I have lived life hard (#1947)

I chose a different path in my life. It was my path, just mine. Now I can't take any of it back so regretting not doing something different isn't even an option. What I have though are some wild and crazy memories. That is a good thing. What I don't have is wive(s) or children. The trade off for me was kind of easy since I wasn't one of those who would settle on a relationship of marriage that didn't have enough true love to it. I was and still am a romantic, but in lieu of actually finding and recognizing true love from a likely partner for life I just went out as a young man and lived in this world. I worked hard and partied hard. One of those who would burn the candle at both ends. What had probably been my saving grace is that I didn't do that 24/7. I did spend time quietly and healthily recovering from some of my wilder escapades. Early on in my youth I did set some standards by which I would not violate. I didn't accept any sexual relationship with a married woman. That was probably my smartest move. lol. As far as partying, I didn't go out beyond the usage of normal mind altering chemicals that I knew were far more harmful than groovy. And I didn't allow myself to do too many things that were dangerous and just for kicks. I was a bit of a self controlled wild and crazy guy. But I wasn't one who lived to make myself successful. I worked at the type of jobs only strong men need apply. I was a carpenter, house and building framer specifically, most of my life but I also worked as an underground miner in the great southwest desert, while later working as a logger in the great northwest woods. My free spirit was all I could ever find as a good constant companion and now that I have traded in all the wild and crazy times for a patterned lifestyle, maybe now I can find that one woman who will fill my life with herself and maybe even still children. I am more than I have shared here but that is for another nostalgic time...

The wealthy are stealing our dreams (#1946)

Why is it that the wealthy cannot be satisfied with a lot and instead need our little as well? It seems that greed is the simplest answer but I think there is more to it. Greed is a symptom of their actions but the genesis of their greed stems from the wealthy wanting to control our behavior. It is like they have their own moral compass for us and another one for themselves. Their financial, good fortune or devious underhanded tactics, whichever or both, do not make them an expert on human behavior and the morality and ethics that come with it. I have no respect for those who act as if they are all knowing and totally convinced as to what you and I need to do about our lives. I can barely keep up with the decisions I have to make for myself so for the wealthy to think they can think for 10's of millions of us is ludicrous. Yet for all that, they still are trying to take from us what wealth we can accumulate so as to confine us within opportunities that they can control. I will not be one of their puppets who meekly follows their lead. Instead I will fight to stop their theft of our generations and also fight to reverse the income inequality that is still widening. There are a few policies that could be adopted that would work nicely. First we need to tax profit from financial transactions like we tax labor. Second we need to increase the minimum wages that are currently woeful and inadequate. Just these two steps alone would stop the growing income inequality and start it's decline. There are more policies we could adopt to strengthen the middle and poor class, like eliminating the contribution cap on Social Security and having the states that didn't expand medicaid reverse course and instead expand medicaid. We need to stop giving tax breaks to corporations that offshore jobs and instead give tax breaks to corporations that keep jobs here in America. We need to rid the House of Representatives of Republican control, keep the Senate in Democrat hands and then work hard to pass the legislation I mentioned above.

When greed over takes humanity (#1945)

Nothing fosters the fertile grounds for greed greater than a disrespect for life. We see it all around us where everything under our capitalistic system is for sale for the right price, even our souls. Many do not care about such things as souls or honor or a proper code of conduct. They just care about the bottom line of their bank accounts. It is the age old story of humanity being sold for, let's use a well known analogy, "30 pieces of silver". Greed can be a powerful emotional experience. It has within it some disturbing sensations like lust and ego-driven narcissism. Powerful emotions that must be fed to maintain their addiction upon our soul. Yet many of us who have felt these urges and weighed them against our better instincts, have found greed to come up short in the overall experience of our lives. We have discharged greed to the waste bin of tried but failed paradigms that do more harm than any good they could ever do. Yet there are still those souls out there that are so addicted to greed that despite the harm and tortuous outcomes their greed inflicts they falsely justify to themselves that it is a value of greater worth than not allowing their greed to come to fruition. The aftermath is akin to what happened at Hiroshima, though not as punishing, nonetheless, it is as mentally and morally crushing to those who pay the price for others to practice their greed. What greed also does is eliminate the good that could happen if greed were not employed. By the commission of greed, the omission of something better is never realized. that old saying of everything has an inverse proportionality is true and where greed exists goodness is lost.

Hope will always win out (#1944)

If there is only one thing I learn while I am alive it is that hope will never fail. It may not come to fruition in your desire for it but the act of hoping will never be taken from us. That is as long as we are not all turned into mindless robots. lol.  I guess I shouldn't laugh at that since there are forces out there that would prefer most of us are not allowed to think for ourselves. In the sense that I am relaying here bounds within the idea that regardless of how bad circumstances and situations get, we still have the dynamic quality of hoping for something different. It is the first step toward actually changing things toward the different and "hopefully" better. I had hit my utter bottom and saw nothing worthy of living for, except my hope, which in the end brought me back to seeing everything worthy of living for. It was hope that saved me and I have heard many others like me who had the same experience, where hope was the last straw to cling to for them as well. Every once in awhile I think about the title of my blog, Man of Hope. At the time that I created this site, I was caught up in our first African American's victory for President of the United States. It was such a proud moment for me and so many others like me who recognized that hope for our country to move past the old paradigms of racism, hatred and segregation was at the threshold. All we needed to do was pass through that open doorway and move into a new way of life. We have had trouble as a nation moving forward but we are slowing passing through that metaphorical doorway. But even deeper for me than the moment of creating this blog was the idea that hope was more than any one paradigm, it is the genesis of all paradigms if we will give it a chance to be.

