First, I want to apologize for the site being down for a couple of weeks. There were technical problems that became major communication issues with internet infrastructure.
I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. In fact, I would say that I currently find the entire political system in the US to be unworthy of my personal investment. This is because the US government and the political system do not meet miminal expectations.
The ancient Greeks and Romans understood that personal happiness and freedom were the basic values of quality human existence. Aristotle in particular stated that the only true purpose of government is to create a social environment capable of allowing individuals to find happiness. A good government would try to insure that my happiness did not preclude or hinder the happiness of someone else.
A government or a society cannot make individual citizens happy. What they can do is provide its citizens with the resources and structure to improve their quality of life. A good society would be one that has ample food, shelter and clothing and that provides for the basic needs of its citizens. A good society would provide the means to a satisfactory quality of life while protecting its citizens from unnecessary harm and suffering.
No society is perfect but at least its intentions should be noble and life supporting. These should be minimal expectations.
No society or government is worthy of its existence if it acts in ways which are contrary to or in opposition of individual happiness and freedom. A government which acts in ways which purposely increase human suffering or refuses to act in ways which reduce human suffering is not worthy of our support and appreciation.
Our society and government choose to deny people health coverage, act in ways which encourages homelessness and hunger. Our government acts in ways and makes decisions resulting in the suffering and starvation of millions of people throughout the globe. We are imprisoning people without a trial and denying the means to have a trial. We are currently torturing people, and have a history of training others how to torture their citizens. We are bombing innocent citizens in lands with the hope of killing a few people we deem to be “terrorists.” We are using banned substances such as white phosphorous resulting in the melting of human flesh.
Though I could continue this list of heinous acts executed by our government on its own citizens as well as others around the world, I prefer not to. I’m sure many would take issue with some of this partial list and many others would defend our actions by stating our need to defend our freedom or the need to act and live in a real world filled with violence and pain.
I find it difficult to support any politician who takes these heinous policies as a given. Since no politician has found our inhumane policies worthy of a hunger strike or making it their first priority, then I cannot support them or make them my first priority. If human suffering and the quality of human life isn’t the first priority of a public servant than what is?
Some may think I’m asking for too much or am not thinking practically, but all I’m asking for is for us to act towards others and ourselves in a caring manner. Why is that asking too much? Why is that unrealistic?
What parent says that trying to provide their child with food, shelter, clothing and health care is an unreasonable goal? Who would claim a parent, no matter how nice they appeared, who did not provide for their child’s welfare and basic needs a good parent? Think of how angry you would be to find a child hungry and cold when the parent’s are wealthy and well fed.
Our society and government act and function as our protectors and our guardians. Any decision to feed some and let others starve and die from lack of care is unacceptable, and I for one refuse to ignore this and move on. These are my minimal expectations.
If someone wants me to be proud to be an American or a citizen of the global community than we need to start at job one. We need to start at the level of providing all with basic needs and not make it something to be earned. I’m sure some of you could make a case for why some people do not deserve our care and kindness, but I doubt if you could make a case for the millions of children and civilians who die needlessly from malnutrition, disease and political conflict.
Care and kindness may sometimes be hard to justify but not as often as hatred and bigotry.
When did we decide that being a nice person was unrealistic?
Jim Guido
[...] See the original post here: Minimal Expectations [...]