Dec 6, 2017
I Want Better
As I was learning to be a Life and Health Coach, one of the tips my professor gave me was this:
Never want more or better for your clients than they want for themselves.
That’s all well and good, in the microcosm of the world that is my business, but when it comes to the real world and especially the United States, there is MUCH more and better to want for my people.
It all starts with the educational system. Our educational system has failed us, and the failure has been a long time in the making. It isn’t something that’s just happened. It began to fail the minute we brought it over from Europe, to America. It failed to take into account that some children would have to walk many miles, to get to a tiny, hot, crowded school room, and that their families would miss the extra hands on the farm. It failed to take into account that girls are hardwired to learn differently than boys, and that children are not adults, and that NO ONE should be asked to sit at a desk for hours on end.
More recently, we began to deprive our students of important classes that help to build new neural pathways in the brain. We have cut funding for Music, The Arts and teacher’s salaries and tax deductions, so that they can no longer afford to buy supplies for their class rooms.
All this has an effect on the children in these overcrowded classrooms. They are learning poorly, and leave high school not knowing state capitals, how to apply logic, or critical thinking skills, much less how to cook or change the oil in their cars.
Proof of their shocking lack of education can be found on a recent Jay Leno episode, and on a not so recent one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmI6YpGew1w
Our high school students are, fortunately, still required to learn a second language, but that is subject to change, at any moment. Our great leaders in their wisdom have lead us to a point of what is possibly the most openly bigoted era of history, in which people are assaulted, in grocery stores, and on subways for looking non-Caucasian, or for speaking a non-English language.
So I want better for America. I want a better class of leaders. Leaders who not only realize the importance of education, but care enough about our country to want a good, modern education for ALL, and not just for those that can afford private schools for their kids. I want leadership for ALL Americans and not just the rich, white folk, because I want to go forward. and not back, in time. I want to not go back to a point in our history when the poor were relegated to the fields, and illiteracy, while the rich could become aristocrats, and scholars…and richer dependent only on how long and hard they could make their slaves work at the end of their foreman’s whip.
The whip today is wielded by corporations, who use their whip (money) to buy votes of congress in order to protect their profits from their employees, so that they can please their shareholders. When corporations are making profit, they are able to share out that profit in the form of dividends, which keeps their shareholders happy, but doesn’t benefit their employees and is called “trickle down economics” which has been proven to NOT work, since about the time of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
The theory was that giving tax breaks and perks to CEOs of large corporations would allow them to raise the wages of their employees, but that never happened. Minimum wage has been the same since 2009 ($7.25/hr), while inflation has continued to inflate the cost of groceries, rent, and school clothes for your kids.
I want a leader, for America, that sets the example of caring for the working man enough to not declare bankruptcy in order to avoid paying his contractors, and to not (illegally) fire Vets returned to his employ from tours of duty. We haven’t got that type of leader yet, so there are some Vets (among other Americans) having a hard time, right now, paying for their kids’ education, and meals.
I want a leader, for America, that sets an example of doing his homework, before going to important Summit meetings with other global leaders, so that he knows what he’s talking about, and doesn’t mistakenly and arrogantly tell them that they owe money to the United States.
I want a leader, for America, that sets an example of sophistication, not a leader that thinks that grabbing and groping people is a point of pride.
I want a leader, for America, that doesn’t eat FOUR McDonald’s meals at a sitting, on a regular basis, because we know that that messes with the brain!
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-food/201010/how-does-food-affect-our-brain
If a person is going to look to lead us, then I want him to be someone who is responsible enough to America, to take better care of his health than to eat a whole bucket of KFC chicken at a sitting.
(https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/us/politics/donald-trump-diet.html).
I want a leader, for America, that sets the example of treating people with respect!
It was disrespectful of Trump to go into a Summit meeting spouting an opinion — not based in facts — that Germany owed us money. Trump has been disrespectful in how he has spoken about women, our indigenous peoples, and our Mexican Community, and that has instilled in our people, a sense that “nationalism” (read “bigotry and racism”) will be tolerated and even condoned. He has also set the example of fraudulent dealings, (disrespectful to students of Trump University) so that kind of double dealing will be tolerated now, as well.
I want a leader that surrounds himself with the best minds to be found in their fields, rather than those that “don’t believe” in climate change, or that believe that they are competent to direct our public education system, when they’ve never partaken of public education. If Ms. DeVos had, she would have, recognized the outdated nature of our school system, and that it leaves many children behind: LGBTQ students, Special Needs Students, Gifted Students, and many others.
If you were a student that was left behind, you have my sympathy. If you were someone who was defrauded or disrespected by tRump, (and we ALL were, in one way or another) you have my sympathy. If you are anxious about your affordable health care or that of your kids, you have my sympathy. If you are anxious about the free school lunches that your kids may not get, next year, because Trump just doesn’t care about you or your kids, you have my sympathy. If you are worried about losing your food stamps, because Trump doesn’t care about you and your kids, you have my sympathy. If you are worried about losing your social security checks, because Trump doesn’t care about you, you have my sympathy.
This was not what I wanted for America, and it’s why I didn’t vote for Trump. I saw how he spoke to women, and how he treated Vets attempting to return to his employ and students at his university. I saw how he incited violence at every one of his campaign rallies, and lied about even little things, like the size of his inauguration crowd and how terribly the camera men and women did their jobs at his campaign rallies. I saw how many wives he had and had cheated on, and realized that that character flaw would carry over into other areas of his life, as character flaws do.
I heard how he talked about deporting immigrants who have paid taxes and been the backbone of the American economy, for centuries. I heard how he talked about building a wall between us and a neighbor with whom we had decent relations, and I remembered the history that he wanted us to forget- that we used to BE Mexico, before we were California and several other states, here on the West Coast. I remembered that immigrants had built America, and then built it up: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/silicon-valley-slams-president-trumps-immigration-order-scrambles-recall-staff-us-1603738
I heard how he spoke disrespectfully of his predecessor and with no basis in fact, and then denied that he had started the rumor about Obama’s questionable nationality.
I wanted a better leader than this for America. I wanted to believe that we were a better America than the one that voted for bigotry and apathy toward the poor and middle class.
I wanted a better America so I’m going to have to create it. It will be called: The Nation of California. I’m working to create it now, and I’m not alone.
We are Cal Con Con. Join us:
