I heard somewhere recently that when dealing with the future, we need to be deliberate in our considerations on how to move forward. “Designing the future” they called it. This got me thinking a bit about the clash between the non-stop raft of current emergencies and figuring out how to move beyond them. From my perspective, we just seem to be reacting to things that happen, and pro-active action is frowned upon. I don’t believe that this is a viable way to run a nation, all helter-skelter, careening from one disaster to the next.

So here is the point of this post: why don’t we regular citizens sit down for a bit, turn off the TV and put down the paper, and discuss for a minute what we would like our future to look like. What do we want? Do we want our courts to be subordinate to the Hague? Or do we want to be a sincerely sovereign nation? Do we want our schools to educate our children? Or do we want to continue the slide in national math, science and literacy scores? Do we want to have a good healthcare system? Do we want public infrastructure that is regularly maintained and updated? Do we want a tax code that makes sense? Do we want viable forms of clean energy? I could go on, but you guys are smart enough to fill in your own blanks and have them make sense.

Now, we ask the question, “What do we do to make this happen?” By the way, if any answer involves the government, it is the wrong answer. We, the citizens are responsible for our nation. We have enormous amounts of power to change things, and if the government has a problem with that, then we can change the government. But the conversation NEEDS to happen. Part of the reason we keep losing elections is because we can’t seem to provide a vision for where we want to go, and the things we would like to do. Kennedy had the right idea, harnessing the will and imagination of our nation with his speech on going to the moon, Martin Luther had the right idea by telling us about his dream of a truly equal nation. Let’s figure out what our dream for the future of our country is, and express it. If we want to change the direction of our nation, we are going to have to lead that change. Ladies and gentlemen, leadership takes vision, and the will to act.

Please discuss.