Hopefully, we are…
- a society that believes that each human being who lives here deserves the chance to be healthy, happy, and educated.
- a society of democratic values, such as the right to vote and have that vote counted as was voted.
- a society where individuals can practice whatever religion they choose, or no religion at all, as long as that religion does not preach harm to its practitioners or to others in our society or the world at large.
- a society of laws–laws that keep us healthy, laws that protect us against crime, laws that protect our environment, laws that keep us safe as determined by our representatives in local, state, and federal government, laws that may at times be anathema to individual members of society but that have been enacted by our legislatures and approved by our courts (for example, laws that mandate masks, vaccines, stoplights and stop signs, seatbelts, drinking and driving, helmets and motorcycling, vehicle licenses and registration and smog control, noise control, sanitation regulations, and open admission to public facilities.
- a society that respects differences and honors diversity.
- a society that attends to the wellbeing of our fellow human beings no matter their color or economic status or immigration status.
- a society that is generous in kind and spirit, willing to help those less fortunate.
- a society that treats all sentient beings with compassion and respect, including even the seemingly lowest in class and status such as prisoners, the disabled, the poor and destitute, the homeless, the sick, the fragile elderly, the hungry.
- a society that follows the Golden Rule which is Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
- a society where individuals take responsibility for their actions, and consider the effects of their actions on the lives of others, whether people, other animals, or plants.
- a society that prides itself on its livability, its clean water and air, its sustainable practices, its wise and sensible land use, its clean and alternative energy resources, its happy and content populace.
- a society of good roads, safe bridges, universal broadband, universal child care and early childhood education, free education for those unable to afford it, trade schools for those who desire it, and quality health care for all.
- a society that has the courage to take an honest look at its history, face up to its failures and atone for them, smiles at its successes and honors them, and avoids changing history to suit its collective ego.
- a society that trusts legitimate science and the scientific method it employs.
- a society that cooperates with other countries, finding commonalities and interests it can agree upon, resulting in positive results for the planet.
- a society that chooses peace over war, honing the art of negotiation and diplomacy, resorting to war only when it or a treaty ally is directly attacked.
- a society that works, along with other countries, to disarm, especially nuclear weapons that can easily destroy the planet if unleashed.
- a society that sets a good example of democracy for the rest of the world to emulate–an example that includes one person/one vote, counted fairly and squarely, that includes a presidential election decided by popular vote and not an antiquated system that creates doubt in the outcome, that includes a true representative democracy that deletes schemes like gerrymandering and filibustering, and a fringe third party that can sway an election unfairly.
- a society where all eligible voters can and do vote.
- a society that can provide decent jobs and a living wage for its workers.
- a society that honors women with equal pay for equal work, that acknowledges the freedom of choosing how to manage their own bodies in regards to reproduction, health care, and birth control, and that has sufficient child care resources to allow them to pursue whatever career or job they wish.
- a society that understands that one can be pro-life and pro-choice at the same time, and end this toxic polarity between the two factions.
- a society that honors multi-culturalism.
- a society that rejects false conspiracy theories, such as QAnon, white supremacy, the Big Lie (s) of Donald Trump and his surrogates, the spittle of Tucker Carlson and Fox “News”, and vaccine misinformation.
- a society where civil discourse is the rule not the exception.
Can we be such a society?
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