Read any news headline and it is fairly obvious that we are living in turbulent times right now in these United States of America. From high unemployment, two wars in the Middle East, civil unrest, climate change, and unchecked corporate greed the picture for the future looks grim.
It seems that the country has become divided now more than anytime since the Civil War. Conservative and Liberal talking heads take to the airwaves on a daily basis in a unending war of vitriol. Congress has become so mired in partisan politics it can do nothing to improve the state of the country. America is falling behind the rest of the world at alarming rates in areas of extreme importance. An overwhelming majority of Americans believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction. The question then becomes how do we get back on the right course, how do we change direction for the good of all citizens?
In order to answer this question one has to look at what has brought us to this point. In my opinion it is politics of division and distraction. Ancient military genius Sun Tzu speaks of the strategy of divide and conquer in his seminal work the Art of War. It appears that those who are in charge of this country are well aware of the effectiveness of this tactic. Our national dialogue has degraded from one of unity spelled out very clearly in our nations name the UNITED States of American into one of us v. them. Our nation has become something resembling the rivalry between the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville on steroids, Red v. Blue, Democrat v. Republican, and Liberal v. Conservative.
This has created an environment of disengagement from the political process intended by our founding fathers, who adopted the motto E. Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one) adopted by an act of congress in 1782. These methods of division and distraction have allowed for our nation to be high jacked by special interest groups, multi-national corporations, and the richest 1%. While the middle class and working poor bicker and argue over conservative this, liberal that. The aforementioned interest have seized control of the power, they release talking point after talking point paraded out by their "political strategist" to fan the flames of division. Keeping the American public distracted. This was never more evident than in the recent ruling by the United States Supreme Court (USSC) in the case Citizens United (don’t be fooled by the title) v. Federal Election Commission. This ruling opened the door for an unprecedented flood of money into our political system. Essential driving home the final stage in the take over of our system by the wealthy and corporations alike set in movement way back in 1886 in the USSC case Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad. Now these special interest groups can push there agenda in anyway they see fit by playing to the greed and corruption of those in office.
Here is the kicker though it doesn’t have to be this way and we don’t have to stand by idly. Our founding fathers gave us a way out, it is called the constitution. The first amendment gives us the right to free speech and assembly. We were provided with voting rights in order overhaul our system as we see fit. We just have to exercise these rights. We have to wake up and move past the politics of distraction and division that those who seek to control and monopolize this country have used to take us to where we are today.
You see it is simple; we are all in this thing together. Not conservative v. liberal, red v. blue, rich v. poor. No matter our difference of opinions we all live as free men and women under one banner that of Americans. We can work together like we have in the past to move our country into a better future for all of our nation’s citizens rather than the benefit of the few. We can demand better but it won’t be possible without first setting aside what tears us apart and focusing on what brings us together. The motto of our great Commonwealth of Kentucky is quite fitting given the state of the union today. UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL.
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