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Editor's note: Julianna Bradley is a student at the University of Arizona and was recently honored as a graduate of People For the American Way's Front Line Leaders Academy. Already an inspiration and force for change in her community, she is passionate GLBT advocate and works to achieve social justice for all members of her community. 

Our Progressive Future

by Julianna Bradley

I am truly baffled when honest, hard-working Americans support the causes and politicians of the Right. My own step father, one of the greatest men I’ve ever known, who is kind, loving and intelligent, somehow believes that the plight of Republicans best represents him and his values. I, of course, highly disagree. He is a man of integrity, who served his country in the U.S. Army for over twenty years and he has seen first hand – on a level that even I can never understand – what can happen when irresponsible men abuse unlimited power. And still, he claims to be Republican and is going to vote for John McCain, a man who stands for economic depression through a system of living and warring on borrowed money. A man who would keep intact our systems of taxing the poor to death while continuing to give huge tax-breaks to the rich. And possibly worst yet, at least for me on a personal level, a man who does not envision an America where my partner and I are given the same rights and protections under the law that he and his wife take for granted. So I can’t help but wonder: what in my step father’s life has led him to a place where he believes that all of these things are good? I quite fundamentally believe everyone – every single human being – should be allowed the same opportunity to succeed, from birth, and for their entire lives. The mentality that any person deserves more or less than that is incomprehensible to me.  And when I get to this point, where I feel fed up and frustrated with the ideology of the average American, I remember that they believe exactly what the system wants them to believe: that they are alone, that they need to be afraid, and that their own individual success is dependent upon the failure and oppression of someone else… someone less deserving… someone not "like them" in one way or another. All of those boxes we put ourselves and each other into, based on race, class, sexuality, geography, looks, religion, ability and gender, they are all pulling us away from our basic humanity and all the more abundant things that actually tie us together at the most fundamental level; things like respect, love, understanding and cooperation. They are the bases upon which I have built my understanding of humanity and what it should be. What it could be. These values guide my passion when it comes to politics and they are why I am still here, fighting. Because despite all of the times I am reminded of all the pain and despair in the world, and of the enormous amount of work to be done to get to where we need to be, I believe deeply in my heart and soul that change can happen.  We can become a better people – a better world. But there is no way we will get there as long as people continue hating and fearing each other, or as long as those with undeserved power continue to strip away our basic human rights – taking away what was never theirs to give or take in the first place. The world has abundant resources to take care of humanity. Even at the unbelievable population our planet has grown to in the last one-hundred years, at seven-billion, we can still find a balance. But now, more than ever before, doing so will take a great deal of communication, cooperation and cohabitation. But now, more than ever, humanity is divided, angry, fearful, and full of hate and despair. Ironically, we are further from becoming peaceful and communicating effectively than we were ten years ago when the world lacked the kind of global communication capabilities and fast-paced technology that we have now. Imagine the power of these tools to create a world where we are all working together to provide food, housing, education, healthcare and environmental protection to every human being and ecological zone on the planet. Imagine the power of the human species, united.  The problem is that people will not be able to unlearn their hatred and fear as long as they are being lied to about the origin of their pain. The truth of the situation is that the people we look to for guidance and protection are the very ones who are currently conspiring to do, by whatever means necessary, anything and everything they can to keep those precious resources to themselves and maintain the system that is benefiting them and them alone. They make normal Americans like my step father, who are smart and kind, turn away from policies which will benefit the collective – and which don’t truly represent their core values. Those people convince us that we must blame each other for our problems because if they were honest about the actual cause, the finger would be pointing at THEM. Immigrants are supposedly responsible for our bad economy and lack of jobs, but it is those who own global corporations and multi-billion dollar conglomerations that are to blame. Companies like Wal Mart exploit their workers, both domestic and abroad, to push prices down and push revenues up. They make billions but do not give their own employees enough money to survive. Toys R Us, like many other corporations, uses deceptive practices to cheat their way out of paying billions of dollars in taxes. This company puts its best-selling brands into smaller companies in states like Delaware, where tax laws do not force them to disclose the full extent of their finances. Then they “rent” those brands from the smaller companies which they actually own, so that come tax time they can claim only about 90% of their actual revenues and avoid paying huge amounts of money that rightfully belong to the public. It is estimated that in 2005 alone, corporate America cheated us out of 47.1 billion dollars. This is criminal. We pay the price for their deceit while undocumented workers become their perfect scapegoats because they have no pipeline for defense against the backlash they receive. Things like this are happening right now, everywhere. There is no accountability because they make the rules. And they don’t care because they’re not the ones who are suffering because of it. It is you. And me. It is every single American who lives in the unending cycle of poverty. It is the forty-million men, women and children who do not have healthcare. And it is the children who will never have the same opportunities to succeed that I have had because they are not receiving a quality education since their schools lack the funds to give them the basic tools and caliber teachers they need to learn. So why don’t we do something about it? Because we are distracted. We have all of these irrelevant things bombarding our minds everyday; distractions that are designed to keep us busy with mundane concerns instead of uniting for positive change. Ridiculous issues like whether non-married, cohabitating couples in Arkansas should be allowed to foster and adopt children who need homes are one of the many initiatives which will be brought to the ballots in November, put together by right-wing extremists with no regard for real family values. The only thing these people would succeed in doing is debilitating hundreds of thousands of kids who could otherwise have the opportunity to grow up in a loving, supportive and stable home. Religious zealots like these have hijacked morality in this country by instilling a dialogue of duality: you are either with them or you are against them. If you are with them then you are on the side of God, righteousness, freedom and America. If you are against them then you are unpatriotic, anti-religion, evil and on the side of terrorists. And while it seems laughable that such a dialogue could exist in the advanced, “free” nation in which we live, it is the reality in which we have found ourselves under the current administration. This dialogue, these mundane distractions, they don’t matter. And they are keeping us from getting to the things that actually do.  There is a middle ground between fierce individualism and pure communism. It has been said that the measure of a government is how well it takes care of its weakest citizens, and if that is true then we have proven ourselves to be a callous, unforgiving nation. Individualism is a very American ideal, but so is compassion. It is simply wrong that in the richest nation in the world, children go without seeing a doctor when they are sick, or getting adequate nutrition every day, and even dropping out of school because they were never given the chance to learn the life skills necessary to keep up. Children are a testament to the power of the human mind. Give them ample opportunities for success, learning and creativity and they will flourish. Each of us has within us the potential to do something truly incredible. And if we don’t do it, no one ever will. Unfortunately, too many of us are working our lives away simply trying to survive, barely getting by, that we have no time to think, critique, explore or create. Governments get back from their nations what they invest in. Support war, violence, economic injustice and uneducated masses and that’s exactly what you will get. If we put our resources and energy towards funding the sciences, exploration, education, innovation and peace, we will produce unimaginable results. Right now progressives like us are on the defense. The Right has set the conversation and the political agenda, and we are now fighting the uphill battle towards justice, equality, human rights and constitutional protections. But I feel we are getting to the top of the hill, as we are continually building our movement and gaining strength. Soon we will be on the offensive, pushing forth our own ballot initiatives and a new kind of dialogue. But ours will be one of inclusiveness rather than dualities and divisions. And our initiatives, instead of taking away individual and family rights, will give back to Americans the liberties and freedoms that should never have been taken away. Indeed, our opportunities for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; fundamental rights which have been echoing throughout history for centuries.  I believe in the progressive movement. I believe in change. And I believe that given the knowledge, truth and opportunities that we have been deprived of, all Americans will come to understand that we are all in this together.