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In the late 19th and much of the 20th century the National Parks system was created, schools were built, highways and cities were developed with libraries, city halls, churches, monuments, museums, stadiums, local parks, etc.
Today, town after town vote down the building of new schools to meet their growing populations and inadequate/outdated facilities. There is little money allocated to clean up litter in the cities, historic parks are not properly maintained, and neighbors fail to get to know each other.
Why? Is self-interest the new American way of life? Are people unwilling to contribute to something that doesn't directly benefit them? Will we be able to come together to protect the American way of life?
How do we get the average American reengaged to help ensure the freedoms that our forefathers gave us?
How do we get the average American reengaged to help ensure the freedoms that our forefathers gave us?
- Create a MySpace page for the Supreme Court
- Have Desperate Housewives and Gray's Anatomy both do a politics episode
- Include a copy of new bills with each Happy Meal
- Create a "DC" edition of the Ford Explorer
- Bundle iPods with C-SPAN podcasts already loaded
- Get Dell to give $100 off for answering 10 political questions
- Create designer clothes with political messages on them instead of labels
- Get Cingular to send out an alert every time a new law has been passed that takes away our freedoms (Do they have the bandwidth?)
- Outlaw magnetic ribbons unless you can prove that you voted based on issues and not a party
- Have Disney do a "DC Days" event every year
- Make Nancy Pilosi a new Disney Princess
- Have American Idol host the debates
Aren't you tired of business-as-usual? I've been cynical of what our citizens are being fed too! I'm a middle-school math teacher and my students are not interested in doing the jobs that the 21st Century world needs, ie. alternative energy, engineering, medical science, high technology, etc. They are looking for "fun jobs" that in their minds don't require hard work. Too many are turned off by high-level mathematics, sciences, and jobs that require critical analysis and writing skills.
Since I live in a "blue collar" small city many of the students point to the successes their parents and grandparents have had in the past in manufacturing and trade jobs despite lacking formal training post high school or lacking a high school diploma at all.
Interestingly the parents of these students don't want them to follow their job path, especially in the trades, despite the fact that they derived a high income and standard of living in these areas. They want their children to go to college to do something else yet they often don't support the school's efforts in trying to engage their children in the education process by ensuring the completion of homework, encouraging them to work harder or placing a high value on regular attendance in school.
The model for change starts with us. Middle Americans need to speak up and stop sitting on the sidelines. It doesn't matter what your race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or age is we need to step up and work together. The fringes on both sides of the social and economic spectrum are dictating the direction of the country since they know that most of the people in the middle are too busy, disconnected, and fearful to speak up and get involved.
Our country is the land of opportunity. No one is holding anyone hostage. We must exert our freedom and work together in civil ways to overcome our current challenges.
Please check out my ideas at lincolnian.org or lincolnian.com on The Lincolnian Vision for America.
I'd appreciate any feedback that you or anyone else would care to offer.
Too many things have changed since Lincoln's times to assume that we can ever return to the civility and shared social concern of that era. It would be wrong to replicate it as that would devalue any evolutionary leaps made since then. Our perception of the world is profoundly different. Our knowledge of our bodies, our minds, the diversity of the human race--all these things cannot be diminished or erased. The addition of 5 billion people is a change not to be overlooked.
Look at how different we are now from the 1940s and 1960s, two periods where we were also at war. In the 1940s people sang about the longing women had for their soldiers to come home. They sang of hope and unity and better days ahead. In the 1960s, songwriters wrote about politics and sang of war protests, of discovering the beauty of the human body. Whatever social concerns were evident in these periods have dwindled to silence. Few artists today write about the war and social injustice, but the drumbeats are a hell of a lot louder.
We are no longer civil because we are afraid. I don't buy that it's an epidemic of self-interest. We've cocooned into ourselves out of fear, not to be rude or insensitive, though it appears that way to many. With increased diversity and population, being an American is increasingly difficult to define. In that absence, we rush to define ourselves in a myriad of ways: blue, red, Dem, Rep, etc. forgetting that they're all American.
In years past, it was evident when the government took action, because the impact was immediate and perceptible. Now, the government does things and it hardly trickles down into consciousness, allowing corruption to rule instead of the people.
Americans are less civic-minded but not nearly as much as we'd like to believe. Talk to anyone about politics and you'll soon discover a fountain of passion about our country. But the action that might result from such discussion stops...because we are afraid.
Until we are able to conquer the fears that are brainwashed into us by the corrupt 'ruling' elite, we will continue to fade away. Until someone speaks of hope instead of ruin, our states will continue to be divided instead of united. Are there any fearless among us?
I was not able to connect to any server for the websites you suggested.
I'm sorry the websites are lincolnians.com and lincolnians.org (plural)
My thoughts are that political correctness has forced many people to internalize their feelings for fear of being ostracized as some kind of racist, sexist, homophobe, religious zealot, extremist, etc.
Personally on a one-on-one basis with individuals I have met we are able to converse on a number of controversial topics without offending each other.
Until Americans are allowed to share their feelings, beliefs, prejudices, fears, concerns, etc. openly and honestly we will not begin to solve our cultural problems.
It is ironic that political correctness which is designed to not offend anyone is actually causing a greater division and lack of community among our fellow American citizens.
Why can't we sit down and say I think that "________" are a problem in America and discuss the issue by refuting the premise.
Here's some of my thoughts. I believe that having children out of wedlock is wrong and leads to a predominance of difficulties for both the mother and the child! I think that marriage is a covenant where two join as one before god making a commitment to have children and raise them to be caring individuals that respect god and their fellow man. (Oh no now I sound like a religious nut!)
I believe that as citizens of the United States we are obligated to protect the freedoms of all our citizens regardless of their social, economic or intellectual position. Freedom involves pursuing all the opportunities our country affords us while provide an equal opportunity for all citizens.
Freedom is opportunity not entitlement! People need to act responsibly.
That's what I think. It is not necessarily politically correct.
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IMHO, I feel like I saw more volunteer organizations still active in the Northeast than other areas of the country (Although rural areas in most states are probably heavier on people who help others...) I believe that so many of us are just struggling to make ends meet, working too much. Our kids are over-scheduled with "stuff" that's aimed at building a college and work reumé. If I were younger and stronger of back, I'd love to be a volunteer firefighter. But I can't imagine when I would have time to attend training or even respond to emergencies, considering my current work schedule...sigh. (I'm also going to float the idea that people still are basically decent and that far more acts of kindness happen than most of us realize
