▴ 60 Prompts
▴ Writing Down the Bones Deck
▴ by Natalie Goldberg

Tuesday, April 23rd 2024

Prompt 1/60: If you became president, what are the first five actions you would take? Go.

Entry: I'm going to begin by saying that I have no business being president. I was mediocre in my college Political Science course and couldn't explain our political system to anyone in fine detail, nor do I have any experience in politics or know people in high places.

With that said, if I became president, I feel my lack of experience would either lead to my downfall or serve as an asset. After all, I would be entering into the role with fresh eyes.

There is a quote by Albert Einstein that goes: "Everyone knew it was impossible, until a fool who didn't know came along and did it".

At heart I am an idealist who deeply longs for harmony and believes we can do better individually and collectively. Perhaps this makes me a fool, but I would argue that it's far better to be a fool than a politician.

Oozing with corruption, politicians have made themselves exceptionally hard to trust. I think this is one reason millions of people feel so enamored with Donald Trump, because he speaks his mind instead of strategically filtering his words to sweeten us up.

What saddens me most about the way our country is run is how money and power have become the purveyor of truth over the actual truth, how our actions as a country continuously show that we value money over people, and how our current process for electing leaders lacks intention or an emphasis on the values and qualities we want our leader to embody.

If I became president, the very first action I would take is to dissolve the two party system and remove all labels surrounding political parties. Humans are far too complex to fit perfectly into one label, and labels have a tendency to dehumanize and fuel division.

Conservativism and Progressiveness may oppose each other on the political spectrum, but both are equally valuable and important.

Conservatism teaches us to conserve what is tradition, what is sacred, and to never forget where we came from. Progressiveness teaches us to make progress on our journeys, to reflect on what is no longer working, and then to actively change those things so we can become better.

Instead of hiding behind and representing a specific party during an election, candidates would represent themselves. They would tell us about the mistakes they've made in their life and what they learned from them. They would share with us their biggest accomplishments and what they are most proud of.

They would tell us about their values and, most importantly, show us how they live and have lived according to those values. They would tell us about their vision for the country and the positive change they feel called to help create.

Debates would no longer resemble a battleground, and would instead be carried out consciously and respectfully. Candidates would devote their energy to speaking their own beliefs and truths, and would share any opposition they held with respect, instead of insulting or defaming their opponents as a tactic for winning.

The second action I would take as president is to ban all non-organic, non-regenerative, and inhumane farming practices and foods. There would no longer be a conventional category for food. All food would be cultivated respectfully and healthfully with the sole intention of supporting and nurturing our bodies at the highest level possible.

The third action I would take as president is to restructure the public school system to be skill-based instead of fact-based. Our current education system fails to teach students valuable life skills including emotional intelligence, how to communicate consciously and effectively, how to be in healthy relationship with others and the self, how to eat and move the body for optimal health, and how to manage money.

In addition to a core curriculum that would teach students these valuable life skills and other important foundational skills, a custom curriculum would be formulated for each student so they could explore and develop their own inherent inclinations and interests.

Once a student felt sure of their path and had gained the necessary foundational knowledge, they would either join an apprenticeship so they could continue to learn and develop practical skills in the real world, or they would create their own self-paved path with the help of mentors.

The fourth action I would take as president is to completely restructure our primary healthcare system. Primary care doctors would be rebranded as healers, and their sole purpose would be to help guide those who are unwell back into perfect health.

These healers would be given a robust education focused on holistic and preventative healthcare that takes the human mind, body, heart, and spirit into account. They would learn about and use a variety of remedies and modalities to support healing and would create customized healing plans for their patients instead of prescribing a pill and sending their patients on their way.

Pharmaceutical drugs would be prescribed temporarily as a final resort and only when necessary. Specialty doctors (we'll also call them healers) would still exist, along with diagnostic equipment, emergency services, and surgical remedies. Healthcare would be affordable, and emergency services would always be free of charge.

The fifth action I would take as president is to surround myself with experts from a variety fields because I know that in order to inspire real change in this hypothetical scenario, I would need a lot of help. In fact, I'm going to shift this up to number one on my action list because that makes more sense logically, but it also happens to be the least interesting action in the bunch which is why I'm going to leave it down here.

And that's the end of my presidential pitch. Even though I have no intention of ever running for president, I truly hope that each of these actions come to fruition one day.