The United States of America is at a crossroads, and every American has a decision to make. What kind of country do we want to be? See, that’s the beauty of being Americans. We can choose to be anything we want.
We can view the United States of America as an idea, a promise, a Dream. We can be a country that deeply believes in our elections, our institutions, our intelligence agencies, checks and balances, and the awesome Americans who work tirelessly for us on every level of our government.
We can be a country that is committed to fiscal responsibility and has: manageable debt; a sensible plan to stabilize Medicare and Social Security; an uncomplicated tax code; a smart and humane immigration policy; an evolving, self-reliant energy policy; affordable, high-quality health care; and a government that runs like a well-oiled machine. We can be a country that is wowed by the marvels of science; is committed to ground-breaking research and development; supports academic and scientific innovation; and creates a welcoming climate that attracts international capital and talent.
We can be a country that properly educates our children and values a healthy planet. We can be a country that believes that, just because one income level benefits, the others don’t have to lose. A country where we can implement policies that help ALL Americans thrive – not with handouts, but with opportunity. A country that understands that to be successful, every player on Team America needs to make sure every other player has access to the very best education, health care, and job opportunities, and that other things – like housing and wages – are fair and equitable for every American.
We can be a United States of America that is the Gold Standard. A country that has unimpeachable integrity. A country that is committed to the rules-based global world order that has successfully governed peace, security, democracy and prosperity since World War II, and one that defends the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries. … a country that is the go-to nation during an international crisis – not to foot the bill for everyone, but to offer bold solutions and coordinate multilateral responses.
We can be a United States that is a reliable and trustworthy friend. One that is fiercely loyal to our allies. An America that is partners with other countries, not one that arrogantly tries to dominate the entire world by acting superior and bossing everyone around.
We can be a United States of America that ensures our light shines far beyond our shores… a country that takes tremendous pride in our accomplishments but that is empathetic and supportive of those with less opportunity. One that champions human rights and works to improve the factors that enable violent extremism such as poverty, inequality and repression by creating economic advancements for those who don’t have the opportunities we are blessed with. One that always strives to honor the motto of the United States Army Special Forces: De Oppresso Liber…To Free the Oppressed… and anytime anyone asks why we help defenseless people around the world? We say: Because we are the United States of America, and it’s our honor.
OR
We can be a country with no heart and no soul… just a place on a map to simply exist. We can be a country where power is concentrated in a small, elite group distinguished by wealth, with a government that focuses on their interests, all but guaranteeing significant inequality – even though history tells us that, when that happens, this small, elite group will do anything necessary to keep that power, embracing autocratic ambitions and fascist tendencies.
… or a country where the president and his staff use their positions as a national extortion scam, taking their culture of corruption to Russia-level oligarchy proportions – unprecedently and unabashedly using the power and resources of the U.S. government to enrich themselves, their families, and their friends.
We can be a country where those same people – who have been given so many advantages by doing nothing more than being in America – only want to see the bad in it. It’s failing. It’s in decline. It’s filled with carnage, violence, and danger. American cities are killing fields, overrun with violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, and need to be under military control like in Russia and North Korea.
We can be a country that allows our leaders to trample all over the First Amendment, due process, and checks and balances. We can be a country that enables our leaders to curtail civil liberties, reject democratic principles, attack higher education, and strongarm law firms and private corporations. We can be a country whose leaders openly defy federal courts, unconstitutionally bypass Congress, and declare “national emergencies” on false pretenses. We can be a country where our leaders do everything under the sun to stifle free speech; control the news media; suppress inconvenient truths; eliminate dissent; silence political rivals; make political opposition more difficult; and punish those they perceive slight them in any way.
We can be a country that is fiscally irresponsible; is comfortable having a $1.8 trillion deficit and so much debt that it exceeds 100% of our entire gross domestic product; forsakes the education of our children; is perfectly fine having 36 million people live in poverty, plus staggering inequity in everything from wealth to incomes to education to our criminal justice system; abandons research and development; vilifies science; disregards the health of our planet; and gives tax cuts to the wealthy while cutting funding for everything from preschools to help for the vulnerable to emergency funding for federal programs that provide food, shelter, and housing for Americans after disasters.
We can be a country that turns its immigration enforcement agency into an unconstrained paramilitary force and one that dispatches the military into American streets to incite fear and suppress opposition – but then lets people who violently storm our beloved Capitol and try to disrupt our sacred elections completely off the hook.
We can be a country whose leaders govern through rash impulses and political theatre instead of substance, and who believe: flattery is more valuable than competency; expertise and intelligence are a negative; and empathy is a weakness.
We can be a country whose leaders are crude, harsh and mean; are fueled by ego, anger, grievance, revenge, and retribution; and who gaslight, point fingers, place blame, and provoke envy. We can be a country whose leaders lie, invent villains, and encourage cruelty just for cruelty’s sake. We can be a country whose leaders rewrite history, vilify marginalized groups, and think of Americans as factions divided by race, money and social class – and try hard to make everyone else think that way too. We can be a country whose leaders invent then stoke culture wars and try to weaponize the color of our skin, picking at old wounds and trying to revive outdated narratives.
We can be a country that doesn’t have or deserve respect from those around the world. A country that kills survivors clinging to the wreckage of supposed drug boats we bombed and one that invades and takes over other countries with no legal basis or congressional oversight – saber-rattling and running roughshod over everyone in a reign of aggression and chaos, free from the rules-based international order established after World War II.
We can be a country that doesn’t help desperate and defenseless nations; starts trade wars; withdraws from major global agreements; abandons our faithful military allies like the Syrian Democratic Forces; reneges on our promise to protect the incredibly brave men and women who risked their lives to serve alongside us in Afghanistan; and is rude to NATO members and world leaders, treating our most trusted allies like they are enemies – insulting them, bullying them, and threatening them right in the Oval Office.
It’s time to choose. We can have any kind of country we want.