America has stumbled.

America has stumbled.

We are about to go to war.

With ourselves.  American blood will spill, and it won't be at the hands of some faceless terrorist or virus.  It will be other Americans.  We will cease to be a world power, having to focus on our own.  Other players will quickly take our place.  The american dollar will no longer be deemed stable enough and the global currency will shift to the Euro or another.  Meanwhile, people whose grandparents fought together against world threats will be aiming to kill the other.  Men, women, black, white, fathers, mothers, siblings, children.

This is in no way good, and honestly I am trying to figure out what to do about it.  The best way to do that, is to understand, at least at a high level, how we got here.

I think, at the crux of things, we have a few major elements at play.

First and foremost, we have a population whose culture is under attack. There is little doubt to that, but it may not be who you think it is. The group I am talking about is feeling their heritage, their legacy is rejected, being erased.  They are feeling like they are being marginalized in very real ways, are largely facing growing poverty, and attacks on their religious beliefs.  Yep, I am talking about rural / suburban white folks. They are dealing with all of that and more and that may surprise a lot of people to hear me say that, or even anger some.. but it's very true.  A real conversation cannot happen until this has a seat at the table.

White Americans have no culture or heritage to call their own other than what America is, for better or worse.  As we are having a cultural awakening, combined with the white population rapidly approaching a non-majority. Change is happening, and it's not happening gently.  While on the moderate side, I tend to run in progressive circles, and presenting white, cis, hetro, male, I feel like there is a pretty big target on my back at times, and this is coming from my friends.  I have been socially dragged, yelled at, cussed out, dismissed, shut down and silenced many many times.  I understand, fully, that I don’t need to speak every time, and do a lot more listening than I used to, but still, I see the growing polarization.  It is alienating.  There have been times when I have reconsidered my support, and while my strong beliefs keep me firmly planted, it would certainly be easy to counter entrench myself if I didn’t have my social network bringing me back, or had one actively pulling me away.

Racism.  Yes.  We still have it alive and well in the United States.  It is systematic and that is the most insidious part of it.  You don’t have to be an active racist to contribute to it.  In fact, for those who it benefits, it can be so subtle it is missed, making accusations of racism seem unfair, resulting in counter entrenchment.  We have a LOT to do to make things fair.  We also have complicating factors such as aggressive criminalization of non violent crimes that target minority communities, a militarized police force that cannot address its own bad apples, costing it the trust of the community and yes.. we still have very active supremist factions that have been operating silently for too long, now openly supported by our current elected President.

Politically, we are broken.  BROKEN.  We have devolved into a ‘us’ vs ‘them’ team sport full of career politicians who care far more about their continued power than their constituents.  We have a skewed over representation of minority interests, too much corporate influence.  We over represent rural areas at the cost to the majority of the population and we have allowed far too much of an infusion of religion into our political process, something our founding fathers were explicitly trying to avoid.

We have a victim/hero culture that is unhealthy as hell.  We actively look for villains in order to justify our hero identity, and equally, the victim needs the same and they are rewarded for their victim status.  This is a monster topic all on its own.

Finally, we have the combination of social media, for profit news and a captive audience thanks in part to the pandemic.  Welcome to the world of commodified rage.  What does that mean, exactly?  Well, every time you click on an article, a post, every time you share, watch a video or the news.. it's money for someone.  Humans are survivors, we pay special attention to negative events in order to learn and avoid them.. we are wired for it and we are drawn to bad news.  We click it.  It makes someone money.  The more emotional a bit of media makes us feel, the more clicks and the outrage builds.  Additionally, we have a dangerous lure of pack mentality, where our tribal nature kicks in: namely if you get a group of people saying the same thing, there is a desire to trust the tribe, even if the idea is as silly as brain sucking lizards in human suits or flat earth.

So, into this vast cauldron of social elements, we have created something toxic and it is about to boil over in a major way.  Personally, I would rather see us take away the heat and maybe dump this mess out back, but a lot of folks stand to gain from it going bad.  Not most of us.  Just some.  Just a few.

The only winners in war are the insects and vermin.

So what can be done?

First, realize we are all being played.  All of us.

Second, we need things to change, badly on a lot of levels, but we need to do it together, to listen to each other, really listen and work it out.

Personally, I would start with an overhaul of our domestic social network, from police to healthcare.  Deprivatize prisons and focus on really making things better for those who really want to participate.

I think we need to plan for the future, creating jobs that are forward planning, not looking back.  That means funding education, retraining and new tech.  Becoming a world leader, not a follower.

Term limits and equal representation should be a given.  Get the money out of our politics.

And finally, most importantly, realize we are all on the same team and we have a lot more to celebrate than hate.  Yes, we have pasts that need to be addressed, but that is true for all of humanity.  We need to look to be survivors, and not be stuck in the victim state, committed to moving forward in a positive way.

There are people at our gate, looking to take our most treasured freedoms of democracy away.  A real democracy is hard, it takes work, it takes people paying attention.  We got soft, we got comfortable, we took it for granted. Some say, authoritarian power is the way to go and feel this is the time for it, and are willing to make others pay with their lives so they can get it.

I think we are better off on the path set forth by the framers, despite their flaws.  I think we have an amazing thing, we are amazing people and I care about them even if they don't agree with me.  I want us to walk back from the edge, look around and realize we are not surrounded by monsters, but our neighbors and friends.  I think we start that by listening, empathically, not just waiting for our turn to counter.