We should not be afraid to be alive (#2364)

Life should not be about fear. Life should be about discovery. How do we get from a society that has traditionally been about fear and desperate survival to a society that has a foundation below us that eliminates our fears about whether we can survive? This is what I fight for every day of my life. No one, not the desperate in other countries nor the desperate here at home should have to beg for their life. We are not immortal so it is incumbent upon us to sacrifice what we can as a body to protect and nurture those who come after us. We are not the end all to end all, we are just another link in the chain that defines our species. What will our contribution to our species entail? Nothing or worse or something of value? Every life born to our species is of value. We don't know how or when but each of us is uniquely able to be impactful in ways that progress our best natures and our intellect. If we can all start from a safe harbor, we can then focus our minds and souls on what is out ahead of us instead of on the daily scrabble of just staying alive. The importance of treating all humans with the dignity and respect of a minimum foundation from which to exist from is not some radical idea, it is a natural progression of our evolutionary being. We have moved from the basic family structure to a more complex social bond. Our beings are intertwined in ways that demand a level of equality when we begin our lives so that no one is left unable to have the right to seize their own possible future. A foundation or floor from which we all begin from is not a bad thing it is actually a good thing. When we all start from a perspective of inclusion our values are more rightly aligned and the idea of a consensus on the future comes about more readily. Our natures demand that we care for each other and that we knowledgeably discover where we are and where we could go. Having all of us doing just such things is the best of who we are when we do it together.

The desperation of the uninformed (#2363)

I have had a couple of political encounters lately with some adversaries, Republican defenders, who have come at me with the fallacy of illogic. It is mind puzzling to me that a simple lesson has gone unheeded. If you don't know what you are talking about then don't talk, just listen and become informed. Not so lately with these folks who are suffering from a lack of information. First they denigrate the Dodd/Frank legislation that attempts to regulate Wall Street as a failure, while it is their party that has defanged the law through their conservative regulators and Wall Street lobbyists. So they blame Democrats for a failed law while they were the ones who are causing it to be less effective. Nice gig, if you are a hypocrite and too many don't know the truth. Second, they want to compare our President Obama with a previous Republican President Reagan by saying that Obama is no Reagan, like it is slap in the face to try to elevate President Obama up to the level of a President Reagan. I cannot fathom how contrary their statement is. President Reagan and his Republican acolyte legislator's policies have been destroying the middle class for decades while his arms to Iran deal conclusively points out that it is President Reagan who is no President Obama. It is becoming quite clear the Republicanism is in it's death throes as the arguments for the party's stature and effectiveness is resorting to illogical contrary arguments with no validity. Only the uninformed still rally to their cause through racist and elitist tactics. I can only conclude that anyone who has the ability to understand and store knowledge will be able to easily recognize the desperation that Republicans bring as their feeble attempt to convince us that they are the true leaders of our society. I would laugh at the idea of it but it is too serious not to crush it wherever it raises it's desperate head.

Never stop being hopeful (#2362)

There is one thing no one can take from you, your hope. I know that situations and circumstances beat us down and in the short term nothing good seems possible, but we have within us hope for possibility and if we never let that go by choice we will always have a chance for something better in our lives. This is the faith by which I live. If I don't give up I have a chance. That is the only thing I can control for sure, my persistence to persevere. This blog is a manifestation of that value. Every day I get up with the idea that I have something relevant to say that might just benefit one person. I get to do that here and even if not every day anyone gets anything from me, there are other days where I do make a difference in some people's lives. When we open ourselves up to others they get to compare and contrast their lives with ours. They get another clear example that we are not all so different from each other. At our cores most of us have the same motivation about life. We want life to be good and prosperous while also being fair and opportune. I know when I see unfairness or inequality on a basic level I am charged inside with a will and determination to denounce it and to advocate for it's change. No matter how many times I see a different iteration of harm or injustice it instills in me the same fire to thwart it. That is my hope, to have a better world all around me that includes all of us not just some of us. I am not one of those who thinks we should be competing against each other for basic survival. I see us having a foundation from which we all get to start out in life with some degree of respect and honor and then move on with our own merit. Hope is my vision for that and hope will be the force that drives me toward it all the moments of my life.

Capitalism is a subset of democracy, not the other way around (#2361)

The infectious greed that has overtaken the Republican party is rooted in the idea that capitalism is greater than democracy. The idea of equality, fairness and opportunity are to be held above all things does not compute with Republicans. Instead they hold that making a buck anyway "reasonably" possible, and I use the term "reasonably" as most often defined by unregulated business practices, as a greater ideal than providing for the foundation to foster every American the chance to succeed. In a democracy, we all have a say in how we practice every element of our society. We work to include all of us regardless of difference. We honor those who stand up for our principles by sacrificing blood and treasure to defend our democratic vision. In other words, we work together to improve not only our society but to help those societies outside ours to emulate our success. The problem with our society now is that there is a strain of greed and condescension in too many of our politicians and too many of our electorate that have decided that commerce and elitism is a greater force on Earth than democracy. I entitled this post with the idea to help us recognize that capitalism is not the end all, democracy is the all time end. Everything else within democracy has limits, whereas democracy is the eternal set from which all subsets inhabit. If Capitalism fails to achieve an equal, fair and opportune society then capitalism must be reconstituted. Allowing for other philosophies of economics to flourish. Remembering that our democracy is first above all other things is paramount, everything after democracy can be changed and upgraded to fulfill our democratic ideals. Not the other way around as the Republican party continues to fail to recognize.

