The Democratic agenda (#2069)

The first hing we do is act on climate change. If we don't start protecting our planet from our human activities nothing else much matters if our planet turns on us. The process of change will take time but our best efforts to reasonably mitigate what we know is harmful to our planet and ourselves must be put on a hard schedule so that all will know how they must act. The next item on the agenda is to change our election laws to reflect one person one vote, for people only. Ease of access to the polls and making private contributions back to small amounts per person and not unlimited large amounts for corporations or other organizations. Our next agenda item is to fix our immigration system which would reflect the better of our natures. Having millions of folks living outside our legal civil society in an undocumented limbo is atrocious. Equality must always be a hallmark of our laws so the rights of men and women to be equal in all their rights is foundational. Whether in pay or self determination, women should always be on the same level with men. If men are going to continue to define the roles of women we will only have the illusion of democracy instead of the proper example of it. Our health care, albeit better now must continue to improve to the point of being universal to all who are citizens. If anything, our health as a nation comes from the health of our citizens and not having access for all is a detriment to individuals and to our national conscious. As important is education. The ability of our nation to conquer the unknown rests in our ability to teach our coming generations all that we know. The path forward should have universal education as a right not a privilege. There are more sensible agenda items notwithstanding seniors and the disabled that will be addressed, but for now suffice it to say, progress in the Democratic party rests on our citizens being able to earn a lifelong living worthy of our ability to put honorable effort into our endeavors without obstacle to opportunity.

"We can do or we can teach, what's your pleasure?"-Deep Impact (#2068)

A sarcastic scripted line from the movie, "Deep Impact". I think of this line in the background of my thoughts because it so typifies what our human nature is all about. We are cautious in that we all want to know for sure that what we are doing is right but at the same time we lose the timing of effective action with delay. It is so important to understand the nature of our species. I put out that we care and that we wonder, two positive instincts that when in a perfect world would never fall short of greatness. However, we don't live in a perfect world and given our less than perfect thoughts we often allow cynicism to form our foundation before acting. It boils down to a less than constant level of trust we subscribe to each other. Instead of focusing on our unique individual abilities we are in a never ending cycle of just trying to manage our particular living requirements. That we all are in a mode of surviving is distinct in that we cannot find a way that allows us the freedom to move beyond our survival instincts. Yes, we need our survival instincts but as a tool for learning, not a device just for day to day living. We need to secure within our species the right to a basic healthy life so that the bigger problems that are challenging us can be our only focus. All of us are spending the capital of our ingenuity on the mundane instead of the complex. It is the struggle we are going through. Our species is held back by our own fears and greed. Two dynamics that are the major hurdles to a vision for our future that has no place for disrespect or dishonor without due cause. If we can ever get past the failures of our weaknesses and move into the reality of our strengths, that does action out of our better and best understandings, we can then let what we do be the example for teaching when the doing is done and the teaching time has come.

Republicans are corrupting our democracy (#2067)

Instead of listening to the will of the majority of our citizenry, republicans have instead ignored that will and are using fear, hate and subtraction to divide and keep us from tossing them out of office.The idea of one person one vote is not an ideal republicans are willing to defend. Instead they are systematically obstructing the right to vote in our democracy by enacting laws that skirt equality through fear. What they do is make us afraid of a boogeyman and then try to tell us it is okay to equate some of our citizens as the actual boogeyman. Therefore in their rhetoric, taking the right to vote from some of us is a means of protecting us. How absurd of them to think that we would be gullible enough to accept their claims of fraud and cheating when their evidence is practically non-existent? What has been even more calculating is that republicans know that they are not the champions of the working/middle/poor class by choice so they target their boogeyman as within that class. Making it, in their minds, justifiable to eliminate as many of the working/middle/poor class votes as they can get away with. This has to stop and it will stop when our electorate realizes the slippery slope of republican voter rights obstruction. Today, those who are defenseless lose their right to vote, tomorrow, those who are able to fight will be at a disadvantage because of the precedent we allowed republicans to already establish. This is how it is done, metaphorically, start a ball rolling down hill and watch it gain momentum. If we do not punish the republican party for it's blatant attempt to "steal" our elections, we will suffer far greater losses of rights in the near future. If you let a bully take from others it won't be long before the bully sets his sights on you!

Without my heart my brain ceases to matter (#2066)

If someone ever tells you that you are too emotional it is absolutely incorrect. The person who is telling you that you are too emotional is the one with the problem, they are not emotional enough! We live for our emotions. Our emotions are what life is all about otherwise it wouldn't matter what if anything we did or do. It is our sense of care that defines the ultimate evolutionary level. Everything around us, as far as we can detect, outside the animal kingdom is a perfect example of a mind like existence without emotional attachment. Even a virus functions as a logical entity yet without an emotional component to reflect upon it's existence. Our emotions give us the perspective necessary to reinforce our own curiosity. My blog is all about our human nature. Generally, we all share this and for me it always boils down to care and curiosity with a shared sense to survive. Without emotion, the care would cease to exist in a uniquely human way, without emotion our curiosity would be more serendipitous than creatively motivated. Our emotion is the X factor that distinguishes human beings from all other forms of existence. Of this I have no doubt. I am not just a biological data processor through my five senses with a mental capability to analyze, reason and conclude. I also have a care for what I glean from our environment. It matters to me how I utilize information and the hierarchy of it's value. Sometimes I don't follow protocol as to higher value over less value. It is because my care for something or someone overrules logic and goes with my life acquisition of intuition, or gut feeling. I have the intuition based upon factors of trust, faith and some other paradigms I cannot easily describe. yet there it is. Without my heart my brain ceases to matter to me because my emotions are what define me as who I am and without my emotions I am just another virus moving about in a sea of other virus without individual character or personality.

