Land of the Free. Home of the Brave.
Welcome to America, circa end of 2020.
The COVID is full steam ahead, the country is in shambles, there are so many hungry and homeless, the President won’t leave, the climate is in chaos, ecosystems are collapsing, pollution of every sort everywhere, and of course these are just the catastrophic symptoms.In our communities of whatever sort, we find brokeness. In our families conflict and way too much pain in our personal lives.
Land of the free, home of the brave? Not so much. We seemed to have left that behind with so many other illusions we’ve held over these long years.
At least we have avoided the greatest immediate threat, that Trump would succeed in his attempted coup. Yet our supposed solace is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Less than inspiring. Were the system not so rigged Bernie Sanders could well be president, and we would be far better served for it. Yet the system is so rigged.
There is no going back. There never is, as this moment continues to separate future from past. Just as it always does. Even in a more stable and less corrupt moment, we can’t truly go back. Joe Biden’s ‘build back better’ is complete bullshit. Not in these times. Not with our problems. We need historic transformation.
Indeed, America was ever truly ‘Land of the Free, Home of the Brave’ (a slogan termed by Francis Scott Key) unless you were a white man of means. But I know with certainty, and not me alone, that today America is Land of The Corporation.
The system is crystal clear now for those with eyes to see. The corporations control the government, which sets the standards for a healthy culture. And with their demonic need for profits at any cost, they will always inherently stand in the way of a healthy culture. Partnerships, coops, small businesses and individuals can harness the capitalism needed to provide goods and services. And they come with balanced priorities, and a far greater likelihood of being invested in their communities.
Joe Biden and the new administration won’t do much to end this longstanding corporate scourge. They’re in the broken system. No universal healthcare, no Green New Deal, no serious rethinking of our white supremacy laced police departments and wildly overblown military. Wall street? Big Ag? Pharma? Hell no, not the bottom up, systemic rebuild that is required.
Our constitution is 240 years old, the world’s oldest. It was written by wealthy white men tired of paying taxes to Great Britain across the sea. No doubt there was some bold thinking about a better system of governance than that of a king, but this nation started, as it has fostered ever since, as a nation that’s all about the money.
In the Trump administration and McConnell dynasty, so many norms have been broken that we need serious legal remedy, Recall McConnell obstructed Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court and so much potentially useful law which he would not bring to the floor. Trump has thrown all norms to the wind in his megalomaniacal PTSD stupor.
So, two new ideas that need to be in the public sphere…
A new constitution, let’s call it Constitution 2.0. Built on the best of the original, and the vast knowledge available today combined with what’s working in other counties, and we could generate an outstanding document that brings in a new era.
And as part and parcel of this constitution, we dismantle the corporate engine that has caused so much corruption and so many wasted lives. We end the legal status of corporations. In the meanwhile we do our best to so weaken them so much that we can flush them down the toilet.
Land of the free? Home of the brave? I don’t think so. How about land of the free. Home of the Truth. If we get the second part right, we have a chance at the first.
