering masses pinned under the boot of tyranny. Perhaps our compassion for our fellow human beings is now challenged to extend beyond the confines of our immediate family and neighbors. And perhaps we are approaching a threshold where that compassion can begin to extend even beyond our own time. The 22nd century could be filled with promise for humanity or not, depending upon how we live and interrelate with our world now.

No single individual can change the world, but each of us can make our place within it better not only for ourselves but also for those around us. And occasionally, we have the opportunity to band together to make improvements on a broader scale. Communities, for example, are built upon the bedrock of common interest and commitment to the general welfare of its members. America’s founding fathers built a nation on that principle. It is possible for our nation to be as united around that principle today as it was at its beginning. Furthermore, we can be that “shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.” It is even possible that our nation might bring about that new world order we have strived to build since World War II. But any such world order will be a reflection of who we are as a nation. And herein lays a deep rooted misconception in our self-image—actually, a propensity for blind spots.

Let me explain by way of an example from South Africa. When Mandela and Archbishop Tutu implemented the “Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act of 1995,” they were attempting to make their nation face the truth about apartheid—its dreadful human consequences for both its victims and its perpetrators. They were exposing a blind spot in their national self-image. They knew no real democracy was possible until their nation was reconciled with its past. White supremacy cannot be eliminated by merely relegating it to a past easily forgotten and painted over by a few systemic changes. The menace of racism merely goes underground where it is no longer seen for what it is—a blind spot in the moral character of a nation.

We Americans have several such blind spots that inhibit our ability to model or lead a new world order. Without writing a lengthy dissertation on this subject, let me point out a few sign posts that illustrate some of our blind spots.
 > If you have travelled the South, you are well aware of the many memorials erected in tribute to the army of the Confederacy. Now compare these memorials with those displayed all over Germany in remembrance of the horrors of Nazism and the holocaust. What we are hiding behind the courage of Confederate soldiers are the remaining visages of white supremacy. Not only was slavery wrong, but its legacy persists and still haunts us today. Germany, by contrast, has owned the mistakes of its past and moved on.
 > Although we are signatories to the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture, during the previous Administration we redefined torture as “enhanced interrogation techniques.” For a time we not only deluded ourselves about the nature of torture but hid one of those “inalienable rights” behind the mandate of national security.
 > In violation of our own Constitutional preamble to “provide for the common defense,” we have engaged in offensive, indeed, preemptive war under the false guise of an impending “mushroom cloud” over out cities. Once again the “invisibility cloak” of national security prevented us from weighing the ethical constraints on such a war.
 > Often those who plea for their first amendment rights ignore the ninth and fourteenth amendments and choose not to recognize that the separation of church and state is a basic assumption of our form of government. Our founding fathers were well schooled in the history of European religious wars. They established a Constitution and rule of law that allows individuals to practice freely their religion but limits the ability of any religious practice to “deny or disparage” the rights of others.
So America is not perfect. But what has made us “exceptional” is our ability to rise up and face a bad reality and change it for the better, however long it may take for that change.

Recently I wrote about a current blind spot that inhibits a fair assessment of government dysfunction. We are told that “big government” is the problem and an obstacle to fundamental change. And we are constantly exposed to the trivialities of the political back and forth, distracting us from the real issues. While large campaign donors and lobbyists have been successful at creating this “big government” bugaboo, the broadcast media determines what news we hear based upon what titillates our baser interests in an attempt to hold our attention long enough to attract paying sponsors. Distracted by this news blitz, we miss the really important stories: a political Party is using State governments to restrict voting; candidates for office woo our vote against “big government” only to serve the interest of lobbyists and large campaign donors. They are not really against government because they want to wield the power of government and assume that, once in office, they are the government. But, in fact, we are the government! They are elected to represent our interests, as generally prescribed in the Preamble of the Constitution. If control over government policy seems to be slipping away from the electorate, then we Americans have to take the initiative and exert the power of the vote. If we do so, we can begin to eliminate some of the other blind spots as well. If you do not believe this assertion, I have to ask how you would define a democracy.

My previous blog was intended to provoke debate on how we Americans might swing control of our Federal government back towards the electorate and away from wealthy campaign donors, super PACS, corporate media interests, and power hungry politicians. Towards that purpose, any who agree with me can take #The2016Pledge on Twitter or Facebook. Maybe we can inspire others to be heard as well. If we fail to act, we will continue to be mired in the morass of bickering politicians more invested in the agenda of special interest groups and big money donors. And the credibility of America’s leadership in the world will be further undermined, leaving big issues such as space hazards, climate change, and nuclear non-proliferation unattended. We can not only have a positive impact on our family, friends, and associates, but, in a democracy, we can also ban together and have a much larger impact on our country. Given the status of America in the world, that impact can become significant for many peoples and the planet we inhabit together. Our votes matter.