Republicans must be held to account for their actions/inactions (#2065)

Republicans are real good at pointing fingers at others, even blaming others for events of their own making. This has to stop because the time for voting is nearly upon us and for we Americans to make decisions about our future, we must know how we have gotten to our present. A clear record of who is doing what can be found in the public record of recorded votes on policies. Never has it been so clear how Republicans vote. Since President Obama has been elected, Republicans have not even tried to hide their utter contempt for him by voting on bloc against most every policy he has proposed. The problem with that is most of those policies Republicans keep successfully voting to either block or defeat are policies the majority of Americans are clamoring for. So publishing a record of the Republican obstruction to President Obama's agenda of helping the working/middle/poor class is simple enough to do. There isn't much of an argument that needs to be made to illustrate how harmful the Republican's in Congress, the House and Senate, have been on regular folks. It is easy enough to understand since Republicans have thrown off the guise of acting like they care about the working/middle/poor class and have instead employed a strategy of vilifying us as the problem instead of their own lack of care for us. Fine, that is a political strategy to try and Republicans are trying like all get out to make it work for them. Hoping that we won't remember all the legislation aimed at our relief they have quashed. Well, I don't see how we can forget when it hurts us mightily. We also have social media to help us along in our remembering. So the question now becomes what are we going to do given the chance to vote this coming November? Shall we make Republicans pay for not representing us or shall we continue to allow them to get away with keeping their boots on our necks?

The death throes of the Republican party (#2064)

This is what the rest of us are watching, an all out whirlwind of chaos before the expiration becomes final. The forces and power behind this collapsing party are doing all in their might to survive what is inevitable based upon the Republican party ideology. They have managed to alienate most all groups of Americans with their consistent support for the one group that needs their protection the least, the wealthy. It is unfathomable to me how a disdain and then disregard of the majority of Americans is at the core of their strategies. They do not represent the American working/not working/middle/poor class, which is approximately 90% of the American population. How can it be that the Republican party hierarchy has become so infected with greed that they have forgotten, or worse, refuse to accept principles of democracy and instead embrace principles of plutocracy? The idea that wealth and power should be above the ideal of democracy is ludicrous given the nature of our country's formation. The Republican concept of catering to the wealthy was and will always be doomed to failure because the majority of us have the right of vote. In that one simple understanding, it should have been clear to them that despite all their tactics to confuse, restrict and deny the franchise to vote, they would never win the hearts and minds of those of us who would fight them to the death to keep our right to vote. We are the majority of Americans and for the Republican party to dismiss or condescend to us is their final offense. The crushing of their party in the coming elections is inevitable as they have nothing to offer but servitude to the wealthy, which means less than nothing to the rest of us. As I watch their flailing around and incoherent defenses of their unenlightened policies I am saddened in that once again, that we have to learn the lesson that wealth unchecked proves that it breeds it's own kind of demented greed, for which the rest of us pay dearly.

The draconian republican party (#2063)

How is it that one of our current political parties has come to be infected with a dis-ease of lesser human traits? Is it finally time in our society's growth that the ulterior motives of small minds have come together as a force to be exposed? Have their littleness of humanity and largeness of egoism finally come full circle to believe that their way of thinking is a benefit, not a detriment to all in society? It would seem so since the current republican party has shown little to no restraint in it's policies and advocacy for punishment as a reward for not being successful by their standards. Their survival of the fittest thinking is their model for success. If you are not out in the private and public arenas doing whatever is needed to attain power and wealth, then you are not worthy of breathing the same exalted air as they themselves. Your rights are not to be on par with theirs as if by doing whatever it takes to succeed puts them at a higher level of citizenship. No amount of honor as to principled living is acceptable unless it has a bottom line that reflects uninhibited capitalistic opportunism. In other words, if you are not willing to step on the neck of those who are less willing to financially destroy their neighbors, you are not of their ilk. Unfettered and unconstrained capitalism is a higher value to them than democratic principles. I have seen the movie, "Independence Day", where in the plot an alien race wants to devastate and destroy our planet by stripping it of it's resources and then move on to other planets to do the same. We have the same thing here with the republican mindset. Strip our planet of it's resources now without much thought to what comes next. A do what we want for ourselves and the hell with what is left mantra. Greed and a disdain for the ideal of leaving our planet better off  then when we got here is a strength to them. This devouring of our society and our planet by republicans is not to be borne and the quicker we stomp out it's feeble attempt to corrupt the progressive history of our great democracy the quicker we get back to being a society generally regarded as an example for the rest of the world to emulate.

