I wanted to take a couple of minutes out of my incredibly busy schedule tonight and call for serious reflection in days to come. Not just this week, but this month. The November 2nd election is unlikely to do much more than maintain the status quo. I realize that this is an extremely pessimistic stance, and I cede the point that something will probably change, but I don’t look for it to change much, if at all. We need to have a serious conversation as citizens of the United States and in the larger world, centered around the following five questions:

1. Is America working towards becoming a global empire? Are we, as American citizens, comfortable with such a prospect?
2. As a nation, have we stagnated in political and economic power? Has this led to undue use of military influence in the absence of social, political, and economic dominance?
3. Where do we want America to be in ten years? Twenty five? Fifty? What kind of nation — what kind of world — do we leave to the next generation?
4. Should we focus more on the humanistic needs of the world — food, basic housing, clean water — or on internal, national improvement? In the short term? In the long term?

We need to reexamine and redefine where our priorities lie as citizens and as members of a world community. We are not isolated, and we are not alone; what we do here in the United States ripples the world over. What ripples are we sending?

Thanks to this Winds of Change posting for inspiring me to write this.