State of the Union

At his last State Of The Union address, President Obama nailed the opportunity to recap what the past seven years has been like. Focusing on the positive is refreshing. So much good was accomplished in the face of so much negative press. I guess the nature of the press is to report on what is wrong so citizens can attend to those problems. Well, reasonable people would assume that might be what they are doing. But they would be wrong, wouldn’t they?

Yes, the press reports on what’s going wrong in society, but they are also supposed to be pointing out what might be going well, too. Not only that, but they would do well to report on people who are doing good things so the society at large grows stronger and more resilient to whatever major changes come down our paths.

A teacher reaching out to a hungry student in her class; feeding the child unobtrusively so the kid feels cared for but not as a target of charity. Included and embraced is the feeling the teacher may be reaching for. That message alone is hopeful. That script is ever present in American life but because we don’t see it in print we don’t think it exists. Those who are involved in the lives of others know the opposite!

Teachers, social workers, community organizers, church staff who interact daily with the people of the church. These folks know what is going on in neighborhoods, cities and towns across the nation. It is not hidden from our view. It is quite present, but the press chooses not to focus attention on this part of our communal life. Too bad. Cynics rise up through the mists of ignorance quite easily. And the press helps make this happen.

So with our attention during news programs and quick scans of print press outlets, we get a warped view of what is going on.

Financial news is all about unemployment, collapsed housing markets, collapsed interest rate markets and falling stock prices.

Hmmmph! Let’s see, eight years ago the stock market was considerably less than half of where it is now. That’s right! The stock market was down and going lower. The great conservative push towards smaller government and growth of wealth for investors, collapsed the markets. Those with money were positioned to make lots of money, but only if the value of what everyone owned in the past was devalued. And that happened. Under republicans. Under conservatives.

Now, seven years later the stock market is at stunning levels. There is opportunity in many niches of our society. Sometimes it is staring us in our face. We don’t realize we are fighting a shadow of what we once thought and believed; that didn’t prove out. What we ought to be fighting is a misty, incomplete view of reality that we have assumed without knowing it. The world is dynamic and changing and exciting with new ideas. It is those ideas that will propel us into the next ten or twenty years.

Get off the oil standard of life! Stop thinking that oil is the only source of energy. It isn’t. Hasn’t been for some time now. Ford Motor Company finally gets it. They realize they are in the transportation industry; personalized transportation in the main, but still in the transportation industry. They move people from one location to another. Cars do this. Rented cars and owned cars. Shared cars. buses, trains, planes and boats also move people.

Gasoline engines power cars and trucks. But so do electric motors. So does nuclear energy in ships. Oil is a lubricant and chemical base for many other products. We ought not waste that utilitarian aspect of the product. Use it fully. Just don’t burn it! Besides, doing that pollutes the planet.

In its stead develop energy sources that are plentiful, readily available, and transportable.  Solar, wind, thermal and chemical power have much to offer when fully developed. So too the benefits of physics research in power sourcing and generation. We can do much more and all without oil. So let’s get on with it.

We cannot make rapid strides if we don’t try.

So, we rely on oil for the meanwhile, but firmly know we are replacing it with other energy resources. Ford understands this. Other companies don’t. Certainly Congress doesn’t.

We can make the oil industry irrelevant. Just think of the avoided pollution. Think also of the unrest and wars in the Middle East that focus on oil and spoils of oil. What a colossal waste of life, liberty, national treasure and time. Literally a waste of time. We should have been re-focusing our attention all these years. Think of where we would have arrived at by now if we hadn’t been wasting our time and treasure on the Middle East.

For one thing ISIS would not be an issue. Gaza would not be an issue. The Cradle of Civilization would still be a classroom and laboratory for archaeology and history and study of religions as it was before the great upset for power over oil markets.

The timelessness of man’s journey on the face of the globe teaches us one huge lesson: the more life changes the more it stays the same.

Do not fall for the short term, get quick rich scheme, or the instant power grab. The benefits are fleet and short lived. History takes time and declares winners and losers with the benefit of hindsight and foresight.

There are good things in our life. There are movements within our culture that are rich and powerful and easily shared among each of us. That is the state of our union. It is more positive than today’s politicians can possibly imagine. The clamorers of attention only delude the simple minded and themselves. They miss the point of what America is and can be. It is a broad shouldered nation we have. It is not as weak as the Trumps, Cruzs and Rubios claim it to be. And we are brighter and more intelligent than they give us credit to be.

Obama knows this, has known this. Thank God we had Obama through this difficult time. Simpler minds got us into the mess; strong minds got us out of it.

Now, who will we choose to continue our progress?

January 13, 2015