Eye on the ball and shoulder to the wheel (#2062)

We all have a responsibility to help our society along. We do that by voting for progress in economic/political policy and in social norms. None of us gets a free ride on this planet since all of us are affected by what our votes amount to. Some will not vote and let the tide of life take us where it goes and many of us will vote and we all end up where the results of that take us. So not voting is analogous to being dead wood. Personally, I am not dead wood. I have a mind and a soul full of conviction about the nature of humanity. We are an amazing species, each and every one of us. So full of potential and notwithstanding our ambivalence at times, very curious about our futures. All it takes is for us to decide that we want to be part of the solutions for our society and not either uninterested or against. A choice has to be made so why not take the choice that reflects who we are as individuals within a community? Everything in life is a choice. Everything we do or think is up to some evaluation on our part. So staking out our view of our futures within our society is as common a practice as breathing. Our unique democracy allows us to be part of the structure that not only defines our lives but our life within our communities. As a whole we are fortunate to have been born into such a progressive thinking nation. Many places in the world, not being born in America, have not such a privilege. So staying alert enough to understand the current ramifications of voting and not voting is crucial for all of us one day every 2 years. It is a privilege to have that right to vote and it is also a duty for us to exercise lest other nefarious forces take that right away from us while we are busy doing something far less important. Eye on the ball and shoulder to the wheel, two metaphors that should help us to keep our priorities in place so that our unique democracy can continue it's progress forward.

Democracy is our greatest societal value (#2061)

If you take democracy out of our society our society will likely become a plutocracy. "Plutocracy: A country or a society governed by the wealthy"-Google. We are not there yet but don't think for one second that the wealthy wouldn't like it to be. They have been systematically destroying our middle class so that they can control the means for production and the profits that come with it. With constant attacks by their chosen party, Republicans, they have been on a mission to destroy worker rights by vilifying and eliminating unions wherever and however they legally can. They have been relentless in their stubborn opposition to raising the minimum wage that helps most of our working class come out of poverty toward a middle class lifestyle. What is most egregious to me is that they have focused so hard on rolling back free and easy access to the voting booth. This is how they make their political gains, They make it hard for we of little resource to qualify to vote. They do it by making only certain types of identification acceptable for voting. Consider this, most gun rights advocates can vote with the usage of a gun permit as their identification, while most students cannot use their college identifications to vote. The reason being is simple enough to comprehend. Gun permit holders are more likely to vote for Republicans than students with college Identifications.Also, for hundred's of thousands of folks having to pay money to get their birth certificates in order to then have to spend precious money to go get their new acceptable forms of voting identifications is much more difficult when money is so hard to attain for the poor. What hurdles are there to be overcome just to vote, becomes lost on them when the money should be used for the continuing need for necessities. Republicans are all in to deny poor voters their voting franchise and the help they get from the conservative majority US Supreme Court is despicable and outright an attack on the democracy. 

I will never lose my youthful convictions (#2060)

Some seem to think that what our convictions were when we were young were foolish. Like what we thought back then was unrealistic and childish. If growing up and moving away from our our ideals gives us cynicism and a mind of selfishness, then I say to those who think that, they are the ones who are foolish and we are the ones with a character of wisdom. The confusion for them comes in when they confuse capitalism with democracy. There is a tension between the two when capitalism is prioritized above democracy. When the acts of legal business practices, albeit they may often be unethical, are considered a greater reality over democratic ideals needs no further evidence of the twisted mentality that sees my youthful convictions as naive. Capitalism exists within the democratic framework, not the other way around. In other words, capitalism is a subset of the greater set of democracy. When we shift our thinking into capitalism as our guide for future existence without considering it's effect on democracy, we are essentially abdicating our rights and privileges of a society based upon equality of opportunity and just fairness. Equality of opportunity and just fairness are not major elements of a profitable venture within capital economics. A bottom line measuring profit is the goal in capitalism, not giving every citizen a pathway to success in life which democracy seeks to provide. We must all work within our civilization where appropriate. The need for us all to be busy building a future for ourselves individually and collectively is indisputable. The reasoning is that through enlightened, civilized thinking we hold back the uncertainty that chaos would surely impose without it. We are not defined by what we work at, we are defined by our biology and our understanding that humanity is a progression and without democracy as our framework for moving forward, our merciless past will surely become our future, regardless if capitalism is it's replacement.

Ignoring change is not success, it is failure (#2059)

For those who refuse to accept that change is reality, I offer my condolences. It seems you are more content to live in a fantasy world than a real one. What you will be missing is the excitement that comes with new discovery, which by the way is change. Anything that is new is change and by the way, look in the mirror and tell me you haven't changed since last year. If you are afraid of change because you don't understand it then welcome to everyone else's dilemma. The difference though is that those of us who are naturally cautious of what we don't know yet is that despite our fear, we progress forward anyway. We must remember that all of our lives have been predicated upon moving forward into whatever our present allows us. Our future is still the great unknown and yet some will stop short of their journey out of some sense of fatigue or loss of adventurous spirit. Much like a tree, some will plant their roots in one spot and refuse to move. Yet trees change regardless of their lack of mobility. There is no escaping change in our lives, no matter how hard we try to keep the past as our present. Our whole existence, our lives, our environment even our thinking is in a constant state of change. I look at change this way, if I am part of it then I want to be one who molds my future within the change that will inevitably happen. I must remain aware and up to date on information as it exposes itself. I cannot sit back and let change happen all around me without effecting my effort on it's behalf. Ignoring change is a strategy that has no rate of success. It only delays a forced change that some must make much after the fact when they could have prepared for the type of change they desired instead of the type of change thrust upon them. Be a part of life and help us mold our futures together.

