We aren’t going to all agree on any one thing. The country exists and changes based on what the majority of us feel is beneficial. Or something like that. It wouldn’t work for everyone to have the same perspective, if that was even possible.

Thus, we come up with social arrangements so that we can peacefully coexist. Villages combine into cities and states, and on from there. We form governments (ostensibly “together”) which are supposed to advance our mutual interests. Governments are not companies – those are formed to serve specific interests.

Companies are made by people, but they are not people. That’s why one of the most regular topics you will see discussed on AlexTalk, is the influence of private money on public elections. I may spend some time wondering why we don’t have better gun laws, and someone will think I’m some automatic Democrat. I may go on a rant about how many wars Obama started, and some will think I’m ignoring how poorly Trump has performed as a national figurehead.

All that stuff is “the other stuff” for me; most important to me, is that at the end of the day, we get together to take the best possible course for this country. Sometimes that means doing a “conservative” thing and sometimes that means doing a “liberal” thing (I’m using these words in the popular definition rather than actual). But the government doesn’t do what most Americans want, because national leadership is bought.

There are good jokes based on distrusting the government. People forget that public voting is a pretty big distinction between it and everything else.

This is not to assume that the majority opinion is always best for the country. But I do assume that the majority of us agree on certain things. Things like: hurting other people is discouraged, lying for advantage is immoral, and harming children is shameful. I think humans generally come up with the right norms, and I think Americans would generally make the right choices if given the chance.

Instead, the major parties unite with big businesses and launch endless propaganda campaigns against the other. And most elections are won by the candidate with the most money. That’s why real servant leaders aren’t making it to Congress. We can’t dislodge established candidates, however, without money. So even the good guys are eventually pressured to act on behalf of businesses. I think the corruption is the root cause of our governmental problems, so that is where I focus.

It is something that most Americans believe. They believe that the system is supposed to respond to the desires of the people. If the majority of us want to sustain perpetual war, that’s what the country should do, but it’s not what people want. How is that in our best interests, if it’s not the country we want to be? Why is it that most of us oppose corruption, but we let special interests hijack anyone who wants to run a campaign?

I think we can agree that elections are supposed to be determined by voters, not donors. But since they aren’t talking about this on mass media, people are sleeping on this problem. Maybe we can really aspire to a sustainable union if we can at least get this one thing right.