Throughout my lifetime Americans have become conditioned.

• If I say “Guns”, we are conditioned to argue about freedom and the Second Amendment, instead of discussing what individuals might need to feel safe in their homes and communities.
• If I say “Climate”, we have been conditioned to argue about whether climate change is real or is a “hoax”.
• If I say “Taxes”, we have been conditioned to argue about government spending and corruption, not about tax and economic fairness and the investment in our shared future, and what that future should look like.
• If I say “Abortion”, we’ve been conditioned to argue about whether women should have reproductive freedom versus religious doctrine.
• If I say “Pandemic”, we’ve been conditioned to argue about masks and vaccines, not a sense of community where we transcend politics and arguing and try to protect those most vulnerable to the next contagious and deadly disease.
• If I say “Library”, we argue about parental rights and banning books, not about what a remarkable freedom it is to have a vast collection of knowledge, articles, books, and archives readily available for all to use and borrow without paying Amazon or to be on the wrong side of a paywall.
• If I say “School”, we argue about whether to teach actual history (the good, the bad, and the ugly), so new generations of Americans avoid the egregious mistakes of the past and chart a better future for all of us, or whether we should just teach politicized patriotic propaganda to indoctrinate with a foundation of education constructed on lies.
• If I say “Healthcare”, we will argue about a “public option”, whether healthcare should only be available to those who can afford it, and wanting government out of healthcare (while Wall Street, hedge funds, and private equity are just fine I guess?), instead of uniting against a broken and failing system (when compared to other systems around the world) that only serves investors and the pharmaceutical industry.
• If I say “Marriage”, we will argue about marriage rights and the LGBTQ+ community instead of celebrating that two people have found each other and love in an often painful and tragic world.

We have been conditioned to think about legislation and policy impacting all of us as Democrats winning, Republicans winning, and/or MAGA winning.

We are being intentionally misdirected to think of winning as causing “Liberal tears” or “MAGA tears” -instead of how legislation and policy impact all of us. The “Big Beautiful Bill” passed? Ha ha ha liberals!!! And during the laughter, no thought whatsoever was given to the GOP, since Ronald Reagan, saying tax cuts for the wealthy “job creators” pay for themselves, while needing to raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion. And during the laughter, no thinking about “if there is a pile of new debt, and the wealthy have been given tax cuts, who pays for that new debt?”

Throughout my lifetime, we have been conditioned to argue. We’ve been conditioned to glance at pain, suffering, poverty, the unhoused, cruelty, and to quickly look the other way. Mind our own business, heads down, and denying the reality around us. At the same time media has consolidated into just a handful of billionaire-owned conglomerates.

Instead of fulfilling an important role in our society by informing us (remember any meaningful attempt at democracy requires an educated, informed, and engaged society), they seek to keep us divided, conditioned to argue.

If we could stop living in a default world where we are intentionally divided so people like Musk, Thiel, Bezos, and Ellison can hoard more wealth and political power.

If we could gather, listen to our own life stories, and talk about what a future United States should be, and then have the will, focus, and patience to change our current trajectory we could all be viewed as heroes by future generations who read about how we rejected the hate, fear, and intentional divides cast upon us, charting a new path together toward a fair, free, prosperous, and secure tomorrow.

A future that includes affordable, high-quality, patient-centered healthcare for all. Fair taxation and an economic system that provides a safety net, rewards hard work, innovation, and societal value. A world-class public and affordable higher education system led by well-paid educators (and especially not idiot governors) and predicated on facts, evidence, science, and critical thinking, not whitewashed history, propaganda, and politicized false patriotism.

A future society where we recognize that we are all striving toward a better, more peaceful, and more secure place for our children, grandchildren, and generations yet to come -regardless of race, gender, beliefs, and who we choose to love.

The measure of our courage is not in denial, but in confronting the dystopia ahead and steering toward freedom, fairness, opportunity, and hope for all.

THANK YOU FOR PAYING ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.

PS -My Articles and Subscriptions are always free.

If you find this article of value please do share with friends, associates, & others who have an interest in the content.

Please note that my articles and subscriptions are not paywalled. This stems from a guiding principle -that any meaningful democracy requires an informed, educated, and engaged society. It is also to honor the life of Aaron Swartz who held firmly to the belief that research and knowledge intended for the betterment of humanity should be freely shared. Also, when you subscribe, like, & share -it is good for my fragile ego.

Aside from writing, mentoring others and projects related to democracy, economics, and social innovation, I’m dedicated to Civic Works, a 501c3 non-profit organization building and managing technology that blends social networking and civic engagement. Our core effort is around civ.works: https://civ.works. It is intended as a subscriber-supported, ad-free social network that does not betray subscriber trust by selling or sharing data with marketers or sinister political operatives.

I’m incredibly grateful for all who contribute to the civ.works effort through our secure payment processor, Stripe -and all who help us gain visibility by sharing the project with journalists and others to move the effort forward.

Special appreciation for all who continue to recommend my rants and musings, restack articles that are found to be worthy, and share with friends and family. And the following are some special recommendations for stacks I value -

• Diane’s Blue Forum 👩‍💻
• The Dworkin Report
• LA Progressive
• America's Fractured Politics
• For Such a Time as This
• Polytricks
• The Great Progression
• Pete Buttigieg’s Substack
• James Vander Poel
• Ilene’s Substack
• Beverly Falls
• Martha Redsecker
• Heather Cox Richardson -Letters from an American (LFAA)
• Steady, Dan Rather