Crushing the doubts (#2708)

     When life is touch and go a lot of doubts creep into my mind and I have no doubt everyone else's as well. I don't let those creeping doubts have any room in my mind though. I know where those doubts go. They go to self blame and to fears about what the worst could be. I already know how life works, I don't need another lesson in it. Rather what I do is dispel the doubts and keep my mind thinking positively. Hope is in the title of this blog for a reason and hope is where I find that when things are up in the air as to their outcome, hoping for the best is still better than expecting the worst.
     The worst is always possible but I don't have to live in it before it is decided. That hollow gut punch feeling is going to be there regardless of my attitude so why not be hopeful? I can even draw a positive from that hollow gut punch feeling because it tells me that I still care. Emotion is more than real with me, it is part of who I am. I embrace that and when it is times like this, nearing the backside of my life when souls will be lost that I build up my hope despite eventualities. I am no Pollyanna yet I do prefer to fight hard to preserve and encourage life. I choose to let myself believe that the best will happen despite knowing it rarely does. I fight because it is all I know to do to prevent the pain of loss.
     So when those doubts come floating by my mind which they inevitably do, I dismiss then as unproductive and unhelpful. They are not fuel for me to fight, they are deflating in so many ways. I don't need doubts to counter a happy reality, my own life has enough examples of loss and pain. But I do have a will that is strong and indomitable. When the fighting time is over is when I process reality, not before. In the meantime it is optimism and hope that surrounds me and the comfort and secure feeling that gives me is immeasurable.

The difference between life and death (#2707)

     I shouldn't have to make this a subject of a blog post but we do live in the same world and no doubt you see many who cannot distinguish between the two with logic or common sense. In death there is nothing. Our human form ceases to exist and it decays like everything else has since the concept of time. In life there is much to make life as enjoyable and fulfilling as we wish to attempt. Here is where we fail in life and making the most of it. Many would bring aspects of death into our living. Making life hard and arduous filled with disappointment and condescension. So instead of focusing on being alive many choose to ignore life in the whole as long as their own life is better than many others.
     That the death concept of nothing is a strategy that many living choose is a symptom of our society's inability to mature. It is important that we call ourselves immature and know why so that if we have any hope of progressing it will be because we faced our truths and corrected them. Our society of human beings in the past had held, for some reason, that it is more logical than illogical, to be placated as to death and how it affects our living. Let me make this point crystal clear, death is natural to this existence. There is no escaping it and to deny that it has a fulfillment other than it's own nature is to then begin to create an illusion and therefore an unnatural supplication for it.
     It is difficult enough living in this reality and any attempt to make reality less harsh by denying it's nature is childishly immature. I will not accept that nor any thinking that prohibits me from maturing in the true nature of this existence. This may upset many of you who have given to thinking that something beyond our understanding will protect us. I cannot help that. I for one will not allow myself to quit on life so that I can be soothed by it. I know our species is greater than our fears and although I am not immune to being afraid, I won't live in it nor will I respect it.

Because we have always voted this way (#2706)

     I can't tell you how many times I have heard this from those who will not accept facts as evidence. I have a family member who says that voting republican has been their particular family thing since childhood and there will be no changing that. So blind allegiance to whatever the republican party does is fine. How does one deal with this? I don't know since I have already tried explaining the republican party platform to them. I have even explained what will happen if the republicans get their way. Still nothing. It is as if they live in another reality. Several of them rely on government for their occupations and still back republican policies that would end their occupational positions. Now I am sure that they feel somehow magically that their jobs are fine it is just those others who are expendable.
     Because I cannot see how else their minds wrap around the obviousness of their choice. Yet that is still not enough to shake their view. I suppose their fear deep down has so strangled out any goodness they may have had that no amount of showing evidence of the poor being discarded like rubbish and the wealthy being treated even more like Kings seems to sway them. The survival of the fittest and austerity is their remedy for everyone else as long as they can stay comfortable in their "big government" jobs. It is like the union worker who votes republican. It doesn't seem to matter to them that the republican party is out to destroy unions from existence, thus putting the union worker out of a good paying job, no the union worker who votes republican doesn't seem to be bothered by this.
     Where logic ends and voting for republicans begins is the nexus I am most baffled by. The party of Trump and his haters seem good enough for Christian evangelicals. That is another paradox I am astounded by. I do believe that Christians do not know what it means to be a Christian as long as they get to pretend that they are one. Pretend, maybe that is it. Living life as a pretend makes them not have to deal with reality. Maybe it is reality that has them befuddled and ignoring it or denying it is their path forward. Sad really.

Confronting ourselves (#2705)

     I know how I was raised. I was inculcated with the norms of my biased and prejudiced elders as well as their compassion and curiosity. I was a hodgepodge of contradictions and as a logical type person, that bothered me. So early in my life I had to face those contradictions and decide for myself who I was and what I would represent. I found that racism was hatred and was able to accept that we are all human beings. That wasn't so hard especially when I made friends with many who were not white like me. If found that poverty doesn't make one a substandard person as well as that wealth doesn't make one an exceptional one. That the disparity between poverty and wealth is most often a manipulation beyond our own control.
     So then I started looking at the bigger picture. Granted I got lost for a time in my own wallowing pity, but I did recover and since then have been stalwart for events and circumstances beyond my own selfishness. Again the bigger picture became much clearer, like the chapter, The Allegory of the Cave, in Plato's Republic, I got to see beyond my own imagining. A more enlightened, comprehensive, panoramic view of life and what it could be. I look upon life now as one who would make every life better. One who sees not just days ahead but centuries. Not as a master of the universe who has arrived but as a simple human being who stands ready to defend all that is good and amazing about our species.
     I know who I am and I am always just the beginning of a better me. I am humbled to have this insight into my own nature and privileged to share it with the universe. The worst of who we are as a species is the result of arrogance, intolerance and selfishness. I wont be like that and will fight against it all of my days. No more will I be part of the problem but instead part of the best we can ever hope to achieve. I have confronted myself and worked to strip myself of the past bad thoughts and behaviors I was naively taught during my youth. I am a man now and as such I fight my own fights and be who I hope is the best of who I ever could be.

