personal Thoughts on vision-2020

By Marty Cheek – America’s Founding Fathers learned from the people of the past. They studied the history of Greece and Rome and the Middle Ages. Their knowledge of the events of humanity helped shaped their leadership vision in 1776. They were also scholars of the Age of Enlightenment, a time of ideas and innovations focused on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the quality of mankind. The men who gave the world the Declaration of Independence and the opportunities of freedom and self-governance would no doubt be amazed at how far their experiment in democratic rule has come. They would feel proud to see the rights they set forth for Americans have expanded here and have been taken up elsewhere in the world. They would also remind us the experiment of American democracy requires constant vigilance. The good we have gained can be forever lost by forgetting the values and virtues we stand for in our republic. The apathy we see among many Americans today toward democracy is the result of an amnesia caused by the failure to truly learn the lessons of our nation’s story.

Like the Founding Fathers, I enjoy learning history and discovering the details of humanity’s narrative. My own family’s story has shaped who I am today and the values I hold in the core of my character. My mother grew up in Berlin, Germany, during the 1930s. She saw firsthand the rise of fascism and how totalitarianism can lead a people down a dark path. Her father voted from Hitler in 1932 because he believed his nation needed a “strong leader” to make it great again. He regretted his vote when he saw tyranny tear the fabric of Germany society apart with growing hatred toward people the Nazis considered unacceptable and not part of the ideal “race” they envisioned. He and his wife secretly helped hide a family Jews in a basement in Berlin to prevent their murder in a death camp. My father taught music to the Japanese-American children kept as prisoners behind barbed-wires at the Tule Lake Internment Camp in California. He saw firsthand how the U.S. government’s actions in turning law-abiding citizens into enemies of the state damaged people’s lives and livelihoods. At a time when Americans were dying in battle to free other nations in Europe and the Pacific, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the military to place American families into incarceration in camps throughout the country without due process, violating their constitutional rights. We’re now moving toward a world where similar acts of injustice will happen to men, women and children by governments who deem them threats to national security.

For me personally, Vision-2020 can serve as a way to unite Americans with the people of other nations in an endeavor to forever end the atrocities of human rights violations. I consider what happened in Hitler’s Germany and FDR’s America and realize governments throughout the world – including our own – might soon repeat these actions if democracy falls and society fails to respond. History provides a warning we must be wise to pay heed to and prevent a repeat of government-sanctioned barbarities.

There are several reasons that motivate me to strive for a spirit of human excellence with Vision-2020. The first is an ethical obligation. All human beings have a moral mandate to do the right thing. We are at our best when we realize that when we can do good we must do good. The second reason is a curiosity I have about human nature. I wonder if the daring idea of human excellence will be supported by my fellow Americans and my fellow humans throughout the planet. If Vision-2020 receives the active support of a critical mass of people – perhaps as many as 100 million – then I wonder if the momentum of this movement will push our political leaders to commit to the cause of ensuring humanity’s survival and civilization’s preservation. The third reason is a philosophical belief in the virtue of human transcendence. Most of us constantly strive to master the art of being human. Humans are biologically animals and our baser animal nature often causes in us a savagery that leads to violence and even the annihilation of other people we consider a potential threat. But unlike other animals, we have the ability to be rational. We are at our best when we use reasoning and logic along with our intellect and imagination to work with each other to achieve a higher quality of life for all.

Vision-2020 is an achievable endeavor if enough people throughout the world support its goals for a better world for all humans. It’s the smart thing for us to do and it’s the right thing for us to do. If you believe global civilization and the human race are worth preserving, then please join the movement and show your support

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