A comprehensive strategy (#2058)

Being able to put all the pieces together in a way that solves problems is the cure against those who ail us with their chaos. What do we have in common that keeps rationality and enlightenment as our beacons of the future? It isn't hard seeing problems arise, what is tough is being able to do something about them when they do. It takes a vision of what is right and good to start and then the hard work to include everyone in the solution. Surely that is the ideal and not as much reality but we do achieve most of that when we put our minds to it and act accordingly. Our species is far more likely to do the right thing, when given the opportunity, than to do nothing or the wrong thing. It is in our natures to fight for the better and best of what defines our communal purposes. Having the wherewithal to establish a foundation from which to build from is the hallmark of an exceptional mind. We have as our current president someone who can meet that challenge and it is quite impressive to watch the results of his careful deliberation. We have had too many who are quick to draw their conclusions and responses without weighing all the factors involved with their decisions. Our American and world history is littered with the disasters of that type of recklessness. So for us living in this particular age it is satisfying to see a leader who is calm and deliberate give much needed gravitas to his decision making. I will say this now that when he leaves office, Barack Obama will have given us a special 8 years of observing him tirelessly working to include all of us in ways that would leave a lesser man broken. Being able to navigate existence in the larger context while also creating helpful policy in the day to day context is what we all should strive for. While we have 2 years left in his presidency, wouldn't it be extra special if we gave him a congress that didn't fight against his very existence but a congress that actually worked with him to do great things for our country and the world in general?

The purpose of our vote (#2057)

One vote may seem insignificant in a country that has over 300 million citizens in it but history has shown that when we ignore our dutiful right to vote bad things often occur. Especially when a majority of our citizenry sit out elections. There are undercurrents of dishonesty that have the wherewithall to effectively propagandize enough voters to their illusory message that bad policy that only enriches the wealthy is all too often passed into law. As well as too many of the wrong candidates for public office are elected in order to fulfill agendas that are ill-serving to the majority of us. In all honesty, I have not wasted my vote and bad things still happen. However the few of us who consistently vote, at times, are not enough to overcome discouraging outcomes because too many have not chosen to vote. Don't be one who chooses not to vote. Your future is at stake whether you can see it or not. For the ones we put into office have a profound ability to decide the economic, social and political state we must live within. Our candidates for office are the ones, when elected, that decide our future by either passing laws that help us on whole or they pass laws that only help a few, such as the wealthy, while the rest of us non-wealthy are stuck with less than nothing of value to guide our futures. I do not have the words to describe the feelings I have about our right to vote. Every soldier who has ever fought and or died fighting in a war has been fighting for our right to vote. Every protester who has given their life in the name of the cause they vehemently either oppose or support, has given their life for our right to vote. Our democracy is the precious gift our founding fathers/mothers gave us and to not exercise the nature of this gift is rude and disrespectful to not only the defenders of our democracy but to who we are as Americans.

As we improve our knowledge we should change for the better (#2056)

Becoming more educated is a catalyst for having a more panoramic view of our existence. The more we learn the better we can be at dispelling the fear surrounding uncertainty. It is empowering having a mind that continues to refresh it's critical thinking possibilities. The day I stop learning what is new in the world is the day I cease to matter to myself. None of us ever arrives at a satisfied level of knowledge. We are in constant motion as are progressive revelations. The wonder and curiosity of our species is innate. It is part of what drives us to survive. Without our inbuilt sensors of sight, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching, we would only be a mass without a purpose. We are biological data driven beings. It is our nature to input information and then process it with our mental acuity. Learning is what allows us to distinguish between truth and falsehood, logic and fantasy. We have systems of protocols we have devised as a species over the existence of our recorded history. We manage to communicate through these systems so that we can share information we find relevant to our surroundings. Without the ability to learn we would all be in a perpetual state of chaos without understanding the significance of our will to survive. Why educational opportunities don't exist everywhere humans abide is a failing on our part to cultivate the nature of our existence. We need to have education as much as we need to have air, food, water etc... Anything that deviates from our having the most comprehensive educational system in history is an attempt to circumvent what is best for our species. Those who do circumvent our educational expansions have an agenda and it is not a noble one. Let us focus on what uplifts our species and not on what only satisfies our bottom line.

Cynicism does not fuel progress (#2055)

The parroting pundit class has nothing to offer but a bought and paid for message. Whatever the need of the wealthy is, it is more likely to be falsely offered as factual, than actual reality. The skewering of our 4th estate towards being more about propaganda and less about objectivity is as evident as the nose on my face. When some paid for spokesperson is passed off as an expert, above actual experts in many cases, then we know for sure that we are being lied to and manipulated by wealthy forces who mostly stay anonymous. Now there are pundits out there who are sincere in their conclusions and some of them are spot on. They have no hidden agenda nor a sugar daddy manipulating their convictions. How do we tell them apart? For me it is usually quite simple. How does the message they are propounding affect everyone. If the ideals of equal opportunity, justice and fairness are not front and center then the pundit is a shill and his message a ruse. If however the message is about protecting our planet or uplifting our citizenry then the pundit has captured my interest with their message. What bothers me just as much as a pundit with dishonest motive is a pundit who allows their cynicism to infiltrate the struggle for a better world. The old, things don't change or it can never happen, is disheartening to hear but also untrue. Things can change and they do more often than reported. Cynicism is a tool relied upon by those who would dissuade their proponents from engaging in whatever debate is obviously against their interests. Our nation has always had at it's core a spirit of fairness and honest intent. When we are being manipulated it hurts not only our character overall but teaches our youth that lying, cheating and stealing are not taboo. Cynicism does not propel us forward nor does it add to our necessary policy debates. It is just another method for compressing our spirits and making it harder to overcome our challenges.