Independent voters are moving toward the Democrats (#1943)

When the Republicans opened up their true agenda of dismantling social programs while showing they would rather segregate us than integrate us they effectively have discouraged independent voters from joining them. Something very positive about independent voters is that they are competent and logical in that they actually weigh the effects of the political party's policies. Because of that most independents, who are in the middle and lower classes, see the actual devastation Republicans are inflicting on most all who are not wealthy. This makes it easier for we progressive/liberals to tailor our message of improving the fortunes of the middle and lower class with real authentic arguments. The logic of the differences are not lost on independents and the polls have been showing just that. We still have 3 months of summer to while through before everyone who is interested in our democracy will actually take the time to coalesce around the vision of each party but nothing much will change between then except that we Democrats will get to continue to expose the Republican party for being anti-middle/poor class. The tide is coming for a Democratic take over of Republicans in key political positions and nothing more important than regaining the House of Representatives and holding onto the majority in the Senate. The House looks doable despite the wildly advantageous redistricting Republicans did during the last census in 2010. 17 seats are needed to regain control of the House and at least 25 Republican seats are vulnerable to Democratic takeover this November. As the weeks while down to election day more and more Independents are coming to see that Republicans don't offer help to the working/middle/poor class, instead they offer harm, in the form of cutbacks and denials of social programming meant to lift our citizenry up out of poverty. Democrats on the other hand are offering actual help to those of us who need help the most, first and foremost is creating jobs through jobs programs and strengthening our social safety nets.

Enlightenment or punishment (#1942)

Why is it that we cannot seem to make up our minds about what type of society we want to live in? We have two clear and distinct choices in political parties to choose from. One, the Liberal Democrats are the ones who want our society to improve with incentives and opportunities, while the other, Conservative Republicans, want our society to improve by denying incentives and opportunities. Conservative Republicans think that we don't need help from anyone and that we should all be responsible for making our own way in the world regardless of the reality and consequence. Liberal Democrats think that given reality, we all need to have an opportunity to start from the same level playing field without, nepotism, privilege or other built in advantage being given. Liberal Democrats also think that helping each other through programs that make sure no one should starve or be homeless is worthy of creating. It really does come down to how we see what civilized means. To Conservative Republicans, civilized only means what each should define it as, given their perspective about their goals in life. For example, if a person, preferably a white man in the Conservative Republican world, wants to create an industry that profits himself while also giving the rest of us some value, then he should be free to build his venture without any input from others, regardless of the impact. Now I know that is not in all the crazy extreme ways but just short of that. Liberal Democrats, using the same example, believe that any human who wants to build a venture that profits himself and gives society a value, should control his venture as long as it doesn't violate democratically instilled laws that protect not only all of us but our environment as well. Both parties want entrepreneurialism, but both do not want to protect the community at large.

The last time segregated religious fundamentalism was forced upon us (#1941)

The year was 1941 and the end of that year was the beginning of the end for the Nazi experiment. When a religious nationalist party that sets it's own interpretation of society comes into great power by force then nothing it does is justified. Not even the sneak attack by it's political ally at the time, Japan. Yet we Americans, having defeated those forces some 73 years ago are setting ourselves up to establish the same kind of religious nationalist party, the current conservative republican party, right here in america, the land that fought mightily and died valiantly, in helping to destroy the German "experiment". How could we have come this far backward in our thinking as to allow for a despised religious political philosophy to have infected so severely one of our leading political institutions? It is through ignorance and disrespect is how. The current conservatives have a mindset of individualism that is infused with some sort of distorted religious interpretation that breeds contempt and disregard for community while seeing compassion as an ultimate weakness. The ignorance is in not learning history and how it came to pass. Education had always been a hallmark of our national growth and had been a source of pride among our citizenry and envy from most of the civilized world. Not so today as many of our political leaders have taken on the illusion that education is a privilege and not a right. They have also advocated for dismissing the logic of science in favor of a belief system. Their disrespect shows up in the form of segregating us based upon our differences instead of integrating us based upon our sameness. It is the complete opposite of evolutionary processes yet that doesn't bother those who are always looking upon others as inferior, yet can only see themselves and their own sense of narcissistic ego driven superiority.

Making life easier inch by inch (#1940)

I often think of what Dr. King said "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." This one simple concept is what helps me to continue on a path of goodness that is both struggle and frustration. It seems that whatever I do nothing much gets done, yet the little tiny bit that does get done is what Dr. King's statement justifies. Sisyphus and his never ending of rolling the boulder uphill only to have it come back down again is my default position. lol. Yet like the Greek myth, I continue despite the well known outcome. For it is the act of trying that is the key to me, not the end result. I am doing what is right by not only my nature but by my enlightened mind. I know I am not as bad off as Sisyphus since I do make some progress but the idea of it is mostly fitting. What else occurs by my commission on behalf of my curiosity and my caring is that I am not doing nothing or even worse doing harm. So by doing what I know to be right and good for our enlightenment, I am not doing something that forestalls our advancement into modernity. What does it take to find the courage to slip out of the cave like with Plato's character in the Republic? It takes an inner resolve to spend the seconds of my life on my terms and not just settling for a lack of me being true to my nature. I feel a kinship with my species and the other species we cohabitate with on this planet, but I also feel a kinship with the Universe and all it's yet unknowns. I am not just a child of our planet, I am also a child of all that is, or will be, or has ever been. My link to everything is real and for me not to participate in the discovery of all that is, will not be borne! So despite my hunger for more of all there is I am also charged, by my own convictions, to reinforce the idea that we all deserve the right and respect to be the most human any of us can be.

