Chatterbox: As a nation

It’s July Fourth week.

Regular Chattereaders already know my feelings about our indigenous people and the nation they were before the very first Europeans arrived. Nonetheless, we are America now, and this is the day we revisit the way that started.

We have a very important election coming up in … well, it’s actually over a year away, but we’re gearing up already. The Democratic field of candidates is huge. The Republican field is thin: Massachusetts Gov. William Weld’s hat is already in the ring; Gov. John Kasich, the sound of sensibility among Republican presidential hopefuls in 2016, may make another attempt; Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland may jump in. Americans will be paying close attention.

As I type, it was last night when we heard from the second half of the 20 hopeful Democrats. It will be fascinating to hear from those on the other side. Though, as Chatterbox stated just this past March 7, it shouldn’t be necessary, or even legal, for a sitting president to campaign because an active presidency is a campaign, 24-7-52.

Chatterbox has discussed most things political, numerous times over the decades. It is imperative to continue to keep abreast of all new developments, or the lack thereof, on all topics of importance. During the past three elections and two administrations, there were many fails, but one that particularly irked me was that, with so much talk, many important topics were left unaddressed. Repeatedly, the people with visibility and power, or those vying for it, came to interviews, discussions and televised debates, never getting to the heart of many of the matters. Some topics were discussed ad nauseum. Others repeatedly had only their surface scratched, but most often, there were important topics that never got mentioned.

We’ve only heard the Democratic field of hopefuls debate but, finally, with so many candidates this time around and a few unique years for America under the belt, hard things are being discussed. Many of the issues that were ignored, or skimmed in whispered and dusty euphemism, are now being openly addressed; they’re important issues that are the cornerstones of any soluble nation.

On one great issue we can’t govern any democracy without addressing and correcting, they still nearly never used the key word, “corruption,” but they have, nonetheless, finally addressed the issue. They called it corporate control or corporate influence, but that’s good enough. We’ll take it. At least the issue is being acknowledged and presented to the public as real and as a real threat.

The effect of corporate overhaul of our democratic law has expanded poverty, shrunk the middle class and rewritten the playbook of this country. It is complete, systemic and the font from which many, if not most, other issues are generated. It is an influence so imposing that it can no longer remain unspoken or whispered. So, now, as it can no longer remain unchallenged, we are hearing the words, still slightly euphemistic but spoken aloud.

No one can argue that there are things America has always stood for that have gotten lost, forgotten or, at the very least, have gotten back-burnered or become vague. Yet, most, if not all, of them aren’t debatable characteristics of this nation as we see it.

We’re the one nation on the planet that can lay claim to a population so diverse that we have no real nationality. American. Just the word makes our heart skip, but we risk losing everything we ever were if we don’t protect it for exactly what it is: a mélange of all peoples; unique as a non-national nationality; nothing particular resulting in something uniquely specific – American.

At the moment, we have lost much of our stature around the world with our longtime, respected allies and among the people of the world due to the erratic and unprofessional way we’ve been conducting ourselves and our international business. It’s only the hope of regaining it that keeps much precarious national pride afloat.

For many of us, the Fourth of July is a holiday which lends particular reminiscence about the things that we were trying to build this nation on and some progress we prided ourselves on.

On July 4, 1776, we announced we would fight the clutches of a mad king, and we didn’t do it to evolve into a nation caught in the clutches of corporate rule or to end up as another aristocracy that impedes the freedoms of any of our nation’s people.

Happy Independence Day.