Why we need strong truth in advertising laws (#2704)

     Let's take the British exit from the EU vote. Most were unaware of the true ramifications of leaving the EU. So they voted based more upon emotion and less than on objective evidence. Much like the Obamacare policy that had gotten so much backlash early on. The objective information was being drowned out by inaccurate and salacious reporting. As time has shown Obamacare to be a success in it's application, the truth of things eventually come out and we are left with the decisions we made earlier without all the facts. That must stop. The only ones who benefit by obstructing and misrepresenting are the ones who are lying, cheating and stealing for some gain while the rest of us foot the bill for them.
     Truth in advertising laws that are strong and punish those severely who break them will stop the nonsensical steps we take as we strive to move forward into our modernity. We the majority do not need the greedy coming in and confusing issues that are important and life sustaining for us. First we need to stop voting for the republican party. They abdicated any pretense of support for the working middle poor class. So they would never agree to handcuff their wealthy base in order to take propaganda and distortion out of our public discourse. In fact, republicans work to increase distortion and discord wherever it serves their purpose. The root cause can be voted out in one election cycle if we would all just place our priorities in order.
     None of this is that difficult. We want a society that speaks to us clearly and without contradiction so that we the people can decide for ourselves the best path forward. The days of elected officials being our conscience is over. They are not our conscience they are our will. They do our bidding but we cannot accurately guide them to speak for us if we do not make them give us the truth. So electing officials who will fight to end propaganda is essential. Democrats, who are progressive and liberal, will do this for us so let's make sure we elect them to represent us.

Everyone must vote for the Democratic party (#2703)

     First let me make this perfectly clear. I am a democrat because democrats are fighting for the working middle poor class. Now our party is not perfectly aligned with all progressive ideals but for the most part we are. We are 10's of millions and we all have differing opinions on how our party platform should be expressed. I get that! Yet there is no other viable political party this close to the election that is remotely close to helping we working middle poor class. So let's say that there are 5 million really wealthy in America. Now of these 5 million, I would guess that most are republicans because well as we all know, the republican party represents the wealthy.
     So I can see the majority of them voting for republicans. So who else would vote for republicans? There are the zealous evangelical who think that America should not be a secular nation and instead be a religious one. Of those are the sheep type people who will follow the political path directed by their republican leaning church leaders as a general rule. So let's go with another 5 million. So far I have about 10 million who would vote for republicans no matter who their standard bearer is. Who else would vote for republicans in a big block? I can't think of another group. So let's be generous and give republicans another 15 million votes to sweep up all the other possibilities based upon different factors like race and ignorance.
     In 2012, there were approximately 127,000,000 votes cast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2012. That would still leave over 100,000,000 voters who hopefully are voting based upon policies that affect them and others. Now maybe I am being naive thinking that there are actual voters out there who weigh such things as policies that affect them. After seeing what Great Britain did in it's Brexit vote we do have to wonder. Yet many of us have been harshly affected by austere republican policies and the difference between republicans and democrats has never been more clear. As the voting time comes down to the actual vote, I am of the opinion that this will be a democratic landslide victory for not only common sense but for the hard hit working middle poor class.

Conservatives only know how to tear things down (#2702)

     Our American republicans, notwithstanding, share much in common with conservatives world wide. I have yet to see policies from conservatives from any country where they actually work to establish policies and programs aimed at building up their societies. Oh, they will tell you that free enterprise and limited regulation are the building blocks of success but we have not seen any evidence of that to suggest it is true. On the other hand we have seen much evidence that it is false. Yet for whatever incomprehensible reasons we cannot seem to make conservatives pay for their obvious greed and intolerance. Are we such a species as to deny ourselves what could be best about us?
     I am perplexed by this. We know that liberal/progressive policies and programs are the only ones that have lasted the test of time and through logical evidence we know most all these policies and programs have improved our societies. Yet we are on the brink of letting conservatives have all the political power in our nations to dispose of these successful programs because...I don't know why. I am ashamed of my fellow citizenry who cannot find the will to be logical and think with common sense. It will be one of the most egregious intellectual and physical outcomes if we somehow allow a republican here in America to become president while republicans also currently control both houses of Congress.
     Surely it will do me less harm since I am on the backside of my life but for all the younger generations to come this would be a disaster to democracy and enlightenment in epic proportions. Living in a metaphorical "dog eat dog" world where the survival of the fittest determines quality of life is thuggish and brutish. Is this who we are here in America? Are we just a bunch of delusional privileged beings trying to have our way like spoiled children? I can only say that my loyalties are to democracy and intelligence so when both of these are laid to waste by republican destruction it will be a struggle for many whose loyalties are the same just to survive.

Republicans are arresting the will of the people (#2701)

     Never in my 60 years of life have I ever been aware of a political party so immune to the will of the people. The worse I remember were republicans trying to thwart the will of the people but finally understanding that they could not continue. The last 36 years have been a truly different story. Now the republicans could care less that the will of the people demands actions they refuse to take. Let's be clear here, republicans are refusing to take action because one of their biggest donors demands that they leave in place existing laws. You get that right? A small but wealthy group of people organized for the sake of protecting their own personal interests at all costs is using our elected representatives as their own proxy vote.
     This is what the republican party has become, the lap dog of special interests. So while again an overwhelming majority of we the people are demanding action on a public policy issue, republicans say no. I have been railing against the republican party ever since before I came of voting age. It seems that the republican party has only one agenda, deprive the will of the people every time it conflicts with their wealthy donors wishes. I am sick of it and as long as I draw breath I will yell it out. The rest of we people who are not the very small group of wealthy that keep getting republicans elected are not getting our voices heard even though we are told we live in a democracy. For those who are unsure, a democracy allows for the majority to guide the will of our nation.
     What we have here is not democracy, because the will of the majority is being arrested in favor of the will of a small minority. It is the republican party that is allowing this and if we all don't come to terms with that simple truth, then those of us who still vote for republicans out of naivety or loyalty will continue to do so thus helping to destroy democracy. It is that simple and that horrible. We the people are the will of our nation, not some small cabal of usurpers. I can only say this with all my mind and heart, if we do not vote every republican out of office for their betrayal of our democracy then we are doomed to destroying the intent that our forefathers/mothers fought so hard to achieve.

