Logic and science, our path to the future (#2617)

     The days of monarchies and church controlling our lives through privilege and fear are over. We are not cattle to be driven here and there at the by your leave of antiquated institutional forces. The lording and mystical reverences these past paradigms demanded are but shallow attempts to control and manipulate. What enlightenment has shown us is that there are no deity's here on Earth nor any more magical human than another. Logic and science has gotten us to the point where we truly see we are all of the same DNA material. None of us is any more special as a soul than another. What we use to distinguish ourselves among ourselves is our imaginations, our creative ambitions and our merit as it is applied to fulfilling our hopes and dreams.
     It will be logic and science that continues to guide our futures. We will master the mechanics of the known universe as time goes by. We will take those mechanics and apply them to our nature of discovery and like the greater more kinder version of manifest destiny, we will move beyond our previous human borders. We will continue to master the nature of our own biology and the biology of other species to better prepare us for our own continuing evolution. If we continue to demand a democratic society we will also allow ourselves the best opportunity at survival as a species by bringing all our human souls into solving the equations of life.
     Some see our future as being bogged down in a less than existence based upon fear. I see our future as being an amazing journey of discovery that starts on planet Earth and extends to the infiniteness of the known and as yet undiscovered universe. I see our species unrivaled in it's capacity to learn and adapt with factual logic, uninhibited by the power structures that kept us at bay until we were able to unlock the reason, analysis and conclusion of logical thinking. Science and it's ever increasing truth gathering is our process to learn and logic is our way of understanding and sharing it's validity. We humans provide the motivation and with all three, humanity, logic and science, working in harmony the future is an incredible possibility indeed!

No honor in being greedy (#2616)

     I suppose being greedy is a manifestation of those who cannot reconcile that life is not dream. Life is hard and no doubt most of us know this. I accept it and every time something good comes my way I am thankful because I know it is not that often. So I can reconcile my own fears about life into one simple act, humility. I am fortunate to be alive, I am fortunate to have survived my uninformed years and I am fortunate that my health has been good enough to allow me to finally experience health care. I have no illusions about any deserves or advantage/privilege that many seem to take as owed to them. I am not one of those.
     I think about the other 95% of the world's population that have less opportunity and possibility than I do and I feel humbled that somehow I am a lucky one. Because it is all about chance which of us is born into which country or which family. We are just souls trying to find some happiness in a world of many disappointments. But like our nature we persevere. We cling to what we have and try like all get out to make more of the good possible for our children, at least many of us do. There are many others who care not for what the future brings unless it involves their own greed. They do still live in a dream world where they think that they are special and deserve because their ego's have no humility.
     I have tired to be an egoist but what I have found is that even the physically weakest persons I have met had greater strength than I. Even the less intellectual I have met taught me that living a principled life is more rewarding that chasing after fool's gold. Where once I was always anxious about something new and exciting or bored beyond control with the everyday, I am now content and peaceful about all that is around me. I have a serenity that allows me to smile at those who need a smile or say a kind word or help in some small way those who are downtrodden and without. I accept that the world is hard as my starting point, despite that I rail against it being so hard, I do not give into it. The world is hard because we don't make it easier and that is why I do what I do.

Racism is a mental illness (#2615)

     There is no doubt in my mind as to racism being a mental illness. I have heard and actually lived through the an era when racism was considered normal. I was only a youngster but it was a prevalent behavior shared by many in the circles I was involved in. I am talking California here and not the deep south where it is generally thought to be still pervasive. But the difference with me was that I was bused to an integrated high school and was forced to deal with my enculturation with racism. I quickly found that racism was more a power over another than it was a justifiable norm. Some of the best relationships I have ever had in my life involved folks of color.
     So I stopped allowing those around me to control the narrative about a privilege that never was and began calling out those who had as of yet to see that racism is a choice based upon faulty logic. My stand those so many decades ago has left me today with an unassailable opinion that mental illnesses of this sort are founded in our own personal inadequacies. I felt the peer pressure back then to be like the rest, accepting racism as it was passed down from our earlier generations. But what I also felt was a greater need to accept the reality that we are all human beings and although we have a different tone of skin, we are nonetheless equal.
     I suppose what makes all this so controversial is that racism in the form of slavery was an acceptable paradigm not too long ago in our American past. The idea of ownership or control of one human over another was just the machinery of doing business. A means to make profit. Where slavers would scan the globe for non-modern societies and take their men, women and children to the marketplace where they could be bought and sold as a commodity. This is our American history for over 300 years before we began to start living by our conscience and not solely by our pocketbook. What our consciences tell us today is what the cruelty of our acts have cost us. We not only felt a need to be superior because of our lordship over others but we bought the hustle of it being true. A scarred and shameful truth we must all bear until the illness of our mentality has been exposed for good.

Why voting is getting harder and harder (#2614)

     There really is a conscious effort on the part of many in politics, especially the republican party, to limit voting or too make voting more complicated than it has to be. By requiring voter identifications that use only specific identifications or by disallowing students who are at out of state colleges to vote in the state they are in school at or by making married and then divorced women have to change their names back to their original maiden names in order to vote. Along with limiting expanded voting, making absentee voting difficult and reducing voting stations on the day of our vote and using voting tabulation systems suspected of flipping votes without having a paper trail to verify each and every vote. These are just some of the restrictions that have been instituted by the republican party.
     The democratic party has it's own flaws. By using caucus's to decide which candidate will represent our party is not a direct way to show the true will of the people. We also use super delegates which is a form of elitism to combat a favorable ground swell to protect the status quo over real democratic change. Although we Democrats are the lesser of the violators we still need to clean up our nominating process. However, republicans are the true villains here. They are going full steam to deny voting rights to women, the youth and the elderly. For that they should be punished harshly as no one should be allowed to disenfranchise one American citizen of their right to vote.
     So the question now becomes how we vote, those of us who still can, this coming November in the general election. Do we reward the republican party for dismantling the most precious right we have, our vote? Or do we punish them by voting for all democrats on the ballot? I know I will be voting for every democrat running for any position because even though our democratic party is not perfect, it is absolutely head and shoulders above anything the republican party offers. While it is enough for me to vote against republicans simply for their vote denying strategy, there are many more prominent reasons to vote against them that I don't have time here in this blog post to name.

