Bob and Cher Ryan settled into the luxurious comfort of the sun, sand and ocean breezes. Bob wore shorts, a colorful Hawaiian sports shirt and a "go-to-hell" fishing hat. Carrying folded-up chaise lounges and a cooler with more of his favorite chilled libation, he watched as Cher spread a blanket out on the beach. Bob had no sooner slumped into the lazy comfort of his first day on the beach - and his cell phone rang. "What the fuc----" but before he could complete his grandiloquent question, he heard Barack Obama's voice on the phone. It was moments like this when Ryan wished he'd had one of those O.U.T.R.A.G.E. cell phones programmed to detonate a distant strategicially-placed explosive device. "Bob," Obama began, "we need you to come back to the conference for a little more detail on your proposals. Can you make it up here by yourself, or should we send a car?" What the fuck, Ryan thought....the damn conference room was less than a few hundred yards away; was Obama out of his friggin' mind? "No, I'll be right there," Ryan agreed. He trudged up the sandy hill, past the Shiggity Shack, to the Timothy Beach Resort where the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. conference was being held (actually, as a convenience to Bob and Cher, who had expressed a preference in lodging there during their stay; Bob thoroughly enjoyed the laid-back, languid lattitude of the Shiggity Shack, and liked the idea that Timothy Beach Resort, with its art-deco style and less 'frilly' accommodations, was - literally - just a hop, skip and a jump away from the tin-and-cardboard beachfront bar.
He staggered into the meeting room and wasted no time in getting down to business; the sooner this was over with, the sooner he'd be back on the beach.
"Did he really believe an education campaign would work?" the group asked incredulously. "Yes," Ryan replied emphatically. "The native American Indians, the Mormons, the Amish and countless other cultures around the world have taught their young about tolerance, peace, and sharing. We are what we learn.....and, sadly, our piss-poor American education programs have for years focused on 'success', defining 'success' only in terms of financial achievement or in acquisition of power."
Ryan stopped to allow that statement to sink in, then continued. "You invited me to participate in this conference because, I assume, you believed I had some knowledge to impart. And that's how O.U.T.R.A.G.E. began - as a secret group of 'participants' determined to change the corruptive ways of our American society. Now, O.U.T.R.A.G.E. has grown so large that many of you are beginning to feel the need for structure and organization, which is precisely the component that you wanted to blow away with your cell phone-detonated bombs. For two-hundred-and-thirty-two years, this nation had its pecking orders - in every organization, corporation and business there was a CEO, a CFO, a General Manager, a Regional Supervisor, a Grand Potentate, a Board of Directors, a President, a Speaker of the House, a 'head honcho' an 'owner' or a Grand Puba. We were defined by our business cards. If my title was Director of Creative Development, I was considered an expert in creative development, and no one - no one - dare challenge my expertise or authority. The O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organization has managed to retain its spontaneity up until now. But, suddenly, you're faced with reforming and rebuilding the good old U.S.A. and you want to go right back to the practice of cubbyholing everybody. What you accomplished when you convinced voters to accept a Presidential triumverate was brilliant. You took the role of Commander-In-Chief away from just one frail human being and placed leadership ower into the hands of three extremely qualified individuals. By turning this country into a pure democracy, O.U.T.R.A.G.E. has changed the very nature of government as it's known in the world today. When your newly-elected public servants assume office on January 20, 2009 - whihc, by the way, need I remind you, is only a month away - they will not be power brokers. They will be participants in a grand experiment to see if true democracy can actually succeed in a nation of 300 million people. We have to change our human psyche....the culture that we've all grown up with, that expects there to be a 'boss', a 'leader', an 'expert' or any one person who is smarter, richer, wiser, and better looking than anybody else. In this multi-cultural society there abounds a lavish treasure of talent, and the people who possess those talents must not be allowed to be surpressed jut because they're not 'the leader of the pack'. We must begin to view ourselves as a participatory society, not a passive culture that allows only those at the top of the food chain to make decisions."
It was late Saturday evening by now, and Bob Ryan was just getting started. The sun had set; he'd missed his time on the beach. Now these morons were going to sit through a discordant diatribe of ideas, so much so that they'd have to spend all day Sunday mulling it all over so he - Bob Ryan - could bask in the bright sun on the beautiful Caribbean beach, within stumbling distance of the Shiggity Shack, where cold beer or iced rum was always on tap. As the group sat stunned and in awe of a Bob Ryan they'd obviously never seen so agitated, the clock struck nine....then ten...then eleven...then midnight. Bob continued to ramble on, taking few questions and stopping only for 'dramatic effect' or to sip on his ice cold beer which was consistently replaced as his non-stop oration consumed the wee hours of the morning.
