Year of .....
Keep hearing that this is going to be the year of the woman. Not that I mind if this is the year of the woman or whatever crap it is that is going around on the news, but I have a bigger idea.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that is not scared of what people that are not white do all the fricking time.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that is not afraid of poor families running away from gangs, drug cartels and starvation, that are still 1000 miles from our border.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that decides that since every American will get sick, maybe we make it so that getting healthcare is not tied to how much you make.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that uses the 70+% surplus of food we raise/grow to make it so that no one in America is hungry.
Maybe we could make the the year of the America that transforms Columbus Day into Election Day and gives EVERYONE the day off to vote in national elections, given that Columbus was pretty much an asshole anyway.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that realizes that this is all the land, resources and fresh water we are ever going to get, and get serious about not just not polluting it, but protecting it.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that decides we no longer need to keep killing brown people in Afghanistan or Iraq or Yemen or Niger or Somalia or any of the other places we have been fighting for the last 16 years. Not a single terrorist that has ever taken a life on American soil came from any of those countries, but most of them have come from Saudi Arabia. If we have to fight, let’s fight the buttworms that actually have carried out deadly terror attacks against us.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that decides that teachers are as necessary to us as accountants, lawyers, and architects, and decide to pay them commensurate with the importance of the job we expect of them.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America where no cop has to rely on his/her word, and we equip them all with body cams that cannot be turned off and if tampered with cost that cop their job. Not because we think cops are bad people, but because the rotten apples have created a situation that even good cops have no protections or recourse without it.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America where we value science and scientists as much as we value clergy and churches. Because at the root of all things, those groups hold the explanations to all of our questions. And if we don’t want to make research companies and development labs tax exempt, let’s tax the churches so that we are all paying our fair share.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America where we decide to actually be “fair” with taxes. Instead of cuts or income taxes or exemptions, maybe we just collect $.10 on every dollar transacted in America. Rough calculations says that is an assload of money, and 10% is way less than I pay overall. Make it $.13% and give the other .03 to the states. We could build roads, electric lines that don’t blow down in thunderstorms, dams that are not ready to collapse, bridges that are not corroded.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America where we decide exploring an understanding space is a key strategic requirement, because what I am typing this on, you are reading it on, what transmitted it from me to you, 80% of the fibers we are wearing and Tang came from getting to the moon. Imagine what we are not discovering and benefiting from being satisfied with hitchhiking on broke ass Russian rockets to the Space Station we funded 80% of.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that decided the number of planes, ships, tanks, guns, and bombs was okay already, and we invested just the procurement value of the defense budget to curing something. Cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, anything. What if we used the money to ensure more of us live going forward, than we will ever kill with what we would have procured otherwise.
Maybe, just maybe, we make this the year of the America where we disagree about crap instead of hating each other over differing opinions. How cool would it be for us to expect someone else to say, “yeah, that guy believes in some dumb stuff, but I don’t hate him, or hope bad things happen to him, or you know that someone shoots him and his family up in their church.” What if we all reported it when people said stuff like I am going to shoot up black people, and the cops were allowed to take it seriously..just spitballing, but that might be a better place.
All this takes to do is that we decide to do so...we look at each other and agree to just do decent, respectful and encouraging things. Even for the people you hate, because at the end of the day, none of us know whether we will wake up tomorrow. I would hate the last interaction I had was one of hate. I would hate the last thing I demonstrate was anger or discrimination or ignorance.
Maybe, just maybe, we could work on making America better, not richer, not more or less Republican or more or less Democratic or more or less diverse or more or less militant. What if we just made the whole damn thing better, even if it ended up benefiting folks you might disagree with. Isn’t that better than this bullshit we are living where we are fine with it getting worse for everyone, just so long as it gets worse for that particular son of a bitch we are mad at today?
I can only hope that everyone that can, gets out and votes. And that you continue to push our leaders and those we want to lead to have less ideas about what we should not be or should not do, and spend their time, energy and our money on stuff we SHOULD do.
We could make it the year of getting our heads out of our ass. Because it sure seems like that is the condition we seem to be in today.
