By Hazel Smith, Stevensville
My vision for positive change in America in 2012 includes some “what ifs”:
What if… we lived what Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “I am not afraid of the future.”
What if… we believed along with John F. Kennedy, “The hope still lives. The dream shall never die.”
What if… we judged every man and woman “by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.” (Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.) Diversity in America has always been our great strength.
What if… we prayed for all persons everywhere who are searching for God, regardless of their religion or denomination, and stopped our divisive attempts to prove that we have the only “truth”?
What if… we were vigilant to secure freedom and justice for all persons? James Madison, father of our Constitution, said of equality in America: “Not the rich more than the poor; not the learned more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names more than the humble sons of obscure and unpropitious fortune.”
What if… we listened to, learned from, and compromised with each other instead of name-calling, slandering, and halting progress in our political and civic endeavors?
What if… we supported nutritional, medical, educational, and job training programs for the those in our society who need them most, rather than giving tax breaks or corporate subsidies to the far more privileged?
What if… we spent the $650 million projected to be spent on misleading and often vicious PAC ads in this election cycle to pay down our national debt, to improve our ailing infrastructure and schools, or to create new energy sources?
What if… we believed in shared sacrifice and were all willing to pay a higher income tax based on our means? We have had the lowest tax rates in our history in recent years. We can’t afford it any more.
What if… we all supported means testing to determine the size of our Social Security income, and our Medicare benefits?
What if… we exercised regularly, and ate a predominately plant-based diet of vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, seeds and nuts? We could largely eliminate the huge costs of treating cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes in America.
What if… we learned to cooperate with other countries, and sought peace and mutual prosperity instead of war?
Could we then once again deserve to be called the greatest country on earth?
Mary Spooner-Smith says
Brilliant! A pity she cannot run for office, as we don’t have anyone else suitable yet!
Isn’t it time politicians stopped feathering their own nests and thought about the people that they are supposed to be representing? Why don’t you guys adopt the UK form of parliament and elect the party, cut out the money spent fighting each other for control (as she rightly points out) and prevent ending up with some guy who can do little in an office that really has no more power?