What Do You Want?/Economy #1

The beauty of seeing and experiencing things we don't want is that they point us, when we stop to think about it for a second, in the direction of what we do want. Thus, it should be relatively easy today to sketch out the basics of what we would, as Americans, prefer to see with regard to our economy and the related subjects of our federal budget, taxes, and how we do commerce. And remember, none of us needs to be a Nobel prize-winning economist in order to have a say in what we would like to see. Lord knows, I'm not one, which will be made obvious when you read the following sketch, but I and you and all of us have a vested interest in seeing our economy do a whole lot better than what it's doing now and it's never too soon to hold the vision. Remember, it's all in an ideal world where nobody can say no and money's no object.

Here, then, is "economy sketch, draft one:"

• Our economy is healthy and thriving. Economists of many stripes agree that employment levels are consistently where they should be to support sustainable growth. Those of us who choose to work are working and we are secure in knowing that good jobs are virtually always available in America. As such, we are, collectively, relaxed about our abilities to earn a living wage, regardless of where we are and for whom we are working. We easily function in the ebb and flow of this powerful energy.
  
• America is a place where entrepreneurship is encouraged and rewarded. Incentives to develop new technologies and new industries and to hire workers are part and parcel of the spirit of innovation that we treasure. We count on those who are willing to invest time and dollars in the businesses and industries of the future and we make it as easy for them to do so as possible. Ultimately, we rely on truly free markets for the final verdict on the efforts of our entrepreneurs.
  
• In America, we are citizens before we are consumers and we place our collective needs ahead of the needs of particular businesses or industries. Thus, if an industry like, for example, coal mining (and production and consumption) is seen as detrimental to our overall physical and/or environmental health (as many argue that it is in the form of acid rain, deforestation, and black lung disease), a cooperative spirit of public-private partnership helps us to transition from industries and jobs that do harm into industries and jobs that contribute to our overall health and well being like farming and mountain restoration. Our willingness to be nimble in the face of such circumstances is reflected back to us as we trust an equally nimble government to act, when needed, as a facilitator of such transitions, not as the driver of them.
• We know that what we do in America affects every other economy on the planet and while our capitalist system continues to perform at a consistently high level and is viewed by many as an example of a system that works well, we do not impose our ways on others. Rather, we look for opportunities to support the growth of other economies as we do our own.
  
• Our tax system is fair and balanced. We are confident that our tax dollars - be they from the contributions of individuals, families, or businesses - are at rates that are equitable and reasonable.
  
• Needless to say, we don't all agree on everything. But year in and year out, we are confident that our federal budget reflects the priorities of the majority of us. Where we choose to spend our collective dollars is (and must be) a positive statement of our values. We recognize that needs shift and our budgets reflect our changing needs as well. Congressional appropriators are tuned in to collective needs and those who care to monitor how our federal dollars are spent can do so easily. Efficiency and honesty are hallmarks of how we manage our federal budgets.

Some questions to consider in response:

• What, if anything, has been left out of your vision of the ideal American economy?
• What are you willing to change in your personal financial life such that you can see it reflected in our collective financial life?
• What thoughts do you have about our ability to create an ideal economy?
  

NOTE: This series of "What Do You Want, America?" posts began on November 2, 2010, if you are looking for some context.

What Do You Want?/Safety Net #1

The fact that we have, in various ways throughout world and American history, striven to provide economic security to those in need or, said another way, to take care of one another - from medieval feudal lords responsible for the economic security of the serfs who worked on their estates to the guilds that formed throughout Europe in the middle ages by merchants who came together with others to provide benefits to their members including financial help in times of poverty to the Civil War Pension program in America for widows and children of fallen soldiers to Social Security in the 1930's and the more recent Medicare and Medicaid that emerged in the 1960's - is a testament to our compassion as human beings and as Americans.

I take it as a given, then, that as we grow forward in America, we intend to continue to act with compassion toward those who suffer and who are in need or, as President Lincoln once said, to be inspired by our better angels.

There is no point in decrying the ways in which America's current social safety nets - Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Aid to Dependent Families, the Women, Infants & Children program - are failing us today, nor any need to lament the high levels of distrust around not only the programs themselves, but toward those who benefit from them, either as deliverers or recipients of aid. The What Do You Want, America? project is about how we would like it to be, so we begin with this one note: when we talk about engaging the law of attraction in a conscious manner, which is what we are doing here, we speak in present tense language. It may feel funny to you at first, but you will see in time the appropriateness of doing so.

