Alcohol and drug addiction serves the wealthy (#2303)

The more of us who are not able to be critical thinkers the closer the wealthy get to having a servant class available to them. When we are more concerned about our next buzz or our next sports game than we are about our opportunities to work, have health care and even retire we play into the hands of the greedy wealthy who see those of us who are not wealthy as less than human beings. They see us as resources to be controlled and to be used. That the wealthy condescend to the non wealthy is not up for debate, it is a fact due to their ever increasing isolation from the general public and their walled off communities. That the wealthy see us only as usable material is also not up for debate either as they continue to shrink the public good at the expense of a caring society. The wealthy want no minimum wage, nor do they want environmental controls that dissuade them from profiteering off of natural resource plundering and ravage. Instead of building schools the wealthy, and their political arm, the Republican party are building more prisons. They are also steadily creating a two class judicial system whereas the non-wealthy are subject to much harsher penalties than the wealthy despite being charged with the same crime. The wealthy don't see America as their country but the world as their country and if they see benefit in some other part of the world despite it hurting America they are eager to forsake America for that profit. There is no doubt about that either as they continue to offshore not only work away from American citizens but they give themselves, through Republicanism, a tax benefit for that off shoring, while keeping many trillions of American taxable dollars in foreign banks. The advantage the wealthy gain from a discouraged and doped up American constituency unfortunately is a lesser priority by the non-wealthy on the actual harm the wealthy are doing to the intelligence and truthful knowledge we all need to see through the wealthy's intentional deterioration of democracy.

Poverty recycles itself over generations (#2302)

I have seen enough of poverty to know that it isn't necessarily the people who are trapped in it that are the problem. It is the lack of opportunity in impoverished communities that propagate the status quo. In my immediate impoverished neighborhood little has changed in the decades since I have moved back to domicile here. The lingering lack of hope that any sustained employment or opportunities to improve oneself is heavy. Where even a large chain grocery store is not available. To get fresh vegetables it is necessary to travel to other communities or wait for the weekends and buy from local temporary farmer's markets. Where a readily willing workforce is here but no opportunities for work exist thus recycling of poverty is our reality. Until our citizenry are led by political leaders who are willing to make hard decisions about improving the future of our communities we will continue to be stuck with a lack of care about the future of many of our citizens. Poverty is a curable paradigm all it takes is the willingness for either private enterprise or public direction to put people to work doing something they can be proud to be part of. We are all human with the same human desires for our and our children's lives. Leaving many with little to no hope for a decent respectable future degrades our possibilities and increases our angst. Easing poverty conditions is such a profound improvement for all of us on so many levels. Not only would we be bringing into our workforce a ready and able tax base but we would be lowering costs needed to help those through poverty paradigms. Giving people hope for a better life is how we rebuild our poverty stricken communities and forsaking none should be our goal.

The power of honor (#2301)

Those souls who live and think in less than honorable ways out of choice when they could just as easily live in honorable ways have only short term gain going for them. Maybe that is enough to actuate their agendas, but in doing so they leave a tarnish on our society and on our species that is not worthy of our respect or acceptance. Their sociopathic natures may make them immune from guilt and shame but nonetheless the being of their guilt and shame remains for the rest of us to witness. So those of us who have a normal behavioral view of honor view those who don't with suspicion and wariness. Although the sociopathic are masters of underhanded and brutish practices that benefit them, they are clueless about caring for the effects of their ruthlessness. The same goes for the politicians in the Republican party who emulate and model themselves after sociopathic tendencies to please certain dishonorable segregating constituencies. There is no honor there that they can claim is legitimate, though try that they may. Wisdom allows us to see comprehensively the words and actions exhibited by those who skirt honor for another less than open agenda. Yet those of us who have given up the selfishness in our own lives are easily able to see selfishness in others so those who are underhanded are easily identifiable. Calling them out isn't so easy since they are ruthless in their protection of their illusions. Yet the power of honor overcomes any resistance to call out less than honorable traits. It is better to be an honest man than one who lives with lies and deceptions all around him. A peaceful strength is a direct effect from the cause of honor even when the honorable act often incites conflict. An honorable mind and soul is a much more dangerous weapon to a dishonorable soul because the truth of things is a greater motivation than a lie of things.

One reason I started this blog (#2300)

On January 20th 2009, President Obama was officially inaugurated as our 44th American President. This culmination from the national election at the end of the previous year in November was such a paradigm shift from all previous elected and appointed Presidents that I felt I needed to establish a voice of my own to record my thoughts about the nature of our human species and the role we play in establishing a new foundations for our future. Such great hope I felt at the time was not much diminished by our President but it was by the Republican party that sought to undermine our new great leader when he was reaching out to them in earnest. The treachery has been well established and although not technically, legally criminal it was dishonest and beneath the dignity of honorable men and women. Regardless, I was 11 days into our new President's term when I wrote my first blog post and for almost everyday, (excluding 3 days in the early years I was indisposed to write every day, which I immediately made up the next day with two posts), highlighting what is best about our inherent natures was my goal. I have over the last few years deviated toward writing about the insipid Republican party and it's flailing attempts to destroy our democracy so that they may install a brutal and harsh bastardized theocratic plutocracy that pampers the very few wealthy and disregards the massive majority non-wealthy. Eventually our society will see beyond the propaganda of the wealthy and examine the facts based upon reality and we will depose the current Republican party of any public influence. Until then my little blog post will hammer them with facts to expose their hateful political philosophy. I had hoped to highlight the greater good of our society with the tremendous dedication our President has shown toward building our country into a more equal and just society but apparently not until we ill informed Americans have had enough of Republicanism.

When the wealthy think they are better than others (#2299)

A common affliction among the wealthy is that they think they are somehow better than others. That somehow through commerce there is magic and whoever has the greatest luck in accumulating profit is somehow ordained as superior. All that that tells me is that they had already felt inferior and because of economic success have reversed their own internal incorrect feelings toward a further new incorrect understanding. Trading illusion for illusion in a way. Let me be as clear as I can be about this, wealth is fortunate and not many people receive it's benefit despite honest or dishonest attempts. It is more a circumstance of fate than any real opportunity of equality. So illogically putting everyone in a race that you have won and then telling yourself you beat them all is just nonsensical. Here is how I handled races that I have won. I congratulated those who were actually in the race and counted myself fortunate that on this one day I was able to win, a race that didn't have any privilege or advantage in the mix of it. An honest race where all of us had the same opportunity to prevail. A humility above any false sense of bravado was my reward because I have lost races as well and I know all too well that eventually we each have our day in the sun. None of us wins every race. Unfortunately, most of today's economic winners don't have that same insightful understanding about all of the humans in our species. The wealthy pretend that they are gifted above all others because of their victories. Obviously we are being shown that good fortune in economic ventures doesn't translate over to intelligence, in a comprehensive way, in the general arena of life. A sad state that the wealthy are on course to continue.

Choose honor over greed (#2298)

I have learned this lesson very well. What my soul reminds me is that if I take what I want when I want it I am not pausing long enough to understand the harm I am doing to everyone around me. When I am taking as I please I am not seeing the nuance of the harm it does to those who are left without. Today, I stand tall with conviction in my heart to be moderate in my desires. I know I cannot have what I want when I want it. That is not right to think I can be above everyone else in the time I have here on our planet. Because our society is fractured so badly that too many do without not just their desires but their basic necessities. There is a political faction in our great nation that wants to punish those who are not like them, despoiling the ideal of equality and justice. While we are in this paradoxical era, we all need to be mindful of rooting out this faction of greed and selfish behavior. Either by voting their leaders out of public office or establishing laws that blunt their attempts to destroy our hard fought for democracy. I am talking here about the members of the Republican party. Not all are bad within the Republican party but those who aren't bad are too weak to stop or control their much more dangerous and reckless colleagues. Our nation can recover from this horrendous display of selfish Republicanism but only if we resolve ourselves to shun and shame them when they promote their nasty brutish agenda. We should all take heed that our species, despite being a formidable force of nature, is prone to fragility. We need to care for ourselves at a fundamental level that gives us a foundation from which to launch the brilliance of our individuality. The current Democratic party is the vehicle for this recovery and although imperfect in some ways the overall strength is the respect and dignity Democrats give to all who would build to improve not only our nation but our species.

