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.

Citizen, You Can:

~ enliven our republic,
~ dialogue,
~ practice compromise,
~ choose,
~ practice forming coalitions,
~ be a functional part of the body politic,
~ participate in ongoing National dialogue,
~ educate yourself,
~ have a legal contract with a representative of yours,
~ know more of about our laws and treaties,
~ help another to good citizenship,
~ better know what it means to love your neighbor appropriately,
~ have a representative working for you and yours,
~ have all the needed information,
~ arrange to get the information you need,
~ know that without movement there is no Movement,
~ know who would deny you your legal power,
~ have the freedom to exercise your natural, god given, Constitutional power,
~ know the rights of a citizen,
~ practice your rights,
~ have help in claiming your rights,
~ know that by law citizens have equal rights,
~ its against the law for a rich citizen to have a right another citizen does not,
~ know the laws of citizenship,
~ as as citizen there is very little you have to do,
~ state your ideas of justice,
~ lay out your political sentiments,
~ state new rights you believe you should have,
~ get a new and better representative,
~ have more than one representative.

Statements About Democracy

We want and need your comments.
Please say how much you agree or disagree with each of the following statements.

~ Middle of the road democracy includes social, economic, and political equality.

~ Democratic equality is sustained by elements such as excellent education, skill at dialogue, a high level of courtesy and respect among the people.

~ Democracy is ancient bur must be renewed daily.

~ The Roman Republic may have been farther removed from democracy that ours.

~ The Cossack republics of the Ukrain may have been closer to democracy than ours.

~ There have been leaderless groups of, say, 50 or fewer who practice an equitable and effective democracy.

~ There are many kinds of democracy.


What is your favorite kind of democracy? Check Wikipedia or another source for a menu of available democracies.

Brown Cow Meditation

Power corrupts.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

You have probably heard something very like the above.
What does it have to do with you and me?

There are examples.

What kind of power is our opening sentence most likely about?
What might the corruption be like there?
What might be the nature of that corruption?

How do you detect corruption?
How do you avoid corruption?
How do you handle your power?

What has mankind tried to do about the corrupting influence of power?

You know that power is 'good' in that it can be helpful and useful.
You know that power is 'bad' in that it can be hurtful and destructive.

There is power potential in fire or in a hammer. What rules have we developed to support the good and limit the bad in hammers and fire?

There is a power potential in military and political organizations. what rules has mankind developed to potentiate the good in such organizations and limit the bad?

We give (delegate) power to others every day. What rules do we have for limiting the corrupting influences to which they are exposed?

Where might a corrupting influence be at work?

What rules do we have for keeping ourselves good?
Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.
How now?

From Whats Left of My Stream of Consciousness

I was posting from a beautiful Office Max place this morning. Now I am posting from a dark little neighood place with all the letters worn off the keyboards.

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GO TO THE BARGAINING TABLE
Learn a bit of the political philosophy behind collective bargaining. Basically it´s simple: You benefit from friendly, honest, cooperation with your workmates.
The drawback is that you must participate rather than leave it to others.
Some potential benefits may be: improved quality of information, greater safety, greater security, being heard, learning to listen.
Go to the bargaining table. Fair pay could be part of the deal.

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On this present trip on the morning of my second day I headed to Andrade, Mexico to buy drugs. Stopped at the new Quechan Casino Resort on the way. They are still working out some kinks, but are in pretty good shape. If you like Indian Casinos you will like it. I enjoyed a nice paninii there.
I went on to pick up some blood pressure medication because I still expected to be traveling in the States and felt myself to be on the way to San Antonio. It was after heading east from Yuma that I began to feel the ´reality´of my poverty.

I´ll be darned; there is English spellcheck here!

More soon.

The Hyperborean

He was compediously taught even though his teacher communicated only that part of wisdom which was appropriate to him.
There were psychological requirements. One was a natural gentleness called culture.
There was a daily program that began with a solitary walk to an appropriately quiet place. The most sacred place available was considered the best choice.
Friendship was practiced. The removal of strife from relationships was advised and taught. The younger were taught to subdue their anger when with their elders. Elders were taught to correct or admonish the younger softly and cautiously.
Symbols were used in instruction. Their significance and arcane intentions, mostly aimed toward morality and reality, were freed of their enigmatic form.
Dietary suggestions were made. For example millet was recommended for its nutritious qualities. This disciple was urged to avoid foods counter to illumination, purity, and chastity of the soul or which got in the way of temperance or virtue.
Music and poetry were taught. Music was taught as a medicine and an instrument of purification. Dancing to string instruments was included. Homer and Hesiod were included among the poets taught. Music was used to help develop and support mental states of readiness, fitness and contact.
Theoretical music which led to number and computation was taught as coming from mariners, merchants, and astronomers.
Cooperative political assistance was taught.
Divinity was taught. Nothing real need be hopeless. God first and then my promised word. An oath should be taken religiously. Things divine can be learned even from Celt and Iberian.
Short sayings of the teacher are fine seeds for meditation.
Philosophy is not only a desire for and love of wisdom, but also the science of objectified truth.