Fantasy U.S.A.: The Right-Brain Version

A friend wrote me a long (about 2,500 words), thoughtful email today outlining the demise of the U.S. from an economic perspective. I tried to read it, but you know how it is — he’s left-brained and I’m right-brained — so I got a couple of paragraphs into it and started thinking about whether braised pork shoulder would be good for dinner tonight.

When I came back, I realized that while my friend is studying the innards of the pig, I’m hoping it looks good on the plate and tastes delicious.

And in crafting my response to him, I found myself getting pretty specific about what I believe. I asked myself, “What does the perfect fantasy country look like to your right-brained self?” I don’t know if you can get there from here, but this is how America would look if my dreams came true:

1. Education: All children are offered pre-K through 12 and either four years of any college they can academically get accepted to or vocational training, free of charge. We know for a fact that the knowledge that opportunity is there equals hope, and hope causes kids to do better and even well.
2. Healthcare: All people have access to healthcare throughout their lives without concern for cost. A single kidney stone should not bankrupt anybody.
3. Contributions: Tax responsibilities need to be equalized. The filthy rich currently pay more dollars, but less percent of income in income taxes (they have all the loopholes and a preponderance of the wealth). Same for big corporations (I’m not talking about small businesses), especially now that they have no limits on political contributions and can buy results outright. I remember that $235 (or thereabouts) check Pres. Bush sent me and how we all laughed. Maybe we should all send it back.
4. Equality: I get to get married in the eyes of the law and reap all the benefits. This is a civil union, not a religious one. Let’s just say everybody gets to pick one partner for life and we stay out of their bedrooms. Churches can make their own rules for religious blessings.
5. Social services (The Jesus Factor): The poor and infirmed (permanently & temporarily) need our help to survive. #1 & 2 above will help a lot, but for those who are old, sick, mentally challenged, or temporarily wounded or incapacitated, we need to step up… keep a roof over their heads, feed them, show them some concern.
6. Foreign relations: We live by example and only intervene where we are invited and morally required to go for human rights reasons, and we do it with our partners from other countries (i.e., the U.N.).
7. Guns: I’m including this because I think it speaks to our violent culture. We need to abolish semi-automatic and automatic weapons for any purpose other than the military. Period.
8. Environment/Energy: Get out of nuclear and into solar & wind.

Just eight items on my Bill o’ Rights. I wonder how many will be in the Left-Brained Version?