Republicans main goal, make the wealthy wealthier (#2360)

Now that the Republican agenda of making the wealthy even wealthier is evident we can surely see who is responsible for income inequality. There is only so much money any one economy can have fluctuating about in it's commercial transactions and if Republicans continue to work to give it to the wealthy then there is less for the non wealthy to accumulate. We know that the wealthy, for the most part, like to put their wealth in overseas banks in order to avoid paying American taxes. By doing this the wealthy not only shirk their duty to abide by their responsibility to their own country but they also deprive our American economy of the capital that is not being churned throughout our economic system. the scarcity of this overseas banked capital, leaves too many of us down at the bottom rung of our economies without opportunity to acquire this banked capital through work, enterprise nor through innovation. We are an economy that has the wherewithal to create new paradigms for modernization but not the capital required to make it so. So as the majority, and I mean the bottom 90%, has little opportunity left for capital acquirement, Republicans work diligently to make it even worse. They want to cut government spending, not where it needs to be cut in the defense department and in tax subsidies for wealthy and profitable corporations, but instead in social programs that help the sick and disabled and those in need of food and education. I am not making this up at all so please feel free to fact check anything I have said here. How anyone with a right mind in this day and age of easy access to information can vote for Republicans is mind numbing to me. The justifications I have heard are not logical nor are they caring. It seems too many of our American electorate have lost it's collective mind and instead has embraced a selfish greedy survival of the fittest mindset. What a disgrace and surely our downfall as a democratic society is approaching fast. There is time to move back to a society based upon equality, fairness and opportunity but it must happen quickly or the worst of who we are will be the best we have to offer to our future.

No more escaping reality, changing it instead (#2359)

In the earlier edition of me was the guy who was sick and tired of how reality was so screwed up that being in it was a perfect excuse to escape it through mind altering alcohol and drugs. Less drugs and more the conventional legal alcohol mind you. So much so that the alcohol became more than old friend and became an addiction instead. It took me years of struggle and harm to finally realize that the escape I had early in my life decided to live was at the root of why I behaved so poorly. Now I look upon escape from reality as a cop out, the cowardly way to live. I am older for sure and my perspective has changed with a much more comprehensive insight but that is still not enough of a reason for me to have quit on life so early. I am ashamed of my behavior and despite it's regretful effect, I chose to use it to elevate me to a greater motivation to be a greater force for change in reality. Now I fight hard for change that will not allow that old screwed up status quo of a reality to be my reality. I don't accept the harsh brutality, I witnessed and lived, to exist without me battling to alter it for the better. Back then I wasn't able to fight like I am able to now and although I have given much time away living in my escape, I will give no more time! Although the years of addiction to my preferred mode of escapism has worn a hole in my soul, it is a hole that is now being filled with determination and will power. My mind is full of being present in my life with as much of the faculty of mind that I have. There is no room for one second of escape from reality. Even in my moments of recreation and entertainment, reality is always a premium being lived. When I was younger I could get away with not being present because I wrongly blamed others for the mess life had become. No longer, now I point the finger at myself and say what are you doing this moment and every moment going forward to make life better?

Fix ourselves and the world around us improves (#2358)

It all starts with us. When we decide to do something positive the world around us improves. We are adding to all the other positives being done by all those who also choose to change for the good. I have in the past been part of making things worse for myself and therefore for those around me. Enough of that nonsense. It is true, everything is either directly or inversely proportional. If I do something negative, the negative around me stays constant or increases. If I do something positive, the positive around me stays constant or increases. At least that is what I have found. So those days of me not caring or being too cavalier about truth and facts are over. Everything requires my attention to detail. Nothing can escape the logic I need to apply to it and the emotional bearing it places on not only me but on those who are affected by it. I matter just as much as everyone else does so no time for shirking when what I do or don't do has an effect one way or the other. By fixing ourselves, or in other words, through taking control of our thoughts and actions to a betterment, I control what I let my mind ponder or gravitate towards. I don't have to let thoughts control me I can dismiss them and move onto something more tangible than what ifs or should ofs. I don't have to let my often addictive personality act in ways that do harm to me and to others. I can change my patterns of behavior to reflect the positive I wish to project as who I am. I am not bound by any paradigm that doesn't exhibit qualities I wish to promote, including addictive ones. I have the power within me to be who I want to be regardless of obstacle or circumstance. I have the free will to embrace what it is about this existence that allows me my most useful purpose. My peace and serenity is a product that is derived from the hard work of choosing to be the real inner me, not someone whom I am not.

Idealism is possible with effort (#2357)

What we hold as perfect examples of equality, fairness and opportunity can be reality. If our laws were truly blind and deaf to all, and all things being equal, we could always have a beginning that then depended upon our merit to define our lives. All we need is the same starting point in life that cannot be greater or lesser than anyone else. Rich, poor or physically incapacitated, the beginning should have no restriction. With some disabilities the opportunity needs to be sufficient to allow for an equal beginning and that is right and good. But in no case shall one equally able human being be given an advantage over another equally able human being. This is an idealistic approach, where the respect and honor of life is given at birth and continues through life based upon what we, individually, do with that respect and honor. Anyone caught manipulating or denying such rights shall be punished in a way that befits the crime being perpetrated without impunity. I keep thinking about how history may view our choices now about we here on Earth, while seeing we understand logic but were incapable of applying it to ourselves in an overall rational way. Our species is still struggling to find our way as a civilized society and that is our problem. We perpetuate the lack of logic in too many areas of our societies. We have too many politicians who desire not to improve our society but instead to muddle about without having a clearly articulated vision to resolve our current issues. This is not a game folks, this is about the future of our species and how we manifest our destiny not just here on Earth but out into the vast Universe. By allowing for all to participate in our futures, thus allowing for a greater insight into our possibilities, we are giving existence the collective best we have to offer.

The death struggle of intellectualism (#2356)

Everything that happens irrationally or in an incomprehensible way in our societies stems from a lack of intellectualism. Without the ability to form logical reasoning as a basis for defining truths from fiction is our most debilitating dilemma. There are few societies that have existed that have completely understood this paradigm. Our natural and man made problems are mostly of our doing since we refuse to keep an educated society as a high priority. We seem to think that commerce somehow magically transforms us into elite beings, which is an absurd illogic. Being able to manipulate is not intellectualism. Intellectualism is rational reasoning. Cold and hard. We need our emotions to guide us in our compassion and care, but without the ability to recognize truth, we are left with a whirligig of chaos. Intellectualism is our gift. I have said this countless times but again I will say it here. We are biological data processors. With sensors and memory, to take information and reason, analyze and conclude from it. This is who we are. We are probes who are given a lifespan to fill our information gathering memories with logical knowledge. After a fashion we are then recorders of such information gathered, gleaned and ordered to be passed along to those who follow us like those before us passed along to us. Intellectualism is the path we all are on. None of us is here with our information gathering and creative formulating abilities for any other purpose than to add to the vast accumulation of factual knowledge about this existence. The sequence of our lives is outlined here through the definition of this blog that I give to our natures, we care and we are curious. Our curiosity is our impetus, our genesis to know and our care is to make what we know not only truth but a never ending supply of it. That will only occur through the struggle to elevate intellectualism to the highest priority of our societies.