Teaching fear is not moral (#1939)

When we are made to feel as a captive and punished for what we don't understand we all suffer. I think back to my young youth and how every once in a while someone who had temporary control of me used me to vent out their own transferred rage and anger. I remember having to cower with fear just to survive the onslaught of their callous behaviors toward me. I have seen enough of it to know it wasn't just me being treated as a burden, I also saw my family, friends and strangers thus treated. It is humiliating and embarrassing to the worst degree. I couldn't wait until I was strong enough to fend off cruel and inhumane treatment when it came my way. That is no way to live as a child, planning for my defense instead of enjoying the world and learning what good could become of it. What often happens is that though we despised being treated as worthless, we ended up doing the same to those who were vulnerable when we become adults. It is the way we were taught and treated and we survived so don't mess with success. Except that we were not all right, we were damaged and could not see it for ourselves. I am not saying that anyone who does what he learned is not guilty of doing bad, I am just saying that I understand how it is passed along through generations. It is still wrong to teach fear because it works for us in some demented way. Teaching fear is immoral. I remember telling myself numerous times how I was never going to make someone else feel the way I felt after being cowed and embarrassed. But what often happens is we don't plan an alternative method of teaching much different from the fear used on us. I can say that I have come to learn that being aware of my surroundings and the circumstances in play has made learning and teaching much more agreeable to those I interact with as opposed to those who interacted with me so many long years ago.

Smug arrogant Republicans and their disdain for the majority of Americans (#1938)

Republicans don't believe in helping lift folks out of misery, instead they advocate to leave folks to live in misery as a consequence of the inadequacy these folks must desire. Republicans are the ones who would rather whip people into doing better, rather than help create opportunities for folks to lift themselves from their inadequate lives. It is the classic case of punishing folks for not being like the Republicans, you know, self serving individuals who see no future in community. Thing is, these Republicans were nurtured by the very community they now destroy. It is like we are all in a hole and some good fellow has let a ladder down the hole to help us get out but it was Republicans who pushed their way onto the ladder and climbed out and then proceeded to pull the ladder up behind them. Telling the rest of us still down in the hole that we need to find our own way out. The pettiness and cruelty Republicans accept as a guiding principle in their policies is beneath all of the rest of us and if we want to do something about it we must take advantage of what power we have left, that being our Democracy and it's right given to all of us to vote. If we don't utilize our right to vote the Republicans will continue to grow in power and then they will make it even harder for us to vote. If you are waiting for Republicans to realize that the will of the majority of the American people is their greatest priority, you will be deeply disappointed as Republicans have decided that the American people are not worthy of being represented the same as the wealthy who are the foundation of the Republican party. This is a warning to all who take their right to vote as inconsequential. You will rue the day when you realize that you handed over your right to a democracy in America to a bunch of callous unsympathetic conservative Republicans who could care less about the majority of the American electorate.

Clarity and conviction to do good (#1937)

Little on this planet is as satisfying as doing something good and knowing that whatever else may happen you are a decent, humble, validated human being. We are all human beings at a foundational level but not all choose to exemplify the qualities of being human that are most admired. Most choose to stay inward in themselves and make their considerations only about what directly effects them, not in some complex way of reasoning but in the simplest of ways. We do things for ourselves without regard to the effects that has on others. They can do for themselves and all will be fine. Yet that is a false equivalency. We are not all at the same place in time with our possibilities and we are not all given the same opportunities. So what some do, that they make no consideration for the outcome, is in many ways a harm to those who are effected by their decisions. Much like with the dirty energy crowd. They extract and pollute because we are currently dependent upon those resources for power, but what they don't work to alleviate, the pollution and it's overall effect, is left as a consequence for us to absorb into our beings. Now these dirty energy folks gain their profit and success but at what cost to all of us? We need dirty energy for the immediate time but the dirty energy crowd wants that time extended indefinitely so that their profits are left undisturbed. They choose not to transition to cleaner energy sources to mitigate the harm they are causing as long as the harm doesn't affect them. Overall though, what they don't see is that the harm is going to effect the next generations coming up in the form of cancerous health issues, through our water, ground and air, and cataclysmic climatic disturbances. But who cares when there is so much money to be made!