The arrogance of unproven self assurance (#2613)

     Unfortunately I have seen this behavior in too many republicans lately. It is as if they have convinced themselves that no matter what the facts are of a situation, their understanding is above and beyond anyone else's to hear. I know I can be a bit stubborn on the things I know but at least I will always listen to see if I can learn something new. That is where we diverge. It is always important to have an air of confidence about our conclusions but the air of confidence should always have a humility to it. I am not trying to be the smartest guy in the room but too many of the republicans I talk to are not only arrogant about their firmly held opinions but are often sarcastic and vile when confronted with alternatives.
     The way I see this is that republicans take the risk of binding and fettering themselves when they are not open to a free exchange of ideas. Life is about change and those who fail to move from their conceived notions are doomed to be left behind. I suppose it is the "know it all" paradigm that makes them so staunch in their inability to accept new concepts. If they do accept new ideas they would have to admit that their previously held positions were wrong. Again, to remind us that a humility is needed in this world as none of us is in possession of all the facts. I have no problem admitting to anyone that I am in a constant state of learning and that what I see today as true may not be true tomorrow given new information.
     But many are not like me. They have a need to be "wise" regardless of the means to that end. That in itself disassociates from them and I having a conversation or debate in the proper sense of both. By using facts to lead a step by step equation toward a conclusion is indisputable to me but that is not my experience with republicans when they bombard me with how idealistic I am when talking about socio-economic issues and only offer back superstition, prejudice and condescension as a rebuttal.

Capitalism cannot control our social welfare (#2612)

     The problem with capitalism is that it will always seek the greatest risk/reward outcome possible. For profit is it's lifeblood and no amount of care or good will can supersede it's nature. The problem arises when our society sets up social programs in order to alleviate nefarious social ills like poverty, illnesses, homelessness and hunger for example. The attempt to create programs that have an ultimate goal of lessening the negative effects that capitalism always causes cannot have their foundation in capitalism. they must, by their necessity, be generated from a duty of care not to profit but to help the most while maintaining an efficiency. Profit is not the genesis of social programs, on the contrary, a lessening of societal ills is the goal.
    So by implementing programs that have no monetary profit as their goal, we find that a communal approach to organization is the best served paradigm. Where society is the beneficiary. A system where the capitalistic private sector has no control over how our social programs operate. We can use business models to create non profit organizations for the spread of the social programs as effectively as possible but nowhere is there monetary profit to be had. We do this for ourselves, not as a business venture in search of wealth. We build a floor from which no one can fall below. When we all start out from at least a basic foundation we all have a better chance to pursue our happiness.
     Once we have established our metaphorical concrete floor, we then can focus on the things in life that make us most happy. Creating new ideas and allowing for innovation to capture our imaginations. We can master our current technologies and explore our planet and our solar system in order to fulfill our naturally occurring curious natures. There is so much we can do as humans if we can just get our foundational principles for our society in place. We are a democracy first so all issues relating to democratic principles follow. After that we take what economic lessons we have that work and make them the tool of our building process. Private enterprise for wealth and public enterprise for health. both can work in conjunction with one another.

My life, happy and serious (#2611)

     I have two faces I show the world. My happy face and my serious face. The problem I have is that my happy face doesn't get as much face time as my serious face. In practical terms it should be the other way around. I am the kind of guy who likes to smile. Many things here in my world would automatically make me smile, yet not so much. There are too many reminders around me of how bad things are for others who have not the good fortune of being born in America and particularly my neck of the woods. I have blazed my trail to this place I now call home and it has been a lifetime of struggle for me to get here.
     But even then things around me are not sublime. Nowhere is there constant serenity to lose oneself in. So none of us gets to have a happy face all the time unless we just don't care about anyone but ourselves and we can afford to buy our own psuedo happiness at every turn. I must have time for my happy face though. It is the purpose for my serious face. To spend time trying to make the world a little bit happier everyday. We should all have a happy face most of the time. I hear these people talk about how things have to be a certain way even though they do nothing to make happiness more prevalent. It makes me scowl at times to hear that they care more about customs and myths than they do about real people.
     Yet it is a fact and that is why the rest of us must not listen to those who would keep the things in our society that do not have a positive effect on all of us. They only want things that give some a positive and the rest can just do without. No, I will not accept their vision for our future. We live in a democracy where the best of our ideals can and should win the day, not the greedy selfishness of privilege and advantage. None of us is identical in all ways so merit should always be the best determiner of success and example. Not the dog eat dog world where many would still have us live in that not only diminishes happiness but keeps a seriousness on our faces for much too much of the time we have so little to live.

