The noise is so loud. The amount of information, content, writing, videos, audio coming at you is literally insane. I’ve been spinning on in regard to the idea of if I should continue writing or not. Many people interacting with my posts over the years will tell me they read and find some value but with all the noise it seems almost unreasonable to expect that you or anyone else would want to sit down and read musings that may or may not be actively useful in day to day life.
While I figure out what to do, I’ll continue writing.
Today, I’d like to share with you some of my recent experience working with and closely to the updated version of our US government.
Many people talk about “the mission” referring to the important work which must be done for the American people, our warfighter and the world. My overall perspective is that people use this idea of “mission” to tug on the heart strings of those of us who truly believe in the idea of “mission.”
What is becoming more clear to me is that people enjoy power and the satisfaction of getting something done. Taking an accomplishment and putting it in their bin of “things they did” vs what is for the betterment of “the people” which is all of us.
In the name of “the people” we can do many things. We can hide, lie, steal and cheat but for the greater good of course. We can spend millions of dollars and maintain our own personal agendas. After all, if it is good for me, it is good for everyone.
This is one of the major challenges that we are dealing with in respect to getting work done that makes literal sense. It is the reason that so many of us have challenged legacy thinking in the past and irrational
While I don’t have direct answers with regard to solving this problem which is more of a new cultural challenge, I believe we are heading straight into a new version of America. As the new administration has taken on very aggressive actions, the net result is literally shifting the masks that many have worn for their years of public service.
This shift has exposed the people who were motivated by self interest and fairly extreme ideologies. Effectively, the masks have come off. I’ve long wondered how the Nazi’s were able to do what they did. As a child 40 years ago felt like forever but as an adult, I can see that 40 years ago was just yesterday in respect to history.
While I am not saying this new administration or the people are acting as Nazi’s. I am saying that it is very easy to see the mental model and the shift in attitude and behavior. I could never have imagined seeing people behave the way I see them act today. The checks and balances no longer exist and even the exposure in media is not enough to counter cognitive dissonance. Additionally, it is clear that the media itself is highly corrupted in regard to their priorities. In one moment, we are meant to cry for the death of children and literally a minute later celebrate Taylor Swift. For the thinking person, it makes no sense. It is literal madness.
When someone says “mission” today, it is important to look at the person, engage the person and understand what they mean, how they express their feelings and what they’ve said historically. The mission doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. For some, it means controlling the narrative and telling people what they believe they want to hear. For others, the mission means something very powerful, important purposeful. For those of us who are compelled for purpose and the greater good, we must be that much more vigilant and outspoken for the version of the mission that we truly believe is right. Something important to note, now that people have been emboldened to take their masks off and expose their true nature, we can now know and understand what we are dealing with devil or angel or somewhere in between. It is up to us as individuals to shape the world into what we want it to be. We have to reflect on our human history to determine what will happen next and we have to overcome selfishness, greed and individual want, needs and desires for the whole of us and the greater good.
Happy Sunday..
Love H
The removal of the masks should be making it easier to see the threat, but it’s just egging on the people who are annoyed, frustrated and believe that they have something to personally gain by joining the parade.
I’d love to blame all of this on the current administration and events, but that would be too easy. The truth is uglier: for forty-plus years, our political system has been sliding from for the people toward for the party. Too many leaders have treated public office less like stewardship and more like personal empire-building. And here’s the kicker – we, the people they’re supposed to serve, don’t have many levers to pull. No “no-confidence” votes. No national recall. No real limits on money flooding in from billionaires or out-of-state donors who will never live with the consequences. District lines drawn with surgical precision to muffle whole neighborhoods into silence. Once elected, a politician can run the table until the next cycle rolls around, and by then the damage is baked in.
Imagine if we could challenge a seat mid-stream, not just wait for the next election. Imagine if money only flowed from the people actually represented by the candidate. Imagine if districts were shaped by communities, not the current party’s political consultants with spreadsheets and rulers.
Here’s the irony: when you rig the system to lock in your own advantage, you’re really just building a weapon for your rivals to use against you later. And while the parties are busy fencing each other in, the public they’re supposed to represent finds itself locked out. A democracy where the people can’t correct course between elections isn’t really a democracy anymore—it’s a party-state in slow motion (just a reminder of some notable party states – The Soviet Union, Peoples Republic of China, Cuba, North Korea. We are literally moving towards the systems we’ve been speaking out against for generations while self-proclaimed “patriots” cheer it on).
When your neighbor has less of a voice than you do, then democracy has left the building. And no matter which banner you wave, that should unsettle you.