Trembling and quaking yet still courageous (#2297)

Even in those moments of frozen fear we can break through and display our courage. Remember courage is not defined by victory, it is defined by resolute honor. I have been scared as much as I could possibly have been yet I still found a way to stand up and defend what I knew was right. There have been other times in my early life when regardless of courage, I could do nothing to stop obvious harm. The wretchedness of being unable to effect honor is crushing. But I look back at those times and realize that it wasn't so much about my inability to thwart harm as much as it was about my ability to want to stand up to harm in all it's forms. The forming of my principled life was created through the wrongs I could not right. Although there is sadness and frustration there for me even at the disadvantage I was at to make wrong into a right, I know that I am not super human and I cannot solve all the problems that exist everywhere, although I still an hopeful. The truth of things is my goal regardless of the outcome that truth dictates. I know this and I don't expect something magical to make it different. But as I continue to live in the truth of reality, I am better prepared for how truth affects me. I am not caught sideways by it's being and in the end regardless of how truth reveals it's outcome, I am still the honorable man I strive hard to be. That is the choice I get to control. My choices about my life and how I will defend them is the only control I need, the rest will be what it becomes based upon factors outside my control. That is why all of us need to prioritize our lives based upon the best of who we are not the settled for what we have become. I may be scared out of my wits by something but I still find myself courageously standing up for what is right regardless of the outcome.

I haven't lost the passion of my youth (#2296)

It isn't strange to me that I feel the same passionate feelings about wrongs and injustices I learned as a youth. The circumstances and situations have changed but the underlying problems are still hot in my blood. I haven't flamed out and become part of what I saw as the problem back then, I have stayed adamant about correcting those same problems today as I was in years gone by. I was right back then to be resolute and I am still right now with my resolve. I haven't grown to ignore what I know is wrong for some gain for myself, contrarily, I have remained steadfast in holding up honor and justice despite my winding path to today. I never gave up on my determination to be a better person, that much I can claim for the most part. Like I said, my path was winding but I never went off it. Things were so clear back then, a wrong was a wrong and no amount of ambiguity could make it any different. I call bullshit when wrong is there and never will I stop doing that. It is unfortunate that so many of us who in our youth rallied to causes that we knew deserved our backing and yet now too many of us have grown up and discarded our honorable values for lesser ones. I hear their arguments, like you don't know what I have to put up with or I can't afford to do what is right all the time. Well, I could have used those same arguments myself but I choose not to, despite the economic and relationship destroying effects that followed. I am an honest man who hasn't lost his motivation for doing right, even when only a few will stand with me. The reason I still do is that I am a leader, like all of us are, but I choose to lead and let come what may. In my heart I am well satisfied and a richness of soul is my reward. No amount of compromising my principles will ever tally the same outcome. We can't change the current paradigm if we are not willing to show others a new and better one.

Keeping up with the Jones' (#2295)

The rat race to put on the best mask we can afford. The silly game most of us play has got to stop if only for the reason of our more perfect individual destiny. Is this the best we can hope for? To be a copy of something that enables the continuation of an illusion? Reality is shaped by how we think. How we think! Not how we are funneled into choices that restrict our right to have our own opinion void of pressure and undue consequence. What happened to us? Is the addiction of wealth so powerful that we are willing to forego our honor and individual identity? I suppose that we don't have to think about what we are trading for our desire to have more and better. All that seems to matter is what is right in front of us and not a more comprehensive understanding of where it is all leading and what it is doing to others who are not seen by we. Is our own self importance the only real choice we are willing to consider. The cynicism that is reflective in our unwillingness to get involved in things outside our personal reality is the cancer that is becoming impossible to cure. Unfortunately our own unwillingness to face the effects we cause on the rest of our species is not objective nor real. We are not born to be a problem, we are born to be a solution. Until we can get past the commercial greed of our current society we will only be remembered in history as the blind being led by the greedy. A short shift in our generation but a damaging one. The setback to our enlightenment cannot ever be recaptured in it's infancy. Keeping up with the Jones' is a term used to describe our insatiable need to have more and better for ourselves than those we associate with. A draconian concept in that a majority of the rest of our species is under the table hoping for scraps from our gluttonous greed and wondering when the mental affliction will be recognized and cured so that all of us can be part of something greater.

The genius of doing what is right (#2294)

I used to think, check that, was conditioned early on that doing whatever it took to further my economic betterment, reasonably within acceptable business norms, was how I was supposed to approach making decisions about my life. For the first part of my life I didn't question that paradigm since it seemed to be what everyone else was also doing. I was just following what I had learned as the way things were done. Until I realized the shadier side of the competition. Often I found that by subtle or brutish manipulation, I could sway circumstances to my advantage. Not really being fair but regardless, acceptable it seemed. The problem with that is though despite the rush of "winning" at whatever need I felt I deserved, I didn't ever feel good about myself. I finally came to realize that I was in an internal struggle with myself. The accepted more's of business did not line up with the truth of honor and justice. I couldn't look at myself in mirror and be proud of who I was. Not only that but I couldn't logically defend my acts based upon my behavior without being untruthful. It didn't take me long to figure out that living my life and competing within interests of the business arena, had to be reconfigured. No longer did I accept that the reasonable practices of business were good enough. What was best for me was to be an honorable man and that more often than not that didn't square with acceptable business practices. I came to know that being an honorable and respectable person required me to be truthful in all my dealings regardless of disadvantages that exposed me to in dealing with economic issues. Furthermore, I came to realize that in being truthful in all the situations of my life I was rewarded with a peaceful disposition. A calming of my soul in that I didn't have to remember the shadier parts of my behaviors because they were no longer evident. The trade off has been an unparalleled sense of living a just life that frankly, no amount of economic success could afford.

We are not meant to be fighting for table scraps (#2293)

Our species is greater than what we have hitherto shown. The idea that we must compete to stay alive is an old and ancient one, yet Republicans are unwilling to move our enlightenment beyond it. On the contrary, they want to sacrifice our enlightenment in order to preserve an unjust and unequal survival of the fittest for the majority of us. The already wealthy are not subject to their vision but those who are not wealthy, are. It would seem that too many of the non-wealthy subscribe to their philosophy for our society as Republicans keep getting reelected to public office. So my initial analysis as to the intelligence of our society on whole is now at a lesser degree than I thought it could be. We are shown the way through the door of our better future and instead we have turned back and want to go to the worst of our past. Our hatred for ourselves who are not like us has grown to be a priority over common sense and logic. When hatred is valued higher than common sense and logic it is then that we know that our overall intelligent quotient is unworthy of pride or satisfaction. I live in this country and as a citizen who participates in the public and private discourse of politics, I am underwhelmed by our possible future. My hope has always been greater than reality it seems. Because reality shows me that too many of us don't bother to care about our futures beyond our own sense of what immediate gratification we can get out of it. The greed and selfishness of a survival of the fittest paradigm seems to have enslaved us to it's yoke. Instead of rejecting the idea that we are just tools for each other we have settled for knowing we could do better but not doing anything about it. A sense of helplessness. Well that may be the outcome for our society through my generation, but I can only hope that the next generation will find the courage to stand up for our species' greater qualities instead of our more fear laden ones.

Where honor is valued (#2292)

Our world is ours, all of ours and what we do with it will define us for eternity. I am not smart enough to know why everything exists but I do know what honor is. It is the best of who we are. If I am the best of who I am capable of being then I have done all I can to make our world into something that I can be proud to have been part of. That is all I have ever asked is to help make our world into an example the Universe would be proud to know. Given that our human species is absolutely incredible it is the least that I can strive toward. There is nothing of value that exceeds my honor. Nothing! So for me to live my life not exemplifying that fact is for me to abdicate the gift of my being human. There is no middle ground here, you are either striving to be a magnificent human being or you are wasting the life you are given. No amount of greed, selfish nor self indulgence can compare with being heroic. All of the bad natures we allow ourselves to carry around is not worthy of our destiny. We are compassionate curious beings who have the wherewithal to create and innovate a future for ourselves and for our children a world where life is celebrated and enjoyed while being bold in advancing into the unknown. I have little to no patience for those who cannot find the courage within themselves to lead. We are all majestic in our possibilities, we have the tools to discover and explore what is unknown as well as to care for those we love. Our possibilities are limitless when we put our minds and souls into what is right and good. Never before in the history of any known civilization has our species been at the precipice of amazing opportunity. Let's us value our honor with all that we are and leap into our future.

When we stereotype we reflect our hatred (#2291)

I cannot think of one instance in my life where I did stereotype that didn't have a hatred component to it when it was to disparage or denigrate a person or a group of people. In my head I kept a three dimensional visualization that picked and chose certain behaviors of individuals and groups that I ascribed only to them. My little pea picking brain, that I thought was almighty, was in actuality severely limited. Limited by my own fears, cowardice's and my own prejudices. I learned a lot about myself early on in life. I was not the great wise youth I thought I was, instead I was the trembling child that we all are when we don't know what we are doing within a far more complicated world. So due to peer pressure and fear I put up a wall that protected myself as best I could and held onto what ever relief that wall gave me despite the cognitive dissonance I was embracing. Because I did see the absurdity of my way of life where logic could only apply if I found a benefit from it. It is a miracle itself that my own ignorance didn't kill me off. Yet I moved from that adolescent mindset as I grew older and allowed the objectivity of the world to sort through my wall of fear. I realized that we are all the same regardless of which race we came from. We are human beings first and foremost and for me to be afraid of that was found by me to be childish. I stopped stereotyping others since in the first place I didn't want to be stereotyped by others. I also stopped because I knew stereotyping was hateful and an avenue for me to express hate. I may hate, but it isn't because of others, it is a product of me hating myself for not being the courageous noble being I know I am inside me. So given that I have the chance to live as I want to live I just needed to make the sacrifices necessary to allow myself to reflect out the best of me, not my own failure to be the best of me.