The peddlers of ignorance and fear have much to gain (#2355)

Even ignorance is a capitalistic venture. When a person or a group of persons have no clue as to how to survive in a capitalistic system that requires imagination and innovation as a starting point then their best alternative to becoming successful is to peddle fear and ignorance. We get it in religion, politics and economics. When the leaders of our churches stand up at the pulpit and demand that God has said that some things are good and some things are not and then begin to give a laundry list of what is good and what is not outside of general principles then we see ignorance and fear on display to corral us to their interpretation through religious dogma. When we see a political party tell us what we should be doing on an illogical philosophical level while ignoring what is actually happening to us is when we see ignorance and fear on display. The Republican party has been most adept at scaring and ill informing us about what could be while never implementing anything toward solving our short and long term problems. Keeping us in the dark while Republican politicians slowly remove our rights under a democracy driven government is their goal and it is just because we do not dwell outside our ignorance and fear enough that they do so. They perpetuate the fear and ignorance and then blame us and therefore want to control us. Callous trick these Republicans are playing on us! Our economics is as cruel as well. Offering mostly low paying jobs as a rule while at the same time blaming us for not working hard enough to earn enough to secure a decent life. These peddlers of ignorance and fear reside in the Republican party and their wealthy donors who benefit financially off an ignorant and fearful workforce. The survival of the fittest capitalistic way is growing too strong too fast and will be the death of our democracy. Foolhardy we are for letting Republicans make us dumb and scared and then blame us for it. Shall we fire them this coming next national election?

Leaders think for themselves followers not so much... (#2354)

If you are not the boss of you then someone else is the boss of you. How can you think to matter to anyone if you don't take charge of your own life? The thoughts that cross your mind are yours to control. We all have crazy thoughts but the ones who can control and live by honorable principles are the ones who shape their lives on their terms, not on the terms they default to others. If we want a better life then we, individually, are the force to begin it. It seems to me that we all have the potential to be leaders, it just takes a certain amount of courage to begin. The impetus to begin must come from our core, our soul, our spirit our hearts and minds. The thing that motivates us to happiness and joy while also motivating us to combat anguish and despair. We live this one life here in this precious fragile existence so do we accept our fate to be the boss of ourselves or do we quit to the sense of overwhelmingness that sometimes afflicts us? The worse thing we could do is to stop fighting for what we know is right and good. Our individual destiny is dependent upon us to grasp our present and our future with all our might and allow for the goodness of the human experience to guide us to wherever our fate leads us. I know where my fate doesn't lead me. I doesn't lead me into illogic or harm as a choice. The greatest thing about me controlling my own life is that I get to choose what great thing I can try to achieve. It is my choice and I know I will sacrifice something along the way that I may have desired but in the bigger picture I am following the truth of me and that is far more important that any hoped for personal satisfaction. I matter damn it and I will live my life like I know my mattering to be true!

Racism and democracy are mutually exclusive (#2353)

There is no overlap of these two paradigms. Racism by it's definition is prejudicial and discriminatory. Whereas democracy is defined as allowing for all the citizens of a nation to participate in its governance. One, racism, seeks to exclude while the other, democracy, seeks to include. So for anyone to hold both of these two paradigms at the same time would be logically impossible. So you must ask yourself, am I believer in segregating through racial distinctions or am I a believer in the human being species being equally able to participate in our society? The answer will either be one or the other, but not both simultaneously for it to be logically defended. There is no cognitive dissonant answer that can be justified through argument or debate. One or the other or none at all. You either believe in democracy or you believe in racism or neither. If you are an American and you admit to being racist then you are not a democracy advocate. If you do not hold with democracy and it's principles of equality and fairness then you are not a value to our society. You are either nothing or a drag on our society. Which is a greater purpose for your life, to live with the dynamics of racism such as hatred and destructive harm, or live with building a nation where all can contribute and enjoy the pursuit of happiness as anatomically related human beings? The idea that in the 21st century we are butting up against this idea that the paradigm of racism has a foothold in our nation is appalling and regressive. The Civil War was fought and decided over 150 years ago in favor of freeing any humans from the enslavement of others as law. Why the death of the idea of racism has not followed is not a proud moment for us at this time so many decades later. Just so you know though, you cannot be a democracy loving American and at the same time be a racist. It is logically impossible.

The enlightenment of progress is inevitable (#2352)

It may take centuries or just days but eventually progress will win the day. The only thing that could stop progress is the mindless destruction of ourselves on whole. We may be many things we human beings but species suicidal is not one of them. Each of us fights to survive from birth and then on through the majority of our lives. It is instinctual for us to survive. We crave survival as if it were oxygen or water. I state that we have two natural instincts within us, curiosity and care. But I also state that an interweaving third rail of natural instinct resides within us, survival. We must live as a fact of our existence, therefore living is our main objective. It is in how we live that we find our curiosity and our compassion. Through our compassion and curiosity we discover progress. From learning to utilize fire through to learning how to operate our computer devices, we are on an endless pathway toward enlightened living. This is progress, from out houses of the past to indoor plumbing in our present, we keep innovating and creating new ways to either simplify our lives as needed or complicate them by going to the moon and beyond. We are that dynamic a species that simple and complicated are both equally desired. We are the first species to lift ourselves off our planet and touch new ground on another orb. No other species has devised a scientific method for that kind of achievement. We are amazing and nothing seems to be an obstacle to us being even more amazing except maybe our fear. Yet our courage is even stronger and although fear may rule some days it will always lose to courage. That is how we have evolved from the cowering caveman who was frightened of fire to the towering homosapiens who have harnessed nuclear power. Our species is inevitable!