Live in your boldness not your insecurities (#2700)

     It is your choice. The choice may be difficult or life changing but it does boil down to how you want to live your one life. Remember, life is finite. We never know when it may end for all kinds of known or unknown reasons. So how do you want to live? Are you satisfied with just skating through life without causing many waves? Are you satisfied with accepting less than what you actually can have just so you don't have to be the one who decides? Whatever the reason, at least admit that your are afraid or are not strong enough to lead your own life. The one thing you can count on should be that the truth of things are real and facing them is the first step toward being the "boss" of yourself.
     I choose living in my boldness and having done both, lived in my insecurities and now my boldness I can say for absolute certainty that living in my boldness is far superior to not. I found that my insecurities were my fear manifesting itself as my own perception that I was insignificant. Well I am here to say that I, nor anyone else ever born, is insignificant. We are a unique and special being capable of so much it cannot be fully registered yet by our current technology. So the myth that we are insignificant is just that, a myth. Now we don't need to rush headlong into our lives without regard to consequences. That would deny our ability to reason, analyze and conclude through logic and common sense. But we cannot allow ourselves to be slaves to those who would take our right to be our own individual self either.
     So the boundary that I live within lets me decide my own decisions based upon what I consider to be my priorities for life. I take the virtue of our best qualities and express them toward any final outcome. I don't see my physical self as the only factor as I move into my future. I see more than that. I see our society and I see what is best taught as an example to those who are coming up after me. My boldness is that I don't live just for myself as a rule, I live for all of us as a desire to make our world better. That is what brings me satisfaction and in my soul I have such a peace that I never thought I could find.

Looking past the action to the root cause (#2699)

     I am no different than anyone else. I see someone doing wrong and I want to make them pay for it. Especially those who harm or take. It is natural to be angry at someone for making our lives harder. I get it. Yet there is always more to the story. How did these harmers and takers get to the point of having no other viable option than doing wrong to live. Some are just bad and could care less what they do to others and some are just greedy and power hungry and will stop at nothing to get ahead. But many are stuck in bad circumstances with little hope of ever getting out of their brutal cycle. These are the ones who have my attention.
     It is as if, through my own experience, nothing good ever happens. I have been down and without a couple of times but luckily I had a few who never gave up on me. I know just how lucky I was back then. Many have not had those few lifelines to begin again with some degree of hope. Many are just lost in the bad and don't have any good fortune on their horizon. So they do what they have to do to survive. Which is to harm or take when it isn't their right to do so. Surely they are culpable for their actions but we as a society are just as culpable when we don't address the root cause of poverty, hunger and lack of education by whatever struggled circumstance.
     We see the poor and we condescend to them. We see the drug addicts and we blame them for their addiction when their addiction is the only friend they know. We have allowed our society to become top heavy greedy and selfish while vilifying all those who cannot fight with success for the table scraps that are left. I am not condoning actions the desperate choose to make, but I am calling out our society for leaving very few other options for those weary souls to choose from. This dog eat dog survival of the fittest crap is what is causing most of our society's ills yet we refuse to change or recognize that we can do better than this.

Altruism is a worthy purpose (#2698)

     I don't care what anyone else says, I am all about trying to help our world become better. The cynics and selfish will scoff and laugh at those like me but for me those who are cynical and selfish are the problem. Not one child ever born on this planet should have to suffer the way we currently allow through our disdain and inattention. Not one child ever born should be denied the same rights that every other child born receives. My greatest ambition is to help fulfill the ideals of democracy. Who would be against that? Well, sociopaths and psychopaths come to mind. There are more but you see the types of incomplete humans I am referencing.
     Those of us who are of a common sense and caring logical mind would naturally want no harm to come to anyone just because they exist. It isn't a fantasy or an illusion to want our world to be more reflective of our better natures than what currently exists. We are not living in a world that has gotten here on it's own. Much of what we are living in has been strategically engineered to be so. Some for good reason and practicalness but much has come about due to the worst of who we are. Those who use power and position in society to warp democracy so that some may have great advantage over others. Democracy in it's correct application would not allow anything beyond merit and talent to separate us from being treated equally.
     Democracy demands that we care for each other as if we were caring for ourselves. It is the most humane government structure that a civilized society can install. Altruism is part of that humanity. Altruism allows us to fight for what is right in the world and to make better the ill of injustice we find. Altruism is necessary if we are to, like our founders exclaimed, make our union more perfect. We live on this planet with each other and we die on this planet with each other. What other purpose is more noble than to make our planet better when we leave it than it was when we first got here?

