By far this is has probably been one of the most interesting years politically in some time. There is always anxiety when electing a new president. I can only hope that one day that there will be as much hype about city mayors, state governors, state representatives and senators. For now, all of us are being distracted by the sacrificial figure head of our government.
Overall, however, there is a tension in the air this year. People are being cheaper when it comes to how much they spend on purchases and yet I've seen an increase in over all customers where I work. Further, the people who are spending money are genuinely short tempered. This might be due to the dissonance that is occurring in our nation challenging the status quo politics. However, I see this election cycle as the culmination of a political cycle. For the past thirty years our federal government has been deeply distracted by Global Politics and goals. This distraction has, undeniably hurt the U.S. economy and the U.S. citizens might just be getting sick of it. Centralization of Power to Federal Government To really view this cycle that I'm talking about we need to look at the big picture. We're going to go back in time to 1868 and the 14th amendment. While the 14th amendment was a tremendously important victory concerning slavery it did something very strange. The moment the 14th amendment was ratified it shifted power from the Sovereign Authority of the individual States to the Federal Government. Originally, the United States, when conceived by the Framers operated much like the European Union was to operate. Each state had it's local government and they looked to the Federal Government only to gather and organize for war and to organize trade between the states. However, when the Union look as though it may fall apart with the Southern States forming their own Union the Civil War occurred and as we all know we became on nation again. The government that emerged from the Civil War was very different than the one that the original Framers created and far more centralized. Over the last 147 years the importance of local and state authority has waned to the point where they hardly get any mention in the local news coverage. Few people even know the name of the mayor in their home town. This has led to a since of frustration as the further the center of power is from the individual the less influence they can have on it and that leads to disenfranchisement. This might be one reason why subsequent generations feel they have no influence over the government and have very little interest in voting. Global Citizenship Ever since the end of Isolationism thanks to the World Wars the government of the United States focus shifted. That shift led to the concept that Franklin D. Roosevelt put into place in 1942 with the United Nations. (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-nations-created). This shift to a more global view of the world gave rise to huge fortunes in the families that could invest in globalization. This also introduced the idea of a Global Citizen as opposed to just a national affiliation. For years the federal education system and the college system have placed a lot of attention on the role of Global Citizenship. Global Climate Change plays directly into global stewardship in the modern age. For the millennial generation this particularly true thanks to shows like Captain Planet and the educational system. The emphasis is on the United States acting in accordance with other nations in much the same way the states were added to the union. Each country acts with an independent sovereignty but in accordance to a collective perspective regarding the World Market. One example of this type of strategy is the European Union. The European Union, due to some countries being more of an economic burden then others seems to be destabilizing and may possibly break apart. However, this is a statement that has been made about the United States by European Countries for many years. The idea of a union of countries is still a fairly new development in the realm of politics and the United States is seen as being in a political infancy with too many diverse ideas that cannot last. Meanwhile, other countries may act as global partners in the U.N. as far as trade they have made it clear that organization will not influence their policies at home. For example, no matter how much Climate Change might be championed by influential leaders such as the pope it is highly doubtful a country like China will institute political change to end pollution. In fact, overall, there is a feeling when reading international articles that the United Nations is a highly ineffective political vehicle that doesn't serve any practical function. The Presidential Race As much as people love to hate both Trump and Sanders I am glad that they are have gained a foothold in the election. This gives me hope that in future generations we may evolve as a society and see candidates as more than just Democrat and Republican. In a previous post I examined that anti-politicians is becoming more mainstream and the reason for that might be an increase in the awareness in the citizens of the United States that some are benefiting from current politics while others are not. In fact, none of the candidates that are being considered can be viewed as "normal". Hiliary Clinton, by far the most "normal" presidential nominee is running despite a inquiry into emails that may prove that she leaked government intelligence information leading to the death of a diplomat and possibly the deaths in Benghazi. The fact that she's a woman doesn't seem to be impacting anyone's opinion on whether or not she will be president. Sanders is running on an openly Socialist ticket. I find it interesting that from 1950-1956 people were put on trial for having similar ideas thanks to McCarthyism. While that wasn't the best moment in our history it isn't without some merit that at one point our nation was so against socialism during the "Red Scare" that peoples lives were ruined...but sixty years later there are millions of people willing to have an openly socialist president! However, the supporters point to European countries that have really strong social policies such as free college education. Finally, Trump is easily an enigma or loose cannon. He's not really easy to pen down concerning a particular point of view in this election. Previously a democrat for several years it is interesting that he is running on the Republican ticket. His primary focus is on bringing jobs back to the United States and has a perspective that runs at odds with the Global Citizenship movement. In fact, in many ways the stance he takes politically is more on the side of isolationism then an emphasis on the role United States has globally. This is, no doubt, the reason why even President Obama has spoken out against a possible Trump presidency. Is the Global Citizenship Ideology Falling Apart? Notice how Obama emphasizes that our leadership is really important to other countries. Given that we send $37,680,000,000 in foreign aid to other countries the idea of those billions of dollars being cut off is undoubtedly scary. One of the most fascinating reasons why Donald Trump has garnered so much support is that his point of view is extremely Isolationist. When I investigated why people were voting for Trump I discovered that he was campaigning on a very rare platform. He is the only politician talking about jobs (aside from Hilary saying that the Economy is not doing well she has had absolutely no suggestion how to fix it). The way he suggests that the United States will be great again is by closing borders and bringing back manufacturing. This point of view is so strange to us after years of being focused on