I know, we’re supposed to be hating each other, but the reality is that we don’t. We don’t even know most of “each other” so how can we hate each other? We are simply frustrated right now with the positions each other have taken, and lacking a larger enemy, we attack each other. The problem is that we need each other, and now more than ever.
The challenge is a very human one – we are drawn to conflict. The corporations, of whom a small handful own the majority of the media, have learned that conflict sells news. They are not the only ones to blame, we have other countries that are envious of our position in the world. Since World War 2, the United States has taken a moral authority in the world, one which has offended a rival who has been fighting said authority since World War 2. There is also a budding oligarchy or corporatocracy trying to grab as many resources as possible while these resources are still left unclaimed, and this has become the crux of our challenge – one with which both the left and right agree with: We need to protect our resources while we have them in this rapidly growing and changing world. Those resources could be the economy, the environment, our military, our jobs, our freedoms. On this simple point, we should all agree, and do.
Where we diverge is on how these things are accomplished, but this divergence is specifically at the heart of how outside and inside interests are using us against each other. Conservatives don’t hate the environment, and liberals love their cars. The left and the right both love their jobs, and we have had 110 months of economic and job growth, the longest in our nation. We want to blame each other for endangering it, but our economic growth, based on modern monetary theory, goes beyond partisan ideals. To generalize, the right wants to cut costs and expenses, the left wants to grow revenue and invest in future growth. The reality, however, again, is that both the left and the right want to both cut costs *and* grow revenue.
So what is at the core of our differences right now? We all want what is best for our country, right? We want good jobs, freedom to live our lives, freedom to thrive without crime or ill health stopping us from doing so. We want a strong nation that is also able to quell instability on the global stage from affecting us. We want thriving economies, new technology, and better ways to adopt our believes and live productive and fulfilling lives, right?
What is stopping us from doing so are outside interests who know that the emnity between us is such that it can be exploited. Corporations can exploit out conflict for media views and the impetus to spend our money so we can live our lives while we can. Hostile foreign nations want to divide us because that is the only way they have to weaken us. Media wants to divide us because conflict sells news and supports their margins. Kleptocrats want to divide us because by using us against each other, they can profit. And we’re on the top of the global food chain. Have been for a while, and still are, though that status is dropping rapidly.
So it is because of this that I want to engage you all directly with this open letter and ask that for Christmas, Hannukah, Holiday, or whatever you celebrate at the end of another rotation of the Earth around the Sun that you share our Christmas wish this year – And that is that we think about all the interests trying to divide us, and all that they have to gain by doing so, at our expense.
Merry Christmas, Right-Wing. I hope that we can find ways to focus on the things that are really important this year, and find ways to live with each other.
[leap_quote style=”single-quotes” bg_color=”” icon_size=”” icon_color=”” padding_right=”” padding_left=”” ]”United We Stand, Divided We Fall.”[/leap_quote]