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Do Americans really hate each other? Where do we go from here?

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A shift in order is brewing and it’s going to be big.  The question is will we make it something positive or something devastating.  Politics is a hot button issue that brings out the wild beast in some while others shy away from the conversation.  This election cycle has been unprecedented.  Mudslinging has been around for a long time.  But the quest for summiting Mud Mountain toward victory this year has been exhausting, leaving us (the people) left with the mess.  In the beginning, I figured it was just typical candidates playing the game.  It’s easy to see the bad in each, since the media tends to draw negativity to the forefront.  Pull back and look at the bigger picture though.  At what point did it become ok for such egregious interpersonal behavior to become normalized?  Marketing tactics from the candidates and the news outlets egg it on.  To make matters worse, we seem to be buying it all.

It is now full on “shit-show” similar to reality TV, which is most profitable these days.  Like a train wreck, people can’t turn away.  Wretched behavior, although entertaining at times, is giving way to something far more concerning: public outrage.  I thought it was just the election year, which tends to bring the cat fighting in even the best of intentioned people.  But as I zoomed out in the social media world, a pattern is uncovered that makes me downright mad.  Friends argue vehemently on Facebook about candidates, who by example vehemently argue with each other.   Then there is the act of “unfriending” and “unfollowing” of people you once considered friends.  Now the growing sentiment is, “if you don’t see things my way, you are a horrible person.”  Are we as a society becoming less engaged?  When did we lose respect for common respectability?  We’re electing public officials who are supposed to represent the will of their constituents, not tyrants who can rule over us like peasants.  It’s as if we are expecting them to save us from the chaos.

Enough is enough.  Now is the time to Do Something Big.  There is a growing desire to make changes very much needed in this country.  It all starts with us.  We have the tools and power to change the narrative.  The question is will we?  About 5 months ago I was presented with the concept of a new idea.  A peaceful, non-partisan platform for the people.  A group of folks from across the country agreed to put their political differences aside to bring about real change.  Is that even possible?  A video trailer was created and the brand revealed and instantly I was hooked.  Instead of waiting for the proverbial “they” to come along and fix things, it is time for We to become They.  We Are They.  If we don’t like the current situation it is up to each of us to act.  And so WE went.  At first I wasn’t sure what to do.  But as I began meeting others in the group ready to unite, I found my voice.  We Are They encourages positive, peaceful participation.  It starts with us being the example we want to see for our country.  Rather than waiting for “they” the political leaders to do it for us or even the news to report it for us, we have to step up and do our part.  This country was designed by our forefathers to be united, not divided.  These forefathers faced many of the problems we do today and as a result acted.  They created a leadership platform of the people, by the people and for the people.  It’s time we remember that and take back that responsibility.

The We Are They movement has been amazing so far.  Truly the peaceful, non-partisan platform for all voices.  The mission is clear: unite Americans by promoting positive, peaceful participation to foster a transparent form of government held accountable to the will of the people.  The strategy is to use engaging multimedia and technology that encourages more participation in our democratic process and measures the transparency of the system compared to the will of the participants.  With aims to inspire, inform and empower Americans using technology we already have become accustomed to using daily makes so much sense.  What excites me most is the belief statements of We Are They.

“We believe all Americans should have an equal voice and should be encouraged to use that voice.”

“We believe our government should work for the people and be held accountable by the people.”

“We believe our country should be united no matter what our individual political beliefs.”

I’ve spoken one on one with over 200 people in the last 8 weeks about We Are They and the reaction has been overwhelming.  Each person has shared hopes and desires for a better system.  Sparks of inspiration and empowerment are electric.  The enthusiasm and feedback fuels us to do more.  Many jumped at the opportunity just like I did.  They offered to help.  Some donated money.  Others started spreading our message by asking questions and posting peaceful, productive comments on social media threads.  In fact just today, I had lunch with a lady so motivated she wants to host an event to bring as many people together as possible to realize the power is in the hands of the people.  With each person I meet, I realize we are at a tipping point.  When the people are ready to make changes necessary for a better future for our children and grandchildren, they will.

That will has been there for a while but was missing a platform to rally behind.  It’s time for us to unite as Americans and remember that our government is designed to empower us.  We don’t have to agree on every policy, but we can have peaceful, productive conversation.  We must send the message to the rest of the nation, the news outlets, and mostly our elected officials that our voices will be heard.  We are paying attention and what we see is not what we want going forward.  We choose to be positive, peaceful participators.  Let’s kick apathy and make sure our representation is held accountable to our will, like it was designed when our country formed.

