Health care.
Finance and banking.
Airline.
Insurance.
Auto.
Home mortgage.
Immigration.
Homeland Security (think: TSA).
Social Security.
Infrastructure (think: bridges and levees).
Lobbying & congressional financing.
Free press (Ask the NYTimes’ Maureen Dowd about restricted access)
Foreign Intelligence.
Non-partisan NGOs (think: NIH).
An independent DOJ.
Consumer product oversight.
Energy.
Civilian control of the military.
Governmental accountability (think: respect for subpoenas, for starters)
The whole system of checks and balances.

These are some of the industries and governmental institutions that are currently failing, to one degree or another.

This list is too big. It’s not one thing, it’s all of them together. We are having a national crisis of leadership… as in, no one is showing any.

Not the current president. Not the candidates. Not the heads of the legislative houses, either. Not the titans of industry, not the pundits, not anyone.

Kind of scary.

I don’t expect the people who currently hold formal power to change. Yet we need something from someone… so it’s got to come from… us. I’m done looking to them for help. It ain’t there. I’m over it.

Here’s what I want, not from them, but from myself and from you:

• Activist citizenship. Get to know your councilman, alderman, state or federal representative, senator… anyone. It takes about 10 seconds online to look up your city and figure out who represents you at the municipal, state, and national level. Do it, please.
• Seeking to learn. Politics is a tough subject to see objectively, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Because guess what: Obama is not who he says he is, and McCain’s not the man he once was. Biden got blown out of the primary, and Palin is in over her head. Anyone not willing to admit that this election is about choosing the lesser of two evils needs to kick the Kool-Aid habit.
• Respect. The more people I meet, the more hopeful I am. People get petty when they don’t understand what’s going on. Armed with information, most of the people I interact with get downright magnanimous. Respect your peers, they’re doing the best they know how. If they’re falling short, help. At a minimum, cut ‘em some slack.
• Sacrifice. I had a boss once who talked about the fact that, every once in a while, we all get “to take a bite out of the sh*t sandwhich.” It’s only natural to think that you can find a way to insulate yourself from the impact of a crisis… or at least outthink your neighbors. This one’s too big, and too far reaching. What are you going to do, move to China? They’re holding so much American debt, we all may soon be living in China. “China East Pacific,” that is. Steady yourself, take a deep breath, and whatever energy you were about to put into self-preservation, dedicate it to the preservation of the whole.
• Open your doors. We live in a world of “weak” ties… but moving forward, we’re going to need to forge some deep relationships. I foresee the return of the neighborhood as we find we cannot rely on government and big business to help us… it’s going to be back to watching each others’ kids; cooking for more people to spread out food costs and reduce waste; banding together to support local schools, trading homeopathic health care tips; etc. Start to meet your neighbors if you don’t already know them.
• Stop listening to stupid. There are real issues impacting us today that require our attention. Understanding finance might not be as fascinating as who wore what on the red carpet, but when the impact of the issue can be measured in the hundreds of billions, which EACH of the issues above can be, ignorance is neither cute nor acceptable.
• Bury your pride. Secure victory in Iraq? What victory? There’s no victory there to be had. Keeping at it until we can “claim” victory through a narrow, military-only lens is hogwash. That’s mid-20th century thinking. After Vietnam, Iran-Contra, Afghanistan’s freedom fighters, Israel-Palestine, N. Ireland, Kashmir, etc. one would think the world should have learned by now that military victories often make the inevitable healing process longer and more difficult… while standing down often has the opposite effect. They hate us. I know. But they won’t hate us less when we insist on kicking their asses one more time. It’s time to grow up and get past our pride, as individuals and as a nation.
• Look up. The world is changing, and while change is scary, it’s not bad. The sky ain’t falling. As of the federal takeover of Fannie and Freddie, we ceased to be a free market economy. (Whatever we are in 10 years, after today’s $700 billion bailout package and last week’s $85 billion AIG loan, it won’t be we won’t be capitalist.) Those days are gone. And it’s scary as hell because the people in power right now have proven over the past 16 years—yes, 16—that they cannot be trusted with power. Yet they have more than ever… so yes, something’s got to give. And it will. And it will hurt, because those with power will resist giving it back, but in the end, we will emerge better for it. Have the courage to see it through.
• Look big. You make $250k+ and you’re worried about taxes going up? Don’t be a schmuck. You should be worried about not being able to heat your home because you can’t buy sufficient electricity at any price. Or about your sons or daughters being able to breathe. Air.
• Celebrate math and science. Possibly the greatest thing going on right now in the world is the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. At a close second are the research institutions, like the Weitzmann Institute. Make a donation… in them and in your local schools. We need to be investing in scientific research right now like mad… because we are going to need a whole slew of new technologies to support the world we are becoming.
• Enjoy the ride. This is an historic time. Enjoy your life, your family, your friends. Don’t forget to live.

I expect to survive this mess we’re in, and I expect you will, too. I have no intention of living in a bubble, nor do I intend to stick my head in the sand. We know what we need to do.

Let’s git ‘er done.

Tagged as: Americana, bs-ometer, common sense, personal responsibility, world politics