“Let’s take on the scourge of addiction in America” 

Our Proposal:

• Establish a nationwide Addiction Awareness Day

The Goal:

• Enhance awareness of the dangers of the many different types of addictions
• Start rolling back the economic and political interests that profit from addictions

Explanation:

An addiction could be defined as an uncontrollable ongoing urge to ingest certain substances, engage in certain behaviors, or even experience certain types of emotions. A common characteristic of addicted individuals is that they must not only have regular access to the source of their addiction, but often in order to achieve the desired “high” the amount of addictive stimulant must also increase over time, potentially trapping the addict into a downward spiral of ever more severe dependency.

One of the weakness of the human brain is the ease with which it can form addictions, whether they be physical, behavioral, or emotional. Examples of physical addictions include drugs (both legal and otherwise), alcohol, tobacco, and even junk food. Examples of behavioral addictions include gambling, video games, pornography, social media, news, smartphones, television, shopping, and many more.

Emotions such as hate, anger, and greed can also be addictive. Greed can include not only an unbounded craving for wealth acquisition, but also for power.

How Addictions Harm America

Sadly, addictions are big business in our country. Name your addiction, and there is someone that profits off it. The reason is clear: having customers addicted to your product is the best business to be in. Hooked customers assure you of a regular income stream as they are perpetually compelled to fork over money (or other things of value) in order to satisfy their addiction.

Below are a few brief examples of businesses that take advantage of addictions to reap profits:

Legal drugs: while America’s addiction to illegal drugs has obvious devastating consequences, addiction to legal drugs has also ruined the lives of millions of our fellow citizens. Example number one is the opioid crisis: unethical pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies, along with corrupt doctors and greedy insurance companies, have profited handsomely from pushing highly addictive legal opioids to patients, with catastrophic consequences nationwide. Tens of thousands of annual deaths, children of addicts forced into foster care, and many people incapacitated to the point of being unable to work are some examples of the terrible toll the opioid epidemic has taken.

Junk Food: for decades manufacturers of junk food have grown their market by literally growing the waistlines of Americans, regardless of the negative health consequences of doing so. Junk food is purposely made to be addictive, and has been supplied in ever larger portion sizes to accommodate and fuel the addiction. The business relationship could be described as hooked consumers sending lots of money to the junk food companies, and in exchange they send massive amounts of empty calories to our bodies by way of their addictive, unnutritious, and fattening products. Needless to say these empty calories end up stored in our bodies as excess weight, and the effects are evident: since 1960 the obesity rate in America has tripled to more than 40 percent of the population.

Social media: companies like Meta have become some of the world’s richest by engineering their online offerings to be addictive. Addiction to social media has afflicted tens of millions of people, especially children and adolescents. This addiction is associated with depression, lower academic performance, low self esteem, and other maladies. The recent mental health crisis afflicting our youth and the widespread addiction to social media are probably not unrelated.

Political infotainment: in the age of free news on the Internet, for-profit news organizations and their zero-principles commentators have discovered the best way to make money is to dish up addictive emotion-manipulating nonsense. They aim to get their audience hooked on a daily (or even hourly) infusion of dopamine-stimulating, rage-inducing content. Regrettably, they have been very successful. Even ridiculous conspiracy theories are peddled when convenient. No other industry bears more responsibility for the ever-deepening divisions in our country, our deteriorating politics, and the ongoing ominous threat to our democracy. Reforming news and journalism is crucial to beating back this cancer in our society.

One could point to many other instances of greedy businesses profiting off of people’s addictions. That said, it is important to recognize that in the same way a bit of alcohol (i.e an after-dinner drink or an occasional beer) is not necessarily a bad thing, a moderate amount of greed can be a positive (and even necessary) thing for society; specifically, the profit motive is the foundation of a free-enterprise economy and, by extension, prosperity. The problem is when out-of-control greed causes businesses to sacrifice the public good for profit, a few cases of which are given above. This is why a widely visible way of holding businesses accountable, and to higher standards, is needed. Specifically in reference to the examples given here, businesses should not depend on, nor take advantage of, addictions in order to earn a profit. We should strive for the best of both worlds: businesses actively innovating and endeavoring to be profitable, but at the same time committing themselves to making a positive contribution to society—which should be an obvious goal of any business. Profiting off of addictions does not constitute a positive contribution to society.

Combating Addictions through Education and Knowledge

A key ingredient for reining in addictions and their terrible effects for our country is to make people keenly aware of them from a young age. The Solution Party therefore proposes establishing a national Addiction Awareness Day, the main purpose of which would be to teach children about the many possible types of addictions and their potentially devastating consequences. The goal is to equip our children with the knowledge to recognize and avoid addictions, thus helping them to achieve an addiction-free life. Former and current addicts could be invited to classrooms to discuss their particular addictions, how these addictions have negatively impacted their lives, and their struggles to cure themselves. Medical personnel and other experts could be invited to explain the physiological aspects of addictions. For those who are permanent recipients of welfare due to their addictions, sharing their experiences with schoolchildren could be great way for them to contribute to this effort. Experts in business could explain the many ways addictions are peddled by unscrupulous people and entities. The idea is not to demonize any legal product or activity, but rather to simply encourage moderation when it comes to potentially addictive substances, behavior, or emotions.

The Most Dangerous Addiction of All

As bad as the above example addictions are for our country, our elected officials’ addiction to power is the most significant source of our country’s maladies. Let us be clear: nothing is more addictive than power, because there is nothing that humans covet more. These days it is all too evident that our power-addicted, shapeshifting, zero-principles politicians put priority on getting elected, staying in office, and catering to the special interests to help them do that, even if it sacrifices the public good and—ever more evidently—democracy itself.

The addiction to power is arguably the most important factor shaping human history. It is the source of human behavior at its worst, it is that which gives birth to our darkest angels. Besides the terrible effects on our own country, around the world we see instances of its brutal consequences before our very eyes. The Syrian despot who indiscriminately drops barrel bombs on civilians, including children, to stay in power. The North Korean dictator who sends entire families to gruesome prison camps to be savagely tortured to death. The Iranian theocrats who jail and execute anyone who opposes them. The Chinese communists’ ever more intrusive security infrastructure to ensure no challenge to their power. The Russian autocrat who poisons his political opponents and invades neighboring countries. The Saudi prince who kills, and dismembers with a bone saw, a critical journalist. The list could go on and on.

In our country we see our politicians’ addiction to power though bald-faced gerrymandering, disgusting pettiness, increasingly restrictive voting laws, the stacking of local election officials who will reject any outcome that does not suit them, the constant lies, the empty promises, the stoking of the culture wars, the mindless partisanship, the linked-at-the-hip relationship with special interests, willingness to say anything to score petty political points, filling the courts with partisan judges, and more. The Solution Party proposes that the only way to eliminate this dangerous addiction from our politics is to dole out power in limited, one-time segments—that is, no reelection.

An important additional goal of Addiction Awareness Day will therefore be to also educate our children about the dangers of this terrible malady, so that future generations can ensure our country is never again run by afflicted, power-addicted individuals.

Let's envision an addiction-free America, and make it happen.