No one left behind

It is a revelation to discover how many of the ”checks and balances” of the American political system depend solely on the good will and sense of fairness of our officials. We see now that a determined group with no moral compass can completely paralyze our way of life...

... and yet, despite this huge vulnerability, hasn’t our nation more or less functioned for a long time? Well, no. It has NEVER functioned reliably for anyone but straight white males (and lets them down, too, if they are low-income).

What it came down to is that the greedy ones with no personal honor finally came for a good chunk of the rest of us — so NOW we notice there’s no real protection against those who don’t deign to obey the unspoken agreements between white men.

It would behoove us to remember the lesson. It isn’t so much that we need to assume everyone is a villain. It means if we don’t make it work for EVERYONE, it doesn’t really work for ANYONE!

When we start to fix all this -- and we must -- we have to make the protection work for every person. It isn’t going to cut it to say, ”Well, let’s just get it back where it was and we’ll fix the inequities later.” No one ever goes back once they are comfortable.

Don’t get comfortable and don’t think small. We are going to have to work damn hard to pull our nation out of the fire, and we will need EVERYONE to work together to do it. If we expect that to happen, there must be something in it for everyone.

It is truly not much harder to rebuild a system right than to just patch an old one that does not work. What it takes is the WILL to do so. We must rebuild fair and equitable systems from the start, and keep our political leaders aware that we will not accept leaving anyone behind.