America's Dialogue: platform for change

Written by: Aaron M. Watkins

(This is the incomplete literature for a lecture I am giving in June for the Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice.)

What kind of America and what kind of world do we want to see? What are our priorities as a nation and a people?
It has become necessary for the citizens of the U.S. to take back this country. The marriage of corporate interest and the American government has gone unchecked for far too long now. As far back as 1946, almost a year to the day after the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan, columnist Norman Cousins wrote that in order to maintain a reasonable amount of safety in this new nuclear age, that it is necessary for people all across this country to devote one week out of the year to a discussion of nuclear policy. A group called America’s Dialogue, organized out of Eugene Oregon has decided to do just that. Upon discovering America’s Dialogue, however, I decided that it would be a better idea to use the platform that they were calling for to discuss not only the current nuclear situation, but all of the issues concerning us in these uncertain times
As a whole, the country is crying out for change, and the American people are not happy, and will no longer tolerate our government run like corporate big business. The current administration has narrowed its focus to that of attainting great wealth at the expense of this country’s citizens and the citizens of the world at large. In doing so, they have completely ignored important issues that are in dire need of being addressed. Along with the blatant dishonesty of the Bush administration, I feel it necessary today to address

1.) The current nuclear situation.
2.) American militarism and the war in Iraq.
3.) Global warming, the environment, and the privatization of water.
4.) Corporate media and information manipulation.
5.) Unbridled government spending.
6.) The disintegration of community in America.

The list goes on and on, but the majority of the issues in need of reformation can more or less fall into one of these categories. Things are unacceptable the way they are, and this discussion can be the beginning of a significant change.
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Observing the decline of morality in our government has led me to develop a simple proposal that we, the now dissenting majority, can use to implement the changes necessary for morality, honesty, and the use of common sense in our government. This simple proposal consists of three key points that would ideally provide an avenue for change; 1.) education, 2.) commitment, 3.) action.

Education (in this sense), the lies of the Bush administration, and the importance of an alternative, independent media are undoubtedly intertwined. The marriage of the government and the mainstream media has created a situation whereby the education of the public regarding the misinformation they receive when they watch corporate media should be a major priority of justice organizations and of all dissenting citizens. It will no longer suffice to simply disagree with the policies of our current government. The dissenting citizen in today’s world must be proactive, as his rights and liberties, as set forth in the Constitution, are under attack. The government knows that an educated citizen is a threat to its totalitarian objective, so it has used the corporate media to manipulate information in hopes of producing a complacent public. The media is supposed to be part of a balance of power, objectively reporting world events without bias. With the rise of corporate politics, however, the current administration has managed to make it lucrative enough for previously objective entities to now do the government’s bidding. The mainstream media, owned by the same companies that profit from political action, have become a corporate megaphone for the current administration, beaming propaganda into our homes, when it should be exposing the very administration that now controls it. These corporate news entities intentionally do not report news of a dissenting nature at the request of the government, while the news that does get reported is intentionally skewed and misrepresented.
I cannot stress how important it is that the American public be educated about what is really going on, as this is the first step toward a significant change in the way the government does business. Only when one has been educated properly about events in the world and the resulting actions of their government, can one continue to the next step and make a commitment to be an active part of change. (As we will discover later in this proposal, the education of the American public is the responsibility of the proactive dissenting citizen, as the act of education falls under the action objective as mentioned). It is my contention that if most people received the correct information, and were told the truth about what their government is doing, they would take the next step toward making a commitment to the action necessary for change. Not everyone is going to want to hear that they are being lied to by their government. Some might accuse us educators of being “conspiracy nuts”, and some might even react with violence as you try to educate them. We must not let this discourage us, as we know that we have truth on our side and eventually truth will make itself evident. This sounds familiar does it not; “a truth self evident”?
The government’s corporate agenda has created a unique situation such that the process of educating the public has become the most important part of what organizations such as the Arkansas Coalition for Peace and Justice and others like it can do. It is possible for quantity of people to override the wealth and status that currently defines the status quo, if, and only if, those people are properly educated about the current political situation. Becoming properly educated would encourage citizens to then make a commitment to the pursuit of change, and take action to implement that change. People aren’t intentionally remaining misinformed; most just don’t realize that the long arm of the government could extent into the media, or that their government would lie to them like that, through their nightly news no less.

Making a commitment to ourselves and to this country is the next step on the road to change. This first involves taking an inventory of our beliefs as human beings, and determining that the current state of the government is such that a new platform for honest leadership is necessary. Obviously one can’t make a commitment to something that they know nothing about; therefore one must be educated about the current state of the government before they can make an honest commitment to be involved in the movement for political change.