From intolerance toward tolerance (#2351)

An American state voted yesterday to end the practice of flying the confederate battle flag over the public grounds of the state capitol. The governor of said state will sign the ban into effect either today or tomorrow and the flag will come down. Now this is a Southern state that has a long history of racial tension. The confederate battle flag was the symbol used as a defense of slave owner's rights. There is little disagreement with that in any logical argument. So bringing down this flag, a symbol of slavery, is long overdue, 150 years long overdue. But as some things in life take time to find the correction necessary to make it right so it is with this vote from yesterday. The idea of slavery has been exposed as an egomaniacal, psychotic/sociopathic outlook that still sees people as property and not as free human beings. A literal taking down of a symbol and the acceptance that is is a blight upon a civilized society, is a shift in the stubborn will and ignorant defense of it's continued flying on state grounds. The Southern states, which did most of the deploying of slavery during the early part of our country's formation, seem to be finally trying to shake off the idea that people of one race are more equal than people of another race. This is only a beginning but like all great policy paradigm shifts, they must have a significant starting point. This may prove to be that point for the South to shed it's label of being the last bastion of promoted racial intolerance. Too be sure other regions of our nation have tolerance issues but none as big as the burden the southern states have carried. The good people who now reside in the South seem to have the upper hand in the psychological battle to recognize that we are all of the human race first and foremost.

What we hold dear (#2350)

I was reminded yesterday of the importance of someone in my life who helped in a large way to shape the man I am now. As life goes on and our daily struggles fill our thoughts, it was sad yesterday to hear of the passing of one such soul who lived a hard life in his early years but reformed himself and dedicated his life to living a Christian life. Now few in this world actually live a Christian life, surely there are too many who like to live a Christian life when it is convenient or when they feel guilt, but few actually live the principles of helping his fellow man every day of his life. This one fellow was such a man. He took in those who were left in life with little hope. He took into his family those who were heading for more trouble. He took in those of us who didn't have anything to believe in that even resembled a purpose for our lives. He spent long and countless hours giving of himself, his mind and his soul to anyone who need only ask. there was no expectation of receiving from him, only his expectation to give where the giving was in need. There are very few great men who live among us and often we don't recognize them until they are no longer with us. Such now is the case with Bud Hackney. A man who worked as hard as any man I have ever met. A man who would only get about 4 hours sleep at night in order to be there for all who were in his large circle of friends and family. The one thing I have learned with my time being in Bud's sphere of life is that a positive outlook is much more attractive when it is lived like there is no tomorrow. Bud died having only lived 79 plus years but the quality of his living will only be matched by few who live much longer. A part of me is saddened and stunned that he is gone from this world but a bigger part of me is fortunate to have had, although sleight of stature, an amazing man whose presence was immense, as a mentor such as he.

The broken minds of the arrogant (#2349)

When no sense can be made from those who want to lead it is hard to understand how they got to be who they are and where they are trying to take us. Although it does become clear that nonsense is the path we are being led upon. I would rather follow a leader who has a vision for helping people in not only their struggles but in finding new solutions. There should never be a tradeoff where worse is the tradeoff  for less worse. There should always be a tradeoff of better for good. The philosophy of progress dictates that things get better comprehensively and in a continuum. So when leaders try to tell us that we must sacrifice for a better tomorrow, my suspicions are always proven right in that it seems like only the worse off in society have to sacrifice while the better off in society seem to be unaffected or actually gain instead of sacrificing. Enough of the smoke and mirror logic these arrogant leaders peddle as they try to wean every ounce of resource and energy out of us like we are some utility for their disposal. I work to live, not live to work. I am a human being deserving of respect of being a human being, not just some disposable resource, that is dumped on the trash heap after my utility fails to profit the wealthy. Our leaders must have all of us in their hearts and minds when policies that build upon our democracy are introduced. There are no policies that are logical that ask of us to regress in our destinies. We are an amazing species and all of our civilization is part of that amazement. None of us should have to be shackled to a religious, political or economic policy that doesn't have the full weight of democratic opportunity buttressed with fairness and justice. When leaders tell us that we are the problem, it is time to take back leadership from them and show them that we are not the problem, we are the solution!

Good paying jobs involved with improving our national infrastructure (#2348)

Here's the deal, we improve our national infrastructure through modernization and efficiency in order to make our nation competitive with any other country as to opportunities to create. This will attract those in business who want a first class base of operations for their products and services which in turn will create business activity throughout our country. This gives us a larger tax base to draw from in order to pay for the upgrade while making life much more economically viable for our working class folks. It is a win/win situation but Republicans are against it for no other reason that they do not want to help our struggling middle class improve. They only want to help the wealthy class increase it's already outlandish advantage in income inequality. Republicans have no interest in a healthy society, they want a dependent society that is willing to fight each other over table scraps. The sooner you realize this the sooner we can defeat their agenda by voting for Democrats. Our Democrat party is the one that has all the progressives and liberals, who historically have been the ones who have brought about large change in our nation's history. Think about it, During the Revolutionary War, it was liberals who fought for Independence and Conservatives who fought to stay with the King. During our civil war, it was liberals and progressives who fought for and end to slavery, although at the time liberals and progressives were in the Republican party, and the conservatives fought to maintain slavery. During the The Second World War and the civil rights movement, it was liberals who fought for and gained Social Security and Medicare, while the conservatives are still fighting to end them. Today, liberals are gathered in the Democratic party, having switched party's again over 90 or so years ago, and now we have the Affordable Care Act. The next great policy for our nation will not come from the conservative Republican party but it will come from the liberal/progressive Democratic party. Shall you join us in making it so?

