After Obama

The following post was written February 14th of this year. What a difference a month makes? You decide! 




What is bipartisanship? How does it look when we work together? That should not be so hard to figure out. We can point fingers to the past when we shared a common goal. Putting man on the moon. Building the highway system. Supporting our elders. Winning a just war.

We can point to those experiences and explain the value they created. We also need to talk about the American experience, our constitution, the values that we stand for. This is the first step on the road to redemption. The wheels of progress run through us all. We need to be convinced, before we can accept, that whatever direction we take, it will involve some pain before we reach the promised land.

One hopes that we are close to the bottom now. Where we can no longer resist the return of that can-do spirit, the satisfaction of having something accomplished at the end of the day, the feeling that we matter, that our life is making a difference, that desire to create a better future.

What are we America? Where are we going? Are we going to talk about it? Our actions speak a different language. Come on Republicans and Democrats, this is our time, not yours, not mine. Shall we start with a party, a committee, a declaration, a celebration, or a fight?

This president is certainly someone to feel positive about. But I see what you see. No decision in healthcare, 10% unemployment, a deficit that all of a sudden has become a topic of common conversation (as it should be), and at least one war without an end in sight. Can Obama lead us to the promised land? Is this the suffering that comes before the victory? If so, we seem to have a hard time believing it. We also don't seem to be in shape to win.

Is this the moment where someone explains that we don't win for us, that we win for the ideas we fight for, those ideas we cherish most. One of them should be how to increase the common good (we, you and I, us), while balancing our need to feel free, to know that we can be all what we can be. This is not only an advertisement. It is an timeless idea, as timeless as leaving the world a better place for our children.

When we meet our neighbors they may want you to cut what you are spending, but this really an invitation to talk about what we cherish most. There is no way we can win when you get what you want. Any sacrifice requires a reason that makes up more than the difference. We will sacrifice for a new common good that better defines who we are as a people.

We can't fight two wars and not pay for them. We can't get older as a population and expect to get the same social security payments for a longer time. We can't spend more for education and healthcare and not create more wealth. Too many of us are no longer involved in creating more wealth. There are more and more activities where the wealth that is created is not related to a product that you can touch or a better functioning body or a larger toolkit of the mind.

The financial crisis came about when products were created that most financial people did not really understand. A hoax was created and we fell for it buying it. It is the equivalent of laughing at your own joke, falling victim to your own crime. Nobody wanted to see that the emperor did not wear any clothes. If that is not the bottom, it better be pretty close. And all of us better start creating a picture of what that promised land is supposed to look like.