America, while it is still the most influential country in the world, should use its influence to promote peace and justice. If it continues to wage wars for profit disguised as the spread of democracy, then I foresee the end of America and perhaps of all civilization. The military situation (with nuclear warfare a real possibility) has come to a head and we are currently at a dire crossroads. In fact, this country (and probably the rest of the world as America will take it down with it) will soon reap the whirlwind of the destruction left in its wake as the current administration marches around the world, securing wealth for the corporate few at the cost of everyone else. It’s just a matter of time until the thousands of nuclear arms around the world are unleashed, at which point, there will be no turning back. Of all the threats to human civilization, nuclear warfare looms overhead the most urgent and menacing. The amount of nuclear arms still remaining after the Cold War is enough to destroy this planet hundreds of times over, with many of these hooked into elaborate computer systems with the single push of a button between ourselves and annihilation. Never before in the course of human history has such a preventable disaster of human design been possible on the scale of the entire earth.

It is more important now than ever before that we stand up and say that this occupation of Iraq is unacceptable and that we will tolerate it no longer. It seems to me, however, that the average American doesn’t even realize that a war is taking place. The mainstream media feeds this complacency by having you and I believe that this occupation of Iraq is a normal, everyday facet of life. Nobody seems to want to acknowledge what is really going on. People are dying horrible deaths, and for what? Every other day dozens of people are killed in Iraq yet this news gets reported in the same breath as this trivial celebrity “news like Britney Spears’ shaved head.. This is absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable on the part of the news media. Although this war is taking place in a different country, thousands of miles away and seems to have nothing to do with you and I, it is happening on the same planet that we all inhabit and injustice for one human being is injustice for all human beings.
Yes we can still shop at the mall, and yes we can continue to put gasoline in our cars, and yes, mortar rounds aren’t killing our children daily, but I promise you there is a war going on, an illegal war, a war that I did not say was OK. I have the distinct feeling that everyone here feels the same way that I do and I think we’d all agree that things need to change. Even as we speak, thousands of people are marching on Washington, people like you and I who are fed up with the absurdity of what is going on in Iraq. Peace is possible and dare I say an inevitability, but it’s not going to happen by itself. Let us continue our fight and continue making a difference toward ending the war in Iraq, because if we scream loud enough, the windows will shatter and then there will be no excuse for them not to hear us.
In our struggle against the corporate machine that the American government has become, we must remember the teachings of M. K. Gandhi. A non-violent civil disobedience is essential in opposition of what I have come to know as American Fascism. Non-violent opposition is the only way, for to use violence to right the wrongs of the American government is to defeat the purpose of opposition.
Quantity of committed people can override the amount of money that has previously determined the status quo. Such a change involves three key points; education, commitment, action.

In just a little over four years, America has succeeded in becoming the most hated country in the world. Previously, America had been a respected power, but the actions of the current “corporate government” and the blatant disregard it has had for even its allies, has served to vilify even the average dissenting American (including myself) in the eyes of the world at large. This is a tragedy because the current administration does not speak for me or the average American, yet it continues to make unjust and immoral decisions on the world stage that could affect and potentially send me into an armed conflict that I have nothing to do with. This is a problem for all people, and presents a moral issue which transcends any differences we may have. We must set aside any partisan, religious, or other difference and agree on the common goal of peace and justice for America and for all people.

The key to significant change in this country (thus the world) lies in the education of the general public through various alternative media outlets. Presently, if a citizen wants to get the real story, he/she has to seek it out and corporate media intentionally muddies the water to confuse the citizen and further perpetuate the lies of the current administration. Organizations like ours need to lend our strength and energy to fledgling alternative media so that citizens don’t have to wade through the confusion brought on by the marriage of corporate media and the government. The most obvious and feasible platform for alternative media lies with the internet. The internet is the one place where the content of alternative media (truth) is not regulated by the government. Presently there are several online alternative media sources where the real story is broadcast, but the problem is how to inform the citizen of their existence. The availability of these alternative sources needs to be as visible as the nightly news that streams into the American home. Americans seek out news but only to the point that they turn on their television and flip to the channels that they already know exist (CNN, FOX NEWS, etc.). We need to devise a strategy that would allow for alternative media to exist in the collective consciousness that corporate media presently does.

The obvious flaw in American government, while it is a problem, isn’t necessarily the problem. The tactics that the current administration applies in its policies throughout the world are but a symptom of a much larger problem; this is the problem of disintegrating community. The social landscape of America has all but evaporated. The only community that we seem to have left is strictly superficial, existing only to serve an economical need. We are constantly bombarded with commercials that portray community and a sense of camaraderie as some bygone social construct relegated to ancient history. It is under this environment that the current state of American government has been allowed to flourish, thus becoming marketplace politics. Never before in history has such an isolated and disaffected society existed. No wonder we have school shootings and the like. These kids have never felt a sense of community, thus they have never been subject to the compassion and empathy that used to define the human being distinct from the animal. …….(incomplete)