That said, Peace!
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that is not scared of what people that are not white do all the fricking time.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that is not afraid of poor families running away from gangs, drug cartels and starvation, that are still 1000 miles from our border.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that decides that since every American will get sick, maybe we make it so that getting healthcare is not tied to how much you make.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that uses the 70+% surplus of food we raise/grow to make it so that no one in America is hungry.
Maybe we could make the the year of the America that transforms Columbus Day into Election Day and gives EVERYONE the day off to vote in national elections, given that Columbus was pretty much an asshole anyway.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that realizes that this is all the land, resources and fresh water we are ever going to get, and get serious about not just not polluting it, but protecting it.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that decides we no longer need to keep killing brown people in Afghanistan or Iraq or Yemen or Niger or Somalia or any of the other places we have been fighting for the last 16 years. Not a single terrorist that has ever taken a life on American soil came from any of those countries, but most of them have come from Saudi Arabia. If we have to fight, let’s fight the buttworms that actually have carried out deadly terror attacks against us.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that decides that teachers are as necessary to us as accountants, lawyers, and architects, and decide to pay them commensurate with the importance of the job we expect of them.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America where no cop has to rely on his/her word, and we equip them all with body cams that cannot be turned off and if tampered with cost that cop their job. Not because we think cops are bad people, but because the rotten apples have created a situation that even good cops have no protections or recourse without it.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America where we value science and scientists as much as we value clergy and churches. Because at the root of all things, those groups hold the explanations to all of our questions. And if we don’t want to make research companies and development labs tax exempt, let’s tax the churches so that we are all paying our fair share.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America where we decide to actually be “fair” with taxes. Instead of cuts or income taxes or exemptions, maybe we just collect $.10 on every dollar transacted in America. Rough calculations says that is an assload of money, and 10% is way less than I pay overall. Make it $.13% and give the other .03 to the states. We could build roads, electric lines that don’t blow down in thunderstorms, dams that are not ready to collapse, bridges that are not corroded.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America where we decide exploring an understanding space is a key strategic requirement, because what I am typing this on, you are reading it on, what transmitted it from me to you, 80% of the fibers we are wearing and Tang came from getting to the moon. Imagine what we are not discovering and benefiting from being satisfied with hitchhiking on broke ass Russian rockets to the Space Station we funded 80% of.
Maybe we could make this the year of the America that decided the number of planes, ships, tanks, guns, and bombs was okay already, and we invested just the procurement value of the defense budget to curing something. Cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, anything. What if we used the money to ensure more of us live going forward, than we will ever kill with what we would have procured otherwise.
Maybe, just maybe, we make this the year of the America where we disagree about crap instead of hating each other over differing opinions. How cool would it be for us to expect someone else to say, “yeah, that guy believes in some dumb stuff, but I don’t hate him, or hope bad things happen to him, or you know that someone shoots him and his family up in their church.” What if we all reported it when people said stuff like I am going to shoot up black people, and the cops were allowed to take it seriously..just spitballing, but that might be a better place.
All this takes to do is that we decide to do so...we look at each other and agree to just do decent, respectful and encouraging things. Even for the people you hate, because at the end of the day, none of us know whether we will wake up tomorrow. I would hate the last interaction I had was one of hate. I would hate the last thing I demonstrate was anger or discrimination or ignorance.
Maybe, just maybe, we could work on making America better, not richer, not more or less Republican or more or less Democratic or more or less diverse or more or less militant. What if we just made the whole damn thing better, even if it ended up benefiting folks you might disagree with. Isn’t that better than this bullshit we are living where we are fine with it getting worse for everyone, just so long as it gets worse for that particular son of a bitch we are mad at today?
I can only hope that everyone that can, gets out and votes. And that you continue to push our leaders and those we want to lead to have less ideas about what we should not be or should not do, and spend their time, energy and our money on stuff we SHOULD do.
We could make it the year of getting our heads out of our ass. Because it sure seems like that is the condition we seem to be in today.
That said, Peace!
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