Chasing illusions while giving away the farm (#1936)

If you want to vote as a Republican, this is your reality. You are hoping for something that will never exist while paying to let your future diminish. Now I am all for following my dream but not at the cost of abdicating all my other dreams. I want a safe world that is working to end hunger, disease and unnecessary suffering and death. While also discovering new lands whether here on Earth or beyond. I may yearn for a simpler time that I have within my head but the truth is there never was a more simpler time that right now. Everything in our past has been a mighty struggle to achieve and at no time in the past has life been the illusion of perfect. The greatest awareness all of us have to share is that both time and space are constantly changing so any idea that we can turn back the hands of time are just not going to happen. Reality is here and we are in it, no amount of denial or indifference will change that! Modernity is our future and innovation through technology is our vehicle. We achieve none of this unless we accept that learning knowledge is our path. We have no other path if we are to move our species from being static and more vulnerable, into a more enlightened adaptive being. We are not what we were 5,000 years ago nor will we be the same 5,000 years into the future if we can survive our own demise. The time is now for us as a species to accept the challenge existence has placed before us. Are we to remain like all other previous species who could do nothing to harness the powers of the Universe to affect their futures or are we now going to master the elements around us in ways that give us options to not only survive but to dominate this realm we are currently trapped within?

I am more than the sum of my actions (#1935)

Over the time of this blog I have "mentioned" that I, and all of us, matter. We have so much within us that it seems to be wasted because there is no all encompassing outlet to express all who we are. This blog gives me in a small way a chance to "3d print myself" on eternity. Now after I am gone and this forum has been replaced by some new more modern form of communication, the ether will still have my sense within this blog, albeit raw, but nonetheless there for the discovery. We don't hear this as often as we should but some folks like the thought of leaving an imprint of their lives on humanity in some tangible or otherwise way of recording their existence. This blog post is that vehicle for me. I have spent over 5 years almost every day to a tee, writing daily of some concept or idea I was forming on a particular day. This genre is the legacy of my life. Granted it is coming from my perspective, however I can fairly say that I don't sugar coat my failures nor do I denigrate my successes. Generally speaking this blog is about my life in a way that highlights the intent of my motivations while leaving me vulnerable to scrutiny. We all need a release or outlet to express ourselves however possible and none of us should be denied the opportunity to record who we are so others may know our true intentions. I am more that the sum of my actions, and as such, I need to be able to show that somehow or someway. Life is an unexplained journey. We know how we got here, birthed by our parents, but we don't know why life even exists or if it will continue to exist in the future. We have good scientific evidence of the creation of our Universe but what contained the space before our Universe erupted into being? The bigger questions will continue to remain for now, but who and what I was during my life will have a few clues left out there whether discovered or not. That is good enough for this simple man.

Reality is my intoxicant (#1934)

I am back to being that young boy full of curiosity about life that I lost growing up. I lost myself back then to the lure of the forbidden and stayed lost for far too long. Circumstances have brought me back around to show me the wrong path I took. I am back now on the right path for me since it is all I can do just to keep up with my own reality. That is how I know I am living life correctly now. All my energy and thoughts are needed just to maintain my own momentum as to my choices into the future. I am not some part of someone else's choice, I am part of my own. That is what happened to me previously, I abdicated my voice and my hopes for the little bit of fantasy I created in my head. Lost to me are all those days that I cannot get back that were dedicated to the trifles in life instead of forging my own future as productive and exemplary. Nonetheless, here I am today with a new regard for the rest of my life without the interruptions of artificial intoxication. I get to sense, really feel and know my reality in the clearest sense to date. Surely I will have even more clarity in the future but the path I am on is scrubbed clean of the obstacles I can control. That is the difference now. I can see what a waste I was becoming by not paying attention and learning the ever continuous new insights as they appeared daily. I started to and actually did lose hope for me being anything of any vital purpose. That was the depression part of intoxicants many do not advertise. Freeing myself from reality was supposed to make life better for me, but what it did instead was not only make life harder for me but it also deprived my family and friends from the kind of person I am when I am being the real me. The real me is the one who is in reality all the time and fighting the good fight to make reality better, even to the point where escaping from reality is not even considered a positive.

The inevitability of intelligence (#1933)

This seems like it should be a "no-brainer", however like justice, equality and opportunity, it must constantly be fought to not only preserve but to advance. There are entrenched forces that would keep us in a state of ignorance and captivated to what brings these forces their profits and power. They have manipulated the means to old technology that has run it's course and they do not wish to relinquish it's current control, despite the harm that old technology is doing to us now and into the very near future. It isn't about being pragmatic with them in choosing to keep us yoked to harmful practices, it is stubborn greed that has given rise to their insatiable lust for money and power. Instead of changing their practices like good stewards of changing paradigms, they have chosen instead to obstruct changing paradigms as a rule. Why is it that some of the wealthiest people on Earth have stopped living in a changing world? I suppose it is because they are not the intellectual giants one would normally associate with successful capitalism. Instead they are miserly souls who rely on the fear of others to make their financial gains. As such it is also evident that their miserly protocols leave them with the idea that anyone else, who is not them, is worthy of having justice, equality and opportunity unless it is by their leave. Yet in this society of ours, we can and will overcome our fears to build upon the greatness that initially established our nation. We will through science, technology and innovation overcome the hurdles this current crop of malfeasant beings is employing and instead intelligence will break through to guide us all back into a society that most all of us demand. We will rise to the occasion I have no doubt but all of us from all walks of life must stop and take the proper notice so that when the inevitable time comes, together we move to that smart, efficient future we all dream of.

