Born in the early 1950s and maturing during the Civil Rights era and the Vietnam War, I grew up during a revolutionary period. It was also a time of tremendous cultural shifts. Woodstock Music and Art Fair was only emblematic of the larger changes taking place in society.

I fit somewhere in the middle, pulled by traditional values, never at the extreme. At some point, when political ideology began to stir within me, having first flirted with socialism, I became drawn to the central idea of the American Revolution.

The thoughts of a government of the people, for the people, and by the people sounded right. Add to that the notion of equality, as stated in the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and entitled to certain unalienable rights.”

Yet I realised then that these words were like a bright light shining in a dark world. Saying all men are created equal when chattel slavery was a household, with one of the framers of the Constitution owning hundreds of slaves himself. So during my initial infatuation with the ideals, I had to be content with the words of Martin Luther King who said: “One day this country will live out the true meaning of its creed.”

Ideals and philosophy are sweet, but living those values and maintaining them can be bitter. Take the simple term “equality” and look at the myriad constructs all over the world on how to achieve such. Add the idea of freedom, and it further compounds the issue of equality, as that challenge goes up a notch.

Society is comforted through humour as the national and global scenes expose the irony between ideals and realism. Owning the media allows one to control the narrative, where subtle satire reshapes the perception of what is going on.

The true centre of thought can earnestly be gained through unbiased and unmitigated observation and reasoning. All else is a plethora of half-truths, manipulated thought and falsehoods that have people like puppets feverishly supporting wrong while they believe they are standing for what is right.

The human's natural senses are attuned to what is universally moral and right. However, our exposure and experience often cloud our senses. Mention the word “terrorist”, and an image suddenly emerges. Or Holocaust, and an image emerges, yet we can watch or even participate in a holocaust being played out in real time and not be enraged or even engaged.

In today's search for the ideals, we need to see the entire world of the humanities and extract the good and eliminate the evil wherever they exist.

Looking at China, one cannot help but be amazed at the fact that 30 or 40 years ago, it was one of the poorest countries in the world, but today it has a status of near global dominance. They did something right, and it's worth examining what that is.

I believe in the institution of democracy. However, there is something violently wrong with our economic model that sees the rich get richer and the poor become systematically poorer.

Does this mean communism is the way? No, but certainly a tilt to the left. Education, food, health and housing must be essential and guaranteed in every society and civilisation. It's not about east or west, north or south. The concept intrinsic in the American Revolution is too big for a nation and is meant for the world. "All men are created equal and entitled to certain unalienable rights" is a globalist ideal or truth.

The only way to begin the walk along the road that leads all mankind towards embracing their human equality is for the world to embrace a common law.

To a large extent, that's what the United Nations was meant to be. Then there is the World Health Organisation and the Paris Agreement on international climate goals, both of which are meant to foster global co-operation. This is also a great motivation factor underlying the establishment of the Bric countries.

In conclusion, can we ask ourselves today, which ideals is this US administration pursuing? How does American exceptionalism square with, “All men are created equal”? Benjamin Netanyahu said in front of the American Congress that Israel and the Republican Party under Donald Trump have shared values. Is exterminating two million Palestinians, blocking aid, food and medicine, and bombing Yemen because it wants to stop the starvation imposed by a blockade, part of those shared values?