Our Poor Country
I have never lived through tumult like this, and I was a child of the 60s. It breaks my heart to witness what our country is going through: the triple crisis of a pandemic, an economic crash, and a civil rights explosion. The Democratic response is anemic, the Republican response is nonexistent, the White House response is insane and destructive, and the black community response is desperate. In the total absence of national leadership, which this country is crying out to have, I present my plan to heal America.
Joe Biden, listen up.
Take Trump’s phone away and ban him from Twitter. I know this is not going to happen, but that’s the first thing I would do to stop the destructive and inflammatory rhetoric coming out of the White House.
Elect Joe Biden in November. This is a no-brainer. In the meantime, Biden needs to say what he would do as president, not just spew a bunch of platitudes. Platitudes don’t heal wounds, although they can’t hurt if coupled with action.
If I were president, this is what I would do next:
Select a black spokesperson from each district of the country - East Coast, West Coast, North Central, Deep South, Mid West, Urban, and Rural - and have them form a Disenfranchisement Panel. Make sure the selections have the good of the country and their communities in mind, not their own selfish aggrandizement. This Panel will be tasked to identify the underlying causes of the civic unrest and economic distress. I think those causes, like inequities in policing, wealth, education, careers, and housing, are already well known and have been studied to the point where the problems can readily be identified.
The Panel will prioritize the problems and create a list of possible solutions for each problem. Maybe start with a single, high profile problem and work from there. Or maybe start with the problem most easily solved, so that success drives the process. Once the solution(s) is agreed to, the Panel will work with the appropriate House and Senate committees to help write the legislation that will address the problems. This can also happen on a State level by governors appointing state panels. I realize this is not simple, but if we don’t start somewhere, nothing will ever be done. What’s the old adage: the perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of the good? So start somewhere and perfect it over time.
Members of the panel will then promote the solutions. Panel members will relentlessly appear on television, radio, in newspapers, write books and op-eds, hold teach-ins, sponsor peaceful civil disobedience, lobby Congress and state legislatures, etc. to become visible to the public and promote the legislation.
As the legislation is passed, the Panel will monitor its progress and, as needed, offer alternative legislation to increase the solution’s effectiveness, eliminate those that don’t work (pride of authorship should not be a factor here), etc.
It would help if there was a single national spokesperson who could unite the black community and guide it in a way similar to the role MLK served last century.
So those are my ideas. I dislike talk and endorse action. I dislike criminal behavior, but endorse civil disobedience. If we don’t take our country back from the incompetents who are now running it, America will suffer and be forever changed . . . not for the better.