Forum Post: An Open Letter

Let me open this letter by stating that I am not a protester. I am merely a concerned citizen.

We, the People, need to have an agenda based around well-established facts which will have a strong impact on the national discussion, not just in the media and in congress, but in boardrooms and at the breakfast table. Income disparity is growing rapidly and threatens to divide us as a nation, corporations have ceased to contribute as meaningfully to the national infrastructure as they have in the past, our government and the laws it produces have become increasingly byzantine, and through it all there have been profiteers in the top 0.5% of Americans who have exploited their privileged positions of power by betraying the moral underpinnings of the American Dream. Refusing to re-invest their accumulated wealth in our well-being as a country, or perhaps being denied the opportunity to do so, has effectively stifled the economic mobility of individuals and the overall stability of markets.

We want America to be a nation which can in good faith promise that the poorest of us can, through the hard work of body and mind, stand proudly amongst the richest. We want America to be a nation where everyone has the four freedoms promised to our forefathers, and where everyone has the ability to use them to better the world we live in. We want America to be a nation that stands at the forefront of the world as a leader of more than just technology or industry, but also a leader in prosperity for its people. We want America to again serve as that powerful, worldwide beacon of shining idealism overcoming the darkness of desperation felt by the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses.

This is not a call to socialism, communism, or even populism. It is a call to Americanism; the belief in the ability of people from all walks of life to work together to create an unbreakable society built on cornerstones called ‘liberty’ and ‘justice for all’. Americanism is a belief that we as a people will work hard, not for mere money or power, but instead to accomplish righteous goals in both our everyday lives and on a grand scale. Americanism is about making real what pragmatists call dreams and cynics call impossible.

And it is about solving all of our problems, together. As one nation, Indivisible.

This is what makes sense to me, as an individual. I hope I am not alone.