i know why i boarded this ship. And though i'll be guided by my own North Star, the map will be written by a crew -- each with their own sense of direction.

Barack Obama said, “Yes, we can.” But he couldn’t. Instead of universal healthcare, we got the best health insurance the industry would allow. Bernie wasn’t permitted to try, Biden couldn’t focus long enough, and Kamala said we we're “never going back” — but we did. In truth, only FDR ever confronted the powers‑that‑be head‑on. He said he welcomed their disdain as he enacted sweeping socio‑economic reforms that blue states — and especially red states — still rely on today.

AI is the latest example of power in the wrong hands. Instead of artificial intelligence working for the public good, profiteers are directing it to replace workers and absorb our collective intellectual output, only to sell it back to us in a variety of formats. And they will use our land, water, and electricity to do it.

In many ways, it's business as usual. Big biz essentially pays politicians to write laws to suit them, then uses profits to buy more politicians and laws — all while shaping the news so we blame each other.

Despite it all, however, yes, we still can. Our representatives took an oath to serve the public with more than just slogans. I believe re-allocated taxes can afford us all:

A life where the basics are guaranteed

• free healthcare and education levels like most developed countries

• phone and internet as public utilities, always on, always available

• baseline electricity for cooking, heating, cooling — no one choosing between food and AC

• basic food and shelter as human rights provided by a humane society

• public transportation that works, clean, frequent, everywhere

Services with one centralized source for:

• search, info and data— transparent, trustworthy, not optimized for profit

• entertainment — sports, movies, and music, all accessible without ten subscriptions

• shopping, reviews, and delivery — a publicly owned Amazon that doesn’t manipulate prices or workers

A system where democracy is effortless

• full online voting and public input on major decisions, secure and accessible

And beyond that…

• public AI systems designed to support the community rather than extract from it

• work weeks that shrink as technologies replace workers

• and countless possibilities we haven’t imagined yet

How Possible is it?

That’s what me and a small crew will set out to explore — on a new planet without all the old‑world baggage: entrenched power structures, inherited hierarchies, historical grudges, and outdated institutions. A world free from the systems that warp our sense of fair play and brotherhood — the systems that taught us to compete instead of cooperate.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19cevbWUnv/

Hear, hear! I agree with all of that. First we have to fight off the current fascism, but without the sort of vision you just laid out, of a better future, we won't even succeed in fighting off the fascism. Because most Americans are so sick of the useless, corrupt lying and unresponsiveness of both major parties, that they would rather just burn it all down or sit out the democratic process and watch it burn. As my brother once said, " You can't beat something with nothing", and for the last decade or so, the Dem Party's whole approach has been to say to us that "at least we're not THE LYIN' KING", or "at least we're not/better than/ the Repubs". And that by itself just won't cut it, and the voters are sick of being played that way by the Dem Party...