The devil you know is not better than the angel you may have (#2290)

This particular quote is aimed at recognizing that the bad in our lives cannot be acceptable when we can make the good replace it. We often hear that other cliche of the devil you know is better that the devil you don't. Well, that is a no win cliche if you ask me. So instead of settling for the devil you know how about making the better come about to replace it? Are we so afraid of the devil we know that we are unwilling to stand up to it? That doesn't square with the greatness that we human beings have within us. I am not one for standing by idly letting forces control me that allow for pain and suffering as a strategy. It is abhorrent to me to that any of us would be so cowardly in our thinking as to not fight to the death to make our world a better place to live. Is living as lesser being so desirous over living as our nature allows for us? I am grateful to be alive and my humility at being born as such a magnificent species is unbounded. Which is exactly why I cannot allow living as a lesser being define my destiny. I am proud of my species and for all our gifts and abilities. Why would I ever allow the ulterior motives of others to offset our greatness? I am a noble being who has a warrior's heart. Yet I am no different than any other so how is it that we are all not expressing our determination to destroy those things that make even one life on this planet lesser than it's right? My idealism is not my own, it is all of ours and only until we all realize that we are not lesser beings will we ever stand up for one of our sentinel duties we have to live as the majestic beings we are. This is a clarion call for all of us to live upright and proud of who we are as human beings. We are not the lesser of our possibilities we are the greater of them. Our angels are what make us proud and fierce so why would we live as anything other than that?

What I believe (#2289)

I do not believe in any religion at all. I get to this point by acknowledging logic and the Universe. My life would be so much easier if I did just accept a religion and follow it but that isn't who I am and if my life is more difficult because others cannot accept what I accept then too bad for me. I have a free will as a human being to reason, analyze and conclude. I utilize this mode of process in order to understand the physical, emotional and unknown as best I can. I do not see the need for myself to accept a religious structure that relies on faith more than it relies on real evidence. The appeal of a religious entity that is a kind loving sovereign is desirable by most all that I know but for me to accept that construct I have to give away my objective critical thinking. I am unwilling to make that trade so what I do instead is remain objective about all possibilities without giving any one possibility anymore gravitas than any other. I can see the overall comprehensiveness of our human species' history in light of scientific truths. I can relate to evolutionary processes as they relate to biological organisms. I as well can generally accept that our Universe is vast and the greater unknown of it supersedes any compartmentalization I can surmise about what I do know about it. For me, we humans are at the beginning of our knowledge accumulation era and for me to discount or ignore any possibility would be illogical. Although my particular life span in the overall picture is short I do have the wherewithal to trust in my ability to comprehend as my belief system and all that I gain from that is my reward for being alive. What comes after my life is over is conjecture at this point so no amount of wishing or hoping will fully answer that as fact. I accept that and for me my belief system requires me to be the best human while I am alive and for that I am grateful.

The reason we need to think critically is so we won't be herded (#2288)

Critical thinking is a must for those who wish to live in a free society. We cannot abdicate our reasoning over to others for any reason. We have to be the masters of our own conclusions. First let me make this absolutely clear, all of us are unique and precious. Let that fact be the foundation of everything we do. From there we have a duty to our magnificent life force to have our own identity. We are who we are inside ourselves based upon our caring and our curiosity. Our emotions drive what is best about us and influence how we react to outside forces. Our curiosity is our drive and ability to attain knowledge and experience. When we are at our best we are a compassionate biological data processor that can reason, analyze and conclude with majestic capability. The brilliance of our species is that none of us is any less or more than another. We may have different shades of abilities but that we all are unique and amazing is a fact. So employing our critical thought as a function of who we are is natural and perfect. As long as we think for ourselves and do not shirk or become lazy in our process. We owe to ourselves and our species in general the duty to maintain the best of who we are through our understanding of not only the rules of our society but through the laws of human nature. The one thing we cannot allow is for others to convince us that our thoughts and actions don't matter. We cannot allow some who are devious in their communications to confuse and allow for a less than equal society to become our living structure. We cannot allow those who are efficient at herding us toward their goals when their goals are not what is best for our individual right to choose a better option.

We should as a government, be paying our kids to go to school (#2287)

What better way to get our nation on the right track than to offer to pay for our kids to learn. We give them incentive from the very beginning of their lives to achieve the most out of what they can become. I know it sounds economically difficult but consider that the production and involvement that follows after these kids graduate and move on into their productive lives. Not only would be setting an example that hard work in the classroom has real financial rewards but we will be instilling in them that their success at the beginning of their lives carries on into the rest of their lives. We would be giving our citizens the start in life that we all deserve, a merit based one. No more will we have children that who will just be going through the motions to get their degrees. No more will we have drop out rates in high school that center around the family economy instead of centering around the child's education. We would be giving every child the choice to want to learn instead of having to learn. When education is a joy more than a drudgery we will have changed the whole learning dynamic and with it our children's critical thinking levels. I would even argue that it is a national security issue, in that the more intelligent our society is the better we are at keeping our society free the ills of confusion and misunderstanding. A smart society is a healthy society. The problems eliminated right off the bat is childhood poverty and childhood malnutrition. We also raise the living standards of the parents who must raise their children in the desperate times we now live. A greater consumer economy would also follow due to more disposal incomes, which would open new markets for the entrepreneurial and innovative creators. I cannot think of a better way to infuse our society with a solution like this that would be as effective.

When we abdicate the ethical high ground we are no more a superior being (#2286)

What separates us from the less intelligent species is not our opposable thumbs or our ability to reason. What separates us from the lesser intelligent species is our ability to utilize an ethical balance in our thinking. Our species can identify the ethical rights and the unethical wrongs with clarity when we test them with logic and common sense. It has been a burgeoning paradigm for us since we first were able to understand the idea of individual rights within our communities. Our ethics are a combination of our values, morals and principles applied to our individual and community behaviors. Since we are all different in small and big ways we need to apply our ethics with a broad brush in order to encapsulate all of our unique qualities. When we apply our ethics to ourselves we can pattern our behaviors to not only the larger group of us but as a right to our own individual behaviors. When we cross the thin line between what we think is right with what we want others to do as right is when we get into trouble. We have a general set of ethics for the larger group that we must all fall within. Then for ourselves we may tailor those larger ethics to a more specific ideal for ourselves to maintain our own personality identity. We have been able to do this for generations and although we may disagree at times as to how our ethics are applied, we may not disagree to give all the right to tailor their ethics to the person they are within the general framework of allowable ethical behavior. Equality demands that all of us share in the process of our civilization if we are to maintain an ethical civilization, so banishing one or more groups of individuals from the boundaries of ethical opportunities is the beginning of the down fall or our civilized superiority. We lessen our species by denying it the ethical guarantee of difference.

The freedom from religion (#2285)

I have a right under the first amendment of our constitution to be free from the constraints of religion, as well as the freedom to embrace religion if I so desire. This is absolute and indissoluble. Given that, in no way would I ever consider basing Supreme Court decisions upon the preferences of a particular religion that would give precedence over my right to be free from religious rule. The current conservative majority court is at a point where it will be making a decision that could likely make our freedom from religion null and void. The right to marry is being argued and considered, that it is a function of government, it therefore is under the jurisdiction of the interpretation of our constitution. This isn't a case that is irrelevant to the whole of our citizenry, it is a case that is absolutely relevant to the interpretation of our first amendment. If we are to be free from religion, we cannot have laws in place that place us under the dogma of religion. Many do not believe in a God which is their right. Are they now to be subject to dogma that religion places on them? Are they now unable to marry because a religious interpretation says that their sexual orientation is outside what religion allows for a couple to marry? What is at stake here is not just the right to marry for those who would be denied this equal right but instead a deeper and more pervasive attack on our constitutional rights. When a religious dogmatic interpretation is allowed to be the law of the land we are at the beginning of a slippery slope where the justification for religious rule will have been established over the freedom from religious rule. Next month we will know the outcome of this significant announcement and for me it is either a turning point in the history of our, no little experiment called democratic rule, or an affirmation that our first amendment to the constitution is absolute and indissoluble.

