As we approached it, the year 2020 seemed like one of hope and possibility before we fully understood this “novel coronavirus” and the economic crisis it would unleash.
Now here, at the other end of it, we fear what the next few years have in store for us.
Fear.
Such a powerful emotion for a such a small word.
It paralyzes the mind and immobilizes any forward progress. It divides society into tribal groups and pits “us” against “them” where reason does not stand a chance to unite them.
Sadly, we see this happening in the USA today. A once powerful nation has been brought to its knees by inside forces because it has given in to fear and loathing of its compatriots.
We have to ask: What brought the USA to the edge of this existential cliff that it now risks plummeting over?
Essentially, its love of money and free enterprise.
Historically, America was born of a revolution. Before that fateful event, it was shackled to the British Empire as one of many profitable trade colonies (supported in large part by slave labor) that fed Great Britain’s economic engine.
The United States of America began their self-declared “American Experiment” with the signing of the Declaration of Independence that saw it rise to prominence as an economic empire in its own right. It may have been founded on the ideal that all people are created equal, but in reality the continued practice of slavery contributed to its rise to economic dominance for decades after the founding of the new nation. Its pursuit of the “almighty dollar” and free enterprise would create wide gaps of inequality that persist to this day.
I have to ask: What if the great “American Experiment” had started differently?
Imagine for a moment the USA was founded on the ideals that:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness without reliance on Money …”
What if the USA spread this message throughout the world and convinced other nations to follow?
Slavery would have been unnecessary.
Industrial innovations could have come about without any thoughts of profit or protecting intellectual property.
Cleaner and less toxic alternatives to fossil fuel could have been discovered and adopted.
Consumer products and their industrial byproducts could have been created without polluting the natural environment.
Countless wars to protect monetary dominance could have been avoided.
Economic classes would not exist.
If America was founded that way, what a different world we would be living in today.
Hindsight really is 2020.
