Our nation has struggles and we are only beginning to walk in the direction of fixing them. People who do bad things often get a free pass with the pleasure and clapping of people within their social networks. Highly skilled employees and youth don't get good jobs because they weren't born rich or didn't come from the right social background. Encouraging those who have the power to change those things seems to be a relatively useless endeavor because they don't look at America's needs but the opinions of their political/social group (It is becoming misaligned and they need to work on representing all of Americans and not just the far right or left loud voices).
We will change because we have no options but to change. Change is constant and we should expect it as a method of societal adaptation. We think we have options and we think that as long as we are taking care of ourselves we need not think about our behaviors or its impact on the rest of society. We drag our feet because we are patterned/socialized into behaviors that lead to poor results. Change often comes quickly from pressure from an environmental pressure bigger than our system (i.e. meaning if forces a system to change to function properly).
Things will change because we will increasingly see that exclusionary society, locking people out of positions based on inherently false criteria, and rewarding bad behaviors won't put us into a leading position nationally or internationally (I'm not saying everyone is doing this but there is a significant portion.). They are the very behaviors that have undermined every nation from the beginning of time (Look through history and find how certain groups have become removed from loftier goals and began to eat at the core of a nation by turning inward and over focusing on small differences.). I believe we are wise enough to see that more quickly than other systems but sometimes we need to hit bumpy roads to see the necessity in it (i.e. reactive versus proactive management)
I believe we can create a fairer society and I believe that as the weight of our choices bear upon us we will begin to see that change as a necessity. It is selfish not to change, it is irresponsible to stay on a poor path, it is moral defunct to give free passes to bad behavior, and reward those who do the wrong thing. We must have deeper values than that and through self reflective insight we will begin to transform as a nation and people.
I believe over the next 10 years our choices will catch up to us and we will either push to build something greater that leads to national redevelopment or we will move toward defunct status bouncing down to 2nd and then 3rd position (We are close to #2 already and only have so much resources to regain a leading edge). We are at a critical point in our development where we must create a shared sense of American identity and have a good grasp of what behaviors lead to success and how the system rewards/punishes those behaviors (Use systems thinking to see how expectation and reward should be associated in society to certain values. We have done the opposite over the past 20 years.).
Leadership often works within a fishbowl (i.e. in "the box" or socially constructed reality/perspective)and can't see in how limited an environment in which they exist. Ripples carry for a long time and choices create more ripples in smaller systems. Good choices change the environment just as much as bad choices. As a collection of peoples our leaders create ripples that work their way through their social networks to create social understandings. Those understandings influence behaviors on a micro level and in turn our outcomes through collective behaviors. It wise to continuously reflect on our values, choices, and potential outcomes to encourage wider positive choices that lead to national outcomes. While we might be in a much bigger society then we were thousands of years ago as small clans, the very same mechanics exist on a larger socio-psycho-bio level. (BioPsychoSocial Dev, Social Cognition, Econ Needs Fulfillment, Perpetual Dev., Econ Platform, Conflict Model 🤔)
Let us ask ourselves a few questions....
1.) Are our leaders acting in the best interest of the nation (I suspect most are but many are not.)?
2.) What does the average person feel in terms of opportunity and prospects (I believe a small majority feel they are locked out and no matter the effort they will not get ahead)?
3.) Is the justice system upholding truth, law and moral conscious (For the most part it does but often there are lots of hands with lots of different perspectives that create uncertainty in outcomes. Not all of those hands are trying to "do the right thing")?
4.) Do we all follow the Constitution and our general freedoms (Most do but are easily persuaded in misaligning those values. We distort those truths for personal, political, and social gain.)
5.) Ask a poor child if he could be rich, famous or important if he/she puts forward the right effort throughout their life (I think you will not get the answer you suspect)?
6.) Are we really as trustworthy, honest, or have the integrity we say we have (I would say much less than half. We have really good people in positions of power but we have lots of people who never deserved to be there but are "connected" and willing to say the right things versus the truthful things. That large 50/50 are dragging the rest of society down and few think about who they are promoting or why they are promoting. i.e. promoting someone who advances a cause versus someone who will make good judgement and use of resources.)?
Let us see which way the winds push us.....
(Don't listen to me...I have a Muslim sounding name. 🤷)
