
| For the new wave of American progress. |
| The Show Must Go On by Nicholas Ruiz III Everything is a matter of perspective. In orbit, the experience of the Sun is such that it rises and sets every ninety minutes. On Earth, the Sun rises and sets once per day, with some Arctic and Antarctic exceptions. And deep within the ocean, there are regions where sunlight rarely goes, that is referred to as the twilight zone. Beyond that ocean depth, sunlight never reaches. Some call that dark part of the ocean, quite colorfully - the abyss. Our politics are the same. I’d say now, America is somewhere between the twilight zone and the abyss. But of course, it’s relative. I doubt most of the I-495 Beltway bunch that services American federal policy, and most of their exceptionally ‘not’ gifted, but rather intellectually and emotionally bankrupt advisors and acquaintances feel the cold dark circumstances of the political and sociocultural abyss they have fostered. No, most signs indicate they’re feeling fat, happy and warm - 1920s style. On the other hand, many Americans are underwater, and deeply so. And sinking further everyday. The many who would define themselves as middle class, the working poor and the extremely destitute don’t get tickets to the state dinners and country club. They generally don’t golf and rarely, if ever, take what might be understood as a ‘vacation.’ This is a large part of the America that the current political class has created, and by every measure, it is the status quo they seek to sustain. I am a political candidate because I believe that America is in need of a new vision. My vision is comprehensive and it involves more than just ending the wars, though that is a part of it, and we should do that. It’s more than a short term fix to add some more, grossly inadequate, low wage, low benefit jobs to the community that really won’t lift the country up at all, but rather is designed to provide a facelift for the many sagging political candidacies in need of such cosmetic work. We know that their plan is barely makeup on the fact that their current proposals serve to sustain a radically suppressed, beaten down, and increasingly unstable society. There are broader systemic problems in America that will have to be addressed in a way that we have never addressed our country’s problems before. Why? Because we are different now. Times are different. People are different. Globalization ensures that humanity will never be the same. It used to be that one full time job could support a family. Then two full time jobs were needed to support a family. Now two jobs is quite often, still not enough. How long until before it takes three and four jobs to sustain a family? How much oppression remains to be realized before we face the evidence that America has been abandoned by her former stewards, through deaths, attrition, and corruption - and that the full task of American health and stewardship now falls upon us, a new generation, to find the strength to carry her on? I need your help to do it. We have to trade – but we have to improve our wage and benefit structure, because for many Americans it is decrepit. We will have to build and redefine what we understand as work and compensation for the better. All work is worthy. All work deserves a dignified wage and benefit reward. Retirement should be allowable earlier, with a realistic benefit that provides for a reasonable standard of living. And we should encourage the world to do the same through our international policy and trade agreements. There are so many worthy projects dying on the vine – like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), that will further enable us, as has the Hubble project, to elucidate and discover the origins of the universe, stars and planets. But for a few billion dollars we balk at their continuation. Where is our sense of wonder? Dulled by our relentless and barbaric war-mongering, and the trillions of dollars we have spent to destroy people, knowledge and cultures under the auspices of some barely nameable defense? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should be educating our children, along with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and more. These sorts of federal agencies should be part of any new jobs agenda that seeks to educate our people from kindergarten through college, and our society as a whole, on all the brilliance and intricacies of life and community in our country and on this planet. Cultural, environmental and science centers could be built and staffed for this purpose. The sociocultural rewards would be radiant, like sunlight on America. You want brilliant children with vision, compassion, intellectual and emotional aptitude to sustain a healthy community and society? This is how we do it. This how you conceive a sustainable future for our people. You want bullies, and a culture of dysfunctional greed, debilitating abuse and self-centered aggression directed at one another, other countries and the planet as a whole – where he who dies with most toys wins? Then we continue with outdated models not fit for a prehistoric society, with standardized, industrial factory-style testing where the rewards are anathema to a sustainable America, or anything at all that we could feel comfortable celebrating as champions of civilization. And America prides herself as just that, no? We are the champions? Not like this. We are failing ourselves and our global neighbors with our lead. We have the moral obligation to provide universal healthcare services for our society, but our healthcare system remains a profit trough for a tiny fraction of healthcare corporations that will not let go willingly. They want to continue to gouge us – and most of our politicians are willing to let them. Hence our silly healthcare reform package, that is full of holes and corporate satisfaction. These corporations should be tasked to pay the people back, by building clinics and health centers that function to serve healthcare as a universal access service. If they want to continue to participate in the healthcare of Americans, then they must be taught to do so on a non-profit basis, like the police department and fire department. America must earn her freedom, her right to carry on, her place in the world, again and again; her privilege to lead and her privilege to listen when she is wrong.…it is never a birthright. Help me to become a U.S. Representative in Congress so we can realize this vision. It matters not where your district lies, by helping me get elected, you are helping everyone on a national scale because I will advocate for these policies across the country. The show must go on. Please contribute now to help NRIII unseat Republican Sandy Adams in 2012 - and work toward keeping a truly Democratic tradition alive in America: and please endorse, and invite friends to endorse his campaign here: Endorse Nick! Many thanks for your support! |
| Political advertisement paid for and approved by Nicholas Ruiz III, Democratic candidate for Congress |
| Nicholas Ruiz III for Congress PO Box 1372 New Smyrna Beach, FL 32170 nicholasruizforcongress@intertheory.org |