For those who hate there is little hope (#2284)

As time goes on I am learning that despite all the hope in the world that some will turn from their hate and humble themselves it just seems very unlikely. My experience has been showing me that despite their attempts to act with civility and less volatile language in public, they have not moved from the deep seated hatred for those who are hated for no other reason than existing. I don't get it myself. I have lived a life where my destiny has been shaped by me but mostly controlled by others. How can my life be any different than anyone else's? I don't blame anyone for what my reality is so why do these others insist that their problems lie in the fact that others are different from them. It is a bit of a psychosis where the break between rational thought and a fear about differences is the impetus for their hateful emotions. It is similar to the current political dynamic on the Republican party side where regardless of the circumstance or situation that occurs blame is always the same, It's Obama's fault. Something like that. In all my efforts to try to disprove their hatred for others and all the evidence I forward, nothing seems to happen to change their hatred. I am trying to do something rational as a solution but rationality is having no effect on their irrational thoughts and behaviors. I do not consider myself their savior or their therapist but when it is in my face I react to dissuade hatred's existence. I start to feel empathy for them instead and in my mind wish them well as I leave them to their hatred. I have no time for their illness nor will I ever condone it by allowing them the gift of my presence. I have done this with family and friends so my lifetime of close friends has dwindled due to hatred that has all the earmarks of an illogical privileged mindset. Those who seek to judge others for reasons outside their character and actual acts have finally convinced me that I will waste no more time trying to convince them otherwise.

We get to choose our ideal society (#2283)

Because something is or has ever been does not make it what it has to remain. We look around and see the good and the bad of our society and wish we could do something to make it better. We wonder why others don't do the same when it is obvious to even children the wrong can be easily corrected. But there are forces out there that do not wish for better to replace worse because they have some advantage or privilege that they selfishly want to keep. The rest of us don't have to allow them to do so when we know our society is better off for most all of us if a change occurs. We get to choose as sovereign American citizens with rights to advocate and vote for the better change to happen. Just because it has been that way over time does not make it right now, even if it may have been right in the past. Remember, our society around two and a half centuries ago was ruled by Kings and Queens. We saw the wrong in that and overcame it with some effort. We have the same type of challenges today and we must keep moving forward into our better futures if we want to be proud of who we are and what we stand for. None of us in a Democracy is less than another, so why should we abdicate our right to be a force for our ideal society? A lot of times fear will keep us from moving ahead with a better way but fear in and of itself is not enough to stop the nature of our species. We care and wonder as a rule and have shown that despite all odds and fears we are capable of changing from hard and brutish paradigms into curiously intelligent and respectful ones. Our time here on this planet is short and the problems are numerous, yet our souls cry out for our hopes and our dreams to have a reality to them. Let each of us heed our better inner forces and stand tall like a sentinel against any and all who would try to deny us our choice to live in a better world for ourselves and for our future generations.

If you are not fighting for good then you are fighting against it (#2282)

Doing nothing is not an option. Your guilt will be the same as if you were leading the charge for wrong. Life is about struggle to change what is now into something better, there are no sidelines to stand on or any fence for you to sit on. Take charge of what little time you have left of your life and fight for the best of what it should be with all your might. There is no more time to waste. All around us we are given opportunities to be part of something important and significant. Take a chance on yourself and live with your held high because you cared about the integrity you know you have within you. The respect we all crave has to be earned and it is in the earning of respect that we find the vibrancy of who we are. The unique wave that we cause to ripple throughout the Universe. What will be the effect of your charge through time? Will it be a positive one where good draws it's strength? Or will it be a negative one where good loses to the worst of who we are? Are we all not heroes in our own eyes deep down in the little child we all remain throughout our existence? Enough of the pampering exclusion we seem to want from the rest of ourselves and the problems of our world. Enough of it! Everyone of us are a miracle in our present form and all it takes is one miracle for all that is about us to change for the better. Who knows which one of us it will be but the more of us looking to be that miracle the greater the chance the miracle will happen. We are human beings, a superior force in all of understanding. Do we realize just how tremendous that is? We are not something of insignificance, on the contrary we are still something greater yet to be defined. Take up the cause of all of humanity and claim it for yourself. You will live the most self fulfilling form of yourself. 

When we should be promoting Democracy, not destroying it (#2281)

The idea of one person one vote should be heralded as the greatest political achievement of our species' history. We should be doing everything in our power here in America promoting the absolute right of the individual to choose how we operate our society. It should be a common objective of all of we Americans to expand the concept of self rule throughout the rest of our planet's societies. Yet we are not able to do so with impunity since too many of our Republican political leaders here in America are determined to restrict the right of one person one vote rule to those that disagree with their agenda. The political leaders we have governing our policies are not at the beck and call of their constituents in equal measure. Instead, the Republican party elected leaders are less concerned with the advancement of democracy and more concerned with an agenda that only bolsters the already wealthy class. By subduing the one person one vote ideal, Republicans hope to establish a patriarchy of sorts reminiscent of a plutocratic form of governance. Where the overwhelming majority of citizens who are middle/poor class have less say in the governing and the wealthy class have more say. Through laws that are designed to prohibit eligible middle and poor class voters from voting, the minority party Republicans are able to "win" many elections they would otherwise lose if all eligible voters were allowed to vote. Through this Republicans are the problem in otherwise promoting democracy around the world as Democracy is not their priority. Consolidating power is their agenda and if it means the thwarting of Democracy they are willingly able. The critical time in our country's future is fast approaching and if we don't all realize it in time we will likely not be able to hold onto the Democracy our foreparents fought so hard to give us.

Rage is a response to senselessness (#2280)

I do not condone violence as a solution. Yet when there is nothing left for those who have had enough, then at least I can understand it. We are human and are prone to being emotional about those things that rile our anger, especially when the riling of our anger is not appeased with solutions that are fair. The utter mess that has become synonymous with Baltimore, Maryland is just such an example. Where the serve and protect police force has become something beyond that. A mindset of strong arm tactics aimed at the populace there has root in the general attitude our society prevails upon those who are "others" and/or "poor". It isn't just happening in isolated places. Throughout our country there are police forces gearing up and actuating military style assaults directed at historically suspicious Americans. We have become the enemy to ourselves based upon some general fear that has been propagated by too many right wing bull horns. So now that the pot has been stirred the result is a mishmash of unequal and uneven violence under the color of authority against those who are more vulnerable and less able to defend themselves. The application of laws is as well uneven in that the wealthy are rarely accused or convicted of law breaking when they have indeed broken the law and are less subject to strong arm police tactics as well. While the poor and the less fortunate are the focus of law breaking and are treated with so much less respect and much more heavy handed abusive control. Our nation is being ripped apart along the lines of wealth, race and privilege and although the ones who are hurt the most by this are being systematically restricted in engaging in the necessary political solutions to correct it, such is the result of rage exemplified. Where no other recognizable recourse can be found rage will appear and demonstrate itself.

Our government reflects our care (#2279)

Our government is the entity that reflects our care. We cannot count on the wealthy to see the difficulties the many rest of us must endure so we set up social programs that try to alleviate the worst of harm caused by inequality, disability and prejudice. When we allow the wealthy, through the Republican party, to take from our government our care for each other is when we see the decline in enlightened civilization. Our society transforms from being a benevolent one into one that is cruel and brutish. This is why we should never let into political power those who want to run our government as a business. it isn't a business, our government is more like a human being who tries to be the best of what humanity can become. The current Republican party is the vehicle for the wealthy to take from "we the people" running our government to the wealthy controlling how our government functions. The sooner those who historically have supported a more compassionate Republican party wake up to the turn for the worse their party has taken the sooner they will able to join the rest of us to oust Republicans from control. Our past human history has shown us the oppression and subjugation a society has to endure while be controlled by a few powerful souls. It is ugly and some of the worst representations of how bad humanity can be to itself. We overcame that a few centuries ago and established a country that is ruled by the people, not just the wealthy. But if we don't snap out of our inability to recognize the theft of our democracy from us by the wealthy then we are no better than the frog who stays in the slowly warming pot unaware that it is reaching it's boiling point and we will be cooked by it. The greatest purpose each of we Americans have right now is to protect our democratic way of life, before we wake up and realize it is already gone.

Politics is simple, do no harm (#2278)

Even a greater priority than doing good is doing no harm. I feel kind of foolish for having to say this but the Republican party has driven me here by their open threats to do just that, harm. By protecting rapists and blatantly starving children as just a couple of examples we see that Republicans have an agenda that does start with doing harm so that we are distracted from their real purpose to further enrich the already too wealthy. The Republican strategy of playing us off against our own weakling fears and intolerant prejudices is working well and with all that infighting among us non-wealthy to occupy us, Republicans are free to continue to press for greater wealth rights for their real base, the top 1% of wealthy in America. If you think that understanding politics is too hard for the otherwise time strapped regular person, think again, it isn't. Just remember that if it does harm to regular people then it is a bad policy. So who is doing the most harm to regular people? Start by knowing that Republicans want to take our social safety net and either privatize it to the wealthy so that the wealthy may profit from it or eliminate it altogether. That is harm to regular folks. Republicans are against Universal medical coverage, or as we have now to a lesser extent, Obamacare that gives regular folks the great opportunity to have health coverage, that is a harm to regular folks. Republicans make voting more difficult for the student, elderly and women. This is harm to the regular person. Republicans are more apt to start a war than to negotiate a peace. There is no doubt that regular persons are the unlucky beneficiary of this immoral harm. The regular person is only as good as cannon fodder for the Republican war hawks who like to start wars and let the non-wealthy fight them. Politics is simple if you just think in terms of who is being harmed.