The arrogance of the privileged (#2697)

     It is easy to spot in those who are privileged, they demand. Not only demand but argue against logic as if logic was secondary to their desire. Now I have been a ramrod on many obs because someone has to set the pace for job completion. That is not what I am talking about here. I am talking about those who put their own personal or public desires ahead of everyone else's. Those that see the world through their own eyes and wouldn't know humility if it hit them over the head. Those that are incessant about the importance of their concepts regardless of an ever changing world. Those that take belief systems and call them fact systems. The definitions of those who arrogantly use their unmerited privilege as a whip against all that would buttress against them.
     I have those types in my immediate family. Where they seem to think that they are the only ones who can conjure a worthy thought or feel real emotion. I have been fighting against this absurd paradigm my whole life. I have felt it's sting where I have been used and abused instead of thanked and congratulated. It isn't glory or prestige that I seek because I truly do know the essence of humility. I realized early on in my life that but for luck and hard work my life could have been much more miserable. Yet seeing those who take from others as their own and then move on to the next prey are the ones who bring my blood to a boil. Especially the young ones who somehow have convinced themselves that they are more worthy than others of time and space.
     Arrogance of privilege has no age limit though and after some time when the arrogance goes unchallenged it becomes natural to those who employ it. They skate through life like they are the chosen and direct their energies to reinforcing their illusion. No wonder so many display a cognitive dissonance because a part of them know they are wrong for putting themselves on a pedestal but they also feel like they are deserving of it. To me they are only playing at living and making life less enjoyable for the rest of us while they are doing it. Merit is the logical conclusion to deciding who is better suited to do whatever we are measuring, not some inflated imagining that we may suffer as a delusion.

Everything in life is a puzzle (#2696)

     What we don't already know is left for us to figure out. What we have already learned is what we have already puzzled out correctly. This is why it is imperative that we are an educated society. It is why I suggest we pay our children and young adults to learn. Nothing will get us to knowing more about this existence than an incentive to learn beyond the traditional arguments we make about improving ourselves for more noble reasons. Surely improving ourselves for noble reasons is an excellent part of the puzzle but it is a smaller part than what we had hoped. We need to incentivize education for our students. They will not only then be motivated by noble causes but by an economic one as well.
     The bottom line here is to create a society that is above average in all educational measurements. Becoming wealthy is not the goal here unlike our current capitalistic system aims us at, but to improve the human condition so that there are less ways our society can falter. We need all of our citizens to be motivated to great intellectual advances. Why not? We are all human and we are all in an equal society sharing space, why not intelligence? What we have now is not enough so adding a degree of wealth to learning is not a revolutionary concept. The goal here is to have a society of beings who are up to the majesty of our mental and physical capabilities.
     Too many of our citizenry are left behind intellectually and instead of adding to our great advances actually hold them back. We cannot continue to have a society that doesn't include as many of us as possible. Forget the profit above all else arguments. Forget the societal restrictions we place on each other through intolerance and non diversity. Forget all of that and let us focus instead on what we all share. We all share the ability to reason, analyze and conclude. Some of us more so than others and that is what is achieved through merit, not some other discriminatory measure. Our Universe is laying at our feet waiting to be puzzled out and the more souls we put toward that puzzling out the better and more efficient we become as a democratic society.

Be ready to help (#2695)

     I got a call from my Mom this morning at about 5 am. letting me know that Dad was probably going to need to be taken to the VA hospital this morning. I told her no problem and then set about getting my shower and such early morning things and awaited on stand by for her to call if she felt the need. She also called my sister earlier who was on her way over to them as my Mom was calling me. So I get the call and my sister was just leaving with with our Dad to the VA hospital but she couldn't stay long once she gets him there so Mom was letting me know that I would be needed at the VA hospital shortly.
     I told her no problem I was ready to go, except here I am writing about this right now before I leave. I wanted to get this done today as it could be a long day at the VA hospital with Dad. He has been feeling poorly with a fever the past few days and has himself been hesitant to go to the VA. But like all of us stubborn ones, he finally must have realized that he wasn't getting better and needed more care than he and Mom could give him. Both of my parents are older, at around 80 and have a long list of ailments already. So the need to go to the VA hospital, which by the way does not have ambulance service is always a great concern.
     I am just finishing my cup of coffee and am about to head out the door to the VA. I might still even beat my sister there from where she is starting out and I am starting out, but the longer it takes me to get this written the less chance of that. Either way though I will be there shortly and my sister Tyke will have Dad checked in so it will be wait there with Dad until we get some information as to what is causing his fever. I will try to post something about it later but the last time I was at the VA the wifi there is spotty. I wish everyone a happy day and remember that when it is time to take care of those who deserve our attention always make sure you are at the ready. :)

The remarkable human species (#2694)

     I sit here just in amazement as to who we humans are. We have no idea about our beginning except to postulate theories and belief systems but no one truly knows. But despite our beginning, we are here now and given that we are so capable as a species tells me that our future in a vast unknown universe is just beginning as well. Regardless of how we got here, we are here and we have extraordinary skills to apply to any known and unknowns. I am still amazed at our opportunity here. If somehow we can overcome our baser instincts and our illogical fears we have the chance to do amazing things as a species.
     Like all things in time and space, we are starting from the point of view of our own understanding. So we use science and technology to help us understand the significance of our surroundings. We have done extensive study of our own planet and it's natural offerings. We know what we need to exist as far as necessities and we know how to artificially replicate those necessities if needed to move beyond our own planet. We are biologists, geologists, engineers, mathematicians, physicists etc... so we are combining our talents in order to master all that is around us. Long after I am gone and after many are gone that will come after me there should be a great expansion out into space and time that dwarfs our meager imaginings now.
     No entity like we humans have shown themselves to exist so it isn't out of the question that we are the most advanced species yet. Conjecture being what it is tells us that maybe there is a species greater than ourselves out there that we may have ties with or be in competition with. Yet conjecture is just that and until we find some hard evidence of such a phenomenon we must assume that we are it. On Earth here we know of the other two long lived species with us, the exoskeletals and the mollusks. We invertebrates have surpassed both those species and have become the dominant life force here on Earth and now beyond if we keep our manifest destiny based upon what is best about us.

