Forum Post: Let's work on messaging - we need to focus to influence

Here's something I posted elsewhere today regarding messaging. Of course for OWS a consensus of the focus message for change is needed. With more focus we can become a strong political force and create change....

My Birthday Wish - I'm breaking the rule this year and sharing my birthday wish ... I wish that my children and grandchildren will believe as I do that the USA is or can be the best country in the world! That’s why I have written my thoughts about today’s domestic problems. Also because we for the moment are the most influential country on the world, my wish has an impact beyond our borders. When I say USA, I mean the people, our social values, our beliefs, our hopes, aspirations and our ability to project the its attributes to others not as fortunate...... freedom, liberty and justice. I know I potentially lost 1/2 of the readers so far, but bear with me.

Let me talk about the right wing republicans (RWP) (ok, another x% stopped reading), who I do not expect to accept the desire of my wish anyway. They and others have thrust lobbyists and their own bullshit: taxes are bad; federalism is bad, too much interference destroys or makes capitalism less effective. Of course there is black, white and gray in all issues. But if one believes only that black or white exists you also might want to stop reading because my wish requires empathy and compromise.

IMO - The only way one can believe the positions advocated by RWPs is to be happily ignorant. Do you know people who are ALWAYS happy? They do not know the content of key issues impacting the country’s fundamental values. Ask them a thought provoking question and see the depth of their knowledge.... scary! Of course I generalize as there are very happy smart knowledgeable people. Thank goodness I am fortunate to know some and I'm sure a lot of your friends do not fit into this category also. But trust me there are too many that DO EXIST. There are just too many people who only know the snippets of failed ideology, proven not to work but it has become part of their core beliefs.

The country owes $14 -15 TRILLION. I can not fathom the magnitude of even one trillion dollars. But it's true! Shit give me 14 trillion $s and I'll have ALL of a country's citizens happier than a pig in shit, safe, a progressive infrastructure, exporting not importing energy, without one iota of negative influence on what we value today. Think about this..... We could be using American made smart-phones while we vacation in China, Japan or elsewhere in the world.  Okay, some went to the 1% ers that exists outside the country…..in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and all of the other foreign aid recipients outside the U.S. NOT that we earmarked it for them but as in the USA, that's how the greed and politics work. Some went to the war, and the non-bid contracts (Please give me one of those) which btw was excluded from the Bush era budgets (another story of its own).

Some of us benefited from the money that we borrowed to subsidize our national deficits. Emphasis on borrowed. If we did not borrow, we would not have some of our wealth. So logically that borrowed money was “earned” here in America. Most earned it but perhaps more than it should have been. Perhaps less should have been borrowed constricting the amounts the fortunate ones earned. Of course more could have been allocated to the root causes of today’s problems – e.g. street-people, hunger, those who HAD to work and therefore received an inferior education as they could not afford further education, just to name a few. Nor were the $s applied to the investing in the sinking middle class. So riddle me this ... where did the TRILLIONS go? Why does the thought of a tax increase and more social equality have the federal Congress so rigidly oppose to the older tax systems that many perceive as supporting the earlier growth of a healthy America?   What are we to do about it? First, acceptance, we have not just a problem but a threat to our country and our descendents. One that could destroy us as Rome was destroyed ~ 2,000 years ago. The current system is not working and unless we change it, it will undermine what we have. Here are some opportunities for change.

Note: unfortunately for each belief there is a lobbyist / economic force who oppose them. Good for them short term but not in the best interests of the USA.

• Our government is stagnant when we are in need to implement the best ideas to progress quickly. I believe it was Thomas Friedman that said ... we need a 21st century government system that is not yet known to us. That is a profound statement!

*We need government efficiency big time. There is so much opportunity to save and improve services, one can have a field day just thinking about it. Trust me it's true and easy to implement.

*We do need regulations, as the market does not have control or create the game-rules over vital aspects of capitalism. These rules should be as decided by non politicians.

• We need a progressive health care system that reduces costs to other countries levels and increases the quality to those levels. That’s also an easy one …. in business they call it benchmarking. Copy what works, simple. Btw, it costs much less in countries with health care that is superior to ours (reference from PBS Frontline). Let's keep the non factual BS snippets on problems with waiting lines please!

• Provide incentives for young hungry kids for education that will lead to jobs staying in America and a win-win for business and the country. Intuitively, if we subsidize an engineer's (or any job the USA market can not supply) education, then the value that is created and the return on investment (ripple economic effect, social welfare not paid, taxes paid to the government) over the 35-40 years will be a superior investment.

• Enact laws cleansing finance campaign laws and compensate politicians consistent with the will of the people. I wish I had a vote on my retirement and health-care package..... of course it's STUPID!

• Make districting of the federal and state house of representatives fair and end political gerrymandering. They create homogenous districts and support and cause voting intransience.

• Insist on balanced trade and proprietary right protection with our so called country trade partners. Actually some I call robbers. Do you think the Chinese or Saudi Arabian decision makers are pondering fairness in trade? I agree with Donald Trump (perhaps the only thing I agree with Donald on), they are economically pillaging us leading us down that Roman road.

• Subsidize energy technology and production to invest and avoid dependence on other countries. How much money are we sending overseas for energy that could be redirected to our own economic energy resources and job market and national welfare? (I guess we are spending $250 billion per year for energy per year) The return on investment is huge! World politics will be turned upside down allowing our most important values to flourish but that are now held captive! How, let’s support a base price per gallon to reduce risk to the US energy private sector, another major return on that investment to the country. (double ugggh oil lobbyists!)

Ah.... then there's something we all can agree on capitalism. You’ all know it as ... SUPPLY AND DEMAND (not trickle down or job creator rhetoric). Think about this proven economic process......We create demand by improving economic conditions for the 99% and all even the "1%" group benefit. Why? Because as the money is spent by the 99% it creates an economic wave with a ripple effect focused on the core of the economy (Sorry Tiffanys). You can be sure that the middle class will spend a higher proportion of their monies than the 1%.

There are hundreds of ways to improve the country. Those in this piece may not be the most urgent or the best. But I know one thing without a doubt and that is, the USA can and has to do better..... NOW and the current political stagnation is unacceptable. I don’t care to blame any political party and it is OUR responsibility to create the change.

So my birthday wish in a nutshell - most importantly is for all to take the time to understand what the politicians and 1% are doing for and to our country, think of the gray between the black and white but do not sacrifice on core values, quickly move forward, "pay it forward" and foster improving our country.