The meaning of the prefix “re” (my favorite one, as referenced in my last blog post) is “again”.

What do you suppose would be something you’d want to circle back to in your life? To begin again with the wisdom you’ve gained since your last attempt? Or maybe there’s nothing appealing to you about re-imagining a second try at an aspect of your personal life. Perhaps for you, it’d be more a re-imagining of our world, or of the country you live in, for the better?

Those are some big questions, I know. But we all have this thing that no one can take away from us. It’s in our soul; it’s part of our spirit. It is our imagination.

Yes, the “re” word I’m choosing for this entry in this blog series is “re-imagine”. At the risk of ridicule from any readers who might think I’m skipping around in a fantasy land wearing rose-colored glasses, I’ll have you know that my glasses are actually purple. My point is that I’m choosing to re-imagine a brighter future for this country that I love. Because I have faith in and love for my fellow Americans.

It seems worthwhile to stop and think of it like our current power-holders and the people working at their behest have with their “Project 2025”. Only our version would be the people’s project: “Project 2029”. A re-imagined America.

The fact of the matter is that Mr. Trump is not going to live forever, and more damning truths are coming out every day (credit to independent journalism #epsteinfiles). It seems clear that this iteration of American governance is not sustainable. And I think it’s safe to say that the vast majority of Americans want to be done with this current administration and move towards something better.

That begs the question: what’ll be next? What do we, the people, want our government to look like when this is all over? After we’ve surveyed the damage, cleaned up the debris, and processed what we have been through for the last decade?

This of course does not mean I don’t acknowledge that getting from here to there is likely going to be a hellscape of unprecedented proportions. But we Americans are scrappy, and we have political humor and springtime and puppies and new babies and other joys that ground us and keep us sane. This is what will get us through to the other side.

Because I believe this is an important conversation for Americans to have, I invite you to respond to the list I’m about to share and add your own wishes for a re-imagined America. Know that this list is not comprehensive, but it’s a start.

In my re-imagined America (Project 2029), we’d have:

• Universal Healthcare
• Legal Abortion
• Billionaires taxed out of existence
• Experts back at their federal government positions and a restoration of all federal workers fired during this administration’s reign, starting with FEMA
• Great financial investments in education, job creation, and addressing climate change

I think if we all ponder what might be on our lists of what a re-imagined America would look like, we could then look for the leaders who are in alignment with our wish lists and support them in whatever way we can.

Or maybe just think of this exercise as a happy distraction from the daily yuck. Looking for the helpers is what we’re supposed to do in times like these, according to our friend Mr. Rogers, right?