We need to pay our citizens to learn (#2693)

     If we are going to remain and continue to be a successful democracy then we need to adapt capitalism to our learning processes. Our children learn early the cost/benefit paradigm and getting them to willfully accept the cost of learning without an immediate benefit is against what we actually do as a society. Therefore we should have a pay structure in place as a benefit for learning. However we get our children to learn is the key and what we are doing now isn't working. Too many of our youth and older generations have not done well with learning and it is hurting our chances to remain a democracy. Democracy is an intelligent design for government and if our citizenry are not intelligent enough to maintain it then it will fall to more parochial forms of government.
     So let's get smart with our children by giving them an incentive to become more enlightened. By paying them to learn we are actually investing in our own survival as an enlightened society. Plus we are also giving our children a hope they never expected. We show them just how important they are to us and to our future. We give them the wherewithal to control their own destiny to define who they are by what they do. We also help lift many millions out of poverty and hunger by rewarding those who can see a path for success. If we are going to be a capitalist economy then let's include that in our educational system which feeds into our ongoing innovative commerce.
     Nothing I am saying here is radical, it is practical. We need to change how we are educating our children and young adults so let's give them the incentive to help us with that. A partnership between a caring government and it's citizenry. I am so tired of not changing the problems we have in our nation and I am so tired of the politicians we elect doing little to nothing to change the never ending problems that wont change themselves. So thinking outside the box with creative solutions should not be condescended to nor dismissed, instead they should be welcomed with the enthusiasm that reflects our human nature to explore and expand.

Tax the churches (#2692)

     I have had it! Enough! If the churches are going to espouse their views on politics then they need to contribute to society like all other entities that espouse their political views. In my early days churches were for uplifting souls to God for redemption, not judging souls for death and damnation. I am not a believer in any religion, so church, God and all that is meaningless to me. However, many others do believe and if political attacks and hatred are coming to them from the pulpit then churches should be required to pay taxes like all other political entities. Because God was taught to be a salvation, a entity that brought peace and harmony to all. What we have today is what I like to call the republican Jesus syndrome.
     A hard punishing God who whips his congregants into submission to whatever definition the leader of the church may desire. It seems that interpreting the Bible is a many stop shop. It all depends on what the leaders' political position is that defines how they read the Bible. It is sickening to me that these leaders pull selective passages from the old testament to hate on different groups of people while ignoring the other passages that do point right back at them. It is a selective worshiping process that has evolved. If you hate you can find a church that will hate right along with you. Just forget that passage in the Bible where it says all the other laws are contained in love thy neighbor. Republican Jesus doesn't hang with that anymore.
     I find that organized religion has seen it's end coming and is fighting hard to keep what relevance it has left by morphing into what placates our baser instincts. Turning humans against humans is now a somewhat popular protocol for keeping a church thriving. Well, everything has a price and if a church has the inclination to politicize it's doctrine then it has to pay the piper!

Humanity is at stake in our next election (#2691)

     Are you paying attention? Do you see what is going on right in front of you? There are two choices coming up this November. Either vote for humanity or vote for cruelty. You get to decide who you are and what kind of country you want to live in. The republicans are offering cruelty. They have defined many as despicable and unworthy of a democratic quality of life. Democrats are offering everyone a democratic quality of life. So if you are prone to prejudice and hatred then you are better served by republicans. If you are prone to tolerance and diversity then you are better served by democrats. Now this is just the democracy for all or democracy for some question.
     There are other factors to consider as well. Like the republicans wanting to end governmental programs like Social Security and Medicare. While democrats want to expand those programs. Republicans want to end the Postal Service and turn it over to private profiteers who will deliver your mail for a significant cost. While democrats want to preserve our Postal Service and increase it's efficiency and further lower it's already miniscule costs. Republicans want to end healthcare for our veterans of military service while democrats want to improve it. Republicans want to keep women earning less than men so that women know there place in a republican male dominated vision. Democrats want men and women who do the same work to be paid the same regardless of gender. Republicans want to lower or even eliminate the minimum wage so that we have less opportunities for the working/middle/poor class. Democrats want to increase the minimum wage so that the working/middle/poor class has greater opportunities for a successful life.
     These are but a few of the differences between republicans and democrats when deciding what kind of person you are and how you see our future. make up your own mind and then vote accordingly. If you respect yourself enough to make a stand about who you are and what you see as our future then defend and be accountable for your vote against any and all who would question you on it.

Prejudice before people is sick (#2690)

     We have words in our lexicon to describe actions and thoughts. Hatred is a word we use to define ill will toward another or a thing. So when we say someone hates someone else we are talking about a nefarious entity. When our own prejudice, a damaging and harmful opinion, has a higher priority than the health and welfare of another person, we can justifiably be called a hater. It is what it is and regardless if we don't like the term hater, it fits. Now, both prejudice and hatred are not mentally healthy nor are they logically acquired. There is a ulterior motive to their being. They both stem from fear.
     Being afraid of what one has been inculcated to despise or being afraid to admit that if not for some unseen circumstance there go I, need further objective investigation. None of us is much different from another yet many of us fight our whole lives to deny it. Even to creating illusions and false conclusions as fact in order to steer clear of admitting that we have much more in common than not. What is even worse beyond our own self denial is the actual harm we may cause to others over our own opinions. We will simply ignore devastation if it fits our narrative. Somehow finding justification, much like the holocaust was for so many who put their prejudices before people.
     Now we don't have anything on that massive scale happening now but instead we have smaller atrocities happening in which too many of us find satisfaction. It is a sickness and an illness folks, to find comfort in the misery and death of others. You do get that right? No matter how other people choose to define their right to the pursuit of their happiness, we cannot be their haters if we disagree with their choice. We are not the bosses of them. We are the boss of ourselves and our wards and children. We have no right to become less human in order to justify our prejudiced and hateful opinion about what life should be like and how it should be lived for others.

