Trina Hoefling Untethered

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Fantasy Headlines November, 2012:

Obama Wins! New FDR Slides into Repeat Victory in Record Landslide!

Even Big Business Supports New Deal Redux!

America Again the Land of Opportunity!

We Did It!

America Leads the Way Back to the World of Opportunity!

Obama Leads the Mayan Calendar Countdown to Transformational 12-12-2012

“Anyone who might long wistfully for a return to the New Deal,” he remarked bluntly not long ago, “should consider that America today is as far from the time of FDR as the New Deal was from Abe Lincoln and the Civil War.” Andy Stern, leader of the Service Employees International Union, America’s fastest-growing and second-largest public services union, put the cabosh to my dream headlines recently.

Is he accurate? Why? I’d like to know. Not that Roosevelt was perfect; rather, he interred Asian-American citizens and largely ignored racist violence. He likely contributed to the decline of the gold standard and control of our country’s wealth through privatization (The Federal Reserve Bank). A Sophie’s Choice, perhaps. Perhaps he agonized over the need to form broad alliances to address huge economic challenges instead of tackling all American citizens’ human rights or protecting the American citizens’ gold. History tells the story through many lens, and we can each form our own conclusion about the benefits and cost of FDR’s New Deal.

I, frankly, don’t want to debate the efficacy or accuracy of FDR’s record. I am not even sure I want to take a strong position on what is the “right” thing for the United States now. [I’m tired and haven’t the energy to “step up” beyond simply posting a thought today. And my thinking continues to evolve. ]

So with that disclaimer to ward off the accusations, I’m simply thinking and dreaming. I’m certainly not the first blogger or pundit to compare Obama to FDR, or to be strongly supportive or opposed to Obama as a result. I am a proponent of the comparison, and I encourage its serious consideration by anyone looking for synergy in solution. [I’m a consultant. I use words like synergy. LOL]

For example, why wouldn’t it be consideration-worthy to revisit the Tennessee Valley Authority? Our country’s infrastructure – especially our bridges – could certainly use some boosting. Beyond infrastructure, we have other needs. We need to revamp our emphasis and support learning, for example. Our economy, to be overly simple and avoid a launch down a different path, is in crisis.

Of course, I am opining based on the assumptions that

- The American people are able to step up and take responsibility for governing again,

- Big Business (and I’ve spent a good part of my career working on building bigger businesses) does have some moral commitment to being a good Global Citizen, and

- When Change hits Washington there is a modicum of hope that it could be real and is not absolutely corrupted. Whether it’s McCain’s or Obama’s version of change.

These are assumptions that I cannot verify or even wholeheartedly believe. Yet when we pull away the mob mentality, the compliant swallowing of the media spin, and remember who we are as American and world citizens…. I still find people who have hearts and minds. My heart and mind wants to believe that we can solve our own challenges. I know I am making dramatic changes in my own life in order to do, to the best of my ability, my part to be the Change I want to see.

For example, rather than taxing wealth and work, could the feds give corporations and wealthy individuals the choice to not pay additional taxes? Instead, they could partner to redeploy a percentage of corporate / capital gains taxes into clean energy R&D, and a commitment to worker retraining and redeployment in ways that serves big goals, like the sustainability of our planet and energy independence for the U.S.

I am not running for office. I am not Paris Hilton.

I am a motivated student of history and current events. I, for example, would gladly take my 25+ years of experience as an organizational psychologist and change manager and redeploy my own skills in helping to build and launch a New Deal that rebuilds for a sustainable future. And I’d like to get paid to do that while putting supper on the table in a home with a low, fixed rate mortgage (or better yet, paid in full. Remember those days?), worry free that my home and IRA will not lose paper value in the thousands through no fault of mine.

Corporations heavily influence Washington today. How far that goes, I don’t know. Wealthy individuals heavily impact world health and other social causes today, ala The Gates Foundation and others like them. Privatization is happening far more and has been for far longer than many U.S. citizens realize. A natural next step could be a broad partnership, a more transparent relationship, a new “New Deal.” Create jobs and recreate skills but moving in a direction that gives the country a shot at becoming once again the place with the audacity to declare Hope as a viable fuel for Change.

I’m feeling brave enough to be publicly hopeful today. Not Democrtically loyal. Not Republican business. Not progressively resilient. Just wishing and hoping. And if wishes were horses, we’d all be ranchers. I guess I’m a wish wrangler. No matter my dreams, history will unfold. I would rather be part of FDR’s future than Nero’s. And so, that is the space I will hold. At least for today.