A wareness

F reedom

R ationality

E thics

S implicity

H ealth

M indfulness

E xperimentation

A brief manifesto of change

Positive change, whether it happens on a personal, national, or global scale, begins with awareness.  If we are to actualize our innate potential, we must first learn to differentiate between the forces holding us back and those that serve to elevate us into the realm of virtue.  To be aware is to establish an intimate understanding of the cause and effect chain that rules every corner of humanity.  We must not only know when and how we are acted upon, but when and how we are acting upon others.  Only those who are truly aware of these often subtle relationships can lay claim to personal freedom.  Freedom is every bit as much a concern for the mind as it is for the body, every bit as much an internal struggle as an external one.  Those who exercises their physical liberties, only to submissively sacrifice their minds, cannot be called free, at least not in the most truthful sense of the word.  The United States is a country with a proud history of defending freedom, often to the death. Great men have fought valiantly to protect this collective ideal on which we were founded.  The best way to honor this struggle is to shed complacency and dogma in favor of activism and rationality.  The challenges of globalization can only be matched by solutions born of sensibility, compassion, and humility.  If we can teach ourselves to be the rulers of our own minds, we will remove the temptation to be the ruler of other’s.  When human beings are at their best, they are both individually autonomous and ceaselessly diligent in protecting the autonomy of others.  Those most worthy of admiration are men and women who understand that this truth is a cornerstone of ethics.  These people are acutely aware that the fight for freedom in our country did not end in 1865, that the 21^st century is only the newest front in an eternally evolving conflict.  We live in an age that is more riddled with moral concerns than any that preceded it.  Recognizing this, the responsible citizen seeks means by which he can rise to the occasion and thus respond to the call for solutions.  The ethical concerns of our day are often issues of over-consumption, therefore the answers may very well lie in a return to simplicity and moderation.  Too often we assume that complex problems can only be met with complex solutions, thus, lacking confidence in our ability to deliver, we meekly raise the white flag and surrender to forces we perceive to be incomprehensible, and therefore indomitable.  This retreat is not only critically dangerous for the well-being of a nation, but also entirely unnecessary.  How does the ant colony build its intricate empire of tunnels?  One grain at a time.  One individual effort after another.  So too will the world end its plunge towards disaster- one simple and ethical personal choice at a time.  Acts of individual progress are only mistaken as small or insignificant when considered independently.  The truth, of course, is that righteousness perpetuates righteousness, and the culmination of individual decisions is what will inevitably make or break the entire system.

One individual effort paramount to societal progress is a devotion to physical, spiritual, and intellectual health. It is difficult, if not impossible, to contribute to the health of the collective, if we are not first determined to maintain health at an individual level.  The truth is simple enough- we are best suited to help others live well when we are living well ourselves.  Being “healthy” means so many things to so many people, but we can say with certainty that any true definition of the word begins with mindfulness. Mindfulness is the trait that describes a person who maintains a keen awareness of the present moment. These people understand that each one of their waking seconds affords them the opportunity to have an impact on the health of their mind, body, and society.  Mindful people recognize the beauty of slowness and the wisdom in careful deliberation.  It is in the vastness of the present moment that clarity and transparency are rooted.  This is a place where rationalization and impulsivity cannot dwell, a place where we come face to face with our thoughts and behaviors.  When we are mindful we cannot help but honor our virtues, for the guilt in doing otherwise would be unbearable.

We are an imperfect species at war with the shortcomings of our evolutionarily unprecedented brains.  If we are to rise together, we must champion a culture of experimentation.  Revolutionary ideas are sparked by the most daring experimenters, men and women who not only have the courage to break with tradition, but the humility to admit when they are wrong.  We modern Americans would be well served to mirror these virtues.  Now is not the time to be entrenched in the misguided priorities of the past.  Never before has so much ridden on our innovative spirit.  Never before has there been so much at stake.

Recent survey statistics released by the Washington Post have given a quantitative value to a growing dissatisfaction with the performance of the U.S. federal government.  When asked how much confidence they have in the president “to make the right decisions for the country’s future”, 58% of the representative population surveyed answered “just some” or “none”.  Regarding the same question, congressional democrats fared even worse at 68%, yet they still could not match the distrust Americans have for republicans in congress, who weigh in at a dismal 72%.

