State of The Union / January 2018 #USA #socialresponsibility #humanrights #economy #education #empathiccapitalism #positivedisruption

Decade after decade, the framing of the priorities of most importance in the United States of America appear to be staggered by the special interests of the campaigning patrons of congressional and presidential leadership. Such vital interests as the economy, health care and security, are three very prescient local and national matters which should be of great concern to all of us, and have remained so. Great successes over the last 12 months in these areas cannot be ignored and must be brought to light. The people and government that make the United States of America have in many respects grown stronger, become more mindful on the local, national and global level and begun to participate more in the movement of choosing the direction in which to continue to steer the country. 

As of January 2018, the economy appears to have rebounded with a tremendous growth in credible job employment across the nation and a stock market that has added over 7,000 points since President Donald Trump took office this month last year. To further aid the growth of the national economy, President Trump has embarked on a drastic endeavor to undue unnecessary regulations and initiated a global trading stance that is more befitting for the United States. 

With a focus on strengthening the United States from the inside out, starting with the economy, the White House leadership has reached out to leaders across the world with an olive branch of good will in the hopes of establishing better social and economic relations. This has been so, even as it has remained watchful and steadfast in not tolerating countries and international organizations seeking to threaten the security of Americans. Internationalist threats like Al-Quaeda and ISIS have been almost completely obliterated in Afghanistan and Iraq, and our armed forces are on a trajectory of being rebuilt stronger than ever.

Internally, Americans, the established media, our elected leaders and technology have coalesced in a dramatic form taking what is tantamount to a revolution into cyberspace. This is good. Unlike times of past and as it is happening even now in countries like, Iran, in the United States, our conversation with one another has taken an intellectual tone and new life by flourishing discourse through our social media platforms. Americans are flocking to the internet to express their ideas, feelings, views, counter the perspective of others, bring to task our legislators, our president and discuss the actions of the highest courts in the country. Having these platforms, imperfect as they may currently be, has created an outlet for the United States to talk to itself. The freedoms we innately enjoy are being exercised online, while to a great degree, albeit not near perfectly, public order has been kept across the nation. We are all part of families and our differences, though quite passionate, have yet to completely sever the nation as a whole.

With that said, there are some very critical issues that need to be tackled and could have been addressed over the last 12 months, in order to bring the country into greater unity. Not doing so has created a rather devastating divide which threatens to upend our nation as a whole. 

With all the successes of the past year there are a few key areas of concern which left unchecked, will have the capacity to further undue the ties that bind us as a people. Over these areas of concern is one prevalent issue which has been dismissed as crucial to sowing good will, and that is political bi-partisanship. Last time I looked upon our flag there were three colors on it. Seeking common ground without overturning strong-held beliefs and perspectives is possible. For example, we do not have to agree on climate change to work together to be great caretakers of the environment. Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle should have been concerted in working together to by-pass the climate change argument and simply focused on creating legislative progress on incentivizing and penalizing industry to create the technology to offset, such things as air pollution from vehicles. We should have been able to double the fuel mileage per gallon requirements in our cars given it has been a topic of conversation for over thirty years. For that matter, airplane fuel consumption standards should be addressed also, given the enormity of the domestic airline industry. Reducing our carbon foot print can be readily addressed in meaningful, impactful ways, and yet, the political discourse is allowed to get bogged down on whether climate change is real or not.  Another environmental issue that needs a technological-revolutionary solution is plastic. The amount of plastic that is created and discarded after a single-use is incredible. Even with our recycling industry in place, most plastic ends up in our oceans. 

As was put forth, ‘congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle should have been working together to by-pass’ their differences and seek out consensus where it can be found. This is being socially responsible and fulfilling this call in bringing into reality effective solutions to care taking for the environment would send a strong message to the rest of the world: American democracy is strong because of its stance that it will seek to move forward with itself in ‘doing the right thing,’ even as it has its sharp disagreements. We must have have an inclination to find where we can work with one another, even as we develop our focuses which may create our differences. It is the energy and follow-through of working with one another that binds us, and not simply expressing ourselves and our differences.

As for our economy, though a great number of jobs have been added and the stock market is breaking new ground every month, the truth of the matter is that we are still experiencing an economic system which is prone to great downturns. The reality of ‘trickle-down economics’ places before us that the greatest benefactors of capitalism are the captains of industry, followed by the management circle around these down to the employee working for a minimum wage. Following that, the growth of our stock market has been largely driven by these captains of industry and their management cadre reinvesting their profits back into stocks. The cutting of financial regulations has further complimented this movement through the incentivizing of the repatriation of profits from overseas, helping to add around one trillion dollars to our economy. This is great, and yet, Main Street is still largely left out in the cold, even with the advent of tax cuts and more money trickling down. What I put forth allows for this economic system to remain in place and also introduces a new one which does not compete with it, but compliments it.