There is much work to do.  Meeting and empowering the hundreds of millions of people in this country will take time, energy and even money.  But our future is worth it all our efforts and more.  I’m stepping up to the task and I encourage you all to join me.  We Are They is the platform to bring our government into the 21st century.  We want to make it easier for your voice to be heard.  And we will make sure our elected officials don’t ignore us.  If we want a better future, we will make it happen.  Join us.  www.wearethey.us

Share our message on Facebook:  WeAreThey

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Become a positive, peaceful participator today.

We Are They

Joe Cianciolo

Chief Tribal Cultivator

Joe.cianciolo@wearethey.us

 

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Comment(1)

  1. REPLY
    Jay Spencer says

    The title of this post has two questions. to the first, “Do Americans really hate each other?” My answer is no.
    There have always been more common interests holding us together than conflicts driving us apart.
    Why, then, is there so much interpersonal rancor around politics, especially at election time?
    Might I suggest that our emotions have been manipulated by those with powerful reasons to drive us apart?
    I submit that for the last century (or longer), that manipulation has gone forward on the principle of “divide and conquer.”
    The manipulators? Those who view their fellow humans as lesser beings, pawns to be used in cynical power games.
    The goal? Use the pawns to generate as much wealth as possible and claim it for themselves.
    The means? First, and primary: control of the money systems of nations, through private, central banks. in the West, this mission has been accomplished.

    We now live in a world where 1/10 of 1% of the population controls about 90% of global wealth. Through a system of multinational corporations, 147 corporations control, through interlocking directorates, most of that wealth. At the top level, the finances of these companies are managed by just four corporations which govern index funds, so that perhaps 50 people have ultimate control of how global assets are allocated. This has recently been documented by a university study using supercomputers. While these 50 men have names and addresses, and know each other, it is not necessary for them to gather together for conspiratorial meetings to decide how their control will be applied, or what they will do with all that power. At lower levels, such meetings do take place for specific projects and endeavors, but at the top level, what happens is the result of a quite mechanistic and simple process: maximization of return for the shareholders, and nothing else.

    The problem with this system is that the most profitable enterprises ever invented are also the most destructive of human values and of the health of the planet: war and the wholesale extraction of raw materials and natural resources, without regard for the planet’s ultimate devastation, both of the environment and all life which depends on it.

    Control of the money system has morphed into the destruction of money itself (that is, a medium of exchange and store of value) by its conversion into a system of credit based on debt. Investment in the means of production is no longer as profitable as the creation of complex financial derivatives, converting global finance into a rigged casino, where profit is privatized and loss is socialized (through “bailouts” and financial manipulation).

    We are now at the endgame, where financial institutions (which the term “bank” no longer adequately describes) claim ownership of ALL formerly-private assets, and the global population (outside the “elites”) have become their debt slaves. It’s essential for the elites’ continuing control that the reality of this system remains hidden from the general population. Fortunately for them, they have, through control of the educational system and the press, been able to maintain the illusion we see all around us.

    Returning to the first question, “Do Americans really hate each other,” all the animosity we experience towards each other as the elections approach has been engineered by the elites to maintain their control. Opposing mindsets have been crafted and nurtured for generations, to divide us into every possible subcategory: by sex and sexual orientation, by economic status, race, ethnicity, age, and many others. Two overarching, opposing philosophical attitudes have been scripted and nurtured as well; these days, they are usually thought of as “liberal” and “conservative,” and set against each other. The former are derided by the latter as “being generous with other peoples’ money,” and conservatives are derided by liberals as being selfish and stingy. The elites work to keep one “side” battling with the other, so they never see how their attention is being diverted from the scam the elites are running on them, and are unaware of how the wealth they create is being harvested from them.

    In this election, the level of conflict has been pushed to a near-record high. While each “side” accuses the other of trying to steal the election, they don’t notice that the real theft occurred before the campaigns began. Each candidate was chosen by the elites to be abhorrent to the “other side,” and promoted and financed with the same pool of money. While the voters get to choose (to the extent that electoral fraud is absent), the elites are guaranteed to get a “leader” they can control. If a “third-party challenger” steps up to spoil the game, they are either ignored (as underfinanced), ridiculed (through control by the press), attacked as dangerous (as having the potential to “split the vote,” “stealing” votes from the less-feared-and-loathed candidate and making the victory of the more-feared candidate more likely), or combinations of all three control techniques. In the end, we get the same results we’ve gotten for at least the last 50 years: heads, they win; tails, we lose.