These statistics send a clear message.  The downtrodden American people are losing faith in their government to lead them securely into the coming years.  And considering the current state of things, can you blame them?  The track records of the executive and legislative branches regarding important issues have been riddled with blatant irresponsibility, oversight, waste, and ineffectiveness.   Unless you have been living under a rock, I don’t need to remind you of the many challenges we face, but I will anyway for safe measure-  wars, unemployment, gulf oil spill, national debt, failing education, terrorism, oil supply depletion, biased media, health care coverage, Iran, North Korea, corporate secrecy, greed, and corruption, global warming, drug trade, obesity, illegal immigration, disappearing middle class, housing market… and it goes on and on.  As unsettling as it is to think about all of these issues at the same time, what is more unsettling is realizing that each of the situations listed are becoming increasingly dire over time.  Considering this, along with the unavoidable surfacing of unforseen challenges, it becomes difficult to ignore the haunting suspicion that our current system may prove inadequate in the face of 21st century challenges.

Engaging in an all-encompassing assessment of the state of our country illuminates the great demand for proactive realism.  Yes, we face a greater number of serious threats than ever before, that much is clear.  The only important question that remains, then, is what are we going to do about it?

Looking again at the statistics mentioned earlier, it is hard not to notice the decreasing probability of success for incumbent politicians.   There is clearly a growing camp of voters who feel that their elected officials are not getting the job done.  Assuming this sentiment prevails into mid-term elections in November, chances of a republican favored momentum shift seem overwhelming.  However, regardless of election outcomes, I cannot help but feel that we are missing the point, failing to comprehend the over-arching nature of the threat.

I first began to look the beast in the eye around November of last year.  One year had passed since the election of Barack Obama, and a harsh reality was setting in.  The change we had been promised was nowhere to be found.  Things had, in fact, started to get a whole lot nastier.  For me, a devoted and active Obama supporter, the disappointment I felt was crushing.  The man my naivety had led me to believe would be the savior of America was falling short on all fronts.  “Yes we can” turned into “maybe, we’ll see”, and the giant serving of false hope I had consumed one year prior was starting to leave a sour taste in my mouth.

To be clear, I am not putting the brunt of the blame on Obama’s shoulders.  He was undoubtedly dealt a terrible hand, and it is no secret that the republican party has done everything in its power to disrupt any and all democratic reform efforts.  I did not then, nor do I now, fault either dominant party exclusively.  If I must point fingers, I do it in two directions.  First, I point one at the beast, and by this I mean the federal government in its entirety.  The whole establishment is, to me, a runaway train that has very little likeness to the vision our forefathers had in mind.  It is over-sized, over-indulged, and consistent only in its ineptitude.  It is inefficient and wasteful to the highest degree.  It is more defined by its disastrous schisms than its successes.  Simply put, the federal government has proven itself unable to fulfill its basic constitutional duties;  it has failed the people it was designed to serve.

The second finger of blame gets pointed at the American citizenry.  Ours are the hands that have willingly fed the beast the endless supply of money and power that it craves.  As a collective, we have adopted the mindset that power should be distributed and decisions made from the top down.  In doing so, we have completely undermined the potential of ground-level politics.  State and local governments are forced to sit back and watch, hands tied, as the federal government clumsily lumbers along, American citizens in tow,  into the complex and demanding jungle of the 21st century.

Though some people are considerably less critical of the federal government than I, there are few who would argue that our country does not find itself in the midst of extremely difficult times.  Who will come to our rescue?

If I have learned one lesson from the 2008 election, it is that we cannot sit around and wait for some superhero to come along and fix the broken federal government.  Perhaps I am wrong, but I have very little faith that anyone single person or political party has what it takes to save our country.  If we want badly enough to maintain our livelihoods, we are going to have to do it ourselves.

I do not claim to know the solution to the problem of the federal beast, but I suspect it will involve restoring power to local governments.  If it is accountability we seek, the only sure path may be to lessen the degrees of separation between the powers at be and the constituencies they preside over.

Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, the challenges of tomorrow will require that we, the people, adopt a proactive posture in the face of policy creation and reform.  If it is a learned helplessness amongst the masses that has caused the federal government to become what it is, only the very opposite will effectively transform it to meet 21st century demands.  No longer will we have the luxury of pairing discontentment with complacency, unless of course we are willing to submit to further national downfall.

True “change”, the type we were promised two years ago, will not be a reality until common people are willing to adopt an uncommon interest in American policy.  The solutions required will not come from the corrupt political machines,  they will be born of the disenfranchised masses.  What we require is a national paradigm shift- gone are the days of entrusting an invisible hand to guide us safely and prosperously into the uncertain future.  Whether we like it or not, our survival as a country demands that we enter an era of do-it-yourself politics.  These words from Abraham Lincoln ring as true today as they must have 148 years ago-

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.  The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion.  As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.  We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.