a "Global Point Of View" that it is jarring to the generations that grew up focused on the fact that we are global citizens. We have been told that having open borders is the modern and just way of operating our country. Free Trade is tantamount to the American Dream. While an entire generation has been conditioned to support the Global Citizenship ideology this particular Politically Correct boat might be running out of steam and Trumps unusual campaign might be the first indication people are waking up. Globalization and The Labor Shortage As wages have been frozen for approximately a generation, yes that same generation that grew up as Global Citizens, the idea that the United States is better off thanks to Globalization is questionable. In fact, in 2011 CNN Money stated that globalization may be one of the reasons (along with technology) that has kept the middle class income in stasis since 1917! They stated that the incomes for 90% of United States citizens have remained the same for the last thirty years. For example, in 1988 the average United States tax payer income was $33, 400 and 1998 the average income actually went down to $33, 000. (http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/16/news/economy/middle_class/index.htm) But don't take the CNN Money article as the only authority here are a couple of other articles stating the same thing: http://www.epi.org/publication/the_sad_but_true_story_of_wages_in_america/ and http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/. When looking how the wages of the United States citizen has actually gone down despite increased productivity we must also take into consideration that there was a predicted labor shortage starting in 2010. Businesses and the government believed that they were saving the economy by pumping in as many immigrants as possible to compensate for a labor shortage has never actually happened ( http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/what-you-need-to-know-about-labor-shortages/). Surprisingly, the government did fix the problem with the labor shortage but to the detriment of it citizens. A huge amount of United States citizens are either being underpaid given their education or they are simply no longer looking for a job because there is too much competition when there should be too many jobs available. There has been a lot of talk since the Iraq War that the citizens of the United States are tired of being the Global Watch Dogs. The clear and distinct voice of the people was heard when the Obama administration wanted to enter Syria for yet another dust up in the Middle East. Is it possible that the rhetoric that inspired the Global Citizenship movement, that has put money into the pockets of the 1% but have not improved the lives or wages of 90% of the citizens of the United States in nearly thirty years might be coming to an end? There certainly been movements that address the discrepancy between the income levels. However, instead of identifying the cause as being Globalization, trade agreements and global policies that have a negative impact on the people of the United States it appears the millennial generation is turning to Socialism for answers. After all, we cannot turn our back on our very important work in changing the world as Global Citizens. Conclusion The truth is I never before considered isolationism on any level. However, after researching the history and looking at the big picture there is a very clear indication that the overly global policy that the United States has had has not benefited the average worker. The path that allowed for these policies to take place is clear and dominates much of the United States existence. One of the major factors affecting the political process in the United States is the focus of power in the Federal Government as opposed to the State Governments. This emphasis started over a hundred years ago and is very unlikely to change. This shift started the dramatic decline in participation in the local and state level leading to large amounts of people being disenfranchised regarding the political process. The success of a particularly Federal point of view on issues today is partly due to a news media that favors national and global stories over those of local stories. This form of news helps to keep their shows more entertaining because they can include bad news from around the world. With the end of the World Wars the focus shifted from a National point of view regarding the Role of the United States Federal Government to the that of Global Policies. As attention has shifted further and further away from federal issues to focus on Global Citizenship there has been an even larger amount of disenfranchisement. *Strangely, the differences between the Republican and Democrats when it comes to globalization is minimal and this has given rise to Conspiracy Theorists and the belief that the Federal Government is 'rigged.'* The only thing that has become clear is that in the era of anti-politicians the people of the United States are sick of the rhetoric that has lead to a stagnant economy. This election, in the very least, indicates people are starting to look beyond the party establishment for leadership. Hopefully, the next thing they will do is start to look beyond the politics as usual for the answer to why the top percentage of citizens in the United States continue to become rich while the majority of the population wages has been in stasis. If the economy goes through a crises prior to the Presidential Election we might end up with a candidate no one could predict. However, at this time due to the natural tendency of people not to change my bet is that Hilary will win the election. The fact that she is the most politics-as-usual candidate makes her the most obvious choice for those who want to play it safe but even if she does win there is the hope that people are becoming more aware. Perhaps, with this knowledge in mind there will be a change in the government that will benefit the people. Perhaps the electorate will fall away as the outdated means of election that it is, term limits will be put into place for the House and Senate, and there will be more of a focus on setting policy within the state and national borders of this country instead of globally. I can certainly dream that is the case. One may even say that the rise of the Islamic Terrorism is another ill that was conjured by the United States in trying to implement it's Global Strategy on the rest of the world. In many ways, since we went to their countries to protect our own selfish interests and left their citizens standard of living dramatically worse off we can say that too was a failed policy of Globalization. Even if we somehow end up with the typical politician of the last twenty years who's globalization goals have failed domestically and abroad...at the very least this election cycle indicates that people recognize that they are sick of the politics that have dominated our country for the last thirty years. Perhaps a little bit of isolationism will start to sink in and we will fix the problems at home before trying to solve the world's problems.
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Brave Soul! May Your Journey On The Path Of The Seeker Bring You Joy and Peace! I'm currently posting every Saturday. With a new addition the family I have pre-scheduled most posts through December 2022. Full Moon Posts will contain up-to-date content when I can get to them. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! This is a place where you can encounter new spiritual ideas that have helped me develop as an Individual On The Path of the Seeker. Take or Leave this information as you see fit. Archives
April 2024
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