The Government We Deserve. The Government We Have Earned

A government is moving away from being one of, by, and for the people
and toward being one to the people, or in spite of the majority of the people.
Is it not, then, the people who are responsible?

Words From A Political Despondant

~ I feel I have no effective governmental representation.
~ I haven't seen a representative up close in years.
~ I don't have a usable source of trustworthy information about the activity of government.
~ At one time I felt I could find a way to appropriately trust being informed by my union, but see no brotherhood there now.
~ I have never seen the opportunity to help put together a party platform.
~ I see no creative dialogue on practical social policy.
~ I have not been allowed to follow ballots from where they are marked to where they become a real part of publicly official tally.
~ As I am not in on the nominating process or the bill writing process the ballots lose some of their interest.
~ I am not on a friendly basis with any organization organized to keep tabs on people in power.
~ I often look at a ballot sheet as a menu of items to which I am allergic.
~ I am no longer motivated to 'join' a party because party seems stand for very little today.
~ Parties seem to have no ongoing platforms.
~ Candidates have platforms, but most often prove to be very shaky.
~ I don't know where creative political and social dialogue take place.
~ and on and on.

Government

Government is made by people.

Who makes government for you?

Each Thrives According to its Kind:

democracy demands wisdom,

republicanism requires responsibility,

oligarchy loves willful ignorance.

Oligarchy

Never a democracy.
Attempted a republic.
Moving to oligarchy.

Trust

How do we see our unity?
What is the nature of the justice we want to establish among us?
Are we still interested in establishing it?
What are we willing to do about our general welfare?
Of what does that welfare consist?
How interested are we in seeing that our laws are carried out?
Are they our laws?

How Many of Us

How many of us does it take to make a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people?
What is a government of the people?
What is governance by the people?
What is a politics for the people?

Prepositions

A just government of the people, by the people, and for the people is a big deal.
A republican may believe that it is so big that it contains all the people.
A democrat may believe that it is best when all the people are welcome all the time.
A republican may believe hat it is best when each is truly represented.
A democrat may believe that it is best when each truly represents himself or herself.

In that just government of, by, and for you and the others you may negotiate how you cooperate with those others.
Ongoing communication is necessary for effective cooperation.

Not Obama

In our republic pretending to democracy, it is not up to Obama, me, or you to fix things. As a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, it is up to us.

Carry Me

In the process of dropping out.


Being a citizen is a lot like being a parent. We say that it is a tough, dirty job,but that someone has to do it. There is some truth in that, isn't there?

It is also true that there are some compensations. It may be hard to remember those compensations when the job is upon us; but there are times when we can.

We have hear a parent, half jokingly, say, "I wish I could find a better operating manual for these kids" or "for this family."

We have a pretty good operating manual for government. It seems to be better than most relationship or child rearing books.

Congressmen are a lot like kids; presidents are too. They are like young, immature kids. Some are only 2, 4, or 6 years old in government years. In some ways they are better than kinds and in others, worse. For example, they are easier to get rid of when they don't work out.

Still it is not easy being a parent or a citizen; and usually we are both! When all, or most of ones kids kids go wrong, people begin to think that there may be something wrong with ones parenting skills. When many of ones Congressmen go wrong, people begin to think that there may be something wrong with ones citizenship skills.

Most of the basics are pretty simple. We organize so as to make sure that we know where they are and what they are doing. We make sure that they have food and shelter. We help them to understand our values. We encourage them to behave well and to follow the rules.

Luckily, most congressmen and presidents know how to read nearly as well as we do. Luckily our citizenship manual is shorter and clearer about the duties of our representatives than most child rearing books are about the duties of our children. Still, in our republic as in our families, it is you and I who have the main responsibility.


Our governance manual, the Constitution, is pretty clear that the president is not to make any decisions about money. Congress is to make the money. Congress is to specify exactly how the money is to be spent. Congress is to make sure that no money leaves the cookie jar (treasury) except by specific, written, and posted laws for each appropriation. Congress is to give us regular statements of how all of the money is used. Congress is to regularly provide us with an account of receipts and expenditures.

All we have to do is to arrange to see that they do so. It is up to us to see that they do it that way. We are not alone. We have our fellow citizens and the resources of the richest nation on earth.

Just as "bad' parents may have "bad" children and even lose their families: so, may "bad" citizens have "bad" government and even lose their country.


Tell me again about the compensations for being a good parent and a good citizen. Tell me again about my resources. Lead me. Carry me.

Change Sweet Change

I´m back in La Paz after a very pleasant 3 days in Copacabana. Saw dancing Pacenos there and visited the Island of the Sun. Tomorrow I intend to visit Tijuanaco tomorrow. Tijuanaco is a set of ruins of the seat of important Incan and preIncan civilizations, Aymara and earlier. Pacenos, by the way, are city people from La Paz. They were celebrating a kind of religious ´madi gra.´
The present federal government here is the first to be run by Native Americas since the Conquest. They are experiencing a lot of national and internation resistance. They also have a lot to learn about their new position.