Ignorance is bliss if you don't like to think (#2277)

How many times I have heard the excuses about how little time we have to stay informed as to our nation's goals and aspirations. I am too busy to keep up with politics or how our society and democracy works. I just trust those we elect because they will always do what is best for all of us so I don't have to waste my time thinking about it. All a bunch of crap lies just to avoid having to actually engage our brains and think. Is it such a hardship for us to actually have a conscious thought about how our society is evolving? It seems that in general we will lie, cheat and steal in order to avoid having to be part of how our society should best operate. Is it the conjunction of possibly having to serve on a jury that keeps too many from registering to vote? I ask myself these questions about why too many of us don't care at all about voting or about who wins these elections. Is it because they chose to be ignorant as a strategy so that they don't have to think on these subjects for themselves? What kind of citizens are we nurturing? It seems that capitalism, the hunt for money, legal or otherwise, is our main passion for living. Which strikes me as an intent toward greed and selfishness as a rule. So that must be it that greed and selfishness is acceptable although many would dispute the truth of this. Dispute away but that doesn't make the case for it not being true when the evidence shows differently. I guess that in the end the majority will have it's way with us and right now we have a hard time getting the majority of us to show up at the voting booth. So those who don't vote will be the ones who shape our country's future and that sadly is where we are right now.

Our proving ground (#2276)

This is what my life is here in this existence. Since I am only alive for a short time here the idea that what I do matters becomes increasingly clear. It is not just some random event for me, despite that possibility. I believe I am here with all that I am, not as a random occurrence but as a sign of what I am becoming. I have always felt a kinship with our Universe in some unexplainable way, not as a religious God worshiping soul but as a part of what this existence can and could be. What I contribute to the record of all life is important to me as the highest priority. It is easy to forget that and fall into the passions and desires of the day and allow myself to consider only my own self and my needs. Yet I don't fall into that easy trap anymore because I know how hollow and unfulfilled a life it is. So instead I work everyday to remember what is best about me and what I want for all of us. I gain a perspective that exhilarates me and as well fills me with resolve. I am proud of who I am now and what I stand to be scrutinized for. This is my proving ground so to speak. My life is an examined one by me and any and all who can be objectively honest. I find less and less fault and negative traits for me to reverse about myself and instead I see more and more positive acts and thoughts that occupy my time. Our species is important to me and so are the lesser species'. The compassion in my heart for all things is only rivaled by my curiosity for all that I can process. Several years ago I came to the realization that we humans have two dominant traits, compassion and curiosity. I live those traits now and for what it is worth that is how I prove myself. As I continue to live a more compassionate and curious life I get that much closer to proving to myself and to the history of time that I matter and that my purpose here in this existence is of a positive value in shaping the future of our species.

Giving is such a sweet experience (#2275)

Nothing in life is better than giving when the giving is so needed. It has been the story of my life that whenever I have had a little more than what I need to get by I always seem to find a cause or a person(s) who has a need that I can alleviate just a little bit. The way I have lived a good portion of my life is that I am fortunate to be a big and powerful man who has the dignity and inner respect of myself to want to be a leader who leads by example. I don't command respect or obedience to anything I say or do, instead I look at any situation with a caring and curious eye. That I want the best for all of us is at the heart of who I am so everything I do reflects that inner core of mine. So the idea that I would ignore some things because I don't see a benefit for myself is contrary to everything I am. What I have found is that by leading with the idea of being helpful when I can, I not only earn respect and admiration is small ways but I feel better about who I am. There is nothing in the world quite like feeling the emotion of doing something powerfully helpful even if it is sometimes in very small ways. If I had more resource to deal with I could do more good since I am not about being selfish, I am about sharing. When I feel best about myself is when others feel good about themselves as well. Happiness is achievable when we set out to include all of us in it. I can only control what I do and say, when I follow the best of who I am inside me. I am living the happiness I so desire for my life. I know what regret is and I never want to willingly put myself in it's despair so when I feel vulnerable about what little I have I instantly remember that none of us is guaranteed anything in this life and life itself is fragile to all of us. So no mindset of "I deserve" for me because we all deserve not just me. Until we all get to have our own grasp on happiness I will continue to find ways of giving that bring me mine.

Those who bring us down are not lifting us up (#2274)

I can always tell how my day is going by how I feel about things that have happened in it. Truly that is not a surprise but in those days where nothing dramatic happens to show me conclusively how things are going it is the subtle little things that I must rely upon. This is where my conscience and emotional well being comes into play. How I have acted or spoken often determines how my day goes. So it is important for me to keep my own disposition on the up and up in order to keep my day in a positive way. Being around people who bring me down as an intent is a non starter. We all can tell who these people are, they seem to have trouble and drama pouring out of them in a never ending flow as a reason for being. I like to think that if I needed trouble and drama in my life I could easily supply it myself if I was so inclined. I am not inclined that way so why should I allow others to bring it into my life? I don't need the hard and uncomfortable work it offers nor do I need a distorted sense of entertainment. There are too many others out there who have real trouble and drama in their lives through no fault of their own and would happily see an end to it if possible. Helping people with problems is a healthy perspective from my point of view but not so if it is done to enable others to create even more trouble as a rule. I like people who appreciate bettering themselves, not those who are always looking for a bigger and better crutch. I don't know why I am writing about this today but obviously it must be at the back of my mind needing to get out. In summary, keeping myself in a healthy state of mind requires me to put out effort and it also requires me to eliminate those from my life who could care less about my state of mind.

Focus on solutions not just the blame (#2273)

Solving problems and creating new opportunities is how we make our future better. I know that those who want to point fingers at others for causing problems make a case that all who do wrong should be held accountable for it. I agree but in a prioritized way. Understanding the dynamic of a problem and it's effect on us is the greatest priority. We need to break down how the problem is instituted and how we can change or eliminate the process by which the problem has evolved. Bringing our focus toward an efficient and healthy resolution, we start from a new foundation that gives us all a better chance to succeed. Now I know there forces out there who despite the problems we are having do not want to change from that problem because they have been profiting off of it. However, those who are reluctant or downright stubborn to change must be overruled by the majority of us who see that a current policy or procedures are unsustainable. Logic and common sense must win the day over greed and obstinance. For those who would stand in the way of finding solutions to our problems, they must be dealt with in a manner that evaluates their obstruction. But that is after the fact of solving the problem. There is a bright side to every consideration and the more we implement the best of solutions the more we will be able to satisfy all those who are directly effected. Our society takes great pride in our ability to capitalize and create opportunities that better our society. When the betterment of our society is not the goal then a greed has set in that must be removed. There is too much greed now in our society and it is harmful to the health of our democracy and all of our pursuits of happiness. We must change what we are doing for the wrong reasons and begin doing whatever it takes for the right reasons. It is our duty to improve our society for each following generation and solving our problems today does just that.

Common sense has to kick in eventually (#2272)

The Republican party has no qualms about keeping women barefoot and pregnant, literally. Republicans support the idea that the purpose of a woman is to be subject to their husbands and if they don't have husbands they are revolting against the Republican vision for our society. That women are still voting for Republicans is what concerns me most. Eventually the common sense of the rights of women as equal with men is going to kick in and then the Republican party will be sent to oblivion. It is the waiting that is torturous to the rest of us for all women to understand that they have fewer rights to exist under Republican policies. I have faith in women though that despite the Republican party attempts to scare and over power women with false ideology and strong arm tactics, women will quit supporting men who only want to use them for their own purposes. Come join the Democratic party women where we treat everyone the same regardless of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief and every other difference we all celebrate. It makes sense to be part of a Democratic political party that wants to improve life in every paradigm without leaving anyone behind. As mothers, women should know that love for our children is not lost on anyone with a conscience. So improving our world so that they may experience and discover their talents is paramount to the success of our nation. Republicans don't allow for tolerance and diversification if it doesn't align with their male dominated ideology. I am a man who knows that every life is sacred, not just men, and thus all of life needs to have a strong advocate to protect that ideal. But my advocacy can only go so far, so the rest of you women who cannot find your way yet to discarding the Republican party and it's shackling precepts, reverse course and see the Republican party for it's less than female equality.

