Consider this...

Let's start with a colorful graphic and poetic reminder that a house divided cannot stand...

And reflect back on our founding generation...remembering they did not define freedom in the trivial ways we celebrate it today...

Which does not diminish the joy of dancing and singing, but reminds us that freedom depends on democratically elected representatives working to address the most important conflicts we face... together

But instead of living out loud, embracing the change and risk that is innovation, we are afraid...

And our fears are rooted in elites, public and private sector, who distract us and dissipate public energies on more trivial conflicts, rather than focusing us on the most important conflicts (in part, because this highlights elite failure and, in part, because it highlights policies that would require more shared sacrifice).

 

 

There is no doubt our public leadership is paralyzed, but the extreme anti-government response is superficial and, if that is all we do, self-defeating...

 

 

Because public sector disfunction is not random, but systematically favors the uberwealthy

 



 

 

But our public debate is distorted.  So much so that if we add up the injuries and usurpations made salient by the extreme anti-government forces today, Somolia is the place to find the American dream.