One thing most Americans can agree upon this election is that we were dissatisfied with the two candidates vying for the presidency because we were skeptical on how well they would address the big problems facing our country.
Surveys show that most of us feel our elected representatives in D.C. have not been representing us and that is why many jobs have been outsourced to Third World countries creating poorer Americans, more billionaires and gross income inequality.
Many, if not the majority of us, right or left wing, agree that we are being hammered by outsourcing; offshore tax havens for big corporations who thus pay less in taxes percentage wise than we do as the national debt keeps rising; expensive or unaffordable health care and pharmaceutical medicines; and our politicians being beholden to big money, rather than us, so they can finance their extremely expensive election campaigns.
Most Americans are against the Citizens United decision made by the Supreme Court which allows big money to spend as much as they want on political campaigns. We realize how this law has increased the power of the rich over the rest of us and undermined democracy. We feel like we are being gripped in a headlock by the Republican/Democrat duopoly.
Many of us also realize we are being fed theatrics and fear from the media and not the facts on the most important issues.
Though you wouldn’t know it by watching the polarization in Congress and the vitriolic fear stoked by Fox News and hate radio, there are many issues most Americans agree upon, but which are ignored by congress and obscured by the divide and conquer disinformation broadcast by corporate media.
Most Americans agree that:
1. Congress is not doing its job.
2. The minimum wage should be raised.
3. Women should earn equal pay.
4. Taxes should be raised on the rich.
5. Corporations should pay taxes for the profits they make in the USA.
6. Citizens United should be repealed.
7. Health care should be affordable.
8 Big Pharma should not be allowed to gouge Americans more than they do anyone else.
9. We need clean water and clean air.
10. Paying for infrastructure repair would improve the country and provide good jobs.
11. Wall Street must be more tightly regulated to prevent another recession/depression.
Some solutions
Since most Americans want to solve the above problems, the solution is to get Congress working for most Americans instead of just the fat cats who fund political campaigns. To do that we must get all private money out of politics. This will be hard since the fat cats are winning with their army of lawyers and lobbyists that purchase politicians. We need to know who is contributing to the politicians and shine a spotlight on whose interests the politicians work for once in office in order to awaken people and pressure congress to repeal Citizens United.
Though the airwaves are legally public property, our government allows private media corporations to broadcast misinformation which distorts reality and turns us against one another. Ignorance is the Achilles heal of democracy and to have a healthy democracy we must know the facts. That is what real news is about.
Americans do agree more than you think on many issues. I’m a liberal. Some of my friends are Trump supporters. One thing we have in common is that we all look for information that will confirm our biases. However, friendship, love of country and tolerance comes first so we can have discussions and learn from one another. That’s what democracy is about. Not my way or the highway. We all have different experiences and different viewpoints based upon them. I urge all of us to listen to one another with respect and try to find common ground. When you get past the hot button issues and focus on the basic problems, we have a lot in common. If we work together to address the issues that we have in common we can have influence and become, once again. the United States of America rather than the Benighted States of America.
• Lisle Hebert is a Juneau filmmaker, social worker and retired.