We humans all generally have the same genetic code (#2054)

Why is it that I have been comfortable with not having any children? It isn't because I don't want to. It isn't because I dislike children. It isn't because I am selfish and only want for myself. It is because although fate and destiny have not allowed me the privilege, I am well happy that our species will continue on regardless of me adding to the numbers. We are all human beings with the same genetics, generally. There are special ones in our midst that are not of the "normal" variety but no less of value as members of our family of humans. I don't have to have my own personal offspring as a person to have care and empathy for them. I am here representing our species. I live in a community and I value that community. I live in a State and I value that community. I live in a country and I value that community and I live on a planet and I value that community. I live in a Universe that I know little about but I desire so much to do know about it and all the mysteries it will bring. I value that as well. I am not a one dimensional individual who cannot see the bigger picture about life in general nor about my own manifest destiny. The miracle of being a mature adult in this existence is never lost on me. I am lucky and grateful for the actuality. Everything I have been allowed here in existence is a product of others who cared more about all of us then the few who only care about themselves. I want to add to that outstanding legacy and the first step toward doing that is to recognize that we are all the same. We have the same fears, hopes, desires and sadly the same disappointments. We recover and move on but never forgetting that life should be better than it is. That is the base of my thinking, that life should be better than it is and when I see a way forward that progresses life to the better I fight hard on it's behalf to make it so. We are the same and we need to treat each other with the same love and care we would otherwise treat our own offspring.

Breaking the mold (#2053)

We spend much of our conscious life trying to effect the laws of physics as we know them to our daily rationalizations and progress, which is right and good. We can communicate with each other through given systems that we can rely upon given the same set of factors. All of us can participate within these paradigms if we so choose and have the opportunity. Yet, we have not yet uncovered most of the mysteries of our Universe both in the larger context of time and space and the smaller context of time and space. We are cannot even be certain that only time and space are the factors. We do take what we have at this time in our advancement in existence, but the possibilities for our future remain larger and more bountiful than our past progressions. What may seem like an insurmountable problem now may become happenstance after a new enlightenment. It is how we have furthered our species in the field of knowledge. Constantly adding tot he proofs and premises of our curiosities. I do know this much, that we are just beginning in our quest to discover. We are nowhere near having arrived at some omnipotent state. So plug along we do with the tools we have. There are those among us who would not continue going forward and instead would rather go back to a less knowledgeable state. I fear their fear is what is holding them back and scaring them from their own destiny. It could well be that they see the comfort they have in their own lives as more important than any discomfort others are forced to endure, which is a rather psychological deficiency than any moral justification. Why ever the reason, including a laziness to learn and be part of the great undiscovered march forward, we have a stubborn embedded anchor in them that is keeping us from our logical manifest nature of curiosity. We must prevail by shattering the fears of our doubts and move forward with the resolve and courage we have abundantly within our human abilities.

Republican disdain for a secular democracy (#2052)

Never in my life have I been able to so clearly see the Republican party's agenda of denying equality based upon their perceived biases. Their utter lack of respect for anyone who doesn't live up to their idea of a protestant work ethic is not only contemptible at best and hateful at worst but their own hypocrisy for not living up to that very same protestant work ethic standard is obvious for all to see. In short, they expose the the old saw of "do as I say, not as I do". Republicans contemplate an illusion that their success has come from their scrupulous adherence to hard work and their sole ambition to succeed. Republicans see themselves as the type that "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" without any built in advantages or privileges. They expect the same from everyone else despite and regardless of any disadvantage anyone else must endure. I am so clearly frustrated with the politics of Republicans that discount the real world realities of fellow citizens that don't "measure up" to their perceived expectations. Objective knowledge is the key to our society progressing into a brighter future yet Republicans are dismantling our secular education to favor a more "Christian utopian society". How are we to grow as a society if our basis for understanding is grounded in the contradictions of faith, instead of the proofs of science and logic? The Republican motive for such biblical leanings is the inherent power that comes with control. It isn't so much that the example of the good Samaritan is their guide, it is more the patronage they receive for their benevolence to the unwashed masses. Republicans have turned their back on democratic principles such as equality, fairness and justice in order to "herd" we American citizens toward a future that resembles our past. What Republicans don't get is that the past was part of our growing pains and going back to that is not acceptable to anyone who wishes to continue growing as a person.

Moving beyond the myths, superstitions and folklore of the past (#2051)

The logic of science teaches us that mysteries can be solved through technology and creative innovation based primarily upon mathematics, physics, geology, psychology and biology. Science is the key to our future and the transition we need to use as a bridge to move on from our ancient past. We take the utility of logic and apply what truth is available to all other facets of our existence. First we know we don't know. That is a truth, which makes the question {why?} so important. I am constantly going on about our nature of curiosity and this is illustrated in every endeavor we humans undertake. We don't know so many things yet we are bold enough to wonder and explore to find new answers. The old answers from our past are becoming more and more irrelevant in their logic that belief systems and mythology have become more a pacifier to our societies than actual truths. Yet we need to have a sense of safety and purpose to placate our raw fear. We are in a dilemma of sorts, caught between real fear and our own nature to know. Eventually the way forward will be science. It is often ridiculed but think about this, science is a tool we use from our own will to know things. It is a process that has proven itself to be constant. Much like we use mathematics or language as a constant, such is the role of science. Many who are beholden to belief systems and other mythological paradigms are discounting science to be a sort of witchcraft, fit only for denying. Yet the proof is always in the fact that science is advancing equality, not folklore, myth or superstition. Our great democracy is demanding of us and to assuage it we must continue to advance our knowledge in order to understand what the principles we hold dear actually look and live like. The logic of science will endure and the sooner we give it it's due the faster we will get to a truly equal society.