Always the bigger picture (#2347)

I have my personal likes and dislikes but in the end I must choose one over another. So despite me being less than enthusiastic about one political candidate, if that candidate is my chosen party's choice then that is who I will fight for to win. This is what has hurt us Democrats over the years. We have so many purists in our party that if our candidate doesn't win our party's nomination, we disengage from the voting process. But all that does is give the other side, Republicans, one less vote to have to overcome to win the election. That is the bigger picture. Accepting less than our mostly perfect candidate is a must and still a greater victory than not fighting against the mostly worse candidate from the other side. The bigger picture. I will vote and fight for whoever our candidate is and I would hope that the rest of my party's followers would do the same. Our generation cannot change everything overnight even though we think that is how it should be. We must at least allow for smaller advances in our society when our hopes of a better candidate do not come to fruition. The bigger picture. We are all on the same team we Democrats, so whoever becomes our political leader deserves our respect and our due diligence to get whoever it is elected. Remember, the other side, Republicans, are going to field a candidate that is dead set against helping our party's members. So the worse case is a Republican election victory when we could have had at least some good policies set for our Democrat electorate if we all just got behind our party's nominee. The bigger picture. Republicans will have no such trouble voting for their interests so neither should we. Sticking our heads in the sand out of some duty to be pure is not logical or realistic. So whoever our nominee eventually is should get all of our support. The bigger picture.

We celebrate the symbol of our hard fought freedom, our American flag (#2346)

It is always an honor for me to go out to the front of the house and place my American flag in it's mount for all to see. Our American flag represents democracy in action. Our American flag represents those souls who are no longer with us who fought and died protecting and defending democratic values over the span of time since our Declaration of Independence from Britain. It is just a symbol but as far as I go, it is much much more. Our American flag embodies the principles for which I have dedicated my life. I have not always been a great defender of those principles of honor, justice, respect and duty, but for the most part I have been, and in all the actions in the comprehensive life of me our flag has been at the heart of me. I have seen recently where some citizens in Southern states have taken it upon themselves to celebrate their Confederate flag instead of our American flag. Somehow they have deluded themselves into thinking that they are justified and rightly proud to honor a flag whose message of slavery and defiance from American democracy, is a higher ideal than the one that allows them to be defiant. The absurdity and sadness of those who still honor a Confederate flag that was defeated and disgraced in the short era of it's creation is still a scourge to a healthy tolerant and diverse America. There is a sickness that is prevalent in too many white human beings who place themselves above other races for no other purpose than to lord over them. In fact too many of these diseased minded white folks would rather a Nazi German solution had prevailed in order to cleanse the Earth of non-white beings. The hatred it takes to hold such a view is sociopathic in nature and traitorous to the human race on whole. Our American flag is more than cloth or a symbol, it is an idea that the greater nature of humanity is alive and well in our much sacrificed for democracy.

Hey Conservative Supreme Court, racism is not dead (#2345)

That majority conservative opinion gutting a key section of the civil rights act that protected citizens, especially of color, from previously southern states that habitually practiced voter disenfranchisement was wrongly deicded. The reasoning of the conservative justices was that racism had run it's course and generally was now not a factor in determining state election laws. The idea that these conservative justices, including the Chief Justice, that racism had changed from it's original intent is an unsubstantiated one. Either the conservative justices, all five of them concurring against the four liberal justices who all dissented, are living in a vacuum and cannot readily distinguish the heavy reality that racism still plays in our country's social order, or they failed in their due diligence to research and explore possible ramifications of current attitudes and mores still prominently in action. Either way, ignorance is not to be borne on a body so august with the expectation of wisdom and insight we defer to our Supreme Court. The last two years since this opinion has allowed states to deny voting rights to tens of thousands of American citizens. The conservative Supreme Court justices must have come to realize that their opinion that racism had somehow been overcome was faulty. I see it as plainly as I see the sky yet we have not heard one peep out of those conservative justices that their opinion may have been hubristic at best or flat out wrong at worst. One tell of a human with honorable principled conviction is their ability to admit when they is wrong and move forward with humility. I have yet to see that from any of the conservative justices to their utter shame.

Work to live not live to work (#2344)

This is just another problem with how out of step Republicans are concerning what Americans want and need. Republicans think we should have to work until we can no longer function as healthy human beings, and then be left to fend for whatever health care we can afford while having little income to help us along, whereas we democrats think we shouldn't have to work ourselves into the grave. Republicans keep pushing this meme that Social Security is in financial trouble so they can make us raise the retirement age. The problem, like many Republicans have manipulated is that the Social Security trust fund was raided when Republican administrations were in control and used for spending on the military, wars and tax breaks for those who are too wealthy as it is, for the most part. The government has a duty to pay back that raided money through the IOU the Social Security trust fund got from the Republican administration at the time of the raid. So the solvency of the Social Security trust fund is still solid since Democrat majority administrations will pay back into the Social Security trust fund. Not only that but Democrat administrations are more likely to increase the contribution cap for bolstering the fund while also lowering the requirement age for retirement and increasing benefits. Anytime after 60 years old should begin the retirement option. I have worked at hard labor for a large part of my working life and this much I know, that type of work is detrimental to any healthy long life. For those of us who are now at the end of our working careers, retirement is not only a wish but it is also a necessity. A time to enjoy life and improve our lives with our new found freedom from the yoke of constant work. I have found that I still work hard at what I do but I don't punch a clock or receive monetary value for it. It gives me great satisfaction to achieve accomplishments without the fear of losing a job or stepping on the toes of those who are fearful of my success.

Republican strategy, blame and ignore (#2343)

Republicans like to blame anyone other than themselves while doing nothing to find solutions that actually help solve problems. I don't understand why they have fallen down on helping to improve our society. Apparently they're party ranks are filled with disagreeable and non-insightful souls. And for those who have a tradition of voting as a proud Republican and have yet to see that their pride in their party has no basis for pride, yet keep voting for them anyway, I say wake up and inform yourself objectively. The Republican propaganda machine is thick with distortion and lies so do yourself a favor and research in all areas of information, not just your favorite Republican source. That is the difference in a huge way between Democrats and Republicans, we Democrats are willing to look at all the evidence and apply reason, analysis and conclusion to our findings, whereas Republicans are only able to look at some evidence and even when it is not in alignment with their beliefs, they will apply cognitive dissonance to it and either blame the fact givers or ignore the reality. How can one associate with a political party that spends it's time being so undemocratic and ignorant of current and future events as defined by science and our logical processes? When I hear the term dumbing down our society I feel in my bones the fact of it. Too many of us are not even able to engage on a level worthy of the term, intellectual discourse. So debate through logical argument with a Republican is akin to throwing good money after bad. I have tried so many times to use logic to persuade any Republican that facts are more concrete than beliefs yet I always fail with them because despite the truth of a fact, Republicans find that their individual beliefs trump facts. It is a tragedy that too many of our citizens are so ill informed and unwilling to fight for greater educational opportunities. As long as they have their belief systems, logical knowledge is not important to them.