I have to matter! (#1932)

I have made it my life's mission to know why I am here in this existence. Surely I will be disappointed in my quest, but nevertheless, I am never going to stop. In the meantime I am also understanding what destiny I wish to leave as my legacy to my time here. I am confident that no one thing is writing the history of my life but if my history were being recorded, what would I want it to be? I had decided some time back in my life timeline that I would just suppose that there is some sovereign out there, whether real or fiction, and found all things from there. It serves me well in that I check myself over controversial things I think about and act upon. In don't expect that nothing will stop me from doing anything I want to do that already isn't covered by law. In other words I work within myself with my conscious and in that working I have established some principles for living that guide me in what I do and how I do it. Sound familiar? It is like having a God but without the dogma that goes with organized religion. I call time and space my spirituality and although time and space regularly exhibit chaos and force, I prefer to reflect the calm and possible that comes out of such eruptions. Since I am the product of a new beginning, I feel right at home living like one. Why is this important to me? Why shouldn't I just worry about the best I can do only for myself and leave others to fend for themselves under worse conditions? Because of a little thing called enlightenment. It is an overview of the world that is comprehensively panoramic and not like before when I just had tunnel vision. I am an enlightened being who sees possibility everywhere which kindles within me my voracious appetite to learn. So I have to find a way to matter since I am not just some cosmic particle that happened upon this existence with no ability to question and attempt to comprehend the very concept of existence.

The superhero in all of us (#1931)

This is the main reason we should all care about how our society operates. We get to have a say. So who is it within us that dominates? Our uncaring self or the caring one. My story for the first part of my life was mostly filled with the uncaring one. I thought only of myself and those who were around me who thought like I did. I was the epitome of a miserable person seeking pleasure and gratification in many forms. I look back on myself from those times and hang my head low for the memories that are with me. Not all was gloom and doom from back then but too much of it was. Somewhere along the line of my life, before it was too late, something clicked within me that brought me back to my childhood when all dreams were still possible and I realized that my dreams were still possible despite the vast evidence I had accumulated over time to the otherwise. It all boils down to me when it is me choosing what to do next. I am the final arbiter of my life ans for that I am now humbled. I survived my reckless and unsettled past and now I have set my sights on releasing the superhero that resides in me. I can't fly or do miraculous feats, however I can spend all my time doing good things and advocating for even better things. This is the superhero I am trying to live as. Doing what good and better I can within what parameters I have. I don't think of me as the reason for living anymore. I am just a vessel, a host that precariously secures my life in this existence for the purpose of making this existence a little easier for all of us. It is harsh and cruel enough without me being part of that mess. I can't control anything anyone else is doing but I can try to influence others by showing my behavior and explaining why it is so.

Pushing through the hard (#1930)

After getting some advice from a doctor, I have really changed my diet. Most of it is just eating less, but some of it is not eating some things and eating other things instead. this has been tough for me with me being less than mobile since a car accident several years ago. I am not able to be as active as I was previous to the injuries and getting a whole lot less exercise has been costly. I still do some physical things but they are limited. I used to be a lot more active which is always a good way to channel hunger pangs. Not having that previous level of activity now has allowed the hunger pangs to increase in not only it's repetitive cycle but also in it's level of desire. Years ago I became a vegetarian so on top of hunger pangs, I am also getting internal signals to go out and have a big juicy steak. It isn't easy being me right now but that is my problem and one that I am working through. yesterday was hard in that the portions I have allowed myself are not enough to keep the hunger pangs from being a bother. I try to stay busy moving since I have known for a very long time that exercise not only burns off unwanted calories but it also allays the hunger pangs. A two-fer in you will. The hardest part about trying to lose unwanted weight has always been the hard days when it is all I can do just to survive the temptations from my own body to put food in it. Everything starts to sound desirous regardless if I really like it or not. Yet, I pushed through yesterday and today is much better. I also get the prize of seeing more weight gone which in itself bolsters me even more. This is no different than anything that is hard in life whether it is my diet or some other challenge, pushing through the hard is what gets us to our goals and for that I still have the will to accept.

Our human kindness is at the center of our souls (#1929)

I know we all have troubles that keep us anxious and in a constant loop trying to find solutions. It is never ending as if it isn't one thing it is always another. However, within this whirligig of problem solving we find ourselves taken during certain moments of raw emotion. There are instances of fragility and vulnerability that capture our essence with their seemingly insurmountable struggles. We set aside our less than critical problems to focus our attentions on the unfolding events. There is a reason most all of us rally behind the underdog. We have been there ourselves in some similar way and we have overcome despite the long odds we faced. So it is with others as they come into our noticing. We root for them and in some way hope to either encourage them or actively help in some tangible way. Regardless of certain politicians telling us we are individuals who need to care for ourselves and not to waste time on caring for others, we cannot do that. We are hopelessly bound to each other in the ways of overcoming struggle to succeed. It is within our very core as humans to appreciate the sentinel courage and perseverance we and others exhibit to move forward with strength. If others can do it so can we and that in itself gives us more hope than we thought we previously had. We lift each other up. It is how we learn and grow, in not only wisdom and experience, but in our souls. When all else is said and done, I care less for myself in most ways as long as I feel right and good about my actions. For me life isn't all about me, it is about what I do in life to help and appreciate others, which in turn makes me feel right and good.

