The Heart Political Party
National Problem Symptoms
The socioeconomic and geopolitical conditions in our country, The United States of America, are far from perfect. Survey anyone about his or her local, regional or national living conditions and, assuming a careful and honest reflection, you’ll most likely receive quite a list of situations that need attention.
Each one of us would probably provide a different list due to personal uniqueness, variety of experiences and living conditions, etc. The Heart Party has conducted, and continues to conduct, such surveys and indeed the responses do vary. However, nearly everyone is in agreement that these problems are continuing to grow worse. A partial list of reported problems includes:
abortion, addiction, alcoholism, anger, anxiety, apathy, asthma, bureaucracy, burglary, business vs. government conflicts, cancer, child abandonment, child abuse, cults, computer crime, depression, disease, divorce, drugs, elitism, erosion of freedom, gambling, gangs, high blood pressure, high prices, homelessness, hopelessness, hunger, illness, impersonal service, immigration, inadequate medical care, inconsistent government policy, insurance, internationalism, latchkey kids, mental illness, multi-culturalism, murder, nationalism, over-crowded prisons, political scandal, pollution, poverty, powerful corporations, premature death, public construction/maintenance delays, rape, religious scandal, religious intolerance, riots, road rage, robbery, segregation, sexual addiction, single parent families, special interest groups, social tension, smoking, spousal abuse, substandard products, substandard transportation, suicide, taxation, teen violence, terrorism, too many laws, traffic, ulcers, unemployment, unwanted pregnancy, war, waste, workaholism.
We have analyzed the reported problems with respect to our beliefs and have found that all of the reported problems are symptoms of root problems. The root problems are:
- A valid and justified excessive fear of losing one’s job, through no real fault of one’s own, along with the resulting material, interpersonal and personal tragedy that would follow.
- A valid and justified excessive shame caused by the inability to meet one’s material needs and desires with an income that is too low for the high cost of goods and services.
- Over-work
. Too many people are forced to work more than 40 hours/week, in an attempt to offset costs with extra income, in an attempt to guard against being terminated or as demanded by their employer.- Under-work
. Too many people who wish to work full-time either are able to secure only part-time employment or are relegated to unemployment.- Not enough time
to perform all of one’s responsibilities and desires.- Population non-management
. The vast majority of our cities, suburbs and roads exist at more than three times the tolerable population/traffic density.- A valid and justified distrust of "the other guy" as a competitor for one’s personal material resources.
These seven root problems are found at the very foundation of our present socioeconomic-geopolitical system, and they are the Heart Party's issues with the present system in election year 2002.
These problems are with us every day. They have been with us since we were born. Long-term exposure to these problems causes stress oriented physical damage, psychological damage and aberrant behavior. No one is immune from the ill effects of these problems. One cannot hide from the ill effects of these problems by burying one's self in morals, ethics, work, religion, hobbies, people, hedonism, chemicals or other addictions. The ill effects of these problems cannot be suppressed or repressed. We all suffer from the ill effects of these problems, young, old, rich and poor alike.
No attempt has ever been made to solve any of these root problems because these problems reside in, and are part and parcel of, the foundation of our present socioeconomic-geopolitical system -- a foundation heretofore regarded as sacred.
These problems, however, are not indicative of something wrong with people, but rather that there is something wrong with the system in which we live.
We believe that no one’s heart wants to suffer from these problems, nor would anyone’s heart want another to suffer from these problems. We therefore realize that the present system is not of, by and for the human heart and is indeed a constant threat on our lives. Thus there is evil in the foundation of the present system. Since it is the human heart that is truly sacred, and since we believe we can and must create a better system, one which would either eliminate or greatly reduce the incidence of these problems, we therefore conclude that the system must be changed.
The next step is to name and describe the present system, and to identify how and where the root problems occur within the system.