Democracy should always come first (#2342)

Democratic ideals of equality, justice and opportunity should never take a back seat to any other paradigm. It is incumbent upon us to protect our precious democratic ideals with all our purpose and might. Our great Republic here in America is as unique on the face of the Earth as any previous form of government ever established. yet we are separated from those other previous governments by our decision to allow for our citizens to decide our collective direction and fate. Not only do we have a federal form of government that judiciously binds equality to our individual states, but our individual states are forms of laboratories, where new and innovative ideas for governance are allowed to percolate in any of our 50 states. The grassroots nature of our society is the key for our overall sustenance and the current disease of allowing for corporations and big money interests to dominate our political landscape is infecting the pure nature of our democracy so much so that our democracy is in jeopardy of losing it's overall ability to function. Two hugely erroneous Supreme Court decisions, among a few others, were that corporations are people and money is speech. The grassroots nature our democracy was and is continuing to be hampered in it's effectiveness by these decisions that allow for the wealthy to control the process of our elections. The gutting of a particularly effective voting rights regulation has cost us as well whereas voter discrimination and voter disenfranchisement are now much more easily strategized and implemented through unjust legislative policy. The era of this current conservative Supreme Court is a blight on our democracy in too many ways and the sooner the court finds itself rid of the conservative souls who do not practice democracy with a fervor the better we will all be.

Rage, a prequel to cou "rage"? (#2341)

We are best at standing up and defending or fighting when we have been filled with rage. Our courage is a manifestation of our rage in action. I try not to wait until I am raging in order to stand up and be accountable. I know that my honored principles, once disrespected, is enough to trigger me into action, courageous action. I have less care for consequences when the fact or truth of a thing is being disrespected. One thing none of us can abide is to give an allowance to those who would undermine our democracy or our tolerant natures. We must punish those who would dare to take from us or deny us the full freedom and liberty our constitution allows under the law. When the law is not fully adjudicated toward universal freedom, liberty and opportunity for all then we must change that law and move from obstruction any who would resist the proper and right changing. It doesn't matter who or what it is that is stopping the growth and correct direction our constitution is devised to fulfill. Our constitution is a living document that grows more robust to reflect the changing dynamics of our insights and intuitions. Our humanness is an evolutionary process that is in constant flux and if our constitutional document is not accord with our maturing human natures then we will never move from the curious, caring being we are now into a more magnificent species. I have hopes that although I will never see it in my lifetime, our species will attain a greater biological understanding of our potential and a greater manifestation of our possibilities. The future is ours for the taking but to be able to take it we must find our courage. All of this goes back to our rage. If we have been offended enough then rage against it with all your might and display your courage to defend and fight for what is right and good.

Protecting the weak and innocent (#2340)

You want to be a macho? Try being a hero to those who don't have your capabilities. If you feel the need to prove how tough you are then show it by being a defender of some honorable thing that would make your mother or father proud. Being a bully or an ass is not anything worthy of proof as to showing how tough one can be. Making sacrifices to stand up for others is however. A quiet steeliness to go about the living of one's life in making all of life something just a little bit more bearable is enough. There are enough of us out there to make a huge difference in our society and in our world through example. We don't need to flex our muscles in a vain attempt to elevate ourselves. What we need is to flex the muscles between our ears and wisely and efficiently effect change for the better. Is there a better calling out there for us than to protect the weakened and the innocent? There are many uncaring sociopathic types out there who are bent on taking advantage of the weak and innocent. These greedy ones need to be stopped when they practice their twisted strategies and we who are strong and willed enough are the ones to do it. We can only do this though if we are willing to get out of ourselves enough to care about what is going on around us. I have my desires and obligations I need to see to but I also have time to care about what is going on around me. This is the time I can and do spend confronting the wrongs too many cynically pass along as the way that things are done. Enough of the rot that has been allowed to come forward with us into enlightened and modern democratic thinking. Instead of us just gambling our lives on endless overseas battlefields, let's gamble our lives on our home ground and defend the honorable ideals of democracy we stand for while protecting the weak and the innocent.

The winds of fate (#2339)

Who knows how destiny or fate or providence actually work? No one does but the whirligig of life does bring about it's curiosities. I don't know why I have met some and not others, other than chance. I don't know why my internal attraction to some is not the same for others. It is a mystery to me but what I can say is that it does happen and for that I am humbled. I can feel what life is doing to me with my experiences and although I am not a real sensitive guy, I am sensitive enough to know that I care and I am cared for. How all this relates to the totality of my life is yet to be revealed but the path that I am on has been consistent and full of promise. Destiny or fate may surely play a role in how I go forward in life but for sure there is one undying principle I know I will follow, to be an honorable man. Resignation and heartache are all part of how life works as well as unexpected surprise and a full heart. To some degree we all have our amounts. Because despite how the circumstances and situations of my real life turn out, a higher plane of existence is my reward in that the memories of days gone by tell me that had my road been different, I could have found a fate far more precious than the one I chose. So it isn't about me not having what it takes or not being worthy of some great life, it is just about me not being the man then that I am now. Funny how life does that to us. We have the life we learn with and then we have the life we live after that. A two part life as it were. The winds of fate are not consistent nor are they always fair, yet they boil down to the choices we make and no amount of wishing or hoping will ever change that.

