Waving my Magic Wand

A charming new acquaintance asked me a engaging question during a lively dinner exchange last week. She asked me "if you could change one thing about America, what would it be?"

It was a serious question, genuinely offered. And I'm glad she asked it, because it gave me reason to think broadly about our country this week past my glib answer at the table - which was to fix the foster care system and do a better job taking care of children at risk. (A parochial answer for an ex-foster parent)

Thinking broadly about our country, from a pro-active fix-it perspective, made me realize that I'm generally very optimistic about America. We are a generous country. We are a compassionate country. We are a country of opportunity. We are a melting pot. We are a force for good in the world.

When you listen to talk radio as much as I do, you tend to focus on the things that are going wrong. And there are plenty of those. But we are an entrepenuerial country at heart and, over time, we fix those things.

So, I'll answer her question in a broadly idealistic manner and say that if I could change one thing about America, I would wish for more "clarity" in our public life.

What do I mean? Well, there are serious issues that we confront in all manner of our public life. And what troubles me is the lack of clarity. Of commonly understood analysis of those issues. Of intense polarization on policy, because there is not agreement on the underlying facts.

Why is there such deep "red state" / "blue state" disagreement over the basic big issues of the day? For example:

- Are we engaged in a global "War on Terror", or aren't we?
- If so, is the Administration conducting it in the way the American people would conduct a war, or not?
- Were there WMD's before the Iraq war, or not?
- Was Iraq a state sponsor of terror, and therefore a threat to us, or not?
- Do both sides in the Israel / Palestinian issue have a legitimate stake to that land or not?
- Is there verifiable, human caused, human fixable Global Warming, or not?
- Is "judicial activism" happening or not, and is that good or bad for America?
- Are our borders secure?
- Can we appropriately assimilate all of the foreign nationals who understandably want to live here, or not?
- Is the government too big and inefficient, or not big enough?
- Is the national debt that supports a war and hurricane relief appropriate or not?
- Is our culture life in America declining into coarseness, or progressing?

I could think of many more.

We face big questions in our day. And even with a proliferation of news and information sources we've divided into camps with two completely opposing set of facts on every big issue. How can we harmful partisan bickering, and solve problems, if we can't even agree on the facts of an issue.

So, if I could change one thing in America I would challenge our leaders in media and government to think about how their efforts contribut to "clarity" rather than just power and gamesmanship.

And if that's too idealistic an approach to the question, then my answer is: more pecan pie for every American.