It echoes my belief before I learned that the America referenced was a myth -- that some Americans never thought this dream was possible for them and actively excluded them.  The America described is the American dream I was promised and may never see.  I cry for the loss of honor and trust in human beings and our institutions, as witnessed on news and social media stories. I cry because I know that the American dream, expressed in just a few sentences, may never be a reality. After all, it’s up to us -- each one of us and all of us -- to choose what our country is and what it will be.
I know without doubt that I’m here -- in this specific time and place -- to assist us in the United States to make a conscious choice about our future. The social contract designed for us following WWII, where we created middle class prosperity, no longer works. We’re divided against ourselves, manipulated by forces we cannot see. I mourn for that lost culture in which I believed - but not for the empty or broken promises made to my fellow Americans. I am hopeful that what comes forward from the ashes of this broken system will work for most (or better yet, all) Americans.
This simple scene from The Newsroom does get something right -- our country is broken.  And in the words delivered brilliantly by Jeff Daniels, provides me with hope and inspiration that we can repair our country. The monologue provides a means by which we can evaluate our progress and our success by tracking things that actually matter like literacy and life expectancy and infant mortality. How we measure our success will dictate our new contract. So let’s track things besides the GDP and include livability and happiness factors.
Living a full, meaningful life is a universal human dream--not just American. And we all deserve the chance to have it.
Script excerpt from The Newsroom, written by Aaron Sorkin
“...there’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world..."Continue reading at the Bridge Alliance website here.
By Debilyn Molineaux, Director Emerita of Coffee Party USA and Co-Director of Bridge Alliance