Our work is never done (#2610)

     Politics, it is what will lead us to our future. If you feel that you have no stake in politics because it doesn't intersect directly in your life then you need this lesson. Everything in life is political. From your starting wage and workplace safety features, your health options through to your eventual retirement. Politics is a quality of life issue in every way. From sick leave when you really need it to unemployment insurance when the economy gets tough. To welfare and food stamps if that is how bad it gets or is. Decisions about your heart and who you can legally love is all political if you hadn't noticed. So is whether you can do intelligent family planning.
     Democracy has been fought for and won in our Revolutionary was and has been maintained through world wars and attacks here in our home. But there are forces who are citizens of our great American nation who would take our democracy from us in order to consolidate a society that made decisions for us based upon their egoistic proclivities. We are facing the greatest danger to our democracy, not from without but from within. This danger I speak of is the loss of our voice, which is our vote. Republicans under the guise of eliminating practically speaking, infinitesimal voter fraud have now disenfranchised millions of the right to vote. Yes, millions who just a decade ago who could have voted are not able to now with new laws passed by republicans to restrict their access to democracy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_suppression_in_the_United_States.
     This is why we liberal/progressive democrats have to keep our nose to the wheel and call out the nefarious practices of voter suppression and economic and social harm to the working/middle/poor class. We all have a duty to each other in a democracy to never leave anyone behind. Just like the warriors who fight our wars practice. If you don't know you are in an intellectual war with those who hate equality and the right for all of us to have a pursuit of happiness as a right then wake up now and get yourself on board with learning who is doing what to whom. Don't take my word for it here, learn it for yourself, because in the end a smart, thinking society is our greatest achievement.

Suicide as a weapon doesn't help anyone (#2609)

     I wanted to talk about the recent spate of suicide bombings and why these folks feel it is necessary to kill others while taking their own lives. There is nothing, and I mean nothing noble about killing yourself and others through collateral damage. First how is it that you ever get to a point in your life where you decide to kill yourself as a solution? The act of suicide isn't a solution, it is an ultimate surrender from which there is no return. I have been depressed and discouraged many times in my life, but I have never quit on trying to change society's ills. I fight to show that there is a better way. I fight to show that my voice is greater than any desperate act of quitting. Where is my voice if I am gone and hated for committing a heinous atrocity?
     When everyone hates the sound of my name for doing something despicable and inhuman, how have I advanced any cause? I would rather live and endure pain and suffering in the name of a noble cause than to die a whimpering coward who cared more about his own selfish desires than the value of a noble principle. Suicide is for cowards and fighting on through pain and suffering is courageous. What is your legacy? Are you aware that others who convince you to kill yourself for a cause they are not killing themselves for is a con job? People who would tell you to kill yourself so that they can continue are just using you.
     Who do you leave behind who are scarred by the senselessness of your actions. What mark do you leave on them that they will never be able to erase? I don't kill myself in order to make a point. I make a point with my voice and my relentless attitude of never quitting on advocating for a better world. Without my passion here alive, what does that say about my true commitment? I am no hit a run coward. I make my point and stand to hear the reaction back. I know I am right so why wouldn't I stand up for it and take on the forces that think I am wrong? I am no coward who would kill himself and others just to make a point. I can make a point nicely just by voicing my opinion and standing tall with my head up to hear the response!

A duty of care (#2608)

     I am not just talking about tort law and the duty of care we are bound together with in what we should foresee a possible harm. I am referring to how we should treat each other in a democracy. I know that other forms of self government have different levels of equality and that is not what I want to get into with this post. As a democracy we don't have levels of equality by law. Although we do see privilege and advantage manifest itself between the haves and the have nots. Another conversation for another time. A duty of care we owe each other is not only bounded between we humans but also the rest of the animal kingdom.
     We should all know by now that animals are sentient. they have a central nervous system for experiencing pain and joy as well as a cerebral cortex for understanding simple survival and social skills. Some even display cognition on at least a basic level. So although we humans are more advanced in the evolution of enlightenment, knowledge and communication, we nonetheless have to have a duty of care not only for our own species but the lesser evolved species as well. Why? Mainly for our own survival. This planet of ours, Earth, is an amazing ecosystem, tied together in it's existence to all that inhabit it in a delicate balance. If we humans, who are the stewards by default, do not care for the Earth and her complex biology, we will soon find ourselves living on an uninhabitable planet.
     So as we care for all the creatures that exist here we must also care for each other. Every single person ever born onto this planet has been an amazing compilation of intelligence and biological wonder. We are a rare species that although our numbers are massive, nevertheless none any less important than another. Our gifts are unique and abundant. We are working toward a society that helps to grow our insights into what and who we are in able to maximize our abilities, varied as they are. The future is a magnificent vision for us if we can harness the reality of our responsibilities to each other and to our planets complexity.

Separating the political wheat from the bullshit chaff (#2607)

     I don't often use a biblical term in my blog posts but this one is very appropriate to what my subject is this morning. Often we lately see the republican party making statements of utter nonsense as fact. It is so blatant that when we rebut these nonsensical or anti democratic statements we tend to overly state our positions against theirs with hyperbole toward sensationalizing them. You know, make them sound worse then they really are. I have the same tendency at times because of the shock I get when I hear or read them. But that is not how we should rebut these idiocies. Because when we don't use the actual quote of the statement we lose our ethical high ground. Which gives the republicans the perfect opportunity to turn their misleading or factually wrong statements into a secondary subject that gets lost in our attempts to paint them worse than they are.
     Where the message gets lost and our own hyperbole becomes the butt of the argument. So it is critical that when we rebut a wrong headed talking point that we focus on the statement of fact, not our own bias in hearing or seeing it. Where we as the messengers of the bad word become the subject of the scrutiny. If I parrot back what republicans are actually doing and saying I let their own actions and words become the thrust of the argument. Which is exactly what I want to happen. Keep the focus on them at all costs so that they must respond not with an attack on me but with the reasoning and analysis of their own conclusions.
     As much as I disdain selfish greedy politics, I must always remember not to get too high or too low emotionally about it. I have to come at it with a logical mind guided by the principles of premise, premise, premise conclusion. Or whatever logically correct equation that gets me to the truth of a fact or the fallacy a fiction. My own emotions must not be part of it regardless of how I am offended by the initial republican position. Maintaining an even keel and not getting caught up in the heat of the illogical will always serve me well and in the end prevail over those who only wish to strong arm their position without having to defend it's validity.

