Something is seriously wrong in the United States today. Why is the first question that comes to mind, and it has received many answers. Some experts will tell us that it is because Americans are angry. Some will say it is because of income inequality. Other reasons have been given as: persistent racism, policy divides between urban and rural areas, massive immigration, too many guns, climate change, a move towards authoritarianism, continuous military misadventures, narcissism, and of course greed.
None of these would be wrong, but none of them are really the underlying cause which some see as the decline of the American dream. The end of the idea of America as the shining city on the hill or the last great hope of the world. The light of America today is blinking on and off. Fewer people see hope in America. More people see the USA as a scourge on the world. A country only interested in pushing its agenda on other countries whether through economic war or military war.
The decline of America lies in a very simple problem. A failure to balance Moral Policy with Economic Policy. A problem that may be simple to describe but extremely difficult to solve. This failure began as soon as this country had its first pilgrims. America was born out of a dream of prosperity and equality. The equality did not have its roots in DNA but in the idea that all people (white and male at the time) through hard work and education could become prosperous and equal. Equality would not depend on being lords, or barons or some other type of royalty as had been the norm in Europe. This prosperity is still enthralled in some religions where it is promoted as “The Prosperity Gospel.” An idiotic idea that the more you are favored by God, the more he/she will bless you with wealth and success.
Unfortunately, there is one rule in the Universe which cannot be undone or avoided. It is the rule of balance. What goes up must come down. For every pushing force there is a pulling force. Antagonist muscles must be developed equally with protagonist muscles. The Chinese might call what I am describing here as the principle of Yin and Yang. The Greeks called it the Golden Mean.
“The golden mean or golden middle way is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. It appeared in Greek thought at least as early as the Delphic maxim “nothing in excess”, was discussed in Plato’s Philebus.” — Wikipedia
Since the beginning of America, we have ignored this rule of balance. It is the main reason that we are in a crisis today. Ironically, it is the separation of Church and State, perhaps the greatest innovation in America which has led to its decline. Let me explain further by starting with an analogy. We will say that there is a continuum in terms of policy needed for an efficient and effective country. An efficient country is one where most citizens are well fed, well clothed and well housed. An ongoing effort is made to insure that more and more citizens meet these criteria. An effective country is one where most citizens are safe, happy and content with there lives. Effort is also made to see that more and more people meet these criteria.
Economic Policy drives efficiency. It is the main determinant of how wealthy and prosperous a nation is. Economic policy puts the food on the table, pays for the overhead and allows people to buy things. Americans today buy and buy and buy. They shop till they drop. On weekends they stage flea markets, garage sales, and church sales to try to get rid of the STUFF that they have accumulated. Economic Policy gone unabated by Moral Policy has stuffed people until they are fat and bloated with too much stuff. More is the anthem in America. “He who has the most toys wins.”
Our politicians are troubadours for the American dream of “More.” There is no secret to their being elected. It is a very simple formula. 1. Promise voters more stuff by way of the trickle-down theory. 2. Promise to lower taxes to give people more money to buy more stuff. 3. Raise more money than your competitor so that you can sell your promises to more potential voters. 4. Find a way to scare voters into thinking that your competitor will not be able to deliver on the same promises.
Economic Policy in America has become a Frankenstein. Without a balance of Moral policy, it is a monster which is destroying this country. It has been destroying this country for many years now. However, people are so blinded by the promises for greater prosperity that they have ignored the essential balance provided by Moral Policy.
Moral Policy looks outward. While Economic Policy looks inward and asks what can my country do for me, Moral Policy asks what can I do for my country. Moral Policy asks what can I do for other people. I noted above that a great inspiration for our founders was to separate church and state. While this was a truly great political idea, morally it was a disaster.
Prior to the emergence of America, most people received a balance between Economic Policy and Moral Policy through a balance between their obligations to their state or nation and their obligations to their church or religion. They would go to jail if they ignored their state obligations and go to hell if they ignored their religious obligations. Their church laid out its obligations in its Moral Policy. For some, this was thought of as religious doctrine. Perhaps the best example of a Moral Policy is the Eight Beatitudes described in Christianity and formulated by Jesus of Nazareth.
- Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.
- Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.
- Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
- Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
- Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.
- Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
- Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. —- Matthew 5:3–12
There is no question, that Jesus was describing a moral responsibility to others. Jesus talked about greed often and the “cure” to greed lay in giving as much as taking. Jesus constantly talked about taking care of others who were less fortunate.
Thus, the uncoupling of Church and State in the constitution of the United States set the stage for a catastrophic imbalance between Moral Policy and Economic Policy. Over the years, the lack of influence in organized religions at the political level was abetted by the horrendous influence and power of Economic Policy. If Moral Policy was once the heart of a religion, it was supplanted by an Economic Policy which has become the main religion in America. This policy states that more is better and that you can never be too rich or have too much stuff.
Ultimately as with all imbalances, they eventually lead to a disaster. America has gone over the tipping point. The decline of the American Dream, the schism between conservatives and liberals, the rural versus urban divides, the dissatisfaction with the current political system and the rise of fascism in the USA are all symptoms of this imbalance.
What we once believed was a great political innovation to separate Church and State has led to this imbalance. There was no place in the state for religion and no place in religion for politics. America’s dominant dream for peace, justice and equality was replaced with a dream for more money, more power and more fame. The push by the State for this dream dwarfed any efforts by religion to provide a moral balance and the State had no legitimacy for morality. People are cast adrift amidst a chaotic and vicious ocean of competition for more and more stuff. No moral anchors exist that are powerful enough to counterbalance the tide of greed that this has brought to our shores. Guns have replaced morality as citizens arm themselves to prevent imagined attacks at taking away their STUFF.
Is there an answer to the problems facing America? I will discuss this question in my next blog.
Before you go off on a binge of happiness and celebrations, think for a minute what a positive answer to these questions might mean. There are still expectations and assumptions associated with any answer to the above questions. You assume that if you won the lottery, that you would not have to worry about paying bills, buying things you want etc. You assume that if you found true love, it would last forever and forever. You assume that finding meaning and purpose would bring you happiness. To all of these possibilities, I say maybe. You still have many choices and outcomes to each of these scenarios. These choices can leave us just as captive to our desires and wants as any of our responses to the “negative” “what ifs.”
My conclusion is that “What ifs” are intellectually amusing as a past-time but as for practical value they are close to useless. Seldom will you ever get to apply a solution to a “What if.” The possibility of something in real life happening exactly like it did the first time is less than the chance of finding identical snowflakes or fingerprints. Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher born in 544 B.C. said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Those who forget the past may be condemned to repeat it, but the past will never be the same again. Living requires adaptability and resilience.
underlying or foundation problem to explain many senseless acts of violence and mayhem. We can see pictures today of people screaming at immigrants to go home and realize that many of these raging mobs are driven by fear. Fear of job loss, fear of economic uncertainty, fear of being displaced and fear of strangers.
nation I have heard deals with greed. It has been said that “Greed is not the worst of all sins, but it is the gateway to all others.” Reflecting on this comment provides some very interesting insights. For instance, why does anyone steal? They want more than they have, ergo greed. Why does anyone kill? Typical answers would include: To get more land, ergo greed; to get more money, ergo greed; to get something they want, ergo greed. The more I thought about greed as an explanation, the more I could see it being a key cornerstone to almost all acts of violence and terror. I was content to accept this underlying explanation until a few weeks ago when I attended my annual retreat.
s before me, I thought getting success would be the key to feeling complete. Success meant fame, fortune and admiration from the masses. I would have money to roll in. I would have girlfriends too numerous and beautiful to count. I would have crowds thronging to hear my every utterance. The path to success was uncertain but the laurels and rewards were assured if only I could find the right stair way. I looked everywhere. I read everything. I talked to everyone. Success would come with hard work. Success took risks. Success was not an overnight phenomenon. I needed to get an education first. I needed to save my money. I needed to invest. Everything I did was still not enough. I was not a success.
