An open letter to our President
03/01/2010

Dear Beloved President:

Sometimes the most visionary act is also the most profoundly pragmatic. In times of great crisis or great opportunity, visionary change may be the most pragmatic action we can take. 

No one knows better than you the challenges we face: from dwindling oil supplies to rising sea levels; from crumbling infrastructure to soaring debt; from a Congress apparently bought and paid for by corporate interests to one that can’t seem to agree on anything beyond increasing the defense budget.

You have made a valiant effort to restore civility, bipartisanship, and a sense of responsible governance to Washington and Wall St. You have been thwarted at nearly every turn. Yet many of us continue to believe that you remain the leader who can show the world the essential pragmatism of the visionary.

Winston Churchill said it another way: “Sometimes doing your best is not good enough. Sometimes you must do what is required.”

Mr. President, a growing body of scientific research—and perhaps more important, a rising tide of human consciousness—holds that all of earth’s people and her planetary support systems function together as a single unit, a single biosphere. Literally and figuratively we are all one.  That means our neighbors' suffering affects us too.  In decades past, we could plead ignorance, but the world has become more interconnected and now we know:  The diamonds on our fingers cost someone in Africa a hand; the gasoline in our Prius poisoned the Nigerian delta; the "fair trade" agreements we enjoy bankrupt subsistence farmers in Central America. 

Knowing these things, we can no longer continue “business as usual.” Business as usual is destroying the planet, fueling resource wars, draining the treasury, and ruining our ability to think of ourselves as good and just people.  Making incremental changes to such a system is not pragmatic; it’s suicidal.

But, Mr. President, the world is ready for a new kind of change. The world is ready for an evolutionary leap. You can see it in movies like The Shift and An Inconvenient Truth and in the hundreds of thousands of global NGOs who are working to protect and restore the environment, stand up to corporate power, and defend indigenous people’s rights. There is a “blessed unrest” afoot. In fact, the world is crying out for the kind of leadership you hinted at during your candidacy: leadership based on mutual aid and partnership; on democratic ideals; not oppression and domination. We reject the notion that world domination makes us secure. World domination makes us hated abroad and bankrupt at home. World domination justifies the actions of those who hate us and aids their recruitment efforts.

Mr. President, imagine what our $700+ billion military budget could accomplish if it was used for good, rather than for “defense.” Imagine the infrastructure needs we could address if we converted our munitions manufacturers and defense contractors to peacetime purposes. Imagine the impact we’d have on world terrorism if we stopped backing corporate interests and started backing human interests. Imagine the real, life-threatening problems we could solve—like developing sustainable forms of energy, assuring adequate supplies of drinking water, providing universal education and healthcare, and repairing the global ecosystems that sustain life on earth. Who would hate us then? What kind of deficit would we have then? What kind of soaring productivity, creativity, and prospects for world peace and prosperity would we have then?

Mr. President, on Sundays I attend a United Center for Spiritual Living.  Hundreds of people affirm this vision every week:

“We believe in a world that works for everyone. A world providing homes to all. A world filled with loving kindness, peace and food for every soul. A world holding the consciousness that we are truly all connected and joined in love. A world in which resources are shared generously and forgiveness is the norm. A world in which borders are irrelevant, and beauty, nature and love are expressed everywhere. A world in which oneness and connection among all beings is honored, expressed and held sacred.”

Then we say, “And so it is.”

And so it is.

Mr. President, you have an historic opportunity to lead humanity through an evolutionary wormhole into a new stage of human development. Isn’t that what you really signed up for? Isn’t that what your magnificent purpose is?

You’ve tried your best to appease those who have aligned themselves against you, to no end other than the wasting of precious moments of opportunity. Now it’s time to move on.

Please do not fear that you will be alone. Millions of us are ready and waiting to rise up and support you, as we did during your election. As the Red Sea rose up in two walls to let the Israelites pass.

And you will not be supported by Americans alone. People all over the globe—from Cuba to Chile, Argentina to Afghanistan—are waiting for a man of vision and pragmatism to have the courage of his convictions, to stand in the truth of his purpose, and remind us all what we are capable of: extraordinary good for extraordinary times.

I look forward to cheering you.