It’s the 4th of July. While some peoples’ fancies turn to displays of jingoistic nationalism, I prefer to take this as an opportunity to look at how we can make the country better. Everybody has complaints from different sides, but we put them away on this day to eat, play and watch fireworks. Sorry, but that’s not for me. Freedom is too important and right now it is under attack more than at any time I can remember.

This morning’s lesson. Somebody always benefits. And if you want to get to the root of our current issues, asking “who benefits?” is the most important question.

As Americans, this morning I see us broken down into three categories: fear, hope and rich. I reserve the right to be more nuanced later, after eating lightly charred meat.

A lot of us are driven by fear. We don’t like to admit it or see ourselves that way, but politicians (especially, but not exclusively on the right) and those with real power have been playing on fear forever. I will never forget one of the first mailings I received from my Congressman – it was Phil Crane in the northwest burbs of Chicago. Phil was possibly the most anti-commie Congressman of the late Cold War, and his mailing was simple. It asked one question: “would you rather continue to build up our military arsenal, or allow the godless Commies to invade us? The choice is yours.” This is paraphrased, but it’s damned close to the actual text.

We are and always have been fed a steady diet of fear by some of the powerful. Fear of the newest wave of immigrants. Fear the freed slaves who will take over because of their numbers. Fear of Europe. Fear of the godless Commies – Soviet, Cuban, Chinese, whichever. Fear that some other elements in our country want to take our jobs. Or they will take our way of life – especially if you are a white male who doesn’t have great job options and is no longer the master of your house like dear old dad. Fear that we are losing our religion. Fear of black helicopters that will steal our cattle. Fear of the government. Fear that they will take our guns. I’m sure I missed some, please add them in.

But we’ve also had hope, often (but not exclusively) coming from the left of the political spectrum in recent decades. Hope that we can help the homeless, do something about poverty, adopt all of those puppies and kittens, get more racial and sexual equality, get guns off of our streets, help integrate our LGBTQ fellows, allow immigrants to make a good home and contribute to society.

Recently, I think fear trumped hope. Pun intended. Obama ran on hope and won, which some used to raise even more fear in about 40% of the population, leading to Trump. Trump ran on fear and drove it to another level – it wasn’t just him, but the culmination of decades of ruling through the fears of others. And it worked.

And now even the people who want to be more hopeful, who prefer to see the glass as half-full, are pulled in by fear. Fear that women will lose all bodily autonomy. That there will be more controls on voting, primarily to disenfranchise people of color. That our racial and LGBTQ advances of recent years will be erased. Fear that our courts have turned irrevocably reactionary. Are the new dark ages coming? And how can we win with all those fearful people out there getting their way?

I’m leaving a lot of blanks here for you to fill in. Please do as you see fit. Because none of the above is the point.

I think we need to stop ourselves for more than a minute here and focus. Fear and hope are clashing, but why is it that I always hear happy laughter in the background. I’m afraid (pun intended again) the answer comes down to “who benefits.”

Because there is a third category I mentioned above: the rich. Not just “you have a good corporate job” rich. I’m talking about the uber-rich, trust-fund rich, nesting-yacht, servants in every house rich. Who make very effective use of puppets to drive us to either fear, hope or both.

You see, when we fear, they win. Because fearful people are almost always irrational. They do silly things that are not in their best interests, and they have trouble thinking past the wild animal that is about to attack them. Regardless of which way your fight-or-flight reflex goes, you are not likely to look past your short-term interests. And the rich are VERY long-term people.

And when we hope they win, so long as we are focused on hoping for a specific thing. If you are hopeful on abortion, pro or anti-choice, you tend to be focused on THAT. Often laser-focused. To the point that you miss other things happening along the way.

The uber-rich have a sweet deal set up – they have even made people join them in their fears – taxes and regulations. These could actually take power away from the uber-rich, but Americans are taught to see unchained corporate capitalism as our way of life. Right up there with the flag and fireworks. And we are afraid of what might happen if it changed.

The uber-rich do NOT want us to look behind the curtain. So in the name of freedom, democracy, liberty and justice for all, I’d like to ask you to take advantage of this 4th of July to start doing that. Pull it back and take a look.

What don’t they want us to think about? Taxing the rich. A LOT. Wealth taxes, not just income taxes (which mostly affect those who work for a living). Estate taxes on the uber-wealthy (let’s say over $5-10M, which leaves out almost all of us). Regulations on corporations so they don’t gouge us, or perhaps so they have to pay employees (not just stock holders) more of the profits. Unions, unions, unions. One of the only mistakes the uber-rich have made lately is that highly educated people can’t get decent jobs, so they accept lower end jobs, and when they are there they are starting to unionize. Unions alone can go a long way to balancing employee vs. stock holder profits. Non-profit health care, so no one is making money off of your kid’s illness. Child care for all, so people at the bottom have a chance to get decent educations and decent jobs. More spending on education and less on the military, to make us more successful and more safe.

This is just a starter list. But we’re not supposed to think about these. Some of them are even caught up in the culture wars, where the only victor is the uber-wealthy as the rest of us pay attention to the very important shiny objects, and forget about the curtain of power. We are supposed to look at what the news, and the talking heads, and the politicians tell us to look at. Ok, we’re also supposed to look at Kardashians and “reality” shows. Those help distract us too.

This year for the 4th of July, I am asking you to wake up and smell the country. Something stinks here, and it’s probably not just the things you have been taught to fear. Consider the possibility that there is someone(s) behind it all.

And if you want your country to be really free, we better start focusing there.