Enlightenment and courage, the hallmark of a sound democracy (#2338)

There is no easy way to say this. We have to fight for our democracy like we have to fight for our very existence. It is at that level of intensity. There are too many who would take us all back to the past of prejudice and subjugation so that they can have an advantage. Yes, masked behind a lot of confusion and misdirection are those who have little conscience for equality, justice and opportunity, the heartbeat of democracy. All they care for is their ability to maximize their prosperity despite the cost to others. Many of these people are in the Republican party and if you are supporting them then you are not only being used as lackey's but you are cannon fodder for their wars for resources. Again, I will say it here, we are all biological data processors, evolved for the purpose of gathering data, analyzing, reasoning and concluding that data in order to understand our existence a little bit better as time continues to move forward. Progress is the end result of our information gathering and concluding. We have not evolved in order to go backwards. It is forwards for us because of the inquisitive nature of our curiosity. We must also reconcile to ourselves that courage is needed in order to defend and defeat those who would take from us the very foundation by which our civilized society functions. Each of us has a duty to stand up with steely resolve to protect the best form of government ever designed. We have a duty as Americans to not only protect ourselves from without but from within as well. Not all Americans are patriots of democracy as we have all too often seen. So in conclusion, as we continue to expand our knowledge we must also be vigilant and a fearless defender of our way of life.

Your behavior determines who you are, not your words (#2337)

You would think that people would know the difference. yet too many do not. It apparently is what is most convenient to hear that prioritizes what a person does or is doing. In our world of instant fact checking it is easy to see who are the hypocrites and who are genuine, yet that also seems to escape too many. The intelligence of logic is not being rationalized by all. If we can live in a world of cognitive dissonance then our beliefs, whatever they may be, can conflict with reality, common sense and logic and still be correct in our minds. It is as if we are forcing our own imaginary reality onto others regardless if it makes any sense. A sort of demigod approach to our own self importance over the importance of anyone else. None of us is any more unique than another. So for any of us to have an ego the size of a "God" is quite ludicrous. Most all of us can barely survive without the constant interaction from others quite contrarily from how a "God" would exist. So how we act in the same existence we all share is how we express our individual character we must all present to each other. Are we noble in our principles? Do we honor right over wrong? Do we have the courage to protect those who are in need? What kind of human are we? None of these questions has any validity through just words. All of them require us to have evidence through past and present behavior that can be verified from sources outside ourselves. The braggart is first to tell you how good he or she is, the humble are the last to say a word praising themselves. The braggart is more likely to be a person who relies on words to define him/herself whereas the humble rely on actionable behavior. Which one are you?

Courage defeats fear (#2336)

I cannot say how many times when I have stood up against my own fear and found that the fear was mostly just an allusion. It seems that being afraid of things is mostly just in our heads. Sure, there are real times when our fear is justified and we need to take an account of the facts of that but even then it is better to stand up and move past fear with courage. I am not telling anyone to sacrifice their life in order to make a point but I have on occasion put myself in jeopardy and then found that the threat I had feared didn't have the conviction to follow through. Life is a gamble for sure and most of us would rather it be peaceful and serene. Yet if we don't protect and defend what we know is right we are the ones destroying our peace. Courage is the answer and all that courage is is to do whatever needs being done despite the paralyzing fear it may manifest. Most of us are scared when we are being courageous. So courage exists in many forms and just because we are afraid doesn't mean that we can't also be courageous at the same time. I don't have to be full of steely resolve to display courage. I often have been squeaky voiced and wobbly kneed while standing up to fear. But fear, like most bullies, will shrink from those who will not be bullied. Once you get a taste for standing up to fear you will find that the alternative becomes unacceptable. It takes courage to fight for democracy and only the courageous can truly live a life of equality, justice and liberty. For those who choose to live in fear because courage is too much for them to experience, well they are trapped in a society where they abdicate their authority over themselves to the cowardly who instill fear as a tactic for control.

Religion has a higher duty to itself than it does to our democracy (#2335)

Let's face this one simple fact. Religion has it's need to proselytize as a moral imperative of it's dogma. This need is in conflict with the first amendment of our constitution which gives those of us who chose the right to be free from religion. Here is the dilemma, I will defend your right to worship as you choose as long as you defend my right to not worship as I choose. Yet my defense of your right to worship a religion is one sided since many of you have chosen to go with the religious doctrine that cannot abide a non-believer. So as I defend your right to worship, you do not defend my right to not worship. A brutish approach that stinks to high heaven of treason. Our national constitution has given every religion in this great country of ours a place of sanctuary that is rare in the cultures of our world. Yet the very design of our democracy is being challenged by some of those very same religious zealots who would subdue our democracy and turn it into a theocracy. Much like a knife in the back from a benefactor. Our democracy is in place to allow for equality, justice and opportunity for all, not for the proving grounds of one's faith. My spirituality is completely separate from how we all must be governed under the law. I find solace and serenity in my understanding of the great question, why? Although I have no answer, I have a purpose in life worthy of my time and efforts. To protect our democracy as the enlightened intellectual I am from all who would dismantle her. From our democracy a floor has been established from which we all may aspire from. Although our democracy is still in need of fine tuning it is still the greatest human achievement to have evolved as a form of government. Nothing shall abridge it's purpose to allow for all to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as declared in our courageous Declaration of Independence from oppressive monarchical and theocratic rule.

Those who encourage our baser traits are inhuman (#2334)

You all should know by now that I am a progressive liberal who believes in Democracy. I want all of us to have an opportunity to succeed in our lives with family, friends and experiences. But there is a faction of folks who are most all aligned with the Republican party who are not impressed with democracy, instead they are bent toward racism and sexism through selective religious dogma and survival of the fittest bastardizations. These folks are less than human in my estimation since the rest of us humans have evolved into civilized and enlightened beings. The Republican party is chock full of these inhuman beings who would no less like to see an all white country under certain christian religious doctrine. The government as church headed by Republican Jesus. Republican Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible rather he is a convenient straw man that Republicans have manufactured to align with their racist, misogynist, ego driven ideal of how the rest of us should be governed. These Republicans have taken what is good about democracy and created their own idea of how some who are well off or necessary to wealth are treated one way and the rest of us are treated another. In their minds a class system that appears to be democratic is good enough for them as long as they can convince the less informed of it's necessity. This is why you here the terms Oligarchy and Corporatocracy being bandied about because when you boil it down to it's base form, Republicans are gutting democracy and transforming it into a class system where the wealthy have a greater say in how our country govern's itself. For me, no amount of inequality and injustice is acceptable if any of us are denied what all of us should have as equal and just opportunity. Too many in the Republican party are inhuman and for that they should be denounced, shunned and made to pay a price for attacking our democracy.