If you want to be happy vote Democrat or if you want to be mean vote Republican. It is that simple! (#2271)

Long title but it gets to the point. In my experience it is easy to tell who votes for Democrats and who votes for Republicans. Democratic voters tend to be easy going and full of understanding, while Republican voters are far more closed minded with their beliefs regardless if those beliefs hurt other people. I don't know why people chose to be Republican voters unless somewhere inside them they think that the only way to solve the world's problems is to expand a mean and brutish society. I tend to think of Republicans as demigods who base the lives of others on how they think they should live. If you don't live up to some artificial standard Republicans have illogically constructed then you are not worthy of a respectful existence. Whereas Democrats seem to want to let everyone have their own perspective as long as it does no harm. Think about that, doing no harm is quite a philosophy if applied to all aspects of our lives. Surely there are times when one must defend what is right and good but not at the expense of right and good. The profound difference between Democrats and Republicans is in their vision for our society. Democrats want a society that is creative and innovative while protecting the less fortunate among us. Republicans want a society that is inhibited by dogma and restrictions designed to separate us while leaving little to no protection for the less fortunate. Just look at the way Republicans are continuing to advance the already out of balance income inequality dynamic. Republicans continue to advance even more legislation designed to increase wealth for the already too wealthy while doing little to nothing for the overwhelming majority of the rest of our citizenry. Democrats are the polar opposite, the idea of income inequality is a problem Democrats are striving to solve and bringing our society back into a harmonic economic balance is just one of the goals of the Democratic party.

The unknown is where possibility lies (#2270)

I don't accept anything that tells me to be afraid of what I don't know. Nothing in this existence is scary to me except not being able to discover. I have such a need to know that I have concluded that my curiosity is at the heart of my being. I also care, which is the second component at the heart of my being, but for today it is my curiosity that I will examine and defend. Anything that is based upon logic and science will get my attention as to being real and factual. So, armed with an open mind and the ability to reason, analyze and conclude, I advance into the unknown with a courage and boldness bestowed upon us all as basic human beings. I will say this here again, no being that has ever existed in our history has the capabilities that we humans have. Think again about this, we are biological data processing sensors with memory. Because of these unique abilities we can create and innovate through our imaginations. Now we can let our imaginations scare and put fear into us if we so choose, however it is not what I choose. I prefer to take what could be and search to find if it can exist. I see only one way forward based upon the positive aspects of our best qualities. I am a leader of myself that has no fear to know what I don't know. On the contrary, I have an insatiable desire to know all that I possibly can. For me, moving forward into the present and future requires me to investigate all of existence with an objectively open mind. I will not shackle or fetter myself with customs and mores that deny me the right to know what I don't know. I won't allow inhibition or prohibition through superstition or myth to allay me from grabbing this world with both hands and shaky the Earth to find out all of it's secrets. Life is too short for me not to be the best organic bank of processed information and calculated possibilities. The unknown is my destination and I am determined to discover it.

The oppression of white privilege in America (#2269)

The idea that after centuries of white ownership of darker skinned slaves, white privilege would somehow magically dissipate from the psyche of those, especially from the civil war confederate states, is ludicrous. These white slave holders had their slaves taken from them as well as their right to have them. They did not wake up one morning and realize that slavery was inhumane and dishonorable as a human activity. They were ordered to release their slaves at gunpoint through a hard fought national war. So now 150 years later the sting of having their "property" taken from them is still a smoldering anger unchanged. Certainly the time that has passed, along with moral, legal and biological considerations, have given rise to the fact that we are all the same except for the obvious innocuous skin pigmentation variance to allow for many to have evolved past the idea that slavery was/is a right. But too many have not evolved to the idea that slavery or second class citizenship isn't a right given to the white race as an advantage to determine for others. For me the reasoning is complex. Many still feel that by admitting or accepting equality for all they would leave themselves, through their ancestors, vulnerable to reprisal for their nefarious acts. Others are not convinced that the darker races are enlightened enough to be on equal footing with them. Regardless of their fear based reasoning, they are empowered by the idea that white privilege is theirs and that advantage is to be protected at all costs. The psychology it takes to hold an obviously disproved paradigm like white privilege is rooted in selfishness and greed. What kind of person would look at another and see property instead of individual possibility? The current logic of the conservative majority on our US Supreme Court would like to tell us that prejudice and bias are not a factor anymore in our society yet all indications of that being true are rebutted by reality.

The liberal/progressive Democratic vision (#2268)

A world where everyone has the right to exist in equality under law. A world where education is provided to all in order to give everyone the same opportunity to succeed. A world where the health and welfare of all is a priority at a foundational level. A world where everyone has the right and duty to participate in our politics. A world where no one or group of people can skirt above the law. A world where the right to either worship a God or not believe in a God is equally protected as sacrosanct. A world where males and females have the same rights of how their bodies function without being restricted separately or equally. A world where science and technology are accepted with logic and common sense. A world where the good of all is more important than the good of some. A world where poverty is not an acceptable outcome. A world where hunger is not be be borne! A world where diversity and toleration cannot be undone by anyone or anything. A world where happiness is the ultimate wealth. A world where honorable justice is served for wrongdoing and accolades are given for selfless acts. A world that seeks to expand our knowledge into the space beyond our present living. A world that sees that everyone of us is special and needs to be given every opportunity to achieve it. A world where the best of who we are is the rule and not the exception. A world where all of us see honor in all the things that need to be done to keep our society functioning to the best of it's possibilities. A world where we are all proud to be part of. A world that should have been here when we were born but instead was not. A world where we all can make it happen if we all only cared more about making it so.

Less about me (#2267)

How hard is it to say those words. I am finding that it isn't that hard when I keep my perspective. Usually it is all about ourselves and what we are doing. I get that and for the most part have lived that way most of my life. Like I started out behind and have been trying to just get back to even my whole life. But that isn't what is real. Most everyone of us starts out behind and for the most part we never even get close to even by the end of our lives. I get that as well. It took me long enough to find this truism and thankfully I have arrived in peace with it. So instead of trying to make my life more like I think it should be I try to just do the next right best thing that comes into my life. I don't get to decide what good and/or fair thing to do I just have to do the next good and/or fair thing. So enough about what I want and more about what I can do for those and myself who need what is more necessarily needed. Let me explain this way, I want my legacy to reflect what it is about me that is worthy and honorable. I don't want that to be selfish nor greedy. So here I am wondering what to do next when opportunity arrives. It isn't about how fortunate I may be or how fair life is being to me, it is about what do I do when necessity and opportunity crosses my path. Many times I have said that the chase for wealth and power is overrated. What is more important is how I live and act. Am I someone who is admired for doing things that exemplify care and wonder? Or do I get admiration for being haughty and conniving to get advantages that aren't mine? Life is really simple, and for me to keep myself grounded in who I am and what I do I first must challenge myself to be the best person I want to be regardless of the circumstances or situation. I am being tested daily and for me I feel the joy of success as well as the guilt and remorse of failure. The joy of success is my choice and each day I get closer and closer to having that full time.

Separation of church and state (#2266)

If any one thing was the cause of the great migration of immigrants to the colonies of North America and a primary establishing principle in the formation of our country, it is this, the separation of church and state. In Europe, Church and Monarchy ruled together to inhibit freedoms of their citizens and as such became the impetus for those who sought more enlightened liberty to go to new lands where they could practice liberty on less restrictive terms. When our forefathers/mothers came to recognize in establishing our new democracy that ruling dynasties and religious dogmas had no place in our political structure, they formed a government based upon elected representation and freedom from religion. What is gave us was a newly modern political apparatus that allowed for freedom of thought, imagination and creative innovation to be our pathway toward a more perfect society. Without the restrictions of monarchical and religious rule, we have been able to focus our attentions on improving our lot in ways that highlight equality and fairness. This has worked to improve our society in ways that give all of our citizens a say in how we shape our futures. Intolerance and segregation no longer are the paradigms by which we have to strain our relationships through, we are able to justify our rights based upon nature and self awareness. With a separation of church and state we not only don't have to be affiliated with any particular religion we can also be affiliated with any particular religion. A genius and wise idea that gives us equal rights regardless of our choice. When we take away the ideal of separation of church and state, that was memorialized into the first amendment of our constitution, we gut the heart and soul from our precious living document and render it merely a hollow piece of paper.

Instead of solving problems, Republicans create them (#2265)

If you hate those who are not you and you think you are better than others then you may well be a perfect fit for the Republican party. It is so stark now just how divisive the Republican party has become. They want to help the wealthy with every resource available to them while taking away any help for the underprivileged and ill served. This is how they want to "fix" our economy and social order. The problem with their approach lies in the fact that advantage and privilege still corrupt our democratic processes. Instead of working on changing that biased dynamic, Republicans just accept it and then expect everyone to adjust to an unequal process for trying to achieve happiness and success. By ignoring the fact that the many are at a disadvantage in most every way, Republicans can tell themselves that everyone has the same chance, regardless of the long odds the many are facing. For the wealthy, the odds are short that they will succeed since they are already receiving the best educations and the best offers for opportunity. Eventually the many of us will get tried of being a second tier citizen and hopefully we will oust Republican politicians from our politics. I say hopefully because the Republicans know that they are vulnerable to being voted out so they have been instituting laws that make voting harder for the many. What is really attractive for the members of their party is the idea that hatred is being codified into law for them by their party. Through discrimination and intolerance, Republicans can now take a "by your leave" with full condescension without ever having to acknowledge it publicly. America used to stand as the melting pot for the world's oppressed and freedom seekers. Not so today, America is starting to resemble the Europe of old where Religion and authoritarian power were the rule not the exception.

