Prompt #13: Write about something interesting that you recently learned about.
*Reminder: I post my answer on this website and you send your answer directly to me. Only I will see the answers unless you request otherwise.
This is a safe space to write whatever you want, however you want, and feel comfortable doing it.*
My Answer:
I recently learned about a government organization called “Love Thy Neighbor USA (LTNUSA),” which is essentially a program that allows you to donate a percentage of the taxes taken out of your paycheck to smaller organizations that support causes such as housing the homeless, affordable drug addiction rehabilitation centers, prison reform, military veterans, foreign aid, increasing the minimum wage, and much more. It gives you the option to redirect tax dollars that would otherwise be used for other governmental functions (UFC fights, reflecting pool liners, genocide, Greenland?) and instead designate that same portion to the cause of your choice. The only caveat is that you receive a smaller tax refund.
LTNUSA was designed not only to improve the quality of life in America but also to uphold basic human rights as a core principle of American governance. In the LTNUSA mission statement, the organization states, “As a governmental extension of the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world, LTNUSA fiercely cares for the helpless, speaks for the silent, and strengthens the crippled. We vow to responsibly safeguard your tax-paying dollars and utilize them for critical matters plaguing the well-being of numerous valued U.S. citizens, as well as vulnerable foreign nations victimized by pure evil and corruption. Importantly, LTNUSA does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sex, or sexual orientation.”
A study conducted by the Pew Research Center underscores various improvements since LTNUSA’s 2015 launch: homelessness decreased by 18 percent, suicide rates dropped by 23 percent, and lower-class household income increased by 17 percent. These examples, among many others, indicate an overwhelming breakthrough in American prosperity and gradual progress toward equity and equality.
LTNUSA is so fascinating to me because it doesn’t exist, unfortunately. I just made it up. Essentially, I described an organization that embodies the “Love Thy Neighbor” part of LTNUSA, unlike the government officials who loudly champion that phrase while showing little interest in living by it beyond their own cruel, narrow-minded interpretation of its meaning. If they did, LTNUSA wouldn’t be a fantasy with a label. It wouldn’t seem so make-believe. Wouldn’t it be nice if it weren’t?
Cole Manasco 
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