Why are people so afraid? (#2689)

     They won't admit of course but they are afraid. They fear the unknown, they fear a lot of the known and they fear their own death. In fact many of them fear their life. Somehow they have gotten lost on the path of life and now are afraid of most everything. Me, I don't care much about anything in particular but instead I care about everything in general. I want a better world for myself and those who are here with me and are going to be here after I am gone. A world where there is little stress to live. A world where the future has no poverty, no hunger and no avoidable sickness. This isn't much to ask when considering all that our planet has to offer. All it takes is a conscience and a will.
     I am one of those people who is highly uncomfortable with having something excessive when so many have very little. I am a proud man in the best sense of the word. I like to share if I have too much. I like to fight for those who cannot fight for their own rights. My purpose in life is to make life better for all around me. It is a simple purpose but there is no higher one to me. I don't need forgiveness from some belief system. I don't need to question my ethics when my ethics are noble. I don't spend time wrestling with excuses or reasons for me to have more than I need or want. I am happy with the truth of things. An easy carefree life dedicated to making life better. I have never felt so peaceful yet strong.
     Fear is the result of doing something or thinking something that isn't right or is a result of a subconscious attempt to not care. I say my nature is to care about things and to wonder about everything else. I have compassion and I have curiosity. The two main motivations that drive my life. There is no room for fear with them. That which I don't know I eagerly wait to find out. I am not restricted with belief systems that spend more time telling us what not to do and put fear of punishment in the mix. None of that makes sense to me. What does make sense to me are my principles for living succinctly described by John Stuart Mill, "do no harm", the rest is doing good.

The political awakening (#2688)

     It has not been like the rules we have been using under our democracy have all of a sudden shown themselves to be less than democratic. They have been like this for centuries. So now that some have been enlightened to them during this current political presidential campaign highlights to me one thing different than the actual unequal rules being applied. What it highlights to me is that so few had taken the time to understand how our past political process' had worked. The idea that knowledge is power seems to have been lost when it comes to politics for so many who now are clamoring against the current rules. My question to them is where the hell have you been when many others of us have tried to bring this to your attention?
     Apparently too busy with your lives to be bothered by something that didn't directly affect you. A rule of thumb for the enlightened, wherever injustice or inequality lives is where we need to be changing it, regardless of it's affect on us. Maybe now those who go to high school will actually pay attention in civics class or demand that civics be taught. To many of us are looking to skate by by the skin of our teeth but unfortunately end up being successful at the skating by. We end up with an uninformed society that demands much but places little responsibility on itself to understand how to actually achieve those demands.
     What the Bernie phenomena has produced is an awareness that the political process of nominating is a hodgepodge of irrational processes that favor one candidate over another. The process shouldn't be what decides the outcome of our elections, especially the voter restrictions republicans love to apply, no, the policies of the candidates should be the final arbiter of how we elect our public officials. Maybe now we can get back to learning like we should and not only protecting what equalities we have but changing the inequalities over to equalities. Our society is a nonsensical mess at times and all of us need to be part of cleaning up the mess with an informed mind.

Nose to the stone (#2687)

     A personalized posting today. I have been chasing an electrical outing in my house, which is an old house with the old type screw in fuses and old wiring with old style plugs and switches. Not all of the house has lost power from the main fuse box but enough of the house to black out at least three rooms. I have been trying different solutions from what little electrical knowledge I have but so far no success. So I bought new fuses and changed out all the other fuses that might be the problem but still no success.
     So a little while ago I called on a friend who works as an electrician and he said he will be over after work this late afternoon. Nice to have friends who actually help when a problem arises. This old house has been telling me it is is need of care at almost every turn and I have been successful at solving most all the problems it brings to me but not so far today. At least I have a back up plan to have my friend the electrician come by and put his knowledge and tools to work to figure out what can be done. In the meantime I have extension cords going to the rooms, which are non vital rooms except one of the two bathrooms.
     I almost forgot to get my daily blog post written because I have been so preoccupied with chasing the electrical ghost all day. A positive out of all of this is that I got to change out a couple of dicey receptacles. Small consolation but nonetheless consolation. I knew when I took on this house that I would have to change many things with the fundamentals but I had hoped I wouldn't be surprised with unexpected problems. Oh well. waiting for the electrician has given me time to do some writing about my day. Which is odd because I usually always write when I first get up in the morning or thereabouts. Well anyway, an odd posting but a glimpse into my day today. Oh, and I did get out long enough to smog my truck. lol.

Our courage is greater than our fear (#2686)

     There are always examples of how we shrink from doing great things. The list is long and tumultuous. However, despite the metaphorical anchor fear restricts us in our necessary forward movement, occasionally our courage conquers our fear and we jump ahead in a magnificent way. The latest was electing our first African/American president. The moon landing and the Mars rovers also come to mind. We are not a species who are always denied our true nature. I speak often in this blog about how we are biological data processors with the ability to reason, analyze and conclude with memory, comprehensively. Having these attributes should make it obvious that we are a species destined to expand our livable environments and explore new ways to make it so.
     Yet we are also afflicted with a fear that dangerously moves beyond caution. Doing nothing or even wanting to go back to less enlightened days is the evidence of such fear. As a community of people it is difficult to allay everyone's fears at the same time. Which is why we need to allay our own fears. We cannot be led to live as a human being instead of living like an inanimate object. We have to lead ourselves to know what we are capable of and then work to make it come true. Life is about trial and error and success and failure. Living as a neutral being just happy to be alive is a negation of our natural instincts. Why be less than human? Why indeed! Fear is why and fear will win if we don't conquer our own version of it.
     I am not saying go out and be reckless, I am saying don't hold back in reserve that which you can reasonably express in thought and behavior right now. Our courage, when employed, is an empowering and satisfying emotional experience. Our courage allows us to grow in ways that we need to expand and mature in wisdom. We cannot let circumstances and situations dictate to us how we must live. We have to do the choosing and there is only one way that can be done. We each have to decide to stand for ourselves. We have to let ourselves be our own biological data processor. We have to live as who we really are and quit wasting time just living to exist.

