Editor’s Note: The weekly disdain for American values continues, this time with the killing of a young woman in Minneapolis by masked ICE agents. We are being assaulted on all sides by extremes in order to disassociate us from democratic principles. When I think about where we went wrong, it was January 6th. We missed the opportunity. Because we’ve had roughly three decades of economic inequality, Fox News, and the rise of disparaging social media, the common good that would have normally bonded us together to say, “put all these idiots under the jail”, has been lost.

There's a new book out called 24 Hours at the Capital. I would invite you to read it and let us all work against this regime and protect the American dream.

How much security does a man have in his life, liberty, and property now? That was the question asked at the beginning of the country. Based on current trends, the question is coming around again. Americans feel less safe, less economically secure, more stressed, and with higher costs.

Affordability has been the buzzword around higher costs, but it is an issue that is hard to control and no one wants real ownership of. For example, on the federal level, we have spent decades on promises for a more affordable healthcare system, but it won’t happen without an external shock to deep-pocketed industries. At the local level, the recently elected Mayor of New York won by running on the issue of affordability, yet efforts were made from all sides to stop him by branding him as a communist.

What does this all mean?

We assume everyone shares the same definition, even when it comes to affordability, yet it means vastly different things depending on where you sit. To someone making minimum wage, affordability is whether they can put gas in the car and food on the table. To someone in the middle class, it's whether they can afford both the mortgage and their child's college tuition. To the wealthy, there is barely any concern.

These differences are what make it so difficult to address the concept of affordability through policy. While America has been the shining example to the world of freedom, its come at a steadily higher cost. Insurance, staying socially connected, utilities, daily living, and even food; all have steadily gotten more expensive.

Look at healthcare. The real “deep state” in American life is a cartel of hospitals, insurers, drug companies and middlemen that quietly attack every paycheck with administrative bloat that eats roughly $1 trillion a year. If you are injured or suffer a heart attack in places like France, Japan, or Germany, you get a small bill at the end equivalent to two nights at a Hampton Inn. In America, you get years of bills and emotional pain.

Housing is another area where affordability has become a crisis. Think about your daily commute to work, oftentimes influenced by both poor land use planning and how much housing you can afford. Affordable housing solutions from rent controls to increased housing supply to zoning reform often meet with local pushback. Each solution may address part of the problem, but none confront a fundamental question: how did housing become primarily an investment vehicle rather than a human necessity?

The same dynamic plays out in education, where affording college has become a parental worry while tuition continues to climb. We debate loan forgiveness and free community college, but rarely ask why administrative costs have escalated, professor salaries have stagnated, and some universities have become more prone to competing on amenities like sports rather than the quality of education.

Even food, the most basic human need, has seen affordability steadily erode. I once studied and toured a grocery store on how much shelf space is dedicated to high profit processed food catching you right at eye level. Fresh produce, long a basic need, is treated more as a luxury good. We have what is coined as “food deserts” where the affordable options are convenience stores charging high prices for super processed products.

What ties these together is the profit motive; essential goods and services of health, food, education, and housing turned into items of privilege. Instead of looking out for us, the system has been captured to look out for profit.

This doesn’t mean "affordability" isn’t the right word to use. The problem is we pay too much attention to the promise of making things more affordable without confronting the fundamental question of why basic necessities are expensive in the first place.

Real affordability is going to require confronting the current power structure that parcels public goods while posting record profits.

It would mean tilting the economy to serve people equally as much as it serves profit.

While the world needs a force for good, American greatness comes from the way we support our own citizens; protecting a system of freedom defined by more than “affordability”.

If we can’t address these issues at home, we can only pretend to be championing freedom abroad.

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In thinking on this week’s events, I cannot imagine a life where I arm myself and travel to a city with a mask on to hunt for humans and in the process be willing to shoot others who get in the way. Many times after mulling such incidents and the world we’ve allowed (and yes, we Americans must take ownership of these outcomes), my brain needs a respite.

Hiking the Appalachian has long been on my list, and whether or not I get an opportunity, I can journey vicariously through people like the author.

Despite my efforts to learn trees, plants, and bird calls, I remain an amateur at best, and in deep awe of those I know who can look at any type of vegetation and instantly tell you what it is, or hear a certain call and tell you the bird without ever seeing it. Being on trails and in the woods has helped me to appreciate even more the natural inclination of the Earth, which is survival through diversity. Thousands of species surround us, and most of them have been here much longer than we have. So while the craziness continues, don’t forget to get outside. We are of the Earth, and that walk is really our natural home.

I cannot tell you how many stories like this make my heart sing. To understand how addicted we are to certain models of business and greed, this example is an anomaly, though in a mature and responsible culture, it would be the norm.

Read it in consideration of the daily examples we are getting. This is not just a business story. It is the best of spirituality, written in any type of religion that values personal growth over profit. It is being your brother’s keeper, a good neighbor, a responsible owner, and a friend.

It is loyalty and love alongside profit.

And Now….

Two of my favorite lines from Christmas cards this year. From one long family friend: “May we see a time of peace, empathy for others, and a total change in government.”

From a friend across the country: “I promise that Portland is not burning down.”

Continue to practice your gratefulness. It doesn’t mean being weak or passive. Especially now. You are needed.

Be powerful, but be good. A good human.