Liberalism has been the cause of progress (#1928)

There is no other ideology on the planet that has done more for the citizens of America then liberalism. Instead of embracing a survival of the fittest ideology that conservatives love, we liberals want to take a lot of the competition for living out of our society and otherwise establish a floor by which no citizen may struggle below to survive. We believe in an inherent dignity of our individual souls to not have to suffer the wretches of poverty and inhumanity at the expense of the wealthy souls who would have little to no care for those who lose at the gamed competition that conservatives protect. I am all for competing on an even playing field in all aspects of opportunity, but those who come up short in this competition should not have to live in squalor as their consolation prize. This all or nothing approach is kin to a simpler time when enlightenment was only an unknown future consideration. All the great advances in our society have come from the minds and hard work of liberals and progressives. Think of any major policy our country has ever undertaken and passed into law and behind it was the genesis and momentum of liberal ideology. Our political parties have changed from time to time from being Democrats to Republicans and vice versa so that is why I use the political philosophy of liberalism and conservatism to describe change as opposed to political party designation. Remember, conservatives want less government and less social safety net for all, whereas liberals want greater and efficient government with a sound and secure safety net that cherishes each soul regardless of gift or talent. The days of the wild west winner take all proved to be dangerous and chaotic, so living in the community of our society that removes the incentive to be uncaring and wanton is to all our benefit.

If we know who we are then we can be who we are (#1927)

It all starts with knowing who we are. We are an organism with intelligence and senses. I have said this numerous times, we are like intelligent mobile data processors. We have 5 senses in which we accumulate information. It is a never ending process of accumulation, even when we are sleeping. This is who all of us are, data processors. We need information to exist. Without information we would evolve into something else or fail to survive. This is why I have formed this blog so I could generally talk about how we are a species that has three instinctual natures, we are curious, we care and we have an insatiable urge to survive. Two of these natural instincts are complex and have evolved within us since the beginning of our species, the other natural instinct, survival, has been with us in it's simple form always. Our curiosity and our caring are no different than the other living species who also have intelligence. We nurture our young and commune within family and societal structures as a need to express our caring. Our curiosity is evident in the continuing march toward modernity and enlightenment. As we are continually updated by our senses and our ability to reason, analyze, conclude and remember, we practice curiosity in every moment of our lives. it is who we are! We are designed to inculcate new information as a constant. I know who I am so therefore it is easy for me to know what I need. I have to have the freedom and opportunity to learn without being impeded. I have an insatiable hunger for new information just as much as I have an insatiable need for oxygen. So designing our society to match with our natures is simple and efficient if we wish to maximize the capabilities our species has to offer existence.

We decide what kind of society we want! (#1926)

Within the parameters of democracy we have numerous choices. We can have a vision of our society that allows for a foundation for which no one can go below. We can have a society where logic and facts are the grounds for deciding the issues of the day. We can have a society where equality of process is the same for everyone. We can also uplift innovation and creativity with celebration and awe while not destroying our society in rewarding it. It is from this type of vision that will make us able to spread our form of society to other human beings currently trapped in societies that devalue humanity as a rule. This is how we change the world to a place where our dreams can become real. The best of who we are is boiling just beneath the surface of our actions and thoughts and until we have a society that recognizes all of us as the next best thing for all of us we will continue to be frustrated and less than honorable, generally. Our fulfillment as an enlightened being is being crushed by the present circumstances of myth and superstition in the form of fear. We have many in power who are afraid of the future while longing for the comfort of an illusory past. It is a aggravating that our democracy has given rise to a political party that wishes to destroy democracy's progress. Yet the current Republican party is just on that path. They fear equality in it's naked form. For some reason they have decided that our future must return to a past that has shown itself to be illogical and regressive. We are all alone here on this planet and especially here in America where the greatest opportunity for our civilization to modernize and shirk off the old paradigms shrouded in fear have previously dwelled. It is time for us to act and soon we will have that chance.

Leaders point a direction, followers must choose... (#1925)

No one has all the answers. No one has most of the answers. Very few have some of the answers. So being a leader has a lot of unknown qualities to it. I like to think of myself as a leader and for that I am humbled. It is hard enough justifying to myself the directions I choose but in the end I do go forward. If anyone thinks that leading is easy they are profoundly mistaken. The problem is that if the direction chosen does not have the best of intentions, along with the purest of principles throughout, it is likely to fail. My rule of thumb is to do nothing that harms. If there is no harm in the way I choose then at least no one will be hurt. If there is more than no harm then benefits are all that happen and the choice taken is a good one. The history of our species, Homo-sapien, has by all accounts been a rocky one. Throughout our history our leaders have mostly been less than genuine. Power, greed and lust has most always seemed to permeate the control of those who are, by coincidence, serendipity, choice and by force, given the honor of leading our civilizations. The idea that leaders get to be leaders because they are special in some intellectual way is highly illogical. That is an ideal idea of how we come to lead. Most acquire the post of leadership through ulterior motives and underhanded alliances. For a leader to rise up out of the masses and show him/herself worthy too many obstacles are placed in the way by those who wish never to give up power for a worthy leader to rise to the top. We are left instead with those who manipulate the current power structure as best they can and hope to ascend with as little resistance as possible. Not all is lost as we have some who are fighting mightily against the old guard that protects the power in our country and if they continue to fight and lead we will then have a real choice to follow.