Here, then, is "safety net sketch, draft one:"

• In America, we have a social safety net for those who simply cannot ever - for physical or mental health reasons - fend for themselves. It is also available for those who, for whatever reason, fall on extended hard times or find themselves in some sort of economic crisis. It includes assistance for widows/widowers and children as well as pensions for people who have retired.
  
• Our system is rooted in and inspired by our commitment to be compassionate, for our nation was founded on providing its citizens with the freedom to pursue happiness. To be compassionate, after all, is to allow people to be who they are. When people need to access assistance, it is easy for them to know how and where to find it. They are treated with dignity and respect by administrators who are, themselves, compassionate people.
  
• We value personal responsibility and our economic safety net system is, for most people, designed to be a bridge from crisis to complete independence. Most people who access services never need them again. We have a vast cooperative network whereby the federal system connects aid recipients to all manner of private, non-governmental agencies and organizations and that help people to be responsible for themselves.
• Our system is a source of pride. The vast majority of Americans see it as fair and we are more than willing to allocate a portion of our national budget for this purpose. We know that we are strongest when each of us is functioning at his/her highest potential and so this system is an investment in our strength as a nation.
  
• When we think of how we care for one another and how we respond to those in need, we feel a sense of pride, to be sure. When we think of how our system is needed less and less as we progress as a society, our pride increases. It gives us a feeling of satisfaction and a sense of purpose.
  

So there's a start. Your input will now help to shape this sketch into a clearer picture of what it is we want with regard to our economic safety net. Here are some questions to consider:

• How would you expand the vision begun here? What would it look like to you? Remember, this is in an ideal world where nobody can say no and money is no object.
• What are the "yeah, right" or "yeah, but" thoughts you have as you read this sketch? An important aspect of setting intentions is rooting out any and all beliefs we may have about whether or not what we're wanting can even happen. It's important, then, to know what those are so we can work with them.
• What might opponents of an economic safety net have to say?
• Are you someone who has ever received these services? What is missing from this picture created by someone who has not received services?
  

The next post will begin another sketch on another issue.

NOTE: This series of "What Do You Want, America?" posts began on November 2, 2010, if you are looking for some context.

What Do You Want, America?

Regardless of what happens today, It's time to change the conversation. That, of course, is the intention of Spiritually Responsible Politics in the first place.

I honestly thought I would have been blogging throughout this midterm campaign, but I just couldn't summon the energy. The desire to respond to whatever was happening nationally and within the hundreds of individual campaigns, large and small, just fell flat. Today, however, I am on fire again because changing the conversation is, to me, an exciting project and I have a plan.

In the language of spiritually responsible politics, it is about engaging the law of attraction - that thing that is always on - in a way that moves us in the direction of what it is we are wanting instead of keeping us mired in that which we don't want. If, for example, we don't want dishonesty in politics yet all we do is see examples of dishonesty in politics and then complain to our friends about dishonesty in politics and hear radio and television reports and stories about dishonesty in politics and, on top of all of that, feel rage and disgust and shame about how our country's politics are mired in dishonesty, guess what we are going to get more and more of?

When, on the other hand, we can clearly articulate our thoughts and feelings about what our desire for honest politics looks like - elections where we trust that our vote is being fairly counted, for example, and the ability to know without a doubt who is funding which candidates and campaigns, for another example, and feel the feelings of pride and security that accompany it - law of attraction says we will get more and more of that. It simply is the way things are.

So here are ten overarching issues for us to begin with:

• Reputation on the world stage
• Economy/Commerce/Taxes/Budget
• Education
• Environment/Energy
• Immigration
• Health Care
• Cities
• Politics
• Defense
• Social Safety Net/Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid/Aid to Dependent Families
  

Certainly, issues will overlap with each other. But in the coming weeks and months we will create clear pictures of what we want with regard to these topics, in the manner that I just touched on with the issue of honesty in politics. We'll do it by concentrating on how we would like things to be - in an ideal world where nobody can say no and money is no object - rather than how they are now or how they have been. This is how we change the conversation.

So in the next post I will begin by taking one of the issues and sketching out what we might want it to look like. I say we because I intend for this to be a collaborative process that includes as many people who care to be included in a way that builds and builds. To that end - and given that I have a total of zero readers at the moment - I thank you in advance for sharing this previously un-promoted blog with anyone you know who might be interested - by way of the 15 concepts with which we work here - in helping to change the conversation.

Your comments are most welcome starting now.