The next 18 months of presidential campaigning (#2264)

From here on out until November 2016 we will get bombarded with the two political parties and their visions for our future. Except that one party, Democrats will actually have policies you can either get behind or attack. While the other party, Republicans, will not have policies to choose from instead they will attack what the Democrats are proposing. Why you may ask? Because they don't have much of anything the majority of voters want so instead of proposing things they don't believe in they will attack the things the rest of us believe in. It is a strategy that has had limited success in the non-presidential year national elections. Republicans are the minority party in the US and they have chosen to rely on less than positive tricks to make their case for staying in power. Now obviously I am a Democrat since I have little love for the Republican party mostly because they have no love for 90% of the American citizenry. I say that because Republicans want a small government that doesn't regulate large businesses, allowing them to set their own health and safety standards that affect the rest of us. Republicans also want to eliminate national and state social safety net programs because they feel that a survival of the fittest mode for humans is compassionate enough. What little Republicans do want for government to control with unlimited resources is police and military functions. So, when you look at the Republican party's agenda it is similar to the novella, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Republicans are represented by Ebenezer Scrooge, a man who exemplified the cold-hearted miser, bent on power and greed, while the Democrats are represented by Bob Cratchit, a man who is condescended to and underpaid for his hard working ethic. Nothing in the foreseeable future will change this dynamic except how it is played out in the media. 18 months is a long time to have to realize that it takes only a few seconds to decide which side you will vote for.

I am the solution, not part of the problem (#2263)

Each day as I start a new one I collect my thoughts around what I want to accomplish. First it starts with me. I have to have the right outlook on life as a beginning. I present myself with a positive, happy attitude. Ready to interact with anyone in an upbeat way, regardless of the conversation. I focus on what is good and possible about life and steer the conversation that way. I am the solution, regardless if me as the solution is basically insignificant. What matters most to me is that I am trying to make our world a better place and that is all that I can control. I live for a better lifestyle than I have previously allowed myself to experience and I think of a better way to live in the future. I am improving each day toward something better than yesterday. Despite all the chaos around me I am as clear in my vision to be a better person than anything else. Hopefully my regimen will be contagious and others will try to exemplify a bettering as well. Life really is too short to be wasting it on trivial and selfish nonsense. I am proud to be a human being and if there is anything I can do to promote an example of a better human being then that is my agenda. The best part about being someone who cares about all of us more that I care about myself is the reward. Surely you have heard about the oxymoron, give something away to receive? Well this is it for me. I give of myself and what I get in return is not usually something tangible but instead it is a sense of self worth and achievement. A satisfaction about how I live and who I have become. An inner peace that cannot be purchased or sought through any other means. Should we all take this approach to life our problems would be few and our solutions would be many.

The simplicity of Occam's razor (#2262)

In a complex and ever changing world, it is important to be able to conclude and answer without making everything subject to an absolute. There are times when an answer is needed regardless of the fallibility of the answer. Our best guess has to do when we are at a crossroads in which no answer is worse than a less than perfect answer. The necessity of concluding far outweighs the inhibiting reality of not concluding. Now not in all cases but in most. That is why it is important to winnow things down to their simplest components. Which is where Occam's razor comes in. Choosing to go with the simplest explanation when two or more competing theories are in play is generally the right choice. What this allows us to do is come to agreement in a more efficient way to allow for progress to continue. We won't always get it right but for the most part we will. The fact that trial and error is a method for progress is indisputable. That we can improve on trial and error is also indisputable. But the greater good is served when we do both at times when doubt is a factor. If we can eliminate most of the doubt associated with finding an answer then we do that first but when it is time to decide we must give ourselves an answer regardless of the imperfection the answer may hold. Moving forward is the key to our society and waiting to find a perfect answer is both illogical and actually regressive. We humans are not static beings, we need to move about and that moving about should be within the confines of forward progress however imperfect that progress may eventually expose itself to be. Living in a world where chaos is diminished and improvement is the goal is our best hope for keeping the human species viable as an intellectually enlightened being, regardless of the less than perfect path we take. We can always adjust our imperfections later as we stumble across them but to stand still waiting for the perfect is not a sensible or logical option.

Conformity lessens our individuality (#2261)

I know that some conformity in our lives is necessary for us to maintain a living within employment and social networking. Yet to allow conformity to leave us with no voice is a bridge too far. I have to exist within the parameters of my chosen lifestyle and for that there is a price to pay. I get that, but not to the point where I will subvert my conscious thought of right and wrong in order to maintain it. I am free will soul who has a limited time to live in this existence therefore I will not allow others to control my destiny out of a fear of losing some artificial advantage I may wrongly deem too important. I have no time for being a cowardly dullard who is convinced that chasing the dollar is more important than my own integrity. I would rather have to walk down the street with nothing on my person except the shirt on my back than to become a mindless drone who lives at the mercy and fearfulness of others. There are too many others out there who would like nothing better than to get us addicted to some illusion of wealth in order to control their power over us. The war hawk Republican party is a perfect example. They wring their hands and tell us fearful lies about non-existent enemies in order to maintain a power of politics and economics over us. Fear is the mother of all lies and Republicans have mastered making people afraid as a strategy. Republicans don't want free thinkers to see that they are nothing but a bunch of psychopathic type people who have only one interest at their core, to control all that they can while allowing nothing to stop them. They use fear, and the only way to defeat fear is to face it. Facing it requires us to see it for what it is and then deciding to stand against it. Courage is our weapon against the bullies in the world who want to make us their playthings. Prioritizing your dignity as more important than money changing is the first step.

The courage of your convictions (#2260)

We should all have to wear a scorecard declaring what we vote for in our politics. For us to hide our decisions doesn't serve our nation well in that we don't have to defend our choices whether logical or not. To hide behind our silence when voting is cowardly and not worthy of our species. There is no doubt to my convictions when voting since I devote this blog and my Internet activity to declaring and explaining my choices. I am not ashamed of how I vote, on the contrary I am proud of it. I am a human being who is an enlightened soul capable of intellect and emotion. I use all my abilities to understand the policies of the day and how they effect all of us. As I reach my conclusions on a variety of issues I allow for them to be scrutinized by others who are objective in their reasoning. If I am short on my reasoning after others have weighed in their scrutiny on my conclusions then I change how I think and recalculate how my conclusions need to be modified, if necessary. I am okay with learning no matter how old I get. I am not ashamed either of being seen as not as smart as I could be since I am just one human in a world with over 7 billion. My own standing in the world is irrelevant to me and the most important thing for me is to be the best human being I can be regardless of my inherent and environmental, personal deficiencies. All of this to say that I stand by how I vote and anyone who wants to know may easily find out from me or my writings. We all need to be as open about how we see our lives playing out and what our future should represent. Stand by what is best within you and never, ever, compromise on the idea of being treated, as you would treat others.

Mandatory voting (#2259)

I don't know what else to do here. We can't seem to appeal to people's patriotism to get them to vote. We can't seem to appeal to people's own self interest to get them to vote and we can't seem to show how awful life will be if they don't vote to keep nefarious politicians from being elected. Nothing seems to work in the area of self participation. So what do we do? I suggest we make voting mandatory. While being told to put to voice our opinion seems like and infringement on our right to be free to choose, it is not unlike having to have car insurance in order to legally drive. This is our democracy and it should be a requirement that we participate in it. Also, a benefit for voting should be allowed to entice those who actually vote, while a penalty should be enacted for those who would defy their duty to vote. It seems so childish to have to resort to a mandatory voting law but as we have seen in too many past elections, our electorate doesn't come out to vote because of some apathetic reason. So treating us like children seems like the best course when we are acting like children. Our civic responsibility is not some casual choice to make. It effects us all in ways that are serious and actually harmful when we don't allow for our common sense and well researched opinions to be heard. The only way we can engage our electorate into actively participating in our democracy, that which we are all members of, is to make it a crime for not voting. History has shown us that when we make ourselves prioritize our lives we are better off for it. If having to vote gets me a benefit outside of just being apart of putting my voice to action then all the better for me and those who also contribute. If being penalized for not following through with my duty then it is what I choose to do over being a good responsible citizen. Either way I get to choose so how about it, let's make mandatory voting and a voting day national holiday a reality?

