Where’s the End of Your Rainbow?
In fairy tale learning, the end of the rainbow brings riches and happiness. The vast majority of people thrive for that sparkling place where we, and those around us have the riches we need and free from want. So, which political or governance system in the real world offers us the best path to our rainbows end?
For Governance, all leading think tanks use the continuum of Democracy on one end and Authoritarianism at the other. Despite many variants of Democracy and Authoritarianism, definitions of both ends are very similar across all studies. Let’s consider the continuum as either West or East.
Most consider their happy rainbow end somewhere toward the West. Yet, never have we seen such a glaring difference on how to get to the end of our governance rainbow. Ask yourself, do I want to be like Canada, or Hungary, or Saudi Arabia, or India, or Norway, or China? If you have a good answer, then supporting the leaders, and voting to get there take on a new meaning. Forget Republican, Democrat, Socialist, MAGA, Progressive, Conservative … forget everything! Let your own intelligence, your hopes and dreams, be your guide. After all, what you wish for today through your votes and actions is what you cast upon your children and grandchildren. It may not be a fairy-tale ending. In some scenarios, your prodigy may lose any real vote, based on what you wished upon them.
All recognized international ratings organizations rank the top 10 democracies and almost in the same order. Spoiler alert: USA is not one of them. In all surveys, the USA has 18–25+ more democratic countries ahead. Our reference study from EIU uses 4 groups including: Full Democracies, followed by Flawed Democracies. The USA fell from the top category to the Flawed category in 2016. That election, and the governance that followed moved the USA to the “East” along the democracy continuum.
The US Democratic experiment was crafted with checks, balances and equal pillars of governance and designed to “govern to the middle”. This US experiment has endured graft, shifts in power, great depression, civil war, the rise and fall of legalized slavery, McCarthyism, world and regional wars, suffrage, more.
Undermining this design, for more than a generation today, many in government, particularly in minority, have concluded that rather than govern to the middle, they can sustain their influence by refusing to govern while blaming the opposing party for getting nothing accomplished. A stalemate in effect, to the detriment of all citizens everywhere.
More than at any time in our lifetimes, your voting now will impact your children and grandchildren. How can you be sure you’re doing best by your prodigy? Let’s forget for the moment party lines, left, right, donkeys and elephants. Instead, let’s put our own brains to work. It is worth pondering: where does your political and ideological rainbow end?
Let’s consider:
I’m a lifelong Republican. I see larger government as worse than lesser government. While the federal government provides a framework for law and order, states should have greater role in the welfare and basic needs of its citizens. Markets have a way of taking care of themselves, therefore bigger size, scale and profits are efficient and positive for economy and help everyone. Increases in corporate and individual wealth ultimately trickle down to the mass middle class and is an effective method of distributing wealth with little government cost and intervention. Taxation therefore should grant relief with greater wealth, regressive rather than being proportional or progressive. Our free economy is made worse with greater and costly oversight. I’ve acquired wealth, and it is important to protect it. Giving more to the government is an inefficient way to spend my hard-earned wealth. My family roots may be in agriculture or oil, gas, banking, real estate, wall street. My heritage is what feeds, supplies, funds the masses in urban America who depend on us. So, we deserve and need greater representation in national politics and elections.
So, where does my rainbow end? This voting doesn’t move the needle much, keeps us in the Flawed Democracy camp with Israel, South Africa, or moves us at least slightly West or further East on the Democracy continuum toward Brazil, maybe India, Hungary or Romania
I’m a 20-teens Republican. I’ve changed. I’m frankly totally fed up with pretty much everything. I’m not concerned that the leaders I follow don’t offer specific solutions or platform. I’m actually unable to even believe what I see and hear. In fact, while I’m hard pressed to explain why things seem so bad, I just don’t want things to stay the same. I feel the urban cities are sucking all the hard-earned benefits, some of which should be coming to me. I’m fearful of rising crime and immigrants that will take our jobs and benefits. I can’t explain how or why, but I no longer trust congress, laws, courts, results of elections, because they must be rigged. After all, everyone I know thinks like me so how could it not be rigged? I believe God plays a key role in our democratic guidance. Hence, I support laws that limit women’s reproductive rights and same sex marriage. That is what I feel and it is reinforced when I talk to my friends and listen to my news. I’ve never felt so like-minded as I do with those who think like me.
So, where might my grandchildren grow up in my Rainbow’s end? Looking like further East in places like China, Russia, Niger, Chad, or Cuba.
I’m a Centrist. I believe we are a better country with tighter reins on government spending. Government tends to spend inefficiently and therefore I support those who can control spending, and lower debt while keeping programs and services running frugally, but smoothly. I also feel that most safety net programs are vital to help level the playing field and give the underserved who live at the margin a hand up. The increasing wealth gap is is a growing problem that is concerning as we witness ever more influence of the 1%, the powerful corporations and the lobby machine supported by them. Conservative interests often cloaked in religious zeal have become far too involved in both lawmaking and the courts. There is a reason we have separation of church and state in our constitution. I believe healthcare should be more universal for all Americans and no one should live in fear of accessing free or affordable care for themselves and their families. Immigration is a problem that our elected officials fail by fighting for political position rather than common sense win / win solutions such a simple work visa program and Quotas and a path to citizenship like so many other countries.
So, where does my rainbow end? This voting likely moves slightly West on the scale and could possibly allow us to move out of The Flawed Democracy camp to join others at that crease including France, South Korea and Chile.
I’m a long time Democrat. I believe our basic rights, wellbeing and opportunity are best when they are equal among us all, though, I know that has never really been the case. I know that our federal government is what defines being a US Citizen. Being an American is what should reflect our national values, wealth and human standards — same across all 50 states, and not being a Texan, a New Yorker, an Iowan, or a Floridian. I believe the best way to have a strong nation is through a strong and responsive federal government that considers every person as important as the next with safety net programs for the underserved. In a wealthy nation, everyone deserves simple access to healthcare,
education, and equal opportunity. The universal health and well-being of every law-abiding Citizen is what makes the US not just strong but invincible. Every wage earner and every corporation that enjoys these benefits should give their fully proportional tax share back to support the programs, the living wages and needs of those with less so that there is a life free from fear and want for all Citizens. Every woman and man deserve full rights to their individual body health and well-being, regardless if it results in changing gender, same sex marriage or terminating unwanted pregnancy.
So, where does my rainbow end? Westward toward the 18+ countries more democratic than the US including Canada, Northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand.
Imagine … all my wishes come true. The USA is governed, managed, and under the direction of the particular leaders I support. In this hypothetical game, my SIM-USA might be quite a different place in 4–20 year’s span, the time it takes for our children or grandchildren to come of voting age and inherit the end of the rainbow I so knowingly wished for.
The entire January/February edition of highly respected The Atlantic assembles essays from 24 nationally acclaimed writers. Each tackles a topic under the title: “If Trump Wins” and including impacts to Justice Department, misogyny, the courts, autocracy, partisanship, the military, corruption and many other topics. Every responsible voter should take a long pause … to consider what kind of rainbow’s end would follow 4–20 years from my choices today. Ignore parties, affiliations, friends, family and media noise all around. If you join a crowd or movement, consider objectively where their rainbow’s end might lead. Question with the human power we all have on our shoulders rather than accept without question the lemming path that may lead over a cliff. Reject information that cannot be trusted and test everything you hear against your own better common sense.
Consider: Where does your Rainbow End?