The wisdom to know the difference (#2050)

This is not just part of a twelve step prayer. This is a rule to live by. Know the difference in everything that concerns you and even in things that are beyond you. learn what you need to know not to be in the dark about what matters in life. It is one thing to have an opinion, it is entirely another thing to know if that opinion can stand the test of common sense and logic. I surely want things good to happen for all of us, yet I know bad will still happen. So I confine my thoughts and actions to those things that I can reliably hope to achieve or effect in a positive way. I pick my battles to their most effective usage. I know I cannot be the champion of all good in the world but I can be a on guard against the bad that I can defend against. What is surprising to me is that once I have chosen to commit to a better situation in my life other situations start to change for the better as well. It is like an avalanche, everything gets swept up in it. My path to what wisdom I have, unfortunately has come from trial and error. I had few positive role models to emulate growing up that I felt I could trust. Coming of age in the 1960's exposed me to the disappointment of hatred while also revealing to me the mask many wore to hide their lies. Cynicism was being ingrained into my soul much like a knee jerk response when my bent knee nerves were tapped. It is hard to distinguish the good from the bad when so much illusory effort is made by those who are hiding the truth in order to deceive. But we must, and I have made the effort to know the difference and become wise about those differences. I spend my time not on satisfying some idea of grandeur or ongoing material accumulations but instead on refining my knowledge base as a value. What is precious to me is what our human species is most about, our compassion and our curiosity.

I would rather be courageous than be afraid (#2049)

You know it's is a choice right? Being a coward or afraid is not some genetic marker in our DNA passed down from generation to generation. We choose to be either one. Now don't mistake fear with being a coward. Fear is the warning sign that something bad is at hand. What we do with our fear and the information we have about whatever bad is about to happen is our choice. We can either confront our fear and stand against it's threat or we can succumb to our fear and allow ourselves to be controlled by it. I for one am not of the type who let's being afraid, be his guide. I actually enjoy confronting fear in an odd way in that I dare fear to challenge me. I see myself as nothing more than a product of what I think and feel. If I cannot defend myself then surely I cannot defend anything else beyond me. It is my nature to live my life as a free human being, untethered from control by others. Now I am not perfectly free because I live in a society that has rules but I am not beholden to anyone who would force me to act and think outside my own principles. I have taken the time to establish the good I want to reflect out to others and I will not compromise those principles. Which is where the fear comes in. Oftentimes others will try to intimidate or force me to act or react to a situation that they can then control. I refuse to play along despite real consequences of harm and/or discomfort to myself. I am always willing to sacrifice my personal property or ambition if it conflicts with my much more precious principles. Yes, I value who I am as a person more than I value commodity or property. I am simple that way and in that simplicity I find a reassuring peace. I also find a happiness and self-respect that is much more enjoyable an attribute that any material possession may hope to accomplish. We must all find peace within our lives and if it means fighting a constant war with others then so be it. Hopefully after a few rounds others will see that fighting against our will to be heroic is pointless.

Prejudice is a disease (#2048)

We are all sentient beings, even most of the lesser animals in our kingdom. We all have a central nervous system, even most of our lesser animals in our kingdom. Why would we ever allow our minds to accept that we humans are different from each other? Yes, we are different from the lesser animals but not each other. I am not saying we are carbon copies of each other, but instead I am saying we all have the same foundational features that define us as human beings. For us to look upon one another with an eye toward discrimination or bias is anti-human and not a positive value of our species. Just as our bodies can be infected with harmful bacteria and viruses, our mental conclusions can also be infected with incorrect assumptions and expectations. A purging of our thoughts that restrict our ability to see all of life within the human spectrum as equal is required and the antidote is humility. Somehow we infested our mindsets with an ego worthy of an unhealthy narcissistic proportion. When we perceive "others" who don't act or appear like us and then apply restrictions to them based upon our own bias and prejudices, we have effectively become a sub class of people commonly identified by definition, racist. I know learning new ideas is hard, especially when one comes from regions of our country that practice old paradigms of custom and myth not in tune with reality. However, not knowing how to be right in life and just following racist traditions is not a noble excuse. We all have within our power the ability to live as an independent minded human being. We choose how we think and what we accept as knowledge. Therefore prejudice is an individual's choice not a genetic marker. When we choose to be sick with an ill, we are per se, ill as a rule. No justification exists that makes being of a prejudiced mindset healthy. We must first recognize our own deficiencies before we can begin to be a part of the best world we can conceive.

Staying in the good vibration (#2047)

If you have ever played baseball and for all the times you have hit the ball, there is that one time you remember when it was a perfect contact. The pitched ball hitting the bat in the "sweet spot". It is like that when a vibration is felt that is so in tune with what you are doing that nothing else would add to it. A sort of perfect moment in time. The trick is to capture that type of vibration in all the things we are doing. Impossible for sure but not worth giving up on. Music has that effect for most of us. We hear the sounds of instruments or of nature and we collapse in on ourselves with an all encompassing sense of life. Another medium I feel all the goodness of the surrounding vibrations is when I used to run for miles on end and when the weariness and body aches stopped they gave way to a euphoric sensation of almost like flying without actually flying. A serene sense of oneness with all around me.
The vibrations in our life are out there in plenitude but we must be willing to find them and then make them a steady diet in our lives. For one thing it takes all presumption and arrogance out of our lives since we do end up with a sense of awesomeness for our accomplishment. In that receiving of awe, we can be transformed to seeing our existence through a different and more liberating set of eyes. I tried to keep that euphoric sensation with drugs and alcohol and failed miserably. No short cut attempt to capture my needed vibration worked. It has to be spiritual in nature and not artificial. This is why I am such a stalwart spiritualist. I have a connection with all things in our Universe and for me to seek out that connection and find it in all the little small ways provides me with a real feeling of belonging. My good vibrations are what make life special for me and surely for all of us as well.