The abyss It is so big that there is no bridging it. None of the sides can see the other side. None of the sides has any common ground with the other side. None of the sides understands the language that the other side speaks. We might as well be earthlings talking to Martians. There is no lingua franca. Many of the “well-meaning” experts exhort both sides to try harder to bridge the gap or to work more diligently to listen to the other side. It seems to be assumed that all it will take to jump the gulf is good intentions. I cry bullshit on this. As the old aphorism goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” It will take more than good intentions to heal the wound that infests our country.
The wants advertised on the TV and in the media are never fulfilling. We have a nation of brainwashed consumers who mistakenly think that more toys, bigger houses, more guns, and luxury cars will make them happy. We are a nation on a never-ending treadmill of consumer materialism where like rats we keep spinning the wheel and hoping to find happiness, but happiness never comes, and drugs take its place. 
As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the tensions in society grow ever more divisive. We see more road rage, more senseless shootings, more violence between men and women, less loyalty between employers and employees. The underpinning of society that should be based on human integrity and morality is replaced with an opportunism based on an amoral value system. Whatever we can get as long as we break no laws is considered to be moral. We see most politicians that have no commitment to anything except to collect more money so that they can stay in office. Their highest goal is to help the rich get richer, which of course includes themselves. 
I am not talking about the devil here or about spirituality. I am talking about a kind of insidious propaganda that has been spread by many groups and individuals. In this propaganda, one side of America is labeled as moral, ethical, righteous, and just. The other side is the opposite. The other side is everything negative. The other side is a composite of all the demons and evils that Americans believe in. The other side are communists, fascists, atheists, anti-democratic, anti-patriotic and un-American. One side is good. The other side is evil incarnate. You cannot talk to evil. You cannot discuss with the devil why he wants your soul. You cannot debate with Satan over the values that he has. Heaven and hell do not have weekly discussion groups. The language heard today, and what the media publishes drips with hate, innuendo, and disdain. The language fosters violence. I doubt the Founding Fathers ever conceived that the First Amendment would protect such speech. There are three elements that contribute to a hate speech culture that demonizes the other side: 
Malicious labeling is the name calling that goes on between both sides today wherein each side is labeled. You can hear it on almost every talk show program in America today. Name calling and name labeling. Commie pinko leftists! Intellectual elites! Radical socialists! Racist rednecks! Fascist dictators! Politicians, commentators, newscasters, and radio talk show hosts all use malicious labels to insult and demean those they disagree with. What have we let this country become when we allow such name calling? This kind of hyperbole demonizes the other side and creates a divide that cannot be overcome by rational conversation.
I do not think that the Founding Fathers of our nation believed that Government was evil. Certainly, they felt that there could be too much government intrusion on the rights of the populace. They invoked certain safeguards to protect both human rights and states rights. Nevertheless, they did not demonize government and not a single one of the Fathers ever referred to government as evil. Edmund Burke, the famous English conservative said, “The government that governs best is the government that governs least.” He never said, “government was evil.” It has become common place to hear refrains denigrating the role and necessity of government. This steady drumbeat of antigovernmental rhetoric has created a group of people that have no value for government and who support the idea that government should be abolished.
A few years ago I began to wonder why groups like the KKK, Aryan Brotherhood, Antifa, The Proud Boys and many other such groups advocating violence against the government were not labeled as Terrorist Organizations. I asked a lawyer this question and he replied, “it is all politics.” I found that almost all the groups listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “hate groups” were designated as “extremist groups.” This means that they are not illegal, and they have the right to organize, march, rally and basically spread their hate across America. In 2019, The SPLC listed 940 hate groups across the USA. If any of these groups was labeled as a “Terrorist Group,” they would be on the same list as the Taliban, Boko Haram, The Mafia, Mexican Cartels and Al Qaeda. What is the difference between an extremist group and a terrorist group? It might surprise you to learn that a terrorist organization is defined as follows:
If this definition does not apply to the groups that tried to storm the US Capital on January 6th, 2021, I do not know what does. Just yesterday the Canadian government labeled the Proud Boys as a Terrorist Organization. This delegitimizes the group and takes their rights away. For Canada, it is a start. I am wondering when we are going to get started in the USA on such an effort. The First Amendment was never construed to allow hate speech and the advocating of violent actions to overthrow the government. Why do we not have the political will to outlaw these groups? We seem to have little compunction in penalizing Black groups like the Black Lives Matter Movement or the Black Panthers. We have a different standard when it comes to White Supremacy groups. 
