I need one. A vision, that is. About this political and cultural thing we have going on here with 45, ongoing racism, misogyny and the like. How can this difficult time in America end? I keep asking myself this, and all my first answers fall to the horrible, or the sensational. There must be another way.

See, I’ve come to understand that it is not Trump’s terrible treatment of democracy that is the problem. It’s not even swaths of the American public who hate each other. I think the underlying problem is people want more. More entertainment, more emotion, more to watch on their TVs. 45 gives it to them. His cronies and their accusers, the media left and right, the reporters of these times, THEY need more. To sell ads, to keep their media outlets “on top” or at least getting “their share.”  To vie for their space in American consciousness, they present the gladiator games of old. Look here! No look here! It doesn’t matter whether you love or loathe what you see, as long as you are looking.

So, I keep thinking what could be the best thing that would break this terrible spell we are under? What could occur that is so different, so compelling, so REAL, that everyone stops and does a rethink?

Not suggested, but the simplest answer is a catastrophe. People always band together when the shit hits the fan. But, this is not desirable, for a thousand reasons. See, we are already having catastrophes non-stop in the world— storms and quakes, poisonings and riots— and that hasn’t permanently changed behavior of the masses or the media. The thoughts of the “big one” is awful, even if it might work for a few weeks. But what could work even better, without the calamity?

I look toward a future where Trump leaves his position, and goes into a quiet life. Not as a purp, dragged around by Mueller, or under great duress, but is simply “done.” In this vision, the media moves on too. As does the American public. Most wake from the dream that “we are right and you are wrong,” and the ensuing arguments and TV shows, into the pungent reality that “we are all in this together.”.

In this future, the knowledge that comes wakefulness is a little disconcerting, and ignites the American “can do” spirit on a level it has never been before. Global warming? Yes, we can handle that, because we are all in this together. Nuclear proliferation? Yes, we can handle that, because the world is in this together. Opiod crisis? Check. Poverty? Yup, we don’t want that. And so on. Each problem can be solved, but only by the populace doing much of the heavy lifting. We already know our leaders can fail us.

But what about everyone’s media habits? What about that hunger? Could that hunger for more be transmuted… into a hunger for doing more? People who watch, become people who do. People who buy, become people who do. People who have, become people who do. The feeling of accomplishment, of striving, becomes addictive, maybe we could get a habit of that.

Our digital profiles within the media buying-sphere, all of a sudden become irrelevant, because collectively, we stop buying stuff. Our behavior shifts so dramatically away from consuming to sharing and doing and being, that targeting us becomes a waste of technology. We become unpredictable, because we become creative. The media also has to start serving up what we want: tales of humans getting good work done, techniques and that which prevails. The more bodacious the solution to what ails us, the more we can’t get enough. The spiral of “big thinking” goes on, we want more to inspire us. We buy only that which supports the collective.

And without a scapegoat or casualties, our national tragedy gets transformed into a mythological masterpiece: the day the people became the gods and saved the earth.