    “Where do we go from here?” Excellent question. There are many approaches to many solutions, but the first imperative is for the electorate to become aware of the scam being played on them, to step back and look at the big picture. We must recognize that we all share the same hopes and dreams, to be free to enjoy life and pursue happiness, while living in peace and harmony with each other. In today’s world of abundance, only the engineering of artificial scarcity by a controlling elite can drive us apart. Once we share and communicate this common goal with each other, we can reengineer a system of self-governance that promotes harmony and ends divisions.

    While this goal seems to be a tall order, and will not happen before the coming debacle of an election, once we recognize the nature of the problem, we can work towards a solution that can begin the healing in time for the next one. The solutions involve structural changes which can be implemented in stages over a relatively short period. They are remarkably non-controversial, and are not new. They become self-evident when we can look at the problems objectively outside of the current campaign-crisis mode of thinking. They are not reforms, in the usual sense of patches on a broken system. Rather, they will reinvent a system of true self-governance, replacing the current rule-by-elite (merely disguised as self-governance).

    The most difficult step is the elimination of the Electoral College system, and its replacement by direct popular vote, since this step will require a Constitutional amendment. At the top of the list (after this reform, but not necessarily dependent on it) is “Ranked-choice voting,” a system that will eliminate several problems at once: the “horse-race” aspect of elections, where concern about the odds of winning distorts each voter’s selection of the candidate they like most. Instead of having to “choose a winner” from between two “finalists,” voters rank a list of (for example) four candidates as their first, second, third, and fourth choices. If there is no candidate with a majority after the initial tally, the candidate with the lowest share of votes is eliminated. The voters whose first choice was eliminated would have their second choice registered instead, and so forth until one candidate gains the majority. In this way, no voter has to guess who the winner will be in advance, or “wastes” their vote.

    Ballot integrity can be assured with hand-counted paper ballots, immune from electronic manipulation, with a voter-verified paper trail.

    Gerrymandering, or the manipulation of voting districts by incumbents, can be eliminated visa redistricting by non-partisan commissions. Incumbents will no longer hue able to choose their constituents, the primary reason for the bizarre disparity we have now between an 11% approval rating by voters of incumbents, concurrent with a 95% reelection rate.

    Term limits for all Congressmen are needed, so that they can’t accumulate power merely through longevity.

    The institution of lobbyists began in an era when it was difficult for constituents to contact their representatives. In the 21st century, in the era of the internet, lobbyists are little more than a means of legalized bribery, and should be eliminated.

    Once these basic changes in governance are made, other, less crucial reforms can go forward.

    Because the current system is so compromised by elite control, such radical changes will never be approved by Congressmen whose very existence they threaten. I recommend readers visit the website BrandNewCongress.org for a way forward. My personal solution is to vote for candidates who are not part of the elite’s wholly-owned “two-party system.” Instead of researching all the views of all the candidates, an easier approach is to visit isidewith.com, take their survey of your views, rank the importance of each question to you, select “more stances” to make your answers more fine-tuned, and let their computer match your views with the candidates in their database. (For President, five!) My match was 95% with the Green Party’s Jill Stein. (You might be surprised at your match.) The Green Party is not just about eating spinach and saving whales; they have comprehensive plans to do what no Red or Blue candidate is allowed to talk about. They can think for themselves, because they take no corporate money. Imagine a world where everyone here gets the same standard social benefits as most other developed countries: universal, single-payer health care (not health insurance); universal higher education; a job for everyone who wants to work, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure while also creating the technology to replace fossil-fuel use by 2030 and stopping climate change, ending wars for oil and elite power, cutting our military budget in half, closing most of our overseas military bases and phasing out nuclear weapons, for starters. What’s criticized as “wild spending” actually produces large savings in all areas where they’re applied. We truly live in a world of abundance, which will become evident when we stop digging, drilling, burning, poisoning and blowing up our beautiful blue planet. As Jill Stein says, this world of the future is not in our hopes or our dreams, it’s in our hands.

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