Our America Today:
Wars. Up to 21st century, all have been physical
& easy to identify. Physical
destruction, human injury, death, weapons of destruction, planes, bombers,
arms.
People have talked about
World War 4 as being a nuclear war.
Actually, a nuclear war in this era will be World War Last. Why? Too many states possess nukes. America, Russia, N Korea, China, Pakistan,
India, likely Israel & possibly Iran.
Once this starts, there'll be no going back. No braking mechanism.
The world today is not the world of the first nukes of 70 years ago.
So what? I believe America is already involved in
World War 3. Not at all obvious: no
physical destruction like in Syria; no deaths; no physical injuries; no
physical weapons involvement.
But, World War 3 is far
more insidious. This war is totally
psychological. Changing mind
sets. Unleashing the demons within
each of us. Dividing us & turning
us within America against each other. Changing
& destroying the fabric of America that has been built & nourished over
decades and generations. An
America that has been built by the sacrifices of generations of female &
male Patriots.
All those sacrifices
will be lost if Our America turns into an authoritarian, totalitarian, fascist
regime that dictates our lives. We've
seen this turning in 2017.
America has an unstable
President with no real values, no world view, and no policy foundations. A person who has demonstrated a sleazeball
personality for his entire life. On
who declares bankruptcy for personal gain.
One who enriches himself & family in the Presidency. One whose financial ties are a three
dimensional spider web of cross connections, many with unseemly and criminal
elements. There are reports that he
and a number of cohorts have been compromised.
The President has filled
a few high level government jobs with people who have vested interests in the
areas they're in charge of! And many are fully incompetent. The word that appropriately and perfectly
describes this so-called 'administration' is kakistocracy: A kakistocracy is a country run by the
worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens coined by Thomas Love
Peacock in 1829.
We've also seen the
turning of America in 2016. The SCOTUS
decision on Citizens United in 2010 unleashed an environment where huge sums of
money can effectively buy elections by the highest bidder. Huge sums of money into campaign PACs,
control, buy or at least influence politicians, more than lobbyists. The concept of 'government of the people,
by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.' by John
Wycliffe in 1384 and quoted in Lincoln's Gettysburg address has been lost,
apparently forever.
It is clear that Russia
interfered with our election process.
Russia hacked into a number of states election authorities & was
able to access/download data. Russia
apparently used sophisticated psychological messaging to influence voters. Social media was used, along with millions
of fake accounts, to spread false & misleading information as fake
news. There was a concerted effort to
suppress voters. Key social media
platforms like Twitter & Facebook are unconcerned about the takeovers of
their platforms by fake accounts and bots.
These 'active measures' are
solely intended to weaken America, weaken our resolve and make Americans more compliant
with autocratic thinking. To suit their purposes.
There is anecdotal
evidence that companies linked to Russia & likely the GOP created huge
databases of psychological profiles of Americans to be used in targeting very
specific spot-on messages to small groups of people to influence their votes. These companies are reported to have been
involved in influencing the Brexit vote, making this a world war.
I have been using
the phrases 'turning point' and more precisely, 'the point of no return'
as it applies to climate change. We see it happening. Some don't believe its caused by humans,
even with the overwhelming body of evidence.
The idea is that by the time we & the world recognize, accept &
change our behavior, we may be past the point of no return. A point that, no matter what we all do to
mitigate it, we will not be able to reverse it. Then, the descent increases rapidly to a disastrous end. This reverse bell shaped curve illustrates
the concept.
Has America's political
history reached this point already?
Certainly a possibility. There
is little to no statesmanship in the vein of Everett Dirksen. There is no negotiating, no compromising,
positions hardening, violence being encouraged, constant disagreements. Rational thought seems a thing of the
past. Civility is gone.
What can be done?
Clearly, there are few easy answers, nor quick fixes, to Save Our America. But here's my idea of a start.
Ø America
needs a program with some bipartisan leaders that begin to cool the rhetoric
& demonstrate a role model for people to identify with and emulate. They need to lead Americans to start
thinking of America First. Issues
second. They need to demonstrate good
faith compromise & negotiation.
Ø America
needs to immediately add civics standardized and mandatory curriculums in every
school which need to include these topics:
o American history. Why we exist.
o Other forms of governments, pros & cons.
o Respect.
Yourself & others.
o Continuing civics
o Our Constitution, bill of rights, amendments
o Conflict resolution
o Cultural differences.
o Tolerance, of others & different ideas
o Working w/ others, teamwork
o Resolving problems & differences
o How to compromise & why it's important
o World political systems, what each brings
o What a democracy is & what it means
o Hazing, bullying & why it's damaging
o Ways to de-escalate arguments, over-reacting
o Attitude
o Critical thinking
This education needs to
begin in first grade and go through high school. Portion topics out as they build on each other. And this needs to continue throughout
college. Some will say there isn't
time for these additions. Look at
where America is today without this education.
Ø
America
needs to immediately ramp up defenses in many areas, not just elections, but
that is crucial.
Ø America
needs to analyze infrastructure to harden it from hackers. An example is an eastern US company that
provides equipment that directly links to our power grid.....owned by a Russian
with a questionable background.
Ø America
needs to pursue exactly what occurred to our election apparatus & harden it
to prevent a repeat occurrence from 2016.
These attacks will only get more blatant & deeper into our
votes. That will include flipping
votes. Our opposition has been using
what they've already learned to improve their future 'active measures'. Do not doubt this.
Ø America
needs to restrict the number of people & contractors who have access to our
highest levels of secrets. We need to
review & harden the storage of our secrets. And we need to increase our investments in counter intelligence
AND find ways to reestablish our previously close ties to other states
intelligence operations.
Ø America
needs to find more some true patriots who have the skills for hacking. As this is a war, America needs to be able
to gain superiority in & using the tools of this war.
Ø America
needs to build our own absolutely necessary war apparatus with our own active measures in psychological messaging,
disinformation & disruption.
This is very tall order
of needs. And far from complete. But America is now engaged in World War
3. Recognize it and Act.
America needs to re-find
the will and the means to return America back to Our America that has been
built, nurtured and sacrificed for over our entire history. Let's get started. There is no time to lose. And hope and pray that Our America is not
already past the point of no return.
jerryd
Voter; Citizen
IL; USA
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