My life needs to be a little bit messy (#2685)

     Messy? Yeah, messy. I have a pretty good handle on the day to day operations of how my life is lived and that is good to a point. I need to get out and live a little bit outside anything I plan or designate for myself. Life needs to be unexpected at times. Outside the box so to speak. Now I don't violate my principles per se... but I do bend them a little bit so that I am not inflexible to others who have a different viewpoint than my own. I tolerate thoughts and actions that I don't normally associate with as long as they are not specifically harmful to others or myself. I need to be able to have fun and have spontaneity in my life otherwise I lose a part of me in the regular order of things.
     If I am a little messy in my life it leaves open a door for someone to come in and help me clean it up from time to time. Or even to form a relationship over frailties. The permutations are endless when I loosen the binds and fetters I place on myself in order to actually live life instead of just being in it. You may well know that I place great emphasis on being logical and full of common sense for the most part of my life yet even a little bit of nonsense or illogic can bring joy and laughter to me if I remember to compartmentalize it as such. My happiness needs an outlet and the discipline of logic and common sense are not the best vessels for expressing my happiness.
     I am wise enough to know my limitations and/or restrictions but I am also confident enough to know that my failures or successes do not translate over to everyone else. I need to loosen up a bit at times in order to allow for someone else to show their ability to live life. I cannot be the control for all things and I know that. I know as well that I need to be a human being who not only utilizes his abilities for a greater good but for my own sense of humanity. By not keeping every single thing in my life in order, I become more human and less automaton. I need to have fun, it is part of who I am and for that I am lucky to know.

The truth is humbling (#2684)

     A friend of mine told me that I was a humble man. In a good way, without sarcasm. I thought about it for a few seconds and it dawned on me that the truth is humbling. If I stay in the truth I should be in constant humility. Regardless of whether I have success or failure, humility should always be my behavior. I know that I am just one human being in a long line of many many human beings who have lived and are living their lives. There is no special power or trait on my part that distinguishes me from anyone else so for me to allow my ego to run wild with ego driven thoughts of my own grandeur are laughable.
     The best part about who I am is me just being me. I like who I am. I do good things with the intention of accomplishing good things. I like helping people help themselves. Nothing gives me greater self satisfaction than to be part of someone else's success. I have found my own inner peace and for that I am humbled. Peace is in my heart and soul despite all the angst in the world. I often feel unworthy of such calmness and although I get into my own harangues from time to time I can still step back into my own insight and know that I am a safe harbor for myself and hopefully as many others as may need.
     The only quest I am on at this time in my life is for more enlightenment and hopefully to be part of some greater exploration of the unknown. I cannot have any of that unless I live in the truth. The truth at least gives me a conclusion for me to add to the rest of our comprehensive reality. If I keep building up truths I know I am on solid footing for getting closer to understanding our existence and for charting out what we may seek to accomplish in our futures. I am optimistic to the point of being hopeful about our species and our better natures as we expand out beyond our current limitations. This is just the beginning of our human era and what is in store for us is excitingly unimaginable as long as we do our best with who we are and stay humble in our truths.

Survival, what we need to know about our 3rd natural instinct (#2683)

     We humans are not much different from the many other species on this planet. We all have a need to exist. I talk a lot about my philosophy that there are two major natural instincts we humans have, "care" and "wonder". But there is a third natural instinct we have that I cannot subscribe neatly into the other two. So I give it lesser significance to our care and wonder but it still rates as our third natural instinct. Let me try to give my comprehensive understanding of "survival". It exists on a timeline between fear and courage. Everything in between those two paradigms contain our desire to survive. Fear keeps us alive by ignoring or protecting ourselves from harm as well as shrinking away from harm as an avoidance. I occasionally use fear as a tool to protect myself when it is ridiculous or impossible to succeed in staying alive for the most part.
     Fear is also utilized when our common sense or logic dictates that a continuance of something may well turn deadly. So in some sense fear is a good alarm for safety. But many times fear is just being afraid and that is not as healthy when combined with our other natural instincts of care and wonder. Being afraid to expand or learn is always difficult to defend. We are better off learning and growing than to be afraid of the consequences of that learning and growing. Ignoring harms or threats to our existence is also not good. Ignorance is not something our human species should ever settle for. We are capable of much much more than choosing not to know. It is beneath our dignity really.
     As to courage, we must balance our need to know and act with our need to be safe. It really is a critical balance that must be weighed carefully. I can be cavalier at times with my hero ego and try to do difficult acts to save someone or myself with little thought. I have a difficult time with the hero ego since I suffer from the delusion that I can be invincible at times. lol. However, my courage is strong and it is a direct result of my wanting to know, or my curiosity. We humans must live up to our great potential and apply our courage where needed. Courage to face our demons or our fears often leads us to conquering them and then moving on to the next great challenge. It is who we are as a species and we had all better begin to comprehend that.

We democrats (#2682)

     The thing about we democrats is that republicans have made us skittish when it comes to elections. We try to be peacemakers within all quarters of life but republicans are not of the same ilk. So when the republicans manipulated their stranglehold on our congressional districts through outlandish gerrymandering and were buttressed by a sympathetic majority conservative Supreme Court, we democrats were and are nervous when it comes to upcoming elections. We know we have the majority opinion on our side but there are obstacles that republicans have managed to put into place to thwart that majority. Voter suppression tactics being foremost and media manipulation being another.
     So when the election season comes into being we tend to get defensive and let our guard slip as to protecting our democratic principles. We often want to get down into the mud with republicans and fight there with them instead of staying up on the high road and leading by example. I know I am guilty of lashing out at republicans as a means to satisfy my own anger at them. But I cannot lose the vision of what the democratic party stands for. We are the true big tent party where we accept all who have liberal/progressive ideals. If you are an unaffiliated party person we accept you if you follow liberal ideology. If you are a registered Independent we accept you if you follow liberal ideology. We do not turn away anyone who believes that helping the working/middle/poor class is critical to improving our economic and social structures.
     In a more perfect world we would settle on our candidates based upon their policy positions. That is the true test of democracy and the ultimate intent of uniting our base. However we do not have a more perfect world today and in the mix for choosing our candidates are overcoming inherent prejudices and biases that have sustained themselves for far too long. Also is our nervousness over any republican claiming a victory to the presidency. As we make these calculations to guide our voting choices, we must remember that despite our choices all we democrats want is a better future for the working/middle/poor class and none of us is an enemy to each other. We are here to help each other win public offices and defeat republicans where they hold power.
     