Sacrificing my personal hopes have become second nature (#2606)

     It is true that not allowing myself to chase after what I know is best for me personally has become second nature. However, that doesn't mean it is any less painful a feeling and knowing I won't have in my little limited life the greatest joys I could experience. I don't know when I became so resigned to letting my own ambitions in life become a lesser priority but it is this way now. I suppose it is because I have already lived the bulk of what is my life. Surely there will be regrets but taken as a whole I count myself fortunate considering many never even get a chance to experience limited success and failure. I have no illusions about any deserves or expectations that base their wants on a selfishness.
     None of us is given any guarantee nor promise of a happy and content existence. Maybe that is why I work so hard to make it so somehow. Or at least more possible for all of us and not just for me. I am no hero nor great person, on the contrary, I am just sick and tired of seeing so much unfulfillment in the world. It is as if my own personal cares and desires will never reach the level of care I have about others who are denied a chance to live a full and happy life. Not that my personal desires couldn't be met but like all things, it is rare that those will come knocking on my door.
     So it is and will be as long as I remain who I am. Let there no doubt either that I will not be anyone else. A lesson to learn is that sacrificing one's own desires is not a bad thing when the alternative is to fight for a better world for all of us. The self satisfaction in the principles of honor and courage can give one a sense of personal fulfillment in the vacuum of one's own lacking soulful desires. The greater risk is to have none, no personal success and no great ambition to fight for. So it is by eager default that I have taken up the flag of democracy and planted it into the soil of my own withering personal ambitions.

The inability of conservatives to face facts (#2605)

     This is why I rail so hard against them. Republicans can only hear their own voices and the voices they hear are disingenuous at best or outright liars at worst. Republicans cannot admit that they created a mess and when the cleaning up time comes they assail the cleaning as if the cleaners were initially responsible. It seems to work for them because the American electorate cannot distinguish between the guilty and the non-guilty and republicans keep getting elected. I was in a bipartisan "debate" group and asked this question, Have conservative republicans ever instituted a law that helped the working/middle/poor class? I got nothing back from them.
     The reason they could not give me an example is because no conservative republican program exists. There were liberal progressive republican programs in the past like, the EPA under Nixon, and the Interstate highway program under Eisenhower but both those were progressive programs that those two republican presidents rose above the rancor in their own party to create. In today's political climate, a liberal or progressive republican cannot exist. He/she would be ousted from the conservative party for even having a hint of bipartisanship. All other major social programs have been created by democrats. We democrats see the liberal progressive agenda as our future toward modernity.
     Modernity is the vision for our continuing ascendance toward a more perfect union envisioned by our founders. no amount of incongruent nostalgia about "the good old days" that republicans illogically propagate will dissuade our path forward if we remain mindful of what has gotten us this far. The journey is still on a firm path but if we are not careful we may succumb to the fear and suffering republicans maintain we are headed for. But again, their vision is full of fear and suffering since they are obstructing their own ability to to face facts. We must always be prudent in our policies going forward but that lesson has been learned by we democrats and until republicans can learn their lesson of accepting facts as the truth we use to communicate with each other then their relevancy to our future is minimal to non-existent at best.

Fear and suffering, the republican vision (#2604)

     I would like to think that republicans mean well in their drive to destroy our democracy but I literally cannot. Our democracy is the only thing that actually works for all of us. Why do I say republicans want to destroy our democracy? Well, let's look at the evidence. Republicans restrict voting in every way they can. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/election-dirty-tricks. Remember all the voter restriction bills and laws they presented? Most were shot down by our courts but some made it through. This is one piece of evidence to show that republicans don't want all our citizens to participate in the right to vote.
     A second piece of evidence is the republican drive to increase income inequality. We are now in the greatest gap between the haves and have nots since the Great Depression era, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/u-s-income-inequality-on-rise-for-decades-is-now-highest-since-1928/. By decreasing the earning and spending clout of the working/middle/poor class republicans are in effect marginalizing and dividing our previously formidable backstop to the wealthy and their never ending lust and greed for more and more profit. So not only are many of we citizens within the working class being denied our right to vote, we are also being denied a fair share of our labor rightly earned.
     To top it off, republicans have passed a couple of laws that allow them unlimited funding of elections. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/08/28/study-citizens-united-elected-more-republicans/. So no more can an ordinary citizen participate in our political process in the one person one vote dynamic, we are instead inundated with ads through the media blinding us to all the possibilities of alternative choice. Political systems for nominating and electing are made complex so as popular vote no longer carries the weight of what a true democracy demands. Democracy is crumbling before our eyes and the result will be much fear and suffering from those of us who will not vote to keep republicans out of office.

I fight because I am tired of being tired. (#2603)

     Our society is shaped to the best economics for a few and the worst happiness for the many. In the title of this blog I mention that I am tired of being tired. It is because I always seem to have some obligation that needs to be addressed on a continual basis. It seems that all of us are forced into situations that need our relentless attention and action. We try to have a somewhat quality life but the effort and resources to do that are overwhelming in their necessity. I cannot remember the last time I had the time to spend just enjoying being alive without interruption. So I put my shoulder to the wheel and fight for a society that values all of us and our needs and not just some of us and their demands.
     But the fighting on a continual basis is tiring. It seems that the only comfort or relaxing I get these days is in my sleep time, and that is more tossing and turning than serene. I am not complaining here. At least I know what I want to do in life given the reality, Yet I had hoped more of us would have put a stop to the insane ownership of our society by the wealthy powerful few. We have a democracy that although is rigged in many ways still lets us chart it's direction should we so choose. But unfortunately not enough of us get that sense of urgency that is real and instead disregard our right to vote for the future we all would benefit from.
     I on the other hand do get the sense of urgency and although I am now much older than many who still have long lives ahead of them, continue to push the current societal paradigms toward more democratic policies. Why do I care? Because I view the rightness and goodness of our species and since I share that status do not want our legacy to be one that bowed to forces of a nefarious nature. We are an amazing species but at this time in our evolution, we are less so because we cannot seem to care enough to be proud of who we really are and change what we aren't into something we are.

