What Are You Thinking About?

Issue 118

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If this is your first read, welcome to The Conscious Politics Op-Ed (formerly The Conscious Politics Sunday Newsletter), currently being published whenever possible.

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I want the United States of America to be that shining light on the hill, a beacon of democracy, strong and reliable, trusted and emulated. I want to travel the world and be welcomed as a friend and ally, simply because of the passport I carry. I want to embody a sense of pride in “my country” and I want us, the U.S., to invest our power and influence in cultivating democracy wherever it percolates.

I want the word united to be repurposed, elevated, and infused into our cultural consciousness such that its profound meaning resonates within us because we are citizens of the United States of America. Though we “Americans” don’t tend to think much beyond ourselves, the fact is we in the United States are not the only Americans on the planet. Indeed, there are more than 30 countries on land we call the Americas so, in a very real sense, it seems, citizens of all of them are all Americans. What distinguishes us, then, in this panoply of countries, is that we call ourselves united, we claim it as a distinguishing factor, and no country on Earth is better poised to realize true unity than the United States of America. I want us to appreciate the juicy breadth and depth of what it means for all manner of people to be united around a set of ideals, values, and the rule of law — particularly as we enter an age of, say it with me, unity consciousness.

I want us all to be steeped in terms of united, not in terms of reds and blues. I want to experience a sense of interconnectedness between those of us who live in cities big and small and in suburbs and exurbs and, most definitely, in all manner of rural communities. I want us to develop an appreciation for the roles and contributions our varied regions play. I want to get in my car for a multi-state or cross-country road trip and be excited to cross from one state into another and hear children howl with excitement as they fill their license plate bingo cards. I want to feel welcome, in a neighborly sense, anywhere I go and I may even want to learn something about what’s unique or special about the place I’m in. I want to eat what the locals eat and learn something about how they live. I want every citizen to believe they belong.

I want legislatures at every level of government in our country to be chock full of servant leaders — people who know what it means to put country over party and self-interest, people of good faith who are humbled by and have reverence for the offices they hold, people whose fealty to their oaths of office engenders respect not only of their supporters, but of all their constituents even if they disagree on politics and policies. The same, of course, goes for executive branches from top to bottom at every level of government whether they are elected officials, political appointees or government employees. And yes, of course, I want our judiciaries to be functional and trusted such that the travesty occurring on the U.S. Supreme Court right now would simply never happen. I want any and all interactions I ever have at any level of government to be easy, efficient, and respectful. I want fairly drawn electoral districts and presidential candidates who win the most votes to assume the office.

it’s our job as conscious politics practitioners — especially when things are other than how we’d like them to be — to engage that two-step we do: contend with what is…and invest the rest of our precious time and energy thinking (and talking and acting and feeling) in terms of what we want.

I want us all to sleep every night in warm, comfortable, cozy beds in places we call home and for the U.S. to help make that true for everyone on the planet. I want every one of us to be financially comfortable and for us, as a society, to compassionately provide a leg up to fellow citizens in need. I want us all to have high-quality health care be it allopathic or homeopathic or osteopathic or any pathic we choose. I want our public schools to be fully funded and for civics education to be placed atop otherwise robust, dynamic, newly-imagined curricula that are relevant to the regions in which they exist and the times in which we live. I want a citizenry that sees itself as citizens first, cognizant of the responsibilities that come with the role, regardless of however else any of us pursues our individual happiness. I want voter turnout to exceed ninety-five percent as a matter of course in every election.

I want immigrants to our country to be welcomed in sane, rational, and compassionate ways. I want them to be guided and welcomed into the fabric of our society by people who care and by the larger communities in which they live. I want them to be able to readily contribute what they will to the greater whole, like every other citizen.

I could go on and usually do…in my own mind anyway. And that’s the point. The law of attraction is always on so intentions very much matter. Intentions are expressions of who we want to be, what we want to have, and/or what we want to do so it’s our job as conscious politics practitioners — especially when things are other than how we’d like them to be — to engage that two-step we do: contend with what is (war? really? still? well, uh, alright then. next?) and invest the rest of our precious time and energy thinking — and talking and acting and feeling — in terms of what we want.

Personally? I’m a freedom junkie. And in a moment when humanity, spread as it is across some 195 countries, dithers between choosing self-rule or choosing autocratic rule in so many places where the choice can still be made, I believe it is self-rule — what democracy is — that creates the greatest opportunity for the freedom I desire. But that’s just me.

It’s no one’s job to tell you what to want. That’s all you and only you. But it’s apparently my job to remind you, at least, to think about what you want as much as you possibly can. It’s just good practice.

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