Family, Money, Community, Security. These are four things we all care about. I’m sure you can name others. In the news business, we were always looking for stories that had viewer benefit. What could they get out of a story? How did it affect their lives? Why should they pay attention in this world of short attention spans.
Concerns about money, community, and security all flow from the most important thing in most of our lives, our family. We want them to be rich enough to live a comfortable life. We want to live in a community with friendly, caring neighbors. And, we want them to be safe and free from fear.
Family defines us. The flow of our ancestors down through the generations makes us unique, but also gives us a commonality with all families. This is why stories about families resonate. People can identify with the struggles, worries, and accomplishments of people just like themselves. But they can also be touched by stories of those less fortunate. Maybe even be moved to doing something for their fellow man, and appreciate their own lives.
“It’s not about the money”. How many times have you heard someone, who is either suing someone or just signed a multi-million dollar sports contract, say this? We all know the well worn answer, “It’s always about the money.” We need it. We want it. We want to know how to make more. Most fights in families are over money. Business news is now bigger than ever. People want information. It can be used to make the lives of millions better, or it can be used to create human misery unlike anything else.
The communities we all live in are both smaller and larger. We can speak with our neighbor over the back fence, as easily as, we can Facetime with someone on the other side of the world. We have our neighborhood community and our online community. We are bound together by issues as diverse as crime on our streets and climate change. We can create a community by starting a hashtag. The world has become our community like never before in human history. And it will only get smaller as society continues to create technology we can not imagine.
This all leads us to security. Family, money, and community all need to be secure. The world changed on September 11, 2001. It brought terrorism to our doorstep. It plunged us into two wars. It made us afraid. The recession threatened our money and our jobs. The election of the first black president was hailed by many a giant step forward. Others saw his views as threats to our very way of life. All these things have splintered the country. While the extermists on both sides of the political divide may be small in number, they cast a pall over the national discourse.
Franklin Roosevelt said, “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself”, as he took office in the depths of the Great Depression. Ronald Reagan said,”It’s morning in America”, as he fought to end the Cold War. Where are the political leaders who make us feel secure and better about the times in which we live? Telling us what they can do to make our families, our money, and our communities secure. Fear hung in the air in the recent candidates’ debate. I didn’t hear any reassuring ideas, or very many specifics. It was all about how bad things are, and unless we elect them, it’s only going to get worse.
The most important responsibility of a president is to keep the country secure. But, we also want a leader who makes us feel that everything will be alright despite the challenges we face. Who will tell us how they will work with the other side, and get things done. We want to trust again. Ideology has overtaken the search for practical solutions. Everyone is entitled to their ideas and opinions. But beliefs based on fear threaten the things we care about most, family, money, community, and the security that makes our lives safer and happier.
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