Find your voice (#2602)

     All of us have something to say. We may not be able to word it correctly or be able to break it down so it makes sense but we do have something to say. I know for me it took me several decades to figure out that I needed more education in order to express myself logically. At least that is what I now think. lol. So when I have an opinion about our present or our future I rely on the past to help guide me in expressing it. There are many examples from our past and the past of other civilizations from which to draw on. Either way though I can find evidence to support my eventual conclusion. I don't go off of just emotion or intuition. I have to be able to use common sense and logic in order to argue for or against policies or ideas.
     Next is finding a vehicle or a forum from which to express my opinions. The beauty of the Internet is that since I have understood my need to speak out, the Internet has provided a needed paradigm. I established my Facebook page and my blog post. Both of which give me access to information and a soapbox for my thoughts and actions. The day I decided to do a daily blog post, I thought long and hard about the commitment it would demand of me. Everyday making enough time to write approximately 250 to 300 or so words into a an idea or an advocacy that makes some sense. Over 7 years now it has proven to me to be very well worth the sacrifice in time in order to allow what I think and feel to permeate the ether.
     It is a small way to put my stamp of existence into a context greater than the breath I draw in and out during my lifetime culminated by a headstone or an obituary article. Some build monuments to themselves as a way to leave behind a marker of their existence. I don't care so much to leave a tribute that has no substance to it. My blog and Facebook page are my testament. they capture me on a daily basis over time covering a wide gamut of intellectualism and emotion. I am trying to record what is inside me because what I have discovered about myself is that if more human beings were like me there would be far less trouble in the world at large. I don't want much for myself, instead I want enough for all of us. Is that so bad?

Every new day is a chance to get it right (#2601)

     That very instance I awaken again is when I know I have a chance to get this day right. I realize that I am still alive and that all things are possible from this moment on. It is like each new day gives me a reboot back to the beginning. Sure each new day's beginning is comprehensively more complicated from the very first new beginning for me but a new beginning nonetheless. My mind is wiped clean from the rigmarole and whirligig of the day before. It is fresh and although mindful of what has happened in most all my past, it is ready to take on all new challenges with a fresh look.
     The beauty of sleep and then awakening is the break we get from our steady stream of analysis and reasoning. I utilize this paradigm, like most all of us do, when I get stuck on a problem I leave it for a bit and then come back to it from a different mental or emotional place than when I left. Sometimes the very act of leaving and coming back is all I need to break through. Much like my new awakening every new day. What I learn form this is that information overload is natural for us and our minds can only handle so much before our minds are unable to process in a consistently efficient way. The rest or diversion from one reality to something else is literally part of how we can better function as evolving human beings.
     We keep discovering our potential in ever increasing magnificent ways but the one constant is that our minds need to be fresh. Our biology dictates that rest is crucial to maintaining a fresh approach so it is with us when we awaken. Our minds get a chance to have a new day to start all over again, while not losing what we already have stored in our memories. If most are like me then the chance to get the day right is always a challenge but given that we are an information gathering species able to reason, analyze and conclude, the chances for us to get it right increases with each passing day.

If you are 18 by the general election you must vote! (#2600)

     November 8th is the day for our national election to take place. If you are born on or before November 8th 1998, then you are eligible to vote. It is your responsibility in many republican controlled states to make sure you are registered to vote, unlike in democratic controlled states where we go out of our way to make sure all eligible American citizens are registered to vote. Let me explain why voting is so important. first it is your national voice. If you are an American who can vote then your vision for the future lies in you exercising you voice. How can we advance into the future unless we all are participating in the journey?
     Second is the ability to retain your right to vote. The republican party is working very hard to take the right to vote from as many American citizens as it possibly can. They do this aimed specifically at those citizens who are less able to defend themselves against the faulty logic used in republican vote denying legislation. The concept of a slippery slope is real here. Republicans have already made voting harder for many poor, senior and student Americans and they will not stop until they can rig the electorate to their majority thus guaranteeing their further hold on elected public office. Why would we let republicans rig our voting so that they are the only ones whose voting rights are protected?
     The only way we would is if we didn't exercise our current right to register and vote. The one greatest right we all have is our right to vote. If we don't hold it dear to our hearts, then soon enough those who would will take it from us. That is why we need to be vigilant in the utility of our vote. A sacred honor it is for us to be a voice in our own government and society. Shall we keep it or shall we turn away to other things that occupy our time? Once you have lost your right to vote you will find that getting it back is much more difficult than if you just protected it in the first place.

Modernity is our future! (#2599)

     I am appalled at the republican party. What was just a simmering unwelcome nastiness toward minorities, women and the working middle/poor class has now become full blown mainstream with them. No political party is devoid of nefarious characters who display a psychopathy more than a generosity of spirit, but for the republican party to actively incorporate them as more than welcome is despicable. So not only are republicans denying the democratic principle of equality, they are just as against science and logical common sense. If one cannot distinguish that the republican party is trying to destroy what modernity represents then that one is, sad to say, ignorant.
     Using class warfare as it's modus operandi, the republican party is pitting factions of our society against other factions of our society. It is as plain and simple as that yet we seem to be so full of other frustrations that we allow the transfer of them to occur. Instead of concentrating our frustrations on the wealthy and their republican sycophants, we take the easier route and blame those who are less able to defend themselves. It is discouraging that many of we Americans are too fearful to stand up to the forces that could do us greater harm. So we meekly allow those forces to direct our anger at the more vulnerable us.
     It is a pity that the nature of man/woman can so easily be funneled from honor and the best of what pride can be to in effect a dog with a his tail between his legs. We are acting like the cattle and cannon fodder that the wealthy see us as. When will we stand up with our own strength and fight back against the bully wealthy who have had it their way for far too long in the history of the human species? This isn't just a battle for today, it is a fight that has been put off since the dawning of civilization. Are we a true democracy aimed at a modernity that honors merit, creativity and innovation without privilege and advantage? Or are we the shadow of one that is controlled by those who herd us with threats and table scraps?

