We can all agree America is extremely divided, enabled by our own technological prowess and uniquely free market system, our original but outdated political system, and of course the arc of history: empires rise and fall. And the fact is, this is not a new situation. Look back at the red scare of the McCarthy era, the hard hats and long hairs of the Vietnam era. It was traumatic and messy but we survived. America will survive this too. To date myself as an ’80s kid, in the words of Billy Joel: We didn’t start the fire.
But the fact is, now we have two sides digging in, both suspicious and convinced the other is a threat to the values and security of America, leaving the quiet majority of independent voters with pretty stark choices, with almost diametrically opposed visions of both America’s past and its future.
“I believe we can rise above it… literally. Get out of our echo chambers… and into the sky!”
It may be simplistic or naive, but I believe human flight is something we can all agree on — a place, a concept, a dream surely as old as the first humans gazing at the freedom and joy that only birds get to feel. A dream, it turns out, whose time has finally come. So let’s start by focusing on the positive, something that is symbolic of both American freedom and American greatness: Our role as pioneers and continuing excellence in Aviation.
So let’s make flight for all a reality. Let’s share in the joy and freedom, the freedom to explore and push boundaries, to disrupt old orthodoxies, and to adapt to new ones — that is the center of our power and success as a nation. Give thought and attention to, wherever our personal politics may fall, left, middle, and right, we can all agree on this: how lucky we are to be here, and to be free. In China, for example, for obvious reasons (FREEDOM!) there is no General Aviation community.
It could work. Because the dream of human flight is universal, and tied from birth to the core principles and values that indisputably make America great — the core of our success as a nation.
Peace Through Flight! It can work. Just ask Sabrina Carpenter.