"We must stop pigeon-holing," Ryan preached. "This organization started without a leader, and it has continued to this day to avoid having its own organizational flow chart. You are the entrepreneurs of a brand new collaborative culture where there is no chain of command. No one 'at the top'. You have invited people of different ideologies, opposing viewpoints, and varied backgrounds to join the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organization. Now over a hundred million U.S. citizens of all ages, creeds, skin colors and political or sexual persuasions have come together to contribute to rebuilding the great United States of America. You cannot - you dare not - rebuild on an old foundation that you just crumbled. The technologies are available so that every person in America can now actively - and inter actively - become participatory in the political process. These millions of individuals will form the consensus for the common good. These 'common' people are all that's left because O.U.T.R.A.G.E. has effectively slaughtered the snobbish hierarchy that up until ten months ago dominated our economic, political and social structure. You destroyed that structure. the very last thing you want to do is ressurect it. America left its Industrial Revolution which gave America economic strength and made millionaires out of many mere mortal men. Then we entered the exciting Information Age, which turned those 'in the know' into billionaire barons who billed themselves as 'experts' in their fields. We became a nation of know-it-alls: lawyers, doctors, corporate executives, media moguls, advertising agents, tax consultants, and especially those within the arena of politics, traded on their knowledge, ingratiating themselves to the less-informed. It was no longer appropriate to be a barber; as a 'hair stylist' you could charge more for your services. A 'financial advisor' was able to extract $200-an-hour fees, but a lowly 'independent agent' who sold stocks and bonds or insurance had to settle for a paltry commission. It was all about that 'one more rung up the ladder' - whether in terms of financial prowess, social status or political influence. And as we all tried to claw our way to the top of the food chain, too many of us were devoured by that euphonious salvo we called 'survival of the fittest'. Such an 'all for one, one for all...ME' attitude expanded to become the motto for our nation's foreign policy. It infiltrated into all of society, from the corporate boardroom where power was in confluence with money, to the streets where a certain way you wore your baseball cap warned rivals that you were a member of the neighborhood's most feared gang of thugs. For the past sixty years, all this nation has cared about was ourselves. To share one's wealth with someone else was considered an act of insanity. To share one's seat at the power table was taboo. To give up one's status, even under the most excrutiating circumstances, was to invalidate one's authority...and that couldn't happen, at any cost.
So, after World War II, we sent soldiers off to war whenever the giant U.S. military-industrial complex found it necessary to boost its sagging profits from time to time. We unconstitutionally and illegally invaded another sovereign nation just because the Bush family had a personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein, and because the United States need all that oil swimming underneath Iraq's sands. And when that war wobbled completely out of control, we made excuses and played a shell game to maintain our national pride and 'integrity' while we damn near choked on our own bloodthirsty excesses. When the startling photos were released from Abu Ghraib prison, a few 'grunts' at the bottom of the military food chain were court-martialed, but those at the very top of the food chain deserted their subordinates, assumed no blame for their patheticly poor leadership, and even accepted promotions in an effort to avoid the spotlight of their own incompetence. When 'weapons of mass destruction' were not found, our government leaders - instead of admitting they were wrong - turned the tables and invented other flimsy excuses for continuing the atrocities in Iraq, and then into Iran.
All of this carnage over these past hundred and fifty years has been because we have failed to teach our youth that it's okay to share. It's perfectly moral and right to share the spotlight with others who deserve as much credit as we do on the success of one project or another. It should be considered proper and most appropriate to share our prodigious wealth with others instead of hoarding it in an effort to accumulate more for ourselves. We have lived in a society for too long that has focused on a 'mine's bigger than yours' mentality that has only served to isolate segments of our social order. Yes, we can - and we MUST, at this juncture in our nation's history - begin teaching our children about the responsibilities and rewards of sharing.
God once said, 'If you give it all away, I will reward you tenfold'. Most of us lack the courage, the conviction, the will power, or the integrity to dare do that. Because we have to make sure there's enough left for our new gas-guzzling SUV or that giant big-screen TV in the guest bedroom with which to impress our friends and relatives when they visit. Such selfishness and gluttony has risen far above the perspective of individuals...it resides within the walls of every big organization, corporation or government bureaucracy in this country. We are obsessed with wealth and power to the exclusion of the common good.
Power corrupts. Money is power. Status is power. It is now up to O.U.T.R.A.G.E. to harness the successes of what was one of the Earth's most successful experiments in a democratic republic, and transform it into a pure democracy where there is no chain of command, there is no 'top dog'. Politicians must learn that they were elected to do the people's bidding. Corporate CEO's must learn that they are there to serve their customers, their employees and their stockholders before they serve themselves. The wealthy among us must learn that there is genuine reward in giving - generously, and to a fault. Students must learn that this nation is one that believes in sharing power, wealth, status and influence. Those are lessons that can be taught. As I said much earlier, the native American Indians, the Amish, and countless other cultures around the world have taught these lessons to their young. We can do the same. And O.U.T.R.A.G.E. must be the leader in making Americans recognize the value in changing our values from a nation of gluttons to a nation of givers. You are entering a new age...an age not of industry and wealth, not of power and influence, but an age of participation and equality for all of our citizens.
You have just a litte over a month to convert all these ideas being promulagated here into an action plan. I wish you well. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go catch a few hours' sleep on the beach and - hopefully - awaken as the sun rises over the horizon and I can come to enjoy a day of supreme bliss, peace, harmony and happiness. Don't let this unique opportunity pass you by. Forget about the titles on those business cards. Let all people participate in the wealth and greatness of the outstanding national experiment. Pure democracy. It's more than a dream...it must be our destiny if we're to survive as the United States of America."
It was 4;55 a.m. on the Island of St. Kitts. Bob picked up his beer and left. The room was quiet. The gauntlet had been passed on; now the volunteers of O.U.T.R.A.G.E. had to put it all together. What was interesting was how many millions of people had watched this all-night conference as it was televised live from the West Indies. Only God had seen the hoopla and revelry that went on in the privacy of millions of homes. Pure democracy. A truly participatory form of government.