There is power in courage when you are in truth (#2598)

     I have no problem at all standing up straight and firm when confronted by those who are in the wrong. There is something empowering about being on the ride side of whatever. We often have to work up our courage to confront those who are bullies or those who run roughshod over our hopes and dreams. Usually by the time we get the courage to react to something wrong the wrong has already been done. I will not have that in my life since I have learned that paying any price to protect that which is right at the get go is far more valuable than doing it after the fact. What I have learned is that in America life is hard too often than not and not confronting hard with hard is a mistake.
     There is good all around us and for that I am grateful. It is what inspires me when the bad or wrong comes rearing it's ugly head. I have had it with fear being the obstacle to keeping or attaining a better world to live in. I used to be afraid sometimes that my life may end too soon for some principle that not everyone would protect. I have since learned that it doesn't matter what anyone else does it only matters what I do. I control me and if my life has a chance to be forfeited then so be it. It is nothing different than what our brave soldiers and many police officers face on an all too consistent basis. But the key is to be on the right side when the standing and fighting time comes.
     Take this from me if you will. I have been on the wrong side and tried to fight for it but what I found was that there was no depth to my passion. I was hollow and only trying to gain some advantage through more bluff than substance. The same it is with bullies and those who only care for themselves. They have no honor behind their thrust into our lives so when I stand against them I have an edge they will never have. Being on the right side of honor is a glorious position and one I will never leave again. So bring on the bullies and the carpetbaggers, I am ready for them in a very powerful way.

People hate others because they hate themselves (#2597)

     Clean up your own life so that you can like yourself. When you do that you will find that it is second nature to like others. What do I mean by clean up your own life? I mean forgive yourself of all that you know deep down inside you that is less than what you would have thought or done in hindsight. We all make rash and ill conceived decisions in our life. But the difference with most of us is that we learn from our mistakes and move forward without making the same mistakes over and over again. I would say that generally, we all have been subjected to an enculturation that deposited less than honorable values into our thinking and behavior. So we were not born with these less than honorable thoughts and behaviors, on the contrary, we were trained up in them.
     But once we realize that they are wrong thoughts and behaviors it is because we were taught them, not because we are inherently bad people. So our first order of business is recapturing the innocence we were born with and recognize the thought and behavior that infests within us and then purge both from our thinking. Surely we can control our thoughts once they appear in our minds. It is our mastery over ourselves that becomes the struggle. Just because I have a less than honorable thought cross my mind does not mean that I have to leave it there to stew over. I can dismiss it and by doing so eliminate the possibility of it ever becoming an act of behavior.
     When we first started out in our innocence everything was a marvel and a mystery. There was no discrimination nor intolerance in our minds. We were taught how to hate and how to discriminate. We don't have to keep those old less than honorable lessons within us. We can choose to instead remember that all of us human beings are unique and of value beyond comprehension. We can choose to admire our differences and take pride in the adaptability of our species. First we must stop hating ourselves and give ourselves the gift of forgiveness. We don't need the idea of a hoped for sovereign to forgive us, we have that power within us already.

Follow your heart and the rest of your life will follow (#2596)

     This can be a very painful way to live one's life but then again life offers no guarantees. So pain will be with us regardless of what we do. Might as well live how you feel and disregard all the expectations others have for us. For me it is simple enough. I have managed to dodge most all obstacles in my life that would have restricted me in ways that were not complete. I know that nothing in life is perfect but it should at least come close. I have followed my heart and as yet my heart has not found a home with another except with my little wards, a dog and a cat.
     But following my heart isn't all about a personal relationship, it is much more than that. My principles for living and the codes I have built from them to help guide me forward. I have been guilty of breaking my codes and I know what it is like and how that feels. The perspective I have learned is invaluable. Never again will I let the fleeting allure of sensation overwhelm my sense of humility. metaphorically, the enticing sirens call but I do not have to answer. What is more important to me I have found is the possibility of the one call that I cannot resist that is of the same mind as I am. That meeting of soul and mind that is attracted in all ways. But again, it is not all about a personal relationship.
     The passions I have for the direction of our society and the lifting up of souls to a more suitable living environment commensurate with our species is as important. What can a greater calling in life entail if not the whole of who we are and what we can become? Following my heart straight to my end is not such a bad deal and although I have forsaken the idea of selfishness and self gratification as a priority, I get to experience something much greater. A humbling pride in how I live and who I reflect back to the world. The power I receive from such a journey is immeasurable and difficult for me to explain in sheer words.

The republican party, by far the most dishonest political party in America (#2595)

     When your strategy to win and hold public office is centered on denying citizens the right to vote, you are trying to cheat in order to win. When you lie about your opponent in the media that you control in order to gain an advantage with voters then you are the worst of our species. When you deny facts exist so that your advantages are untouched by reality, then you are more subhuman than human. When you tell the working class that they are lazy and are the ones responsible for their failures without pointing out how rigged the economy is against them then you are a coward and a thief. When you question the morality of others based upon a standard you are nowhere near able to keep yourself then you are the worst of the hypocritical crowd.
     This is the agenda of the republican party. Conservatism wreaked with lying, cheating and stealing. So instead of living in the reality of our times, conservatives have taken to denial and subterfuge. They cannot adjust their thinking to include anything that resembles democracy. Instead their thinking now is all about subverting democracy. It is the greed and lust for power to maintain a status quo that history will show as an abomination to equality, liberty and freedom for all. Democracy is too much for republicans since it allows all to participate. They realize that if we all participated their advantages and privileges would disappear and they would have to fend on the grounds as the rest of us.
     To republicans equality is unthinkable since they are of the mindset that they are a better class of citizens than those who don't ascribe to the theory of selfishness. Where greed and power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. The self satisfying feeling that only comes with power through force. They have no do good bones left in them since doing good is antithetical to their envisioned, ego fueled future. Oh and by the way, the color of one's skin is a factor to them as to whether you deserve the same rights and privileges as they do. Republicans want a factory farm of workers at their disposal but only if they have less rights and must always ask for a "by your leave sir" when in their presence!

