One Step Towards the Future of America: Open Letter to Congress
Originally published at Exponential. You can comment here or there.
My Congress,
I am inspired, my Congress, and let me tell you why.
Because for the first time in my life, I am seeing people come together to action. Larger numbers of voters are mobilized than ever before. People are speaking the same voice, are giving of themselves, are motivated to work and reach out to others. And it is in the name of Change for all of us.
For the first time in my life, I’m seeing the real America - a unified people from small and large towns, demanding Change. A hint of the America of which our founders dreamed…an America where the people are bonding together to make a difference, mobilizing to effect change. I’m seeing the America we talk about when we read the Preamble to our Constitution:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
These rights, including free speech and religion, are integral to our shared experience as Americans, allowing Lincoln’s words to ring true:
…that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
It is this government of the people that our founders wished for us, and that we have slowly let slip through our fingers. The dream of the forefathers set up a representative structure where each of you, members of Congress, serves as a trumpet for us. You are our elected spokesperson, our clarion call of what we want for our society.
And we want Change.
What is this Change? Everyone I speak to agrees: we need leaders that inspire and represent the America we want to see regardless of party-affiliation. 80% of Americans feels that we have a leadership crisis - in our businesses, in our government, among our own people. We are not happy with where we have gone, the course that our country has taken and how uninvolved we have become. What was originally an American Dream has now become its nightmare as we learn some valuable lessons about economics and leadership. We recognize a crisis, and we understand that we have been part of the problem.
I feel that this is why so many Republicans and Independents have come to support Obama: he is a leader for all people, not just one side or another. Not the rich over the poor, or the poor over the rich. He represents a responsibility of the people to take care of the people, of Americans to support America!
But it didn’t have to be Obama. Any leader who truly represented the interests of everyone should have been able to step forth and rally the American people behind them. Because as the leadership poll shows, the majority of people want the President to do what the American people think is right. Not what the individual him/herself feels is right.
And what the American people feel is right often transcends party-lines. From the leadership report, again:
- 72% say presidents should use the military only to defend America and react to enemy attacks
- 71% say presidents should share power equally with Congress and the Supreme Court
- 64% say presidents should make decisions based on fairness
- 56% say foreign policy should focus on building alliances
- 55% say they prefer presidents who are never willing to be unethical or bend the rules.
Americans have specific desires of our government, and a growing number do not care about a label of one party or another, but instead are looking for leaders that take up the platform of the people and work to make it happen.
Why can’t our politics always be thus, my Congress? Why must one don the banner of one party or another, conservatism or liberalism, and not appreciate that a strong country is flexible. By refusing to yield, we are broken - as we have seen in our foreign policy. By bending, we are made stronger.
Why must our future leaders choose one side or another, when America needs candidates that are able to see all sides of the picture and make the right choices for America at that time? Whether that choice be conservative or liberal, social or fiscal? Why must we choose sides and belong to one method or another, when in truth, a marriage of the two is usually the best action altogether? Why not a leadership that has all options available in order to move in the direction that is best for Americans?
I am excited to see that we are stepping up and accepting responsibility for ourselves and our actions. Many might say that we are lazy and merely want to bring in “leadership” that will decide things for us, as long as we can continue to watch our sit-coms and reality TV. That the American spirit is a thing of the past.
But this election shows that is not so: We The People feel left out of the mix, constantly given leadership options that do not inspire us, do not make us feel as if we are being represented, spend efforts only to discredit others instead of supporting US, the people.
Too long has our government been incestuous and broken, over eight (and more) long years of constant fear and frustration. Confidence that we could do anything to save ourselves was lower than ever before. Instead we hung our heads and tried not to look the world in the eye, shuffling our feet and saying, “Yeah…I know. I feel helpless too.” We huddled up, ready to endure a long winter of failed confidence and leadership. Many talked of leaving the country. Others vowed to fight on. Still others descended into a pessimistic hole of distrust of any candidate, taking the latest administrative as just a sign that Lincoln’s words were the past, and fear was our future.
But We The People are now standing up and taking back our country. Having had the taste of hope, the taste of what being a citizen really means, we awake to our charge: We The People are going to hold our leaders responsible, and ourselves responsible for bringing the right leaders in. We need an ideology change, a thread of something that will allow us to hold our heads high. We need to feel as if those “rights” we fought for so many years ago really exist and mean something. We need to know that we can make a difference.
As America, we are so close to stepping away from the adolescent behavior of the past eight years, reminiscent of a spoiled, rich teenager who is the bully of the world playground. I am eager to see us move beyond that into our young adulthood to being more responsible, more thoughtful country.
And it only took being thrust out on the ledge of utter downfall for us to pull back, and pull together.
I am also scared, my Congress.
I am scared that we will not learn from this unifying experience and divisive politics.
I am frightened that we will choose Change, and then sit back and wait for change to happen to us, instead of realizing that it starts with us.
I’m afraid that We The People will feel the burden of Change will be too much after so many years of being downtrodden. We will forget the sacrifices that our forefathers and ancestors made to seek a better country, a better life. We will forget how much they gave up, and how much many of our people still give up, to make sure that America is the country of opportunity and freedom, where people have the right to speak their minds and worship how they wish.
I worry that we will feel that there is too high a price to pay for Change. That We The People will be too afraid of uncertainty to push for a better country and world. Much like the uncertainty of death that begets strict religion but no enlightenment, We The People could fall into greater fear of Change than fear of dying out. And we will balk, and remain the same.
But have no doubt - we will still pay the prices we thought we were avoiding.
I’m fearful that people will cling too much to labels and ideologies, eschewing flexibility and evaluation. They will be unable to cast off the chains of “my way or the highway” for self-review and broad perspective. That We the People will turn our backs on ourselves and everything we could be in order to follow a regimented doctrine from a corrupted era.
And I’m sure you are scared too. Because despite the label of “democrat” that Obama runs under, in reality he is very middle of the road, and represents many of the views of both conservatives and liberals. And that means that perhaps it might not be about large parties, facing off mano e mano, anymore. Perhaps all our hopes will be realized and we will have flexible, thoughtful leadership that will listen to We The People, and move forward step by step to becoming a stronger, greater nation. And this means We The People will demand Change of You, my Congress.
No, it will not change overnight, or even with one president. All of our troubles will not vanish, and no one person is the answer to the days ahead. We may endure some difficult times and much will be demanded of us to put our best foot forward for the slow steady climb.
But it must start somewhere, it must start with one step. One Step towards Change and Hope, a step that will restore confidence in our own leadership. This will allow us to feel strong enough to lift our heads and look towards the horizon of becoming a better country, a better We The People, and a better citizen in this world. We will be able to look ahead and see that the sun is rising on America, and hope renews with the coming Spring.
“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun.”
I raise my head and look forward to the rising of the sun, so that we may prepare for a new season of growth and confidence in The United States of America - United Again. Perhaps then we can achieve what Lincoln spoke of in his second inaugural address:
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.
In an effort to bind the wounds of our country, We The People need a symbol, a unifying figure in a time of chaos, a leader that represents what America’s Dream really is - that anyone can rise from the street to the sky, that every person matters, and that decency and community are a part of our legacy. We choose a clarion call to the nations of the world to once again believe in the integrity of the American Experience and Justice. We choose to once again to be the defining example of a true democracy.
This blog, Exponential, endorses Barack Obama as the next president of the United States of America to be the symbol of our choice to turn the tide towards becoming a greater nation.
Lane Burns
Concerned Citizen of the United States of America