Namely, this is ‘empathic capitalism.’ It is an addition to the current paradigm of capitalism which both addresses the liberty of the individual to create their own profitable endeavor and yet, educates the same to do so within the construct of social good. In this sense, the social entrepreneur attains to bringing product and services to market which are in accordance with the needs and demands of the empowering the greater community, while doing so in a way that addresses social concerns. In a marked difference to a capitalistic venture practicing philanthropy, the social entrepreneurial venture outlines its community service to the community as a means of profit, hence the term, empathic capitalism. In this economic construct, the individual becomes an aspiring captain of industry, creating jobs, problem solving and engineering solutions on the local, national and global level. For this paradigm to work though, education is essential. Starting from grade school, financial literacy must be taught in an appropriate manner alongside using a project-based mindset that seeks solutions to community issues. As it stands, the instructional approach of our public school systems focus on teaching knowledge of core subjects, such as science, technology and math, in effect, setting the stage for an employee-based workforce, which has its benefits. Established companies and institutions will always need new labor to bring into its operations. Scientists and engineers need not recreate the wheel in their field each time, but enter into doing meaningful work as part of a larger organization. That said, there is a need to divest the social responsibility of making America great again from the realm of our government’s executive and legislative body and long-established companies into giving rise to new growth through the development of individuals who are ready to think critically. These individuals would be us. The best place to start is in childhood. We are naturally enthusiastic, passionate learners as children and done appropriately, we can direct subsequent new generations on how to bring real-world solutions to such problems as homelessness, the environment, poverty, and economic stagnation, to name a few. We simply have to support this empathic capitalism construct of social entrepreneurship through our educational system. The result would be an abundance of critical thinkers who create their own economies while they seek to better their local, national and global community. In this sense, those at the bottom of the economic ladder are not waiting for financial affluence to trickle-down, but they become active creators of affluence, leaders of their community and stewards of social good.

The successes of 2017 are well-received, but we should have had more. The days of looking upon one leader, a government and the most powerful elite to be the saviors of all that besets us as a country needs to be offset by a growth in placing responsibility of our well-being into us as individuals. Otherwise, nothing changes if nothing changes. The furtherance of our democratic experiment in the United States of America must be prodded along once again by making a move that places economic and social responsibility into each of us from an early age. This is how we dress poverty, unemployment, economic stagnation, and the health of the our physical environment; by empowering ourselves to take action.

With all this said, the single most important issue before us has been left for last. It is one that has eroded our moral and spiritual health to such an extent that the United States has become a nation of narrow eye sight, fixated on economic growth. It is an issue that exists in every home and for every individual with nothing less than our souls caught in the balance. This single priority has been run from established media platforms, facing censorship as a conversation and fight that needs to be had. The loss of life of all the U.S. wars combined (1.1 million people) pales in comparison to the official tally of the 58 million Americans killed in the name of liberty and women’s rights. The eugenics practice of human abortion in America is also a business, with the leading human extermination corporation receiving about $550 million every year, aside from other profits it may make, such as through the sale of human body parts or charitable contributions by sympathizers. 

As of this writing, it has become evident that the overwhelming resonance from the executive office, the congressional body of legislators, and our Supreme Court as a whole, is for abortion. Rhetoric aside, President Trump, who has taken steps to curtail the U.S. funding of abortion outside our borders, has selected a Supreme Court justice with greater empathy towards protecting the sanctity of life and has directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the sale of human body parts, has demonstrated that he is pro-choice, and not pro-life. The expectation of a ‘Pain Capable Bill’ is slated for legislative approval stipulating that babies in the womb not be killed after twenty weeks of age on the premise that they do not feel pain due to what is being touted in the media as underdeveloped nervous systems not capable of feeling pain.

But a human life is a human life and all human life in America needs to be protected by our constitution. The argument placed forward by the for-profit abortion movement is that the human life in the womb is OWNED by the mother, without consent of the father, and as such, can be exterminated. In our Judeo-Christian nation, which is what America still is, it was never so that a for-profit eugenics corporation and empire of smaller abortion companies existed until the twentieth century with the lead of an avowed racist known as Margaret Sanger. As it has become, abortion is prosletyzed in public school health classes as a human right and exercise in liberty, framed to be publicly acceptable by the entertainment industry and its army of celebrities, met with near silence in higher-education academia and finally given the stamp of approval by established news media. 

What has burgeoned is a growing part of the United States that has brought the issue of continuing to add onto the 58 million American originals killed to the forefront and an opposition force led by Planned Parenthood, the abortion industry giant. This battle has grown much larger than establishing our humanity in the womb, and brought into scope the practice of this aforementioned abortion corporation receiving funding from the federal government while it is directly funding the campaigns of legislators who keep it being funded. 

The state of the union is not strong, but is facing tremendous tests from multiple fronts. What can be done should be done on the lesser, yet still very important fronts of vital interest to all of us. Compromise and negotiation can be found in many places, except human life. This is a real battle, with real deaths happening over two thousand times each day. Placing economy, national security, the environment, poverty or any issue before it is a mistake, as is keeping silent on the matter. In the coming year, I will pivot in fairness to the issues that are pressing and will do my part to bring greater fairness to that which needs to get done. 

In the spirit of the great Frederick Douglass, born a slave, whipped, and apportioned to be kept ignorant, he taught himself to read in order to learn, to think critically and finally to bring America to task for its moral fall on human rights. A master orator and writer, Douglass’s move to amplify his message through the purchase of his own printing press allowed him to wield incredible power unbeknownst to anyone at that time, much less a human being of black skin color. It was his ability to think and express himself critically and amplify his reach throughout the America of that day which positively disrupted President Abraham Lincoln’s approach and resolve to human rights. I will follow suit and do the same.

God bless America; every man, woman and child.