The newspapers, TV and the Internet are today the major carriers for the hate and vituperation that has spread across America. On one side of the divide, we find the NY Times, the Washington Post and CNN News. On the other side, we find the NY Post, the Washington Examiner and Fox News. There are countless other purveyors of extreme and fanatical views. Each side reeks of headlines supporting nonobjective views and biased reporting. If objective reporting ever existed in the USA, it has been murdered and buried by the most pervasive media to ever exist. The media carries the hate and violence that is created by politicians, pundits, radio commentators and hate groups and ensures that it gets widely disseminated. Without the media, much of the divide would never have occurred. Hate needs a platform to be spread and the media is more than happy to host anything that it believes will sell itself and its advertising. 
We shop till we drop. We invoke our privilege to use our money as we want to. We make holidays out of holy days where we spend our time hunting for bargains and sales. Greed has now become a sacrament. Greed is no longer evil. Greed is holy. Greed is the American Way of Life. Millions of Americans adore the wealthy. The story of Lazarus holds no credibility – Luke 16:19-21. Nor does the story of the Rich Fool – Luke 12:13-21. Money is sacred and those who have more are worshipped by Americans and exalted as better people and better leaders. We elect millionaires and billionaires to Congress and even the Presidency on the sole basis of their acumen at having stored up wealth.
A Rabbi, Iman, Pastor and Buddhist Priest were all discussing the issue of peace in the world and in particular peace in the Mideast. The Rabbi said there could only be peace in the Mideast if all the Muslims left. The Iman said that there could only be peace if all the Jews left. The Pastor jumped into the argument and said there would only be peace if all the non-Christians left. The Buddhist cleared his throat to interrupt the argument and said, “There will never be peace anywhere as long as there are Muslims, Jews, Protestants, Catholics and even Buddhists in the world.” 
The peaceful person does not use violence against others. The peaceful person is a diplomat who solves problems with his/her brain and not with tools of aggression. The peaceful person is confident because they have integrity. The peaceful person has serenity because they have no fear. Fear is the enemy of peace. When the world is on red-alert, people live in fear. People become fearful of others and fearful of living. Racism, sexism, discrimination, greed, and militarism create fear. With fear, no one can be at peace. 
We should all be grateful for peace. This means we need to appreciate peace and understand that it cannot be taken for granted. Peace is up to us to create. It is too important to leave to religious leaders and politicians. If we want peace in our lives and peace in the world, we must create it. There can never be peace for anyone if there is not peace for everyone. 
Ladies and Gentlemen. How can you have a government of the people, by the people and for the people when it is a government of the rich by the rich and for the rich? A government of lawyers, political science majors and corporate people. An interlocking network of proponents who have a self-interest that nowhere matches the nature and interests of the general public of America. 
Many of the board members in the rural counties are farmers or laborers or educators who have little or no training in the laws that they are sworn to protect. Thus, they rely heavily on the lawyers that they hire to provide advice and perceived protection from lawsuits. This renders the board members subject to the legal opinion of the lawyer which is quite often at odds to what the public wants. The boards are frequently fearful of a lawsuit (often offered by the lawyer as a possibility) and will forego making an informed decision based on evidence that is presented at the hearings. 
We need less lawyers. Lawyers and lawsuits are destroying America and Democracy. We need leaders with more diversity in education. We need leaders with more ethnic diversity. We need leaders with more gender diversity. We need greater representation that reflects the demographics of America. We need less lawyers. We need more justice and we need more fairness. 
Aging Capriciously 