I was stopped at a red light the other day in Portland, Oregon and I saw a homeless woman dancing on the sidewalk, but there was no joy in her movements. She would dance a few steps and then become very frustrated and slap herself in her face. She repeated this behavior several times while I watched.

It was clear to me that this woman was suffering from mental illness. Judging by her dirty and disheveled appearance, she was one of the 6000+ homeless people scattered on the streets of Portland (portlandoregon.gov).  I drive through Portland almost daily and tents and trash occupy virtually every median and city park area.  And all around these homeless camps are people driving cars, wearing clean clothing, just going about their lives as if all those homeless people were totally invisible or lived on another planet.

Portland Oregon illustrates a fundamental problem with the United States. There are 550,000+ homeless people in the US suffering just like the woman in Portland (whitehouse.gov).  Plus, there are an additional 34 MILLION Americans who are poor (making less than $25,750 per family of four), living in crappy housing in unsafe neighborhoods, not drinking clean water, or getting healthy food to eat (census.gov).  There is also racial disparity in those who are suffering: 18.8% of Blacks and 15.7% of Hispanics are poor while only 7.3% of white people are poor. (census.gov)

Our country is full of resources, more than enough for everyone to share and be happy, and yet misery, starvation, disease, anxiety, and depression are rampant!

All of this human suffering a product of a REALLY FUCKED UP SYSTEM.  A rich ruling class, corporations, and governments have claimed our country’s resources and use them for their own profits and for some reason we’ve all decided that this is okay. It’s just capitalism, or survival of the fittest, or some other fucked-up reasoning that allows us to drive past the homeless people and continue with our lives.

This has to stop!  I believe that every person, by virtue of being born in this country, should be guaranteed a basic Human Bill of Rights:

1) Safe and Adequate Housing

2) Nutritious Food and Clean Water

3) Reliable Healthcare

No, this book isn’t about changing our system to socialism or communism. So, you can take those labels and shove them up your ass. This book is about rediscovering the heart of America and eliminating the institutions that are heartless. In the following chapters, I will present a 12-point plan to fix America so that no one has to suffer anymore.

We cannot witness all of this suffering and keep lying to ourselves that we live in a great country. I believe that we owe the self-hating homeless woman more than what she’s getting. And I believe there are individuals and businesses who are taking too much. Read on to find out how we can level it all out and improve the lives of every American.

The post Finally! A PLAN to FIX AMERICA (That Doesn’t Suck): Part 1 appeared first on Alderin.