The United States needs to set goals. There is a nonstop debate about where our country went wrong. Then we cleanse our pallets by telling ourselves how great we are, just before returning to our pointless tug of war of who is right and who is wrong. Who is right about abortion, poverty, drugs, healthcare, and race. Important problems.

Are we not though, rehashing what has already been hashed.  Our house is on fire and while it burns, we argue whether it was faulty wiring or the Mexican cook who left the stove on (intentionally obtuse metaphor).

One side argues our government is too big.  The other side argues it is too small.  It is a way to frame things so that liberals are the bad guys.  They are just trying to solve some problems. Those that want smaller government get labeled with many names to stir people up. Both sides want the problems solved.

The politicians on both sides encourage this because it garners votes for them. Its effective in getting people elected.  It is not effective in solving the problems.

Perhaps we need Tony Robbins as the next president. Because we do not have goals and without them, we are floundering. We did not when we set goals. We focused on building our country and defending our country and then getting along with other countries.

Now other countries are passing us up.  They wanted healthcare for everyone because it is progress and attained it. We are too caught up in keeping the status quo. Obamacare helped people, but it was not effective because it did not reach its goal. It was allowed to do some things, but kept enough things the same. Trumpcare wanted to go backwards. It offered no solutions.

Will things get messy while we strive to attain our goals. Yes, it will be ugly. Is it possible to succeed? If we go back to when our government was hated the most- when both sides made compromises and made deals- we might go back to making baby steps towards progress.

Perhaps, like a silicon valley funky and cool company, we need a mission statement.  Something like:

We acknowledge that sometimes the best answer is not the government and that we must protect our freedoms and a conducive capitalistic environment. Yet, we also acknowledge that any problem that has persisted for more than 40 years will not be solved without governmental interventions. 

I know that last part makes me big government. However, when religion, the economic climate, and corporate self-regulation fails, the government needs to step in for the good of our well-being and our souls.