Real leaders make life better for all not just for those who don't need it (#2681)

     The republican candidate for president in 2016 wants to give tax cuts to the wealthy so that in his mind the economy would take off. Okay, let's begin with the tax cuts for the wealthy shall we? Since 2001 and the George W. Bush administration tax cuts for the wealthy since then have created an influx of capital for the wealthy while diminishing returns for the ever growing poor class. https://ourfuture.org/fact_sheet/ten-years-bush-tax-cuts-benefiting-rich. Overall, those tax cuts for the wealthy accomplished the greatest income inequality in America since just before the Great Depression back in the 1920's. So for Donald Trump to be following the same economic path as his republican predecessor George W. Bush shows just how ridiculously malicious his candidacy really is.
     That the republican plan to keep cutting taxes for the already filthy rich is indicative of the tunnel vision policies republicans have adopted. Republicans can only see what benefits the wealthy as their purpose in life. Nothing changes with them. Even to the point of cutting or eliminating Social Security and Medicare if need be to balance the budget. http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2016/05/12/trump_advisor_says_he_might_social_security_and_medicare.html. Now let me be clear here. Republicans are the party of the wealthy over the middle/poor class. You do get that don't you when it comes to economic issues? If there is one thing that gets my attention it is my wallet. If there is no money in there I am more than worried. If there is money in there I am much happier. I don't really care who uses what bathroom or who marries who, that is between other folks. I do care about my wallet though and trickle down economics does not work and leaves my wallet empty.
     Keynesian economics has proven to be effective as a model for economic growth and sustainability. It focuses on the middle/poor class and jump starting government support for private enterprises to mobilize a ready and waiting work force. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-30/why-john-maynard-keyness-theories-can-fix-the-world-economy. That the republican candidate for president has gone back to the failed policies of trickle down economics is revealing in that republicans are not about helping the working/middle/poor class. Whereas the candidates for president from the democratic side are both supportive of Keynesian economic policies. Real leaders lead all the people; not just those who pay them off.
     

The ignorance of a republican voter I know (#2680)

     It is disheartening to hear a recent acquaintance of mine tell me he is voting for Trump because he wants all the Mexicans gone from America. I told him that no one would work the farms to pick the fruits, nuts and vegetables. Since generations of Mexican undocumented immigrants have been coming to America during the harvesting seasons. This is nothing new, for over a century Mexicans have trekked across our western lands working the fields and groves. My acquaintance, I won't call him my friend, thinks that we can get younger folks to do the harvesting so the migrants need not come back to America.
    If that had been the case, that our American youth would suddenly turn into harvesters, it would have happened long ago. Harvesting is an underpaid and back breaking job. I know no one who could last a day at the pace the migrant harvesters perform at. Let alone survive off the meager wages they are paid. But for my acquaintance, this was his big issue, kick the Mexicans out of America. I thought about our exchange for awhile after we disconnected our call. It is surprising to me that as he is getting older and more in need of social security and medicare, that protecting these services wouldn't be more important to him.
     Then I thought about where he was raised and who influences him. He has some built in biases and prejudices that have been fostered by those around him. Surely he could well have been a different person if his lifelong enculturation had more enlightenment to it. Stereotypes and superstition seem to have ruled the day with him and now he cannot find reality and what is best for him and most of the rest of us because his filter won't let him raise his own ability to see comprehensively. I suppose over some time of him interacting with me I can be persuasive but then again he still has to want to learn. Living in a vacuum where everything is comfortable enough seems to be an attraction too many who don't appreciate knowledge find safe and empowering.

The purpose of human life is to expand our horizons and explore our environment (#2679)

     We, everyone of us humans has a noble purpose to join. We need to take what knowledge we can get and invest it into our ability to move beyond the dirt beneath our feet. We are not here in existence just to make commerce and strive for profit. That is the machinery of our society, not it's purpose. We are biological data processors with memory and inquisitiveness. Our best utility is to open up new ways of thinking and doing. the Universe is our environment and it is waiting for us to understand it. Our minds are much the same way. We start out as a blank slate taking in all we can as we begin to grow into physical maturity. We take what we learn and apply it comprehensively with reason, analysis and conclusions. A logical progression so that we can become masters of our time.
     Technology and innovation will occur regardless if we entertain to be part of it. So why would we not? Are we satisfied with just existing as a life? For us to have the mental and physical abilities we have to be satisfied with being sedentary is against the nature of humanity. We need to find the will within us to move out beyond a little bit of comfort and push our society to advance out beyond our current capabilities. We are not all scientists or explorers but we have the vision to understand the importance of helping those who do have these qualities to not only fulfill their destinies but ours through them.
     We are a society species. We don't do well all by ourselves. So let us carry each other out beyond what we have now to a new paradigm that expands the existence of humanity to further reaches of space and time. Our future is out into the great void all around us and the sooner we recognize the immense opportunity we have the better for all of us born now and later. Remember, our human nature is unique, we care about each other and we wonder about all that exists. Let us take our biological data processing selves out for a spin and let's see how much better life can be when we are all on board with the new discoveries.