My Twelve Step Program for the US

[The Straight Story]

1. Admit our country has problems. We don't need to change the good things, and we can't change the bad things unless we admit there bad things and identify them.

2. Understand that to overcome our problems requires a belief that we listen to ideals from others, and not just those who think like we do and enable our problems by making excuses for them. Diversity is the petri dish of freedom.

3. Make the decision that change is not always easy, won't be perfect, and not everyone will be pleased with changes. We fought the second world war and sacrificed a lot at home (rations, etc) to save this country and it's belief in freedom - and we won. Hard times are, of course, hard - but the promise of a better day makes it worth saving now so we can retire in peace later.

4. Start with the basics - remember that we want to be a free people, with no one controlling ideal (be it religious or not). We strive to be guided on principle, that all people were created equal, and that they should be free from tyranny - whether it be by government or by corporation.

5. Education is the bedrock of a free country. It is the most important thing there is in order to continue to be free. An ignorant person can more easily led astray than an educated one - so we need to spend a great deal on ensuring that the people have a quality education, and free college. And admit that being wealthy does not mean you are smart, it means you are good with money, luck, have a nice inheritance, or are good at business. Our smartest scientists are not rich, but some of our athletes are. Some of our poorest have more sense than our wealthy.

6. You cannot learn if you are ill, so we must have health care for all. A population not worried about their care and who are educated will help us make the right choices to sustain a free country.

7. Humbly admit that we are all in this together, one country, one people, one goal - freedom for us all and protection from those who want to take that freedom (including protection from those within our own sphere who want to take away our freedoms for their personal gain).

8. Acknowledge that government is for the people, and not just by the people - we do not exist to serve the government, it exists because we chose to pool our resources to help one another. When you are in office - you are serving that purpose, not your own.

9. Make amends to those our government has screwed over. Apologize and offer aid. Work with other countries and not against them. If they are a government that still wishes us harm, cut ties and leave it at that, don't attack them unless they attack us.

10. Apologize to the poor and others in our own country for what the government has done to them, or not done for them. Seek the input of all Americans on how to make it right.

11. Realize we are not the highest power, that there are others in this world, and possibly on others, and that we are all in this life together. Power is not defined solely by what you have and can do, but by what you do with what you have. We all have the power to harm others, but we don't. We have power of our children, that does not make us better than them - it makes us more responsible.

12. Finally - throw the bums out of power who don't have our best interests at heart.

[whistle]

1. ODAT, that is One Day At a Time, so bring congress back from vacation

...and get them back to work!

[The Straight Story]

2. I dunno, if they keep working like they have been :)

Though I do give them kudos on investigations.

Good days, bad days...