At the core of the way forward for HispanicLatinos and the country is implementing change.  Change is the universal, common condition of humankind, flowing from its evolutionary nature, and most change throughout history has been for the good.  Yet, for a nation that knows it faces tremendous challenges, the forces of inevitable change cannot be left to chance and to the vagaries of the trillions upon trillions of decisions that individuals make on a daily basis that in the end result in the society that surrounds us.

To the potentially decisive moment in history to which HispanicLatinos are called – which is nothing less than sustaining an America that can continue to influence events on a widening global stage – how to change what is must be a constant component of our thinking.

Were all groups of the nation equal in social, economic and political standing, the country would still be in trouble given the fiscal corner into which we have worked ourselves at the same time that the American economy is under pressure from all sides, with its manufacturing base ripped up from underneath it during the last four decades.  Unhappily, the future is complicated by the indisputable fact that the population group that the country will most need to maintain itself is not in the best position to take up the responsibility of supporting the increasing financial and social demands of the country.

So the need for change – intentional, conscious and directed change – is the fundamental driver of human activity that Americans individually and HispanicLatinos in particular must incorporate in their lives.

But changing a culture that has evolved into a chaotic, inchoate and multi-dimensional set of varying and numerous sets and subsets of groups with differing and often mutually antagonistic demands and interests is a difficult task indeed.  Individuals who have ever attempted to merge two large corporations know how hard the work is to change a culture and how often uneven the result can be.

The pivotal point in any enterprise is leadership, and America’s destiny rests upon the development of effective leadership that can begin – within a democratic framework – to impose order and vision for the immediate and long-term future.

At the heart of that new vision must be divining a way to influence the individual decision-making of Americans so that a sense of mission animates their daily lives.  Every American resident – legal or otherwise – must know that they individually must be engaged in nothing less than preserving the long-term viability of the nation for themselves and their children.

HispanicLatinos face specific tasks within that call to action, for they must simultaneously not only change part of their current culture and standing but at the same time force equally large and important change on the rest of the country.  For any HispanicLatino to not be aware of the tremendous jeopardy the country is in economically and fiscally is irresponsible.  Not knowing the larger context in which their growing existence is occurring is a recipe for disaster.  Ignorance and/or lack of engagement have cost other nations their lives and some barely register as footnotes in history.

HispanicLatino leaders are more so than most in the crosshairs of history. Beyond the normal sets of responsibilities they bear, they must instill with the HispanicLatino community – every aspect of it – an understanding of the contours of the years ahead.  To not do that is to shirk the duties that have fallen to those who feel the call to lead or who consider themselves leaders.

The need to inform and raise the awareness of the HispanicLatino is an enormous amount of work.  It entails having to face so many of the problems that have kept other HispanicLatino leaders of the past from developing a coherent, unified message – the absence of which exacerbated and further complicated an already-complex existence.

And that cannot be left to chance.

Feel free to forward these blogs adapted from previous writings, with additional thoughts published invariably in between.