America is in the middle of an existential crisis, the most significant choices before us not what to do but rather who to be. If we do not solidly realign ourselves with our democratic values – choosing to use the power of government to serve our people rather than to serve a small coterie of corporate forces – then we will remain a democracy in name only.
According to the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, “We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” Already, we have transitioned from a government “of the people, by the people and for the people” to a government “of a few of the people, by a few of the people and for a few of the people.” Already we are functioning as a corporatocracy, an oligarchy, a plutocracy as opposed to a democracy. We have sacrificed our basic values of equality and justice for the promise of money and jobs that would trickle down from the perches of power if only we would give the powerful more money, a most dark and pathological game of domination and greed that keeps the battered attached to the batterer. Forces that move literally billions of dollars into the hands of a few then turn around to say that paying $15 an hour to a worker is too much to ask, and universal healthcare too “socialist,” and free education too expensive to provide – all of which add to wealth inequality that is more than a matter of economic statistics. It is an often soul-crushing human reality that keeps millions of Americans trapped and struggling, our middle class decimated and our basic values in shreds. If you can get into the club in America – and I would know this – then there is no greater country in the world. But too many people have no reasonable chance of getting into the club today. And that is an unsustainable situation for all of us.
I read a quote recently that said this: “If we want things to stay the same, then there are going to have to be some changes around here.” So it is with America. Like any individual life that has gone off the rails, America needs to look at itself deeply, return to its principles and open its heart. Then and only then will our nation be repaired.
Marianne Williamson’s Presidential Bid
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Marianne Williamson
• Quote of the Day – August 29, 2017
• Quote of the Day – June 28, 2017
• Quote of the Day – May 4, 2017
• Hope in the Midst of Collapse
• Making the Connections
• The War Racket
• Resisting the Hand of the Empire
• In a Blow to Democracy, U.S. Supreme Court Affirms Corporate Personhood
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