How strong is your will? (#2258)

I have come to know that I am the master of me. No one else but me gets to decide who and what I will be regardless of anything else. Now I know that outside forces help to shape what I become but nonetheless, I am the one who dictates to me regardless of any force beyond myself. What I am trying to get at here is that my morality and ethic is mine to keep and reinforce. I don't need anyone or anything to offer me guidelines in how to be the best me unless I seek it out to learn. Once I learn I move on to incorporate the new learned idea or thought and then I am back to shaping my own life. I don't need an institution to tell me if I am being wrong or right. I know it in my soul, just like everyone else if they are being honest about what they think and do. I am a complete human being capable of ability that is as yet fully tapped. But what ability I do have tapped, I am the master of it. I don't abrogate the responsibility of myself to anyone else, it is mine to be responsible for. This is how I grow as a human being. I accept all responsibility for my actions and thoughts and when I am right I am humbled by that and when I am wrong I feel the regret and remorse of that as well. I keep learning from my successes and from my failures so that when they are done I have a better sense of how to proceed into the present and the future. Like all of us I am not a constant bulwark against all that I would be for or against. Yet I am present for the times I am stalwart and the fewer times I am not. I neither blame nor herald anyone for my thoughts or my deeds except myself. I am me and that is my charge for the eternity of my life so long as it shall be. What works for me is that I think of myself as more than just a lifespan in time. I am a force that has it's hands firmly on the wheel and what that force is defined as whenever the defining time comes will be how I am inside me from my beginning.

The insatiable quest for greedy profit will be the end of us (#2257)

Capitalism has it's good points and we should honor those but capitalism that is unchecked has a destructive side to it that will destroy us. Too many who see profit as the bottom line in their thinking are less likely to honor moral and ethical business principles, even when they are inscribed into law. That ever pushing of the envelope to maximize profit at all costs is destroying what community we have built up over the life of our American democracy. The idea that profit should not be allocated toward the betterment of our society through taxation has taken hold and is now starting to feed upon itself in ways that undermine society and a healthy middle class. No more are the days when we all could recognize a duty to our country through sharing in the profits with those who put their back into achieving success. There now is a mindset that only those who have wealth are to share in it's accumulation. Sure workers are given an ever decreasing amount to subsist on but not enough for them to improve their lives. The inherent greed that profiteers are now outwardly boasting about is even being supported by Republican politicians and conservative majorities on our policy adjudicating courts. It is as if the wealthy are not interested in our democratic society as an ideal and have taken the approach of many multinational corporations of bounding themselves to no one through allegiance but themselves. These increasing corporate dynasties are now their own political and societal forces eager to claim a sovereign power of their own making. Profit is the impetus for their rationale and as long as the majority of us continue to allow them to erode our democratic government in the name of austerity we will soon enough find ourselves without the protections our government has historically provided and protected for us.

If we don't stand up for ourselves then no one will (#2256)

If we accept the lousy life most of us are faced with then that lousy life will not change. If we accept having even a worse lousy life then it will happen if we don't stop it. We are the change we are waiting for. it is up to all of us to be part of what makes us better and part of what keeps things from getting worse. There is no one who is going to come in and save us all out of some duty to justice and fairness. We have to know in our souls that we are worth more than what we are being generally told we are worth. Those who have the power to tell us how to think about ourselves are not looking out for what is best for ourselves and our families, they are looking out for what is best to protect their wealth and advantages. If you have to look to others to know how to think then you need to stop whatever it is you are doing and do something for yourself instead of just relying on the words of others. You live one time on this planet and while you are here you might as well make the best of it. First you have to know that you are as valuable as anyone else so start to think and act like it. We can all stop this moment and start living like we are precious in time and space. Whether we can or not is up to us. I know most all of us have little to nothing to subsist on but to change that we must improve our lives by thinking beyond what we are being told. Listening to others who offer little to nothing in the way of tangible help is not a solution. Listening to others who are actually able to offer resources and opportunities is the way forward and that is what we all need to focus on. You can always tell when someone or some organization is trying to help you, you actually receive real help, not some philosophical argument about how it is your fault and you need to accept that.

Religion and reality (#2255)

Religion, or as I live it, spirit, has it's bonuses, such as the positive reinforcement of living as a good soul. It gives the believer in a God, or similar, or to no entity at all, a sense of oneself. I personally am a believer in some form of a spiritual life as a guide to being the best human I can be, but not to the point of taking religious dogma as fact when it has no evidence as such. What is more important to me than my own personal relationship with my spirit life is my ownership in reality. I live in a fact based tangible world where what I realize through my five senses and my common sense logic is reality. As much as I want to have a spirit based life as tangible as my real life I cannot equate the two. My reality based life is greater than my hoped for spiritual one. That said, I do allow what my moral compass tells me to guide me in my real life. But not as a fact but as an option to be weighed against how others also perceive their moral and ethical duty. No spirit based reasoning will trump logical thought based in reality with me. I have a duty to reality above any duty I have to what I hope for. It is that simple and in that it justifies my considerations based upon societal equality and fairness. My spirit life is a personal one between me and how I perceive the essence of my existence. It is not a fact. My biological existence firmly places me in the realm of reality and that is my foundation for living. Given that, I have nothing greater in my soul than to live my biological existence to it's fullest. For me that is maximizing my care and curiosity in reality. it is a quest I gladly and fully back as my destiny. My religious perception, aka, spiritual quest, is a personal one not given to dogma nor others who would quantify it for me. It is mine to adjust to equality and fairness in reality through humility and love. No other possible avenue exists for me.

Throughout the ages (#2254)

The essence of who we are remains the same throughout our lives. There are innumerous changes that occur to us and within us but the foundation of who we are is static. At our core is our conscious and our deliberate thought. I know in my own case, I have fallen short of who I am many times but that doesn't change the fact that my remorse and guilt haven't reminded me. I am who I am and knowing who that is comforts me despite my inability to always live up to that knowing. As I have gotten older I am more in tune with thinking and behaving how I am but still not completely nor quite probably will I ever be. I take solace in the notion that regardless of my failures, my successes are many as well. That is where my own peace is exposed. The many times I have succeeded in being the best me is what calms me to my own serenity. I am cool with that since I know I am one of the fortunate ones who has found that the real prize in life is being the best of who we are and building upon that. So in my soul I will always be who I choose to represent about myself. I could have chosen to be a dastardly soul who craved his own desires above all else but I would have had to bury my conscious. I was not willing to do that for many reasons not the least of which is my care for all that live. My nature tells me that my care and my wonder are not to be denied at any cost so the most logical and common sense approach for my life has been the path I have taken, despite the deviations I have taken from it. I am who I am and I know who that is. A proper way for me to do first before doing anything else. So find out who you are and then be that without ever stopping despite mistakes that happen. You won't change who you are but you can be the best of whatever that is.

Pay attention to who is doing what in OUR government (#2253)

Take the time to demand a better life for all of us and then get out and vote. Enough of the "I don't care" attitude about the direction of our country because there are nefarious powers that are taking advantage of the vacuum you leave by not engaging in our politics. In fact they are not only taking advantage of those who willingly ignore politics they are subverting the rights of many by restricting voting on grounds that are not justifiable. They are extremists who also have political power and judicial oversight protection from the conservative majority on the US Supreme Court. You must be proactive in your resolve to protect your right to vote and then activate it with all due consideration. Our democracy demands it of us if we are to preserve it's hard fought victory. Nothing is static so if we do not defend what we have there are those who would take it from us. Our younger generation must find it's will to fight against those who wish them nothing more than an obedience to their agenda. The young in our country are the future and the hope for preserving the honor and respect our country hopes to achieve throughout our nation and throughout the world. Nothing in this life is more important than standing up for what is best about our species. Nothing! The best about us is that we are curious and we care. Through curiosity we have become progressively enlightened. Knowledge and it's potential for creative innovation has spurred our society to great realizations. Our care has also bounded us above all other species in that we are the caretakers of not only our planet and all it's inhabitants but any and all that may exist further out from our planet. What we do here in America is critical to what will define the rest of our human history in either a magnificent way or in a self destructive way. We decide, so join and help us along the correct path.

Finally people are waking up to the destruction Republicans are causing to our democracy (#2252)

It doesn't matter what Republicans call their agenda, folks are starting to realize the danger of it to themselves and their community. By slashing government down to just an over sized military and militarized police force, Republicans are effectively crushing our middle class and enlarging our poor class. At the same time that they are reducing our economic opportunities they are also reducing our liberty and freedoms. Taking rights away from specific classes of people is a slippery slope. Once one class of folks can be denied rights it is not a stretch to then go after other classes of folks. If we are to protect our rights we must protect all rights, not just our own. Republicans are also diminishing the truth through their misinformation tactics and their cuts to school funding. if they can keep us in the dark by lying to us and also keep us from critical thinking skills they will further their agenda to not only remain in power but to increase their influence. Republicans have become the anti-democracy party. They instead rely on ultra conservative think tanks for their policy advancements and not the will of their constituents. If voting was applied democratically they wouldn't have much chance of winning elections, but voting isn't applied democratically as Republicans have gerrymandered districts to the point that they cannot lose while also denying voting rights through onerous identification laws and backed by their conservative majority on the Supreme Court. It is hard to fathom that a political party in our country could be so despicable to democracy that it takes a ton of evidence to wake folks up but Republicans have piled high the nasty brutish evidence and many are now becoming aware.