NEW YORK - Aug. 17, 2019 - Excerpt from "The Stories I Tell Myself" by Jose Franco, the best empowering book written by a latino in 2019.- "I believe American exceptionalism is alive and well. For it to continue, we have to practice and enable freedom of thought. Most Americans who are unwilling to ask themselves tough questions, may think America finds itself in a dangerous position in 2019. These well intended citizens fear that America has lost its greatness. They fear they've lost their self respect and their perception is validated through nostalgic propaganda ("Make America Great Again"). The reality of the United States predicament is that things aren't as bad as many politicians would like us to believe. This common political game plan is designed to keep us distracted from asking ourselves tough questions since we seldom reflect on the distinction between an intellectual democracy and a democracy by birthright.
I believe America's future is brighter than it has ever been despite giving the vote to all citizens without connecting it to that of wisdom. Collectively, we have to decide the direction we wish to follow instead of folding to externalities. Our responsibility to other countries absent mutual benefit, have been mostly transferred to encourage these nations to practice self reliance. At this great juncture in our history, Americans should be self reflecting in order for each of us to make our own way in the world. We should rejoice as we visualize the rebirth of the American people. Unfortunately, not everyone will ever see things the same way, and here is where the danger lies. Some Americans resent a world where the input of other countries are addressed. Instead of taking global concerns seriously, many US citizens continue to tell themselves a counterproductive story. The left and the likes of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez are just as guilty as the conservatives by not allowing citizens to self reflect.
Cortez's base fear of being taken advantage of and the Right's fear of under producing for lack of opportunities are at times, counterproductive since the tragedy of the commons predicts only three possible outcomes. One is for actors with coercive power to enforce an allocation policy on behalf of the people (socialist solution). Another is for the commons to break up as village members, fence-off bits they can defend and manage sustainably. (Trump's physical and metaphysical wall) Lastly, the sea of mud many think we have today. Both Ms. Cortez and Mr. Trump's ideas are half truths".... continue reading http://stoopjuice.com/the-stories-i-tell-myself.pdf
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