Always the bigger picture (#2046)

Most folks are smart enough to know that if something is good then it should be policy and if it is not good then it shouldn't be. We are not perfect here in America, actually far from it, but in the end we do try to get our policy right. Sometimes it takes us doing things the wrong way in order to find out the right way. The problem with that is the damage done in the meantime and surely we are more enlightened than to be practicing trial and error when a little bit of complex thinking will save us the harm we suffer in our quest for a better society. The best place to start in our rationalizing is to conclude whether the policy has harm. Our base line is equality, justice and opportunity. If we maintain the dignity of those principles in our policy then we have gotten it right. If not, then we need to work harder and more thoughtfully on our attempted policy. Too often, in our current society, there is some harm in most policy and the trick is to reduce/eliminate the harm wherever it occurs, regardless of the policy's complexity, We do not scrap a policy that is effective in most to all cases just because it has flaws in it that can be offset by adjusting rules that eliminate either one or any combination thereof of inequality, injustice or lack of opportunity. In other words, let us not throw the baby out with the bath water. Yet we must also not allow deficiencies in policy to proceed without addressing the solutions to those deficiencies. The focus must be on the whole policy and not just an ulterior motive driven one that destroys the policy as a tactic. There are those who would have us have no policy that affects certain groupings of our population and we as a society must not allow the ones who think that democratic ideals are secondary to their own ambitions to destroy what good may come from a policy. This is why we must always keep our focus on what we are trying to accomplish for our society within the bounds of democracy and know that there are those out there who are just as driven to destroy our society if it benefits their ambition.

Don't wait until there is a vacuum of leadership for you to lead (#2045)

The experience with my life  has been that when a vacuum of leadership occurs I felt the weight and need to pick up that worthy soul's cause and carry forward in my own unique way. Why did I wait? I suppose I was comfortable enough with others fighting for me that I didn't see the urgency to fight for myself. Blunt assessment but more true that not. I didn't start out that way. When I was younger in my teens I was full of hope about proclaiming the right and good of equality, justice and opportunity yet I found so much cynicism I was eventually worn down by all of it. I still advocate for lowering the voting age to 16 year old persons, Yet I have been remiss in forwarding the idea because I got side tracked with my own struggle to understand life in general. I have moved beyond both my own searching for a meaning in life and any cynicism that may come my way. I know I have a purpose for being in existence and me knowing the particulars of it are not as important as me doing whatever I can to push the right and good of our species to the forefront. I also know that whatever failing I have others have similar failings and no one has it all figured out so being cynical is more a negative and failing than it is a positive and progression. I don't need to sit back now and marvel at others who take up the charge for our betterment, I can do that right along with them. So when one of us falls to passing on we can just gather our own intent and keep moving forward. I don't see anyone as being excluded from being an important leader when the intent to better our existence is generally agreeable. For example, like having clean air and clean water, like having a society that includes everyone with the same opportunities to contribute and exist with respect. We can muster our species and our society toward an enlightened structure that honors community as much as it honors individualism. Such is our challenge and why none of us should wait or sit back and let others lead when we have the wherewithal to lead.

The American worker (#2044)

Corporations are constantly trying to lower their labor costs by promoting politicians who would role back organized labor gains made over the last century. They see a cost/benefit analysis that excludes labor as an equal partner in their enterprise. Thus the American worker is excluded when it comes to fair and just compensation. That is the mindset of the profiteers at all costs who only wish to make their own profit as high as possible while placating and similarly rewarding their shareholders. So the people who put money into the enterprise, and those that manage that enterprise are the only ones under consideration for being compensated with often too generous profit. The workers are just a means to an end and not a respected part of the whole. This is the agenda of the Republican party as well, reward those that have the capital while neglecting or worse, taking from those who make up the labor. An unequal system that has proven to be successful in it's ability to make profit yet unsuccessful in the fair sharing of that profit. When corporations see themselves as "people" and don't see their labor force as equal people we know that the philosophy of the corporations and their spokespeople, the Republican party, have lost touch with reality. The egoism needed to ignore labor as expendable is truly a dysfunctional societal trait. We are all in this together and when we are not, then the idea that our democracy is fair and just is an illusion. I will end with the reminder to folks that the American worker has few peers in the world when it comes to dedication to our pride and self respect in doing a good and great job and in our ability to meet our obligations and goals regardless of often intervening circumstances. In other words we are catty on our feet when the time for agility in configuring solutions is required. Otherwise, these corporations would all be operating in other countries. I am proud to be an American worker, I just wish corporations had the same pride in having American workers who create the success for their profitable enterprises.