Our imaginations are the key to our future (#2594)

     First we must think it. The idea of going to the Moon was just fantastical thinking during the 19th century. Yet here we are in the 20th century bored with the idea of going back to the Moon. I will never underestimate the ability of the human mind to rationalize and and then reason a way to get things done that seem impossible. It is probably due to the indefatigable optimism that is my impetus for life. I have no doubt that whatever we are able to conjure up from some cockeyed thought or some sleeping dream may become a reality at some time in our future. Even to the idea that the laws of science, mathematics and physics can be expanded to an even greater multi dimensional application.
    In other words, nothing is impossible given that we have yet to unlock the mysteries of our own existence. Let me be cautious though and admit that it will take time, lots of it for us to develop the needed sense or knowledge to see our current dimensions as just the starting point of our journey through the rest of time and space. Even the laws governing time and space paradigms are not set in stone. We must follow what parameters we have now in order to test them against all new information but when the time comes for admitting we have not yet corralled all of what is possible then we must move to a new way of thinking to put some order to it.
     Much like the problems we face today in our political, economic and social lives. What worked yesterday served us adequately or not, but what doesn't work today should not be our model for moving forward into our future. We must update and realign our thinking to match the evolutionary change we are inevitably part of. If we think it then we may create it if we push the boundaries of what we know out to the edge of what we don't know. Eventually we get there, in many cases like going to the Moon.

Have we forgotten how to be honest? (#2593)

     So much about our economic system relies on hiding things that unfortunately we have all become experts at hiding the truth when it can hurt us. Not just emotional hurt but real hurt like loss of job and the ability to earn a decent income. This generally described "sleight of hand" is the new normal so it isn't surprising that our moral code, to be honest, is less than honorable. This is one of the main reasons we need an overhaul in how we do our economics, and why we should socialize base incomes so that our entrepreneurs and workers are not as desperate to compete in a system that punishes those who are not highly successful.
     Now you may think that desperation makes for a better worker but I would disagree, http://billmoyers.com/2014/07/23/why-big-business-loves-desperate-workers/. On the contrary, desperation makes for more profit for those who are already doing well, while the desperate are living an existence that has no clear path forward to a better life. We see what desperation does when we look to the black market of prostitution, gambling and drugs. When otherwise decent folks have to sell themselves in order to remain alive, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-desperate-journey/. With a basic income we eliminate desperation as a consequence of low wages being offered to those who have little to no ability to refuse them.
     Keeping our workforce in a state of poverty may well help the wealthy to grow their own wealth simply by denying workers living wages but it cannot last since there will always be a need for workers to have disposable income to buy products in the marketplace. As well the growing unrest from the working class cannot bode well for those wealthy who are manipulating them through the political process. A day of reckoning has always come as the past has taught us but it seems that many, within the republican party, have no time for knowing what historical event is about to rear it's punishing head up at them.
     

Disappointment is part of life but not all of life (#2592)

     I have been wondering why there is so much voter apathy here in America. Looking back on my own life it seems to me that disappointment in the political process is a large part of why I failed to get excited about participating in our political process. It seems that so many things are "rigged" to negate popular sentiment while so few are willing to take on the powerful forces that keep the "rigging" in place. Well, I am one of those who fails to take on the powerful so I can hardly be disappointed in others for not doing what I am not doing. Despite my disappointment with the obstacles that keep us from a more direct democracy approach, I have little to no basis for not trying to make our system better.
     Disappointment is part of life and if I am going to abdicate my right to be part of the system altogether just because the system has flaws or is being used for non democratic reasons then shame on me for being weak and a quitter. The only tool we have to protect our democracy is our vote. Otherwise it is chaos or some other form of societal control with less rights than democracy provides us. There is no better form of self rule than democracy. There would be no taking part in deciding the future of our nation without democracy. So my only true option is to participate in our political process while changing it from within.
     Although I may be disappointed while participating I will at least be putting up a fight for not only what is better and right but I will be setting an example to all those who look to me for advice or counsel. There is no perfect world but there is the hope of giving ourselves a fighting chance to live a life with less disappointment. The struggle is there whether we fight back or not so why not fight back? If anything it makes you feel better about yourself and rekindles the passion in your soul that knows the difference between doing and being a good person and not doing and being a good person.

A smile reels us in but it is integrity that is attractive (#2591)

     Surely a great smile is the forerunner of attractiveness but it must have integrity to it to be of value. I have had some time to figure this one out. Of all the people I have met the first idea of attractiveness is the smile. But like all things what the intent of the smile is, is what must be learned. So with more time and patience I learn more about the one who first attracted me. What I find is the person's character, or the impetus for it, her integrity. We are all a mixed bag of emotions, ambitions with successes and failures, but what we all don't share is an honor about it. Some, like me early in life, were more cavalier about our thoughts and actions and a smile was just a vehicle to get somewhere.
     The idea of a smile being the end result or the beginning of a genuineness was not a factor until I learned how much I hurt others with it. Then I in turn felt the karma of it happening to me. For awhile I was cynical until I was forced to accept the realization that anything I offer the world must be genuine and have an integrity to it or it will never be viewed as valuable. The winding path I took to finding out that life is not some great mystery, just a reflection of who we are and how we want to be did nothing for me except offer me years of wasted time and maybe just a little perspective not to use my smile as a weapon or tool but as a forerunner of my humility.
     Now I look for that smile and if it attracts me then the real work begins to see what resides behind it. We are all different and whatever we use as a foundation for our wants and desires is also different. For me, it will always be the smile and the integrity behind it. Although I have not experienced the same back at me with the few who could have, I know that regardless of whether or not I succeed with finding a relationship, I at least know where to look and how to proceed.
     

