Human Security
There was a time when the government buildings of this country (the US) were freely open to anyone. Presidents would have huge parties in the White House open to anyone showing up. When Andrew Jackson became president he threw a big open house party in the White House and 20,000 people showed up. It got so rowdy he had to sneak out through a window and didn't get back in until tubs of whiskey were place outside on the lawn to draw the crowd out. A few years later he kept a 1,400 pound block of cheese fermenting inside the White House for over a year. Word is that it smelled for miles. He finally put ads in the paper and invited the whole country to come in and eat it. 10,000 people showed up but it still took hours to eat it all. Apparently the place smelled for years after.
It is the constant drumming of fear that has paralysed the world to the point that it does not function for the benefit of all of its people, just those who have found through fear a great mechanism to manipulate people to gain profit and power. There is always a way to get past any defence. Those seeking security through force and intimidation ultimately find they have security guards watching over them. Security will never be found in weapons, might, barriers, or discrimination against others but rather in understanding and finding ways to get along. It's a shame that those techniques are not taught in schools. They are simpler and cheaper than the current national security apparatus seen in countries throughout the world today and far more effective.
A country's greatest strength is its diversity but we refuse to take advantage of it. Schools, currently focused on job skills and passing tests, do not teach the thinking skills needed to create solutions that draw on that diversity. They punish questioning authority and straying too far from accepted ways. We do not foster those skills. We punish failures instead of learning from them. Popular media teaches that violence is always the ultimate arbiter. Our governmental structures attract those who are drawn to power and they have found in divisiveness, ignorance, and fear a powerful tool to amass ever more power and wealth. We have tools to bridge the divides and to synthesize and put to powerful use what seem to be contradictions but we do not use them, applying our energies to finding blame and punishment.
We are entering a new era of humankind where none of the old "isms" of the past work. Like fish that's been around too long, the old "secret sauce" has become putrid. There is no way to "cook" it to make it good again. Can humanity become vibrant as a whole? I'm sure it can but first the rotten stuff needs to be cleared out. The Almighty God of Wealth must give way to more diverse and human values if we are to survive. We need to shift our focus and make a commitment to people's needs over profit, education in critical thinking and creativity over rote and obedience, and laws that actually promote free enterprise rather than crony capitalism while ensuring everyone a level playing field. More menial jobs is a self-serving path to more misery. Automation is an opportunity to improve everyone's life if we manage it as such and not just as a means to lower costs for entrenched interests. The strongmen, dictators, and tyrants that have risen to power in recent years must give way to more egalitarian governmental structures. We must excise the power and control that special interests wield over government agencies, our elected representatives, and the blinders they have pulled over all of us. There is more to life than toiling for someone else so that we can buy particular brands of products and services. Capitalist inspired authoritarianism created the culture we have inherited. Time to create social systems that work for everyone. "What would that look like?" is the question we must start asking and answering. The well-being of our governments is a direct reflection of the well-being of their citizens and vice versa.
That is the real national security issue for everyone everywhere today.