What’s Our Goal as America?

Solving problems is never easy, especially when you don’t know where you’re going.

I recently read an article published by The Huffington Post, called “Sports at Any Cost.” It’s a report on college athletics and the amount students and parents end up paying for them, whether they want to or not. One section really caught my attention.

“There’s no one to put the brakes on them,” says Joel Maxcy, a Drexel University economist who studies college sports. “There’s no one to say, ‘No, this is not a sound investment.’”

This thought intrigued me: why should anyone have to say that? Why would the leaders of a university not be able to see on their own that academics should take precedence over athletics? Then the thought came to me: unless their goal is not academics.

A friend once commented to me that he went to the websites of every Republican primary candidate and read their stances and policy proposals. Then, even though he has voted Republican for years, he did the same for the Democratic nominees. He was taken by surprise and confusion when he found that the Democrats were taking stances on issues not even mentioned by Republicans, and they were likewise totally mute on the issues Republicans raised on their sites — It’s not that they have two different stances on the same issue, the issues discussed aren’t even the same!

If Democrats and Republicans aren’t worried about or considering the same problems, it’s no wonder they can’t agree on what the next step is for our country. Just like parents and students should worry about the goal of university leaders, the question for me becomes, what is our goal as a country?

I don’t have a good answer yet, but I think some general knowledge of America’s “mission statement” would help all of us know better who to support and why. If I think a university should focus more on academics than on athletics, then I’m not going to support a university president who feels the opposite. And if I’m able to elect a president who shares the same overreaching goal that I do, it will be easier to debate and discuss the smaller, more specific issues like, “How much of this fundraiser money should go to the football team, and how much to renovating the science building?” If we know our goal, the smaller problems are easier to solve.

Watch this exchange between Ben Carson (a strong Republican) and Jesse Jackson (a prominent activist for African-American rights). They could argue until the cows come home, but listen for how Carson changes the conversation:

Carson did something here that I think we should see more. He said, “I think we all want the same thing. We want people to move up in our environment.” This simple statement changes a lot. Through all the the complicated policies and complex arguments, we see, “Oh! We actually do agree on what we want. So how do we get there?”

Maybe it doesn’t seem like there would be a big difference in conversations after a point like this is made, but I think there would be. The next time you get into an argument, try it. Determine what your goal is and determine the goal of your friend or spouse or whoever. If you find out that you’re both trying to achieve the same thing, it should be easier to see a solution that would work for both parties involved.

Emotions flare and feelings get hurt when we don’t understand the motives of the other. I can’t believe that people who disagree with me politically want to see the destruction of the country; it makes no sense!

If you have any thoughts on a statement or phrase befitting the goal of America, include it in a comment below. Make it as broad as you want and we can all work on refining it. I want to know your thoughts.