This is the third article I’ve written in this space in the past few weeks. They’ve just happened as my brain has processed our post-election public affairs. I began with a short piece entitled “It Really is Time to Find Middle Ground,” in which I pledged to stop vilifying our national elected leaders in order to free myself to imagine a different future. My second piece, “Lessons from Once-stronger Places,” described the economic decline in two communities where I’ve lived and worked, and how it forced leaders and citizens to re-evaluate and reinvent their futures. I argued that, as was the case in those communities, our less strong, less united, less economically secure nation (now just having been stricken by insurrection) is in dire need of a new vision.

Of course, the first order of business is to defeat the COVID-19 virus. We’re off to a good start with new vaccines and the compromise COVID relief/and budget resolution bills—for which our Maine Senators, Collins and King, deserve great credit. And our deep national divisions make it imperative that the Biden Administration build national unity, govern from the center, and focus on the pressing public policy issues where we have greater agreement: getting our people back on their feet economically and getting our public health system in order.

But our national election result did not constitute a national plan. It was an expression of national opinion at a point in time, and American opinion was — and remains — widely divergent. We can’t make us great again, or build back stronger without a new national strategy that addresses head-on bigger issues like our weakened middle class, embedded racism, and rebuilding American heartland cities and towns devastated by industries that migrated into the global economy.

If you’re with me on this — at least a little bit — the logical question is: How the hell do we do it, especially after our just-completed election process and the recent deeply disturbing violence in Washington, DC? Believe me when I say I don’t know if we can do this because we are in a deep, deep hole. We’ll need a few weeks — maybe months — to take some deep breaths, inaugurate a President, get a new Administration and Congress up-and-running. But before we get all caught-up in the angst of a 2022 election, a national dialogue about America’s future could change our current preoccupation with “us-versus-them.”

My experience in once stronger places convinces me that just having that conversation, and coming to some consensus about ways to move forward, would help us rediscover at least a degree of national unity. So, here are three specific ideas that I believe deserve serious consideration:

• A National Commission on America’s Future to do the kind of big-issue strategic planning that every successful entity must do from time-to-time. We’ve done this kind of thing before. In the first half of the 19^th century Henry Clay and John Adams promoted the American Plan to bring our young nation together. The New Deal produced a series of social and government programs, many of which remain with us today. And at the end of World War II, we created the Marshall Plan to help rebuild Western European economies. What I’m suggesting is a structured national conversation — led by a representative group of our fellow citizens — about America’s future direction and what we need to do to get there. Such a national strategic planning process could begin with a Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats exercise to analyze where we’re at, followed by a handful of strategic directions and some action steps to begin implementing them.
• We’ve been talking about an infrastructure initiative for years. Frankly, I don’t understand why we haven’t started. So let’s get it going! But a National Infrastructure & Service Initiative could be so much more. We know that our roads, bridges, airports — especially those in our old industrial “rust-belt” cities — need to be rebuilt. But so does the infrastructure of American society that’s crumbling under the weight of social, economic, and political divisions! American volunteers from across the country could help us rebuild through a network of community-based organizations and national programs such as the Job Corps, AmeriCorps, and a revitalized Civilian Conservation Corps. Our Selective Service System requires all men between 18 and 25 to register for the military. But that’s only the men! And they’re never called to serve because we have an All-Volunteer force. As a result, over my lifetime the idea of service to the nation has slipped away. That’s not right. Every citizen should contribute a period of service to America and its role in the world.
• Finally, Congress needs to enact HR 40, “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act.” I truly believe there is widespread understanding across America that, despite the civil rights gains of the 1960s, we remain plagued by both structural racism and huge economic disparities between white and black Americans. These are the legacies of slavery and the ensuing period of Jim Crow policies and laws that continued the mistreatment of black people. As we wrestle with the reality of more equal numbers of white and brown and black people in the United States, these injustices loom ever larger. This legislation has lingered in Congress, without meaningful action, for three decades. It’s way past time to deliver restorative justice!

After years of increasing contentiousness among us, a 2020 from hell, and this month’s deeply disturbing events, we must lower our voices and deliberately build a new American vision for the rest of the 21^st century.

Nate Bowditch is the former commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, former president of the Maine Development Foundation and former director of Planning and Community Development in Lewiston. He lives in Topsham.

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