Polar opposites (#1924)

Liberals, (Democrats), idea of a good society is to help folks; conservatives, (Republicans), idea of a good society is to harm folks. Somehow conservatives got the idea that in the carrot and stick scenario, there is no carrot, while liberals do use the carrot and the stick. We use the stick, in conjunction with the carrot, as an alternative after the efforts with just the carrot have failed. Another paradigm where liberals and conservatives are polar opposites is in the understanding of basic facts. We liberals use logic to differentiate between cause and effect, while conservatives see only the effect and base their policies from there. It is like two different human beings become either liberals or conservatives. Those who have insight into the evolving, comprehensive and panoramic knowledge of our existence and society, become liberals, while those who have given up on their curiosity and narrow their understanding of possibility to follow only their fear become conservatives. That may have sounded harsh in my definition of a conservative but from my chair, there is little wrong with my statement. Conservatives have come to rely on faith based calculations as the reason for their existence, which necessitates a withdrawal from the sciences and the discoveries of what curiosity demands. If that isn't fear of the unknown then I am mistaken. As a liberal I celebrate the unknown as just another arena for me to wrestle knowledge from. I have come from the proposition that I know little and want to know more, which doesn't tie me to either a belief system nor a fear system. My life is too short to be afraid of what life means if I am in it for only a short amount of time to begin with.

Too lazy to vote Democrats (#1923)

In a nutshell. We Democrats have the majority registration when it comes to voting but apparently we can't bother ourselves to actually go out and vote when it is time to do so. We are apparently so pampered in our thoughts that we actually think there is no real good reason to do so. We are about to lose our democracy to the Republican party and it's drive to segregate the wealthy from the not wealthy and we just stand by thinking nothing of it. What can it be that so insulates us Democrats from the obvious? The only thing that comes to mind is that we don't fully understand the significance of every election. One day every two years we need to be aware of who wants to do what to us and then vote accordingly. But that seems to be too much to ask. Meanwhile those of us who are spending our conscious hours imploring everyone to take notice at what the Republican party is doing to the detriment of every aspect of our lives goes right on by. The frustration at seeing the actual decline of our society while most everyone else is too busy playing games or dismissing it as irrelevant. Well, the fact that it is happening won't be stopped by ignoring it. I am of the mindset that if our Democratic party is too lazy to spend just an hour of one day every two years making a difference then we get what we deserve. Sadly, it could all be avoided by we Democrats exercising what is left of our voting rights. Another sad consequence of us losing to Republicans at the voting booth is that our ability in the future to vote will be even further restricted by Republicans. I feel like I am fighting for my party but my party is to lazy to care. If we Democrats just come out and vote all this harm Republicans are about to inflict could be avoided.

Prosperity, Democrats; Austerity, Republicans (#1922)

Here is your quiz for November. Do you want an economy that has many opportunities for growth that are realized from most of our citizenry? Or do you want a stagnant tight economy that only benefits the wealthy? I know I may be biased toward the Democrats here but I am not far off from the truth either way. Republicans would have us deregulate industries so that those industries become their own cops as to how they serve us with their products or services. We have seen the similar paradigms in not only our past, before regulations, but in our present with corporations subverting safety and health regulations where ever they can get away with it. Republicans would have us believe that cutting taxes for the wealthy will give us great economic growth but under the most recent Bush administration where taxes were cut for the wealthy the least job growth in the modern history of our country for an 8 year period followed. Republicans want to shrink our government down to one major function, fighting wars. If this is your vision also then the republicans are for you. If however you like that government is here to serve it's citizens in more ways than just giving them an opportunity to die, then Democrats are for you. Not only are Democrats into the government helping to spur the economy but Democrats are into keeping the social safety net strong and expanded. Americans should not have to worry about their retirement or their health care when they need it. Americans should also be free from inequality and injustice as these are the by product of the Republican austerity agenda. Prosperity or austerity, the choice is yours this coming November!

Republicans and the Wild West (#1921)

No doubt Republicans have chosen to go back to the days of the old west where the strong take from the weak and this time, with technology and innovation serving them, they are not in jeopardy of being held to account for their actions. Wealth can buy you a lot of forgiving especially when our justice system is compromised. There are two different forms of justice here in America, the justice you can buy and then the justice that sells you out. Enough of this recklessness. The tenets of our democracy are being subverted right before our eyes and the lack of courage and honor among our citizenry to stop it has waned. We rarely get 50% of our population out to vote so how are we to manage equality and fairness when the wealthy, for the most part, don't want equality and fairness? What is even worse is that our majority citizenry are incapable of distinguishing truths from fiction. The way free speech in our constitution has been interpreted to allow for falsehoods to pass as truths will be the death of our great experiment. The current Supreme court conservative majority cannot and will not stop the carnage that the lies are doing to our nation. A simple interpretation by them would allow for lying not to be protected speech. Surely a four or six part test can be devised to distinguish the intent of both truth and lying? yet there is no mental acuity in the conservative majority on the court able to rise to the defense of our democracy. Instead the lies are allowed to continue so that the wealthy may force our country to a point where protections for all citizens are stripped and laid bare. Leaving the many vulnerable to the dishonesty and recklessness of greedy democracy saboteurs. 

