We need to build tomorrow.
You ever get this gnawing feeling that there is something about MAGA that is true? Or, if not true, at least on the right track? That’s what this essay is all about.
The US is in decline. Life expectancy is getting shorter. Upwards economic mobility is in deep decline. We know this and MAGA invokes cognitive dissonance when we discount MAGA as all negative.
MAGA is offering a solution. They organized and voted MAGA into office. The spirit is that society is broken and they have a solution, especially project 2025.
Compare this to the DC Democrats, Ds. The Ds’ only election strategy is to run as “not Republican”. I think most Americans have picked up on this and so the Ds only have a 33% favorability rating today.
We need to build tomorrow.
No Plan
In order to build tomorrow we have to know what we are building and all agree upon that to elect enough politicians to implement the vision. The problem with MAGA is they have no blueprint for society. Project 2025 is only a blueprint for political power, not society. Does the “again” in MAGA mean the 1950s? 1940s? 1860s? They don’t have a blueprint, a plan. Just some nebulous hand waving.
Exclusionary
Further MAGA classifies anyone who opposes MAGA as not American and therefore not included in MAGA.
We need to build a tomorrow that has a plan and includes everyone.
American Identity
What is the American identity? If we are going to include everyone we need an identity we can all agree upon? The American dream of the nuclear family, a house, and a car is out. That dream has been on a dramatic decline since the 90s. We rent now, no kids.
The academics point us to “rugged individualism” as a common identity. Another way of stating this is “every man for himself”. The Libertarian Utopia if you will. It was always a lie we told ourselves. To the extent rugged individualism may apply it is being choked to death by an economic downward spiral. Besides, “rugged individualism” was always a hindsight observation, not something codified in our culture. Freedom has always meant shared responsibility in this country. The unfettered definition of freedom has always been perversion.
Religion is one identity MAGA is touting to the point of excluding anyone not Christian. This is straight up denial that 30-40% of this country is not-Christian. A plan for a national identity that excludes 30-40% out of the gate is doomed to fail.
There is another identity that has always been in the background and talked about, a better tomorrow. The Pilgrims landed in the 16th century looking to build a city upon a hill, a better tomorrow. Today we talk about the next generation having a better life than the current generation.
If Boomers have a failure we must own it is this: the next generations are doing worse.
This is the identity that defines what it means to be American for all Americans: ensuring future generations inherit a world better off than we had it.
This means that to build tomorrow must include the plan to include an ability to always build tomorrow, or ABT.
American identity, noun: 1. Always build tomorrow. 2. Always build an ability to build a better tomorrow so future generations have it better than the current generation.
Pilgrims saw themselves as building a better tomorrow for the next generation. This next generation mind-set has been lost today. We are burning the proverbial candle at both ends today.
No Borders Identity
When the American Revolution happened the founders wrote and believed that America was just a beginning. They wanted Democracy to be implemented everywhere, no borders. One could argue the success of globalization is an extension of world American prosperity. Which is why it is so sad to see USAID cut. We have a long heritage of sharing prosperity with no borders. The United Nations was founded here.
Our national identity then is only in part national. It is one part national and one part world identity. How can it not be if the foundation identity is to leave the country better for the next generation? We are part of the world.
Okay, so our American identity is to leave this country, and the world, a better place for our children. This includes giving them a continuous ability to also build a better tomorrow for their children.
This is the inherent flaw in MAGA going back. There is no going back, only forward. Every generation is going to face unique challenges for both maintaining the current state of the world and then leaving it better for the next generation.
If you resonate and agree with this American identity then you will feel right at home with Irreni World Scale. Irreni has a core principle of “Everyone In”. It also has a core principle of building a permanent social laboratory for social experiments. This laboratory is a forever experiment itself. An experiment to run other experiments.
So head on over to the Irreni Social, “Research” link and learn about the plan to implement this new, but old American identity.