ap161119 Take back America 

A challenge for artists, crafts people and designers  

In recent days the catch phrase “Take back America” caught the attention of many people and helped to win the presidential election. This author is skeptical as to whether it’s a good thing because, as a world traveler, he’s seen how Americans are viewed.

Art of the spin

“Take back America” was a pop slogan in the two-year election, but begged the question, “Has America been taken?” There is a disconnect between the haves and the have-nots in America, and the well-kept secret by the “haves” is how to take away from those who “have not.”

The cheat in a win/lose game, for example, seeks to win by not playing by the rules, and gaming in such a clever way that he doesn’t get caught. He keeps his cards close to his chest, or he has a few cards up his sleeve. The losers don’t get it.

The stakes in the presidential election were high and have been since the year 2000. Most Americans, about 99 percent probably, only took notice of how much the USA is hated on September 11, 2001 when terrorists took down the Twin Towers with our own passenger planes.

It took that to wake up Americans that someone out there really, really hates the US—even though there were plenty of signs and outright declarations. For a while, Americans came together, had meetings, put up flags and preached nationalism. It didn’t last. Within a decade there was an undeclared civil war in the USA—and our enemies helped.

Katrina came along then and showed that our belief in and preparedness for climate change was weak, along with other suspicious decision-making in the Presidency and his cabinet.

Along came a half-African American out of nowhere and won the election—which, at the same time, awakened the nascent racism in the United States.

This president restored some of the decency of the office which had been immoral and corrupt. Around the world people took notice, but the wrongs of the previous presidencies—such as the invasion of Iraq—were not forgiven.

All during these decades, education was under constant attack with renewed energy, weakened with growth of anti-intellectualism and anti-science propaganda. Cynicism grew as mind-gamers preyed on religious zeal, fear of foreigners, and economic troubles.

The proportion of losers grew relative to the small number of clever winners, the Americans who were cheating on Americans and thriving on the deepening ignorance and growing demands for more “bread and circus.”

The election became a circus, something like the Super Bowl of politics. Big money backed and rigged the outcome. “Take back America” was the most popular phrase of recent times. The winners use it to fool the losers; the loser use it to justify their blind, ignorant and misguided actions which, in the end, will leave Americans at the mercy of outside control.

The professor takes back America by its roots

I’m a professor like no other as a mixture of engineer, artist, and designer. But my main interest is education—as education is the only thing America can use to restore its place in the world as a respected nation. Education, innovation and creativity are the roots of our original nation. I will help get back to these roots.

The founders who wrote the Constitution debated its wording and came to general agreement. On some points they differed – such as slavery – but on one point they agreed: Their experiment wouldn’t sustain unless the citizens were well educated.

As a new country confronting a frontier and a mixed population and many issues, art and design were unheard of. But innovation and creative thinking of our founding fathers was at the core of our nation’s birth. Therefore, I look at the challenges facing us through the lens of the educator and innovator in arts and design. Without a doubt, art and design are behind both the good and the bad in America.

“Take back America,” is the kind of catch–phrase that comes from creative thinkers. It’s called “spin” in speech writing. Designers know that short, vivid phrases are easy to master and remember. Long speeches, thoughtful essays, and slogans over five words in length, are hard to remember and they don’t sell.

“Take back America” can mean almost anything. If you are among the top 1% of the wealthy, it can mean take away government restrictions on lending institutions selling subprime mortgages that caused the housing crisis. “Take back America” can also mean strong government controls on immigrants. The slogan can be turned this way or that, depending on hidden agendas.

I’m a professor like no other partly because I’ve had 50 years the think and act like an artist, designer, and educator. I think about America's place in the world view, I think about its place as viewed by people in other countries because I’ve been around the world.

Thanks to hundreds of people I've met over half a century–students, colleagues, and perfect strangers on the Internet—I’ve developed a worldview that helps me look at things from outside the USA and from outside of boxes.

“Outside the box” is a catchphrase that means, in my case, thinking about a tangible product to benefit artists designers and entrepreneurs born after 1980 (Millennials) can have to develop their security and do good not only for America but also for America’s place as a nation of respect and sustainable businesses.

Picture this

Picture me stepping up to a whiteboard in front of a group – mostly half my age – and selling the idea of their owning the company I architected instead of working for an established company. Right away you can see the uniqueness of my endeavor. Right away you can see that this is innovative, and creative, and you can see why conventional thinkers (inside the boxes) are skeptical.

That’s okay. In this imaginary room where I’m making my presentation, skepticism abides. Cynicism runs deep in the USA. By the time people are 30 years old in this country, they have seen so many reasons to be skeptical and to not trust an old professor particularly an art professor. That’s why you have to take a global view of my plan, and look at my sales abroad.

I’m willing to stake my intellectual and tangible property on the development of the people in my imaginary room full of listeners. But how can I sell this? Can I use a diagram to show both the local requirements and the road to international exports?

The benefit of my offering is that I have tangible data – that is I can back up every notion I have that justifies my belief that a worker-owned enterprise can provide its members with living wages and a meaningful occupation.