Republicans want no minimum wage for workers (#1920)

The silver lining here is that Republicans have finally decided to quit hiding their agenda. It is out in the open now that current Tennessee US Senator, Republican Lamar Alexander, has come out to the press that this is what he wants. We are now hearing it from other Republicans as well, Oklahoma's US Senator, Republican Tom Coburn agrees, there should be no national minimum wage. They either want to abolish the whole concept of protecting workers with a base minimum for wages or leave it up to the individual states to dictate if there should be a minimum wage protection for it's most vulnerable workers. It is clear now that Republicans are not going to help the working/middle/poor class in our struggle to combat the widening gap in income inequality. The Republican idea that the wealthy should have no restrictions to how much money they can make while reducing our government down to the size that will only accommodate a massive military force is real. That is the agenda of the Republican party and no amount of subterfuge or misinformation will change that very fact. I have dedicated my blog to warning about Republican policies that threaten and undermine the American working/middle/poor class and this post is no different then the previous ones and the ones to come. If we don't have a minimum wage to keep workers from having to fight to get a job by accepting lower and lower wages for hard, dirty jobs, then what and who will? I can envision workers having to work for less than a dollar an hour in some cases. How is it that the wealthy should have the power to make us work for practically nothing? If we don't get out and vote for Democrats this November we may well have to deal with Republicans leading our nation from the people to the wealthy.

Mad as all get out and spitting nails (#1919)

The other day I wrote about how sometimes I can feel defeated and want to throw in the towel, well today I am as mad as a provoked angry Hornets nest. That is me though, just being my hot and cold self. lol. Regardless, I am fed up to my ears with folks who want to supplant our secular government with a Christian one. These folks have deluded themselves into thinking that there is only one religion and it should be the law of the land here in America. While I appreciate the Christian faith for so many good examples of morality, I draw the line when their proselytizing invades the neutral application of the free spirit contained within secularism our founders inscribed into our Constitution. Let me be very clear here, faith in any religion is just that, faith, not logical truth. Our government must not and shall not subscribe to any religion being the model for our government function. Our first amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,...". Which brings me to our discussion about Christianity being our playbook for governmental guidance. We are strictly prohibited from using religion to model our laws. Can it be any clearer? If you want to overthrow our government and establish a Christian nation then you have that choice but don't expect the rest of us who honor the very first clause of the very first amendment within our US Constitution to let you do that to us. The other side of the coin here is that those who want a Christian nation are voiding all those others who are not Christian but some other faith. Furthermore, the very many who don't subscribe to a belief system at all are harmed by those who only see Christianity as the only model for our government. Leave our democracy alone religious zealots or you will have all the rest of us to deal with.

The wealthy don't know us non-wealthy (#1918)

I know that people get afraid when their economic livelihoods are threatened and just going along with what seems like minor injustices is better than losing that security. I get it! But what I also get is that if we don't stop the tide of economic injustice, it will not stop by itself. What is further complicating things is that somehow we non wealthy have put some trust in the wealthy to look out for us as if we are some child that needs parental supervision to function. The problem with that is the wealthy are not into adopting us as their wards, instead they are of the mindset that if we let them they will strip of us our dignity and continue to reduce our economic value. For the most part, gone are the days of a wealthy benevolent owner who instills loyalty in it's workforce and responds equivalently with economic reward. What we have now are owners who see a job market that is overflowing with unemployed workers thus allowing them to control the narrative when it is time to negotiate for work. The supply and demand component of the free market allows those who have what many want to dictate the terms of that need. Those of us non-wealthy who are in the situation of having to depend on others for an opportunity to work are left with having to accept whatever terms the wealthy offer or go without anything at all. As long as there are massive amounts of workers who have no work, when work comes available, the wealthy owners can lower the wages and benefits as leverage. We will accept the lower wages and benefits because we have no other choice. This is our current reality and for those who are forced to accept this, realize that something better must replace it. That better is us taking control of our voting rights and putting that voting to good use.

Quitters don't realize their dreams (#1917)

I am not saying anything new here. We all know this to be true. When it seems like our work to do good and great things is not going well it is natural to feel despondent and think about chucking it in. For myself I actually think why waste my time trying to help others improve their lives when they don't seem to want or care about my efforts. Day after day I present evidence of misdoing by some and good doing by others in the hopes that the right observations will make a difference. But moments like today it just seems so useless and irrelevant. But after a few seconds of wallowing in the mire of my inadequacies, I regain my composure and gird myself again with the knowledge that it is always darkest before the dawn. I know that my humanness is part of who I am and humans like me, being imperfect, will have moments when it just seems so tiresome fighting for those who don't even know and or don't care that they are being abused. I am beginning to think of these moments as recharging plateaus, where I need to stop for a moment and gain my overall perspective again. I know wrong when I see and sense it and as such, being who I am, I must not allow it to continue. I am that way by my own particular nature. So the idea of quitting on being me is not really an option and more of default moment for me to remember who I really am. If I have to be tired most of the rest of my life fighting to not only stop, but to reverse, the injustices that enter my consciousness then so be it. There is no manual for living only what is in front of us every day and the choices we make to address them. That is all there is and for that I am happy enough to know what my purpose really is. Quitting on my purpose in life will not happen despite my own frailties and the determined underhanded actions of those who continue to harm.