The Life Of The Nation

There is a statement, perhaps it is a quote, that adorns one of the great arches of the Fisher Building in Detroit. When life was "normal," I would walk past it every day, and every time I would pause a bit. Something about it has never seemed right to me.

"Commerce Is The Life Of The Nation"

The many porticoes and archways throughout the Fisher Building have art deco images bearing homage and worship to the many tennements of commerce. The building itself was built as a testament to The Great American Economy, a guilded celebration of wealth.

Its final version was never built. What was envisioned as three great towers in the center of the city ceased construction with one tower. As the building that now stands was completed, the stock market crashed and the world fell into great depression. Commerce, it seems, cannot alone feed the nation. The world had forgotten that commerce is nothing without the heart and soul of its people.

With the turn of the 21st Century came a great wave of economic expansion. Commerce's new day, with wealth full in the pockets of those who control it. Yet for much of the world something has felt off. Everything has been good, but with something awry under the surface.

And the Earth breathed.

Across the globe of humanity, breath carried the power to stop the oceans of commerce.

And the rallymen of commerce have raised their banners declaring that the good of its wealth is worth the cost of a few [many] lives.

As it was true before, it remains true today. Commerce cannot live without the life of its people.

The phrase adorned on the Fisher Building's arcade is wrong.

Commerce is not the life of the nation.

WE are the life of the nation.

It is time for us to embrace the humanity that holds us together. It is time to see and feel the heartbeat that keeps us alive. We must see each other before we put our faith in man-made constructs of wealth and value, void of any moral compass.

The Life Of The Nation Is The Heart Of Its People.

Why I can’t vote for Bernie this time

In 2016 I struggled with my primary vote decision. I decided that I had to vote for the candidate that best fit my ideals. At the time it was clear to me that the best candidate that did that was Bernie, even though I didn’t think he’d ultimately win the nomination and I wasn’t sure he’d be able to win America in the fall. I was incredibly pleased to see Hillary adopt many of the principles Bernie ran on when she and the party put together their 2016 platform. 

It’s been four years. A lot has changed. 

One of the things that has changed over the last four years, for me, is the amount of exposure Bernie has gotten since 2016. We’ve seen and heard a lot more from him and about him in that time. 

It’s clear to me that one of the reasons Bernie has had so little legislation introduced in Congress over his long tenure there is that he is slow to yield. A good leader does not only need a vision and passion.  A good leader also needs to be able to yield and allow the best idea in the room to rise to the top and then support that idea and the team that fostered it. What I’ve seen from Bernie is similar to what I’ve seen from Trump and that’s a hard headed stubborn man who is slow to listen, slow to see the value of others opinions and slow to yield for the good of all. 

I still agree with much of Bernie’s ideals. But we need more than ideals and stubbornness in a leader. We need someone who truly leads, listens, learns, and lifts good ideas and those who have them higher. 

That person is not Bernie Sanders. 

I believe that Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden are leaders who embody those leadership qualities. The qualities I want to see in a President. Warren fit better with my ideals than Biden and She had my vote. But now that she is out, my vote and my support will go to Biden and not Bernie this time. 

Bernie will bring a host of delegates to the convention in Milwaukee. That’s a very good thing. The ideals they carry will make our platform against Trumpism that much stronger and more unified for all Americans.