Take responsibility for your life and own it! (#2590)

     This is why so many still will not let go of a higher order God. They are not able to accept the consequences of their actions so therefore need to have a way to make their immoral/unjust thoughts and actions unconsciously/consciously, go away. It is like the child who refuses to accept reality. If I can just ask for forgiveness for my thoughts and actions then they will go away thank you. Yet we do a disservice to ourselves by thinking that something as easy as oops, will help us become better people. The opposite is more the reality where we almost always do the bad thought and behavior again because it can be so easily forgiven by a God.
     I know I will always have a bad thought or act badly from time to time but instead of asking for help from some belief system, I take responsibility and work to change that from ever happening again. I am my own sovereign, I don't need to pretend that I am anything less. I am a human being trying to figure my way through life as best as I can and not accepting responsibility for my thoughts and actions is less than who I am. I can forgive myself for my life's choices as long as I stop doing the same thing over and over again. I don't need to be fearful or immature about what I do or don't do.
     For me there are few if any shortcuts in life to do anything of value that offer growth and maturity. By doing things the right way we find that there is nothing left forgotten nor undone. Not only that but we are better served by our efforts when they are completed. Life is not that hard. We just need to remember to be the best person we can be while taking the time to not only do things correctly but to take responsibility for all that we think and do. I don't follow everything I think, often I just dismiss my thoughts. But when I act on them you can be mostly assured, (I still make some mistakes) that I am acting in a positive and helpful manner. Why? Because I am the master of my life and my life will be the best of who I can or will be. Period!

Destroying racial prejudice (#2589)

     It is remarkably unsettling to me that I have to write about this scourge of racial prejudice. Racism is about the power of being judgmental. Who has the right to judge another human being simply for being born with a different hue to their skin? How utterly devoid of one's own self esteem. By judging another based upon a birthright factor is beneath decent and moral. The centuries of slavery that was thrust upon those of a different skin color has surely made them aware of racism even today. What is much less apparent but just as pervasive is the mindset that many whites still hold about their egoist right to be greater than those who were enslaved.
     Different cultures have different methods for structure of their societies. That one culture of people see the utility in overpowering another culture of people simply because they could and can is more an infected psychopathy about those doing the overpowering. The idea of conquerer or manifest destiny against those who are of our own species is not modern nor progressive. It is more a testament to the harsh and brutishness of our past and not anything to be proud of. Yet too many of our American society still see racism as something they deserve to assimilate. This is one of the worst of our societal ailments and until we can face the truth of all of our equalness we won't see it's abolition any time soon.
     However as we grow closer together as a melting pot within our American society the lines will cross and the color line will be much more blurred to act as an ongoing catalyst of hate and derision. The evil that is racism will slowly melt into the antiquity of our past and although it is happening much more slowly than we want it to be it is happening regardless of its unnecessarily slow pace. We destroy racism by coming together as a family and then those who hate for their own agendas will have a much harder time justifying it.

Ignorance vs. Intelligence (#2588)

     It is often very common for us to be both ignorant and intelligent at times but for many of us to willfully choose to be ignorant over being intelligent is unfathomable. But such is the case in our current political and social dynamics here in America. Too many of us have allowed our hatred and biases to become greater than our ability to achieve and diversify. The old short cut route is in fashion where many choose not to do the hard work of discovery and instead take the old ways of doing things and trying to fit them into a more modern world. Much like trying to put a square peg into a round hole.
     Life is all about change and most of the thinkers in our society agree that the best change is more appropriate than not changing at all. If we control our way of progressing through time and space then we truly are the masters of our destinies. However others see that change and are frightened so they fall back on those things that brought comfort to the past. What they don't get is that not dealing with the best solutions for change will only make the future that much more difficult to adapt toward. I can deny facts all day long but that does not give me any solutions at the end of it.
     The action of being ignorant is not just denying facts, it is masked behind the worst of our natures. Attacking the messengers, allowing greed to be the final arbiter, settling on selfishness above all other possibilities. There are numerous ways we manifest our ignorance, even trying to make it sound intelligent. Yet we know that without compassion and curiosity we are like the other species, wandering around without the ability to change in a reasoned and thoughtful way. Our human species is absolutely remarkable yet too many of us are not willing to take the risk to live as the better and best of who we are.

Let's claim our democracy (#2587)

     Democracy, or democratic government, is "a system of government in which ALL the people of a state or polity, (polity, which means an organized society)...are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by voting to elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly,"-https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=polity%20definition. Those of us who are currently allowed to participate in our elections need to be mindful that there are fewer and fewer of us because of restrictions on voting republicans have installed at the state level. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gop-readies-new-wave-voting-restrictions.
     If you will be 18 before the November 8th 2016 general election you are currently eligible to register to vote. It is only through the process of voting are we Americans given our right to select our representatives. If we fail to act upon our right as we already see those who have less interest in seeing the majority opinion in our nation will be given the power to overrule us to favor special interests. By not voting we are abdicating our right to our precious democracy. There are many wealthy powerful forces whose egos have led them to believe that they are the only ones who should decide the future of all of our lives. Hence the voter restriction laws by republicans.
     There is still time for us to turn back the anti-democracy crowd within the republican party by getting registered to vote and then actually voting for any candidate that is not a republican. In that way we can remove these nefarious voting restriction laws and give all American citizens their right to vote back to them. I am a firm believer that when given the facts of things without lies and misinformation, Americans will always take the modern and progressive path toward ensuring our collective and individual pursuits of happiness.