Sticks and Stones
Keeping America's Promises
I’ve always considered myself to be a middle-of-the-road person regarding politics. A lifelong registered Independent, I’ve voted for the person I felt was the best candidate, regardless of party affiliation. I put my trust in government - understanding that choices aren’t easy and demands will always outweigh resources.
I recognized that we live in a complex society, and we’re awfully dependent on the services we take for granted: schools, roads, bridges, clean water; electricity at the flip of a switch; prompt emergency services; excellent medical care; protection from crime.
Taxes are levied to pay for these conveniences that have morphed into necessities. Everyone relies on the availability of these services. Everyone, including millionaires and billionaires, should pay their fair share.
The last ten months have made the middle of the road seem pretty lonely. I’ve seen politics become an uncontrolled behemoth, favoring the affluent and connected, ruthlessly trying to suppress questions or dissent, dismissing truth, welcoming lies, and most grievous of all, turning the soul of this country into the spitting image of its leader - a hateful, vengeful, and unpredictable ogre.
According to Webster, the definition of liberal is “giving freely; generous; large or plentiful; ample; abundant; free and unconfined; tolerant of views differing from one’s own; broadminded; of democratic or republican forms of government; favoring reform or progress.”
To summarize, here’s why I’m actually okay with being called a liberal, if people feel the need to apply labels. But I urge people to consider the dictionary definition of the word. Don’t call me a name. I’m a caring, concerned citizen, like so many others. Just think of what we might accomplish if we reject labels and allow ourselves to create a better America.
So, to be clear, here’s how I feel deep inside:
I value the spirit of generosity: I try to remain true to the lessons learned as a child. There are many poor people on this planet. Most are poor due to an accident of birth, not due to laziness. We used to care about our burdened brothers. We dropped a coin in a collection basket, we sponsored soup kitchens, and we created odd jobs to help. This generosity blessed those who gave as much as those who received. It moved us to empathy for our fellow travelers.
Did some take advantage of it? Undoubtedly some did, but not most. Most were trying to keep a roof over their heads; most were trying to feed their babies and keep them healthy; most wanted their kids to go to school and make a better life for themselves.
I learned valuable lessons from my working-class parents, who were probably just as fearful of the future as some of our countrymen are today. But they had hard core intellectual honesty. They knew that lies are just wrong, and that liars can’t be trusted. They retained the basic values that gave people a fair chance. They weren’t whiners. They didn’t blame their lot on anyone except themselves. And they didn’t allow their children to wallow in self-pity, either.
They would have said: It’s a tough world. Don’t rely on handouts. Go out there and earn an honest living and allow others to do the same. Give people the benefit of the doubt. As Archie Bunker would have said, “Those were the days.”
I see abundance, not scarcity: The world is full of abundance. If I remove a bucket of water from the ocean, the ocean is unaffected. We are a country of unparalleled abundance. We have so much. We can easily share what we can’t use.
We could heal the sick and feed the hungry in our own country. Like the bucket taken from the ocean, we’d scarcely notice the price. Compared with most of the world, we’re the rich neighbor whose lush garden can only be glimpsed from outside the metaphorical razor wire we’ve erected to keep the rest out.We’re selfish beyond reason. Having plundered the planet for its riches, we’ve scorned the people who’ve been beggared by our greed.
As a nine-year-old child, I was invited to accompany a neighbor’s family to the rodeo at Madison Square Garden. When I returned, laden with souvenirs and filled to the brim with rodeo treats, I whined because my younger sibling had been given a bag of candy that I didn’t get.
I was properly chastised by my wise grandmother, who pointed out how inappropriate my jealousy was. That was a lifetime ago, and I still remember. Thank God someone cared enough to instruct me. How I wish someone could instruct our country today. We have no ethical leadership. Our president is a convicted felon. Our Congress is morally bankrupt. As a society, we’ve become inexcusably callous.
I prefer to think things through: I used to believe that education was the answer. When people observe and study, they’re more likely to understand that we’re all self-serving, that arguments can be summoned to support any position, no matter how outrageous. Nationalism and racism didn’t start with the current administration. They’ve been rampant throughout history. And they’ve failed every time. Why don’t we learn this?
There are tools to help people effectively use their power to reason. We can learn how to recognize an argument that can’t be supported, like this one:
“Jose stole a car. Jose is an immigrant. All immigrants steal cars.”
We fall victim to this type of sloppy thought patterns because, on some level, they’re self-serving. Many people who think this way have received decent, and sometimes excellent, educations. Yet, greed and fear can overpower education when logical fallacies are repeated often enough.
It’s invalid to argue from the particular to the general. This isn’t rocket science or “elitism.” It’s common sense. Instead of using our common sense, we often choose not to see. Or, in the words of Paul Simon, “a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”
What would happen if we admitted we’re all the same? That most of us come into the world with essentially the same aspirations, talents, and needs. Maybe some of our intolerance would disappear. The downside of our current mental laziness is people who refuse to think logically, people who are trapped in a mindset that imprisons their hearts and their spirits.
Jesus told us to become like little children. Why? Well, I’m no theologian, but I’m 100% certain it wasn’t because children would protect the borders. Rather, it’s because little children are rarely fooled by hypocrites. Children notice kindness rather than skin color or net worth. Children relate to honesty rather than to affluence. Children are Christ-like, or Buddha-like, or reflective of our higher natures. Children are free and unconfined in their hearts.
I agree with the tolerant, the broadminded: In these troubled times, most people have an established mindset. But, even when we disagree, we must try to give those who hold opposing views the grace to assume they’re sincere in their opinions. As the beautiful Desiderata exhorts us – “speak your truth quietly and clearly and listen to others.”
Admittedly, my willingness to extend this grace falters when I hear people defending the indefensible, when we allow lying to go unchecked, when we allow leaders to make a mockery of our institutions, when we don’t object when people are called names, when we wage war on children.
Yet, it’s clear that we must be willing to listen to the “other side.” There’s truth there. Truth isn’t to be feared. Truth is to be examined, distilled, combined with opposing opinions, and expressed as a beneficial meeting of the minds – compromise, for those who have forgotten that the process exists.
We’ve lost much because of our rigidity. Like muscles gradually stiffening with age, our body politic has become inelastic, unbending, and brittle. We self-medicate with sedatives, drugs, alcohol, mindless TV, and the titillating excitement of hearing extremists say hateful things, usually online, often anonymously.
School shootings, like Uvalde in 2022 or the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012 that violently took the lives of 20 innocent children and 6 adults were NOT “staged events filled with child actors.” God help the people who say these horrible things. God help those who smile smugly and blindly agree.
Looking back, I think we were a lot happier before the advent of social media. We were less cynical. We had loftier goals. Fifty years ago, The Coke Cola Company, using lyrics sung by the New Seekers, said it best: “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.”
To do this, we need to reject fear. We need to understand that hate is the vehicle of fear. We must be mature enough to expect that some people will disappoint us, but we must also be wise enough to realize that people are often able to rise to high expectations.
If parents expect their child to be good, this satisfies the child’s desire to be loved and appreciated. It simply works better than beating the child into submission. If we give people tools with which to succeed, most will succeed. We’ll all be happier and emotionally healthier than we are now.
We must reject the politics of division. We must reject lies. We must distinguish between burning ambition and rapacious greed. Lastly, and I say this with faith in the inherent goodness of Americans, we must become more willing to love our neighbor as ourselves.
If we can reject the politics of destruction, we’ll finally awaken from the neonationalist nightmare that’s engulfed us, and we’ll reawaken the promise of America.
