Waking up and getting responsible to our nation

The announcement of a probable credit downgrade for the nation ought to be arousing folks in DC. That is assuming that what has been going on is not a methodical takedown of the nation as part of some big takeover of the nation by a few of the ultra-wealthy. Ignoring that hopefully paranoidish view, it then suggests that the nation needs to get busy and do something about the problem.

America needs to get all its people back into the productive mode. Waiting for corporations to provide the jobs clearly is not working at all; the corporations are ruled by the bottom line and that often means they have the work done offshore as they can do it cheaper there, and so the task of getting all American back into being productive, is not being fulfilled; expecting to give tax breaks for corporations and then magically that translate into American jobs has not worked and can't be expected to work, because the corporate "law" that demands they only do what makes the most profit for themselves. And any CEO deciding otherwise will probably get the boot from the shareholders, unfortunately an inherent weakness in our system.

We need to act as a nation on this matter. Think as a nation, not as a pack of isolated businesses all grabbing for a bigger piece of the increasingly non-existent pie. That is part of American government's duty ... government is not there just to provide for the common defense, but also to enable the nation to function as a thriving whole.

So, how to get the mode of America to shift from the current mode of being a big gambler's game that increasingly piles all the wealth up into the hands of a few expert gamblers that play the system - who are not necessarily guided by responsibility for the system of human and natural resources that enables that wealth to happen.

Clearly, that which makes the most money for someone, is not at all necessarily the same thing as what best meets all the customer's needs. It might be; but not inherently be. In this case, the customer is the American people, rich and poor alike.

Even the health system has grown to be guided by what makes the most profit for the health industries, and competition opportunities is heavily blocked by what effectively is business territories, some of which are even backed by government enforcers, a real mess in places. There are health modes that are being completely ignored because they do not make the big money for the health businesses already in place. And the current health systems states are merely one example of what has happened to our country.

We are a fairly intelligent people. And we are increasingly able to access a bigger set of knowledge, via the internet and our computers and smart phones. So we have lots of potential. Figuring out what to constructively do with that knowledge for the betterment of us all as a nation, is a bit harder, of course.

Lots of us have been conditioned to be "employees." That means we depend on others to provide work for us. We are not conditioned to look into what constitutes a worthwhile and potentially profitable endeavor that could become a business. Look around, there are lots of things that need doing, that are not getting done.

Some of those things could start getting done as volunteer work by the under-employed. That would both add to the resource base of the nation, and increase our human skills too. And once the activity works up enough steam, perhaps it could shift into a paying concern for all involved.

I have already many times described the potential system of home-sited educational-manufacturing workstations, and it has been ignored; but I put it out there once again, as a way to become price-competitive in the world once again.

Is there any chance that the partisan congress critters will come up with a solution for all Americans - that supposedly they represent? How about requiring each of them to take some exam, to show their individual competency for solving our nation's problems? Getting elected by the best hoo-rah cheerleaders may not be the same thing as picking competent folks to be at the decision table. So the likely happening is that it all will default into whatever power-hungry folks are pulling some strings. And with a nation with enough nukes to kill all life on the planet, do we dare let that happen? We have a responsibility to the world, even if not for our own selves. Probably what they would say is that they are boss and that is all that counts. Start another war or two, expand the ones ongoing, create more financial destitution, and the population will be too distracted to complain any more. Where has history seen such before? Supposedly America's design prevents that from happening.

President Obama seems to be doing his best as a lawyer representing the American people, but has been forced into the mode of cutting the losses. He has little power given to fix the problems, and his efforts are constantly under attack by those who are experts in attack, not experts in helpfulness. Somehow the population stares at all that as if it were some soap opera on their TV set, not real; switch channels and it will all go away.

We need to wake up a bit, do some clear headed observation of what is going on around us near and far, and get responsible. We are here as caretakers, not as predators.