Our need for comfort is our undoing (#2043)

I have seen too many folks allow themselves to find comfort in squalor and then protect that state of sqaulor because of the security that comfort brings. Life should have the needed assurance that we are not always in the danger zone of chaos but not as a priority. Life and this environment should tell us that change is always, and I mean always, part of existence. None of us should ever have an expectation of "riding out" life in some horrible nor desirable way. We are a species and an environment that are in constant motion and all of our calculations about how we devise our society should reflect that. That old meme about leaving the world in a better place than when we got here is absolutely a truism. Our biology of information gathering and adapting is the first clue. Our need to know is within everyone of us, regardless of how we pretend it isn't. How we are constantly creating and innovating is another clue that we are not a static being nor is our environment. I don't have to tell you how much our planet is constantly in motion and at the mercy of the laws of the physical Universe. There is no debate that our planet is changing but there seems to be some very strong resistance to the same application to our species. We are constantly evolving evidenced by all of our own aging processes. I am not exactly who I was yesterday nor will I be exactly like I will be tomorrow should I be gifted with tomorrow. This is why our efforts should not be focused toward our own comfort but instead it should be focused on our need to be in action. I find the best application for my activity is to form an inclusive vision for our betterment and work toward that. I am not much more than insignificant but my insignificance is all I have to work with. So work I do and although I may never accomplish one tiny success, I will know for certain that I didn't sit back and let our society get worse without me fighting against that. Comfort is fine for the resting time between fighting for the better for our futures but only for reinvigorating my best efforts, not as an destination to arrive at for good. I will find my final comfort after I have perished. 

The better is coming (#2042)

I am feeling enthused about this coming election on November 4th. Despite the heavy bombardment from Republicans in the form of attack ads against Democrats, the tactic isn't working out so well. What it shows is that Republicans for all their deep well of money have no positive message whatsoever. They only have attacks that are misleading at best and out and out lies at worst. The idea that they think we can be influenced through deception is contemptible and their arrogance only works further against them. These are not the days of past times before the internet where politicians could say anything they wanted and you just couldn't fact check them efficiently within the time needed to know the truth of things before an election. Today, we don't have that problem as everything is at a fingers tip length away if we can afford to get online somehow. Even the strategic practice of Republicans to obstruct Americans from voting is not working, as not only is our judicial system being mostly effective in combating Republican legislation from being upheld, but Americans are aware of this practice to disenfranchise voters and have instead registered to vote as a way to answer the Republican tactic. It has made many Americans mad as hell and they will take it out on Republicans who continue to dismiss the American working/middle/poor class as invisible on election day. There is little to nothing else Republicans can do with their boatloads of cash when regular Americans vote their interests. And our interests are front and center with most of us because of the economic and social harm of austerity for everyone but the wealthy Republicans have already and continue to inflict. The better is coming and it gets here on November 4th when the right and good conscious of our society will progress us forward with Democratic candidates who aspire to fulfill the vision our current Democratic president advocates.

Stop blaming the victims (#2041)

The current condescending mantra of those whose ego's know no bounds is that if you are a victim perpetrated by someone else's choice then you are at fault for not keeping yourself out of the harms path. So in essence what these arrogant narrow minded folks are saying is that if you do not foresee what hazardous act may befall you then you are to blame. As if you can control the whirligig of chaos that our "free" society brings. So those who are the conscious perpetrators who are committing harmful acts are not to be held responsible for their intentional acts. That is what I am understanding from these predatory thinkers. It is as if they think they have found a reasonable defense for causing harm with impunity. The "I was just following through with my natural instincts to react to an opportunity given to me by the unsuspecting victim." theory. These modern day selfish pied pipers would change how we see ethics and justice and instead institute another form of the survival of the fittest mantra. It is already an acceptably practiced form in high finance where the metaphorical brutal concept of wolves and sheep is on brutish display. Instead of our society being raised and conditioned to the ideal that we humans are here to help each other, these predatory folks advocate that we humans are here to use each other when it profits or satisfies us in some primordial way. They disregard the paradigm of good citizenry and acceptable mannered behavior for the bastardized version of I can pick and choose my morality as it suits my passions and hungers. This constant shifting between enlightened human and uncontrolled animal lust is just normal for them and the contradictions are less cognitive dissonance and more the whim of fate without explanation. The psychopathy of these "disturbed" individuals/groups is that they have emotionless focus for their own fortunes as well as none for others. Surely an example of the inmates running the asylum.

It's always darkest before the dawn (#2040)

Don't give up because you see no solution to our problems. The solutions are there and they will come about but we must persevere in order to realize them. The hard work it takes for overcoming injustice is not to be denied if we never give up. I have had a lifetime of disappointments yet I still fight like hell for what I believe is right. It is my nature and it is in all of our natures to struggle for better. Giving up is not a solution, it is quitting just before the solution is about to happen. I look at our national politics in this snapshot in time and all the money on false attack ads being aired by Republicans against good honest Democrat politicians and it does get frustrating when the media controlled polls show Republicans gaining a slight advantage because of the lies they spread. But remember, Karma is head slapper. There are still several weeks left for us to expose the lies by Republicans and to retake the narrative on Democratic policies that actually help we Americans in our lives. Once we get the attention of the voting public which we need to make sure votes this coming November, we will be on the high ground in the truth telling paradigm. Good people will be able to make the distinction once they are shown the real facts of policies. I am confident, despite the onslaught of Republican money being spent to wrongly influence our electorate. We are smarter as a nation than Republicans believe us to be. We all have real good bullshit meters we employ when we get serious about what our futures can be like and Republican policies will never be able to pass the smell test. There are few things in life more satisfying than fighting to the very last second and then stand quietly and enjoy the fruits of our hard work. We will overcome the Republican disinformation campaign and we will also strengthen our party even more than now.