Unfortunately, more and more Americans are suffering daily setbacks. Multiple pressures are piling onto people – high grocery prices, very high fuel prices, more restrictions on social benefits, job losses to technology, high interest rates, very limited affordable housing options and unaffordable medical care costs.
The average person’s paycheck has not risen to cover the higher costs of daily necessities, and our taxes remain in place.
All this is happening while billions of our tax dollars are being spent every day to wage a war on Iran. Those are dollars needed for Americans at home. We’ve lost 13 of our service members. The war is bringing us nothing but bigger gas prices here. Ceasefire agreements to end it don’t last more than a few days. Someone is making profits on the ups and downs of the oil markets during this war, but it’s not the average American voter.
These concerns aren’t just about money, but of what’s right. More and more people seem ready to talk about morals in our civic life.
Ultra-rich companies and people are getting wealthier while average working and retired people struggle for basics. The quest for wealth and bigger technology is leading to harm to the planet we all live on. That’s not equal opportunity for all.
Faceless technologies like AI are getting more attention than human beings are, and tech is designing tools to further replace the need for human labor and interaction.
When’s the last time you called a big company and a real person answered the phone right away? We dislike this but feel forced to adapt to it. Why should we?
Like the colonists of early America, we do have the power and God-given right to declare this is not how we choose to live together as a country. Pay attention to keeping our civic power in the hands of people – not corporations or tech tools.
America can still turn back to representing its countrymen and women as we first intended. Not by going back to colonial times, but by using our modern tools and great national wealth to build a shared prosperity.
Pressure elected officials to use our resources for the public good. Get involved in the community. Choose your technology carefully and protect your data. Tell companies to treat customers like human beings. Help any person who’s suffering. Read widely and educate yourself.
This is how we renew our country’s founding principles and write the next chapter of Liberty and Justice for All.
Editorial by Messenger editor Kate Shunney.
