What do we get?

So, today...I sit with my friend Marc in the Starbucks and we attempt to solve the problems of our little universe. We talk about health care. We talk about poverty. We talk about social work. We cover it all. It seems an appropriate set of things to be talking about on the celebration of our nation's birthday.

I've heard of a tradition somewhere that on birthdays the person whose birthday it is, instead of receiving presents, gives presents. I've often thought of this myself (but no I haven't tried it). But I've thought if we were going to get birthday presents from Uncle Sam this year --what would I be hoping to receive?

Here's my list:

A black Ipod (just kidding on that one)
Churches that care more about justice and peace then they do about judgement and hostility
An end to using people's lives as political squeeze toys
A commitment to building citizenship
A commitment to developing alternative fuel sources
An investment in the lives and gifts (rather than needs) of the citizens of this country
Politicians who told us what they really think (rather than what they think we want to hear -- or in fact, what we do really want to hear)