The cognitive dissonance of religion (#2333)

Religion for centuries has been used to try to control human behavior. The dogmas and traditions of how religion operated brought about a mindset that there was a punishment for behavior that was not within parameters of civilized society. And although there are those who see religion as more than a behavioral control the general principle is still applicable. Instead of teaching our society to look for the best in ourselves as human beings we continue to put restrictions and burdens upon ourselves that are as ancient and mythical as any devised control. What is even worse are those "true believers" who take insignificant circumstances and apply them to an almighty being watching over us. Like the football player thanking God for a touchdown or some lucky state of affairs. While millions of young children keep dying over the years from starvation and poverty. Not seeing that a God who keeps us flush with cash or making touchdowns isn't also able to keep children from dying indiscriminately. Or one religious sect claiming a God as their divine inspiration warring with another religious sect who also claims a God who is divinely guiding them. The contradictions and non-sequiturs are abundant yet the steadfast believer refuses to acknowledge said logic. It is easier for them to dismiss contradictions as a greater insight then they are able to understand and hold fast to the comfort of their religion, despite's it's hypocrisies. I would be ashamed and embarrassed for taking a belief over any logical and scientific fact yet too many of us here in America are doing just that and not acknowledging the shame and embarrassment. I am not devoid of some spiritual understandings but not to the point of denying reality to make my spiritual experience dominant over truth and facts. The cognitive dissonance it takes to keep one's faith in light of enlightenment is astounding yet here we are with too many actually doing it.

The ignorance belief systems cultivate (#2332)

Many of us have a belief system that supports our personal journey through time and space here in existence but what many of us do with our belief system is to keep it to ourselves as a guide to our behavior and attitude. However, too many within our society find that their belief system is not a guide for them to live a free life, they find that their belief system is a shield for them to hide behind instead of experience an objective life. They are more cowardly than bold in their fears and as such they often pretend to be great followers of their faith while ignoring reality and the rights of others. It is a tragic symbol of our times that they now have political representation in the republican party and although they are on the surface appearing to be a moral force, they are much less than that. They are bigots and haters of anyone and anything that doesn't follow the waffling dogma they so vigorously cower to. I have seen enough examples in my own little world where the need to belittle anyone not them is overwhelming for them. They take pride in casting aspirations at those who are not just as cowardly as they are. They fear boldness and courage as if it where the plague and as cowards their need for shaming others anyway they can is how they pump each other up. I often think of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", wherein the many stew in fear while accepting the shadows as their reality. They care not what other possibilities exist, they have mastered their fear and play it for all they can get. It is hard for me to see how they cannot grasp a comprehensive view with a panoramic vision. So I live among them and avoid their constant babble about how others don't measure up. I am not them and and such they get nothing of me to help them justify their fear based illusions.

Objectivity, the key to understanding (#2331)

Keeping an open mind about all things that are not facts is the best way to assimilate correct information. The old saying of "I don't know what I don't know", is a valid response to situations and circumstances that are outside our full understanding. Being able to honestly tell ourselves and others the truth that we don't know is just as important as knowing. It is when we lie to ourselves or others about the things we actually don't know about is when we cut ourselves and our civilization down to less than it should be. If used properly, realizing that we don't know something that we probably should know let's us know that our society is not functioning properly when information that should be readily available is not being properly disseminated. The only way we can be honest with ourselves is by forcing ourselves to be objective. Objectivity is not it's distant cousin, subjectivity, which is a less logical form of deciding based upon personal belief systems and emotional motivations. Whereas objectivity is founded in facts and truths outside our own personal biases. Reality is best served, as is the human and other animal species, when we all face reality with honesty and truth. Remember, we are all basically organic data processors and although we can input whatever data into our minds and memories, it is important for us to base our information gathering on facts and truths if we are to face the challenges of our reality with any hope of surviving, exploring and understanding it. Many of us choose to ignore reality based upon a fear well established in our cultures. A fear that wishes to guide our lives based upon unprovable and often conflicting theories. The only way to move beyond fear is to face reality with an open mind and then let your conscience guide you. It is the least we could ask being free people on a tumultuous planet.

Climate change is linked to income inequality (#2330)

That there are some corporations out there who are denying the effects of man made climate change is a fact. They have chosen to take a position that harms our society on whole rather than tackling the problem of climate change by altering their polluting, but profitable, ways. This is significant in that it is the same types of corporations who pay their workers as little as possible in order to profit at a greater rate. Both climate change denying and keeping wages low are strategic decisions made in order to profit themselves and their shareholders. To place profits above the survival of our planet and the well being of our workforce is indicative of a diseased mindset that will not see the brutish nasty ramifications of the long term with any conscious formulation. It is all about the short term profit they can make while leaving the mess for others to clean up. We allow these corporations to do this to us when we vote for their proxy leaders in the Republican party. Our government is supposed to be elected by the will of the people but since we have unclear laws as to what honest debate is allowed we get too much confusion for our average citizenry to configure correctly. Corporations know this and use it to their advantage. Our current US Supreme Court has a majority conservative view which is being manipulated by corporations to reflect their greedy agenda. When the court pronounces that corporations are people and that money is speech, they have effectively given the greedy wealthy an advantage over those of us who cannot afford to speak through money. When the law does not punish speech that is disingenuous corporations find that they can spread enough propaganda to keep the many of us with wrong opinions. As our world slowly is poisoning itself through greedy corporate practices and our workers continue to suffer through low wage policies, corporations continue to grow in wealth and power. How can this possibly be good for us?

Intellectualism should not be a competition (#2329)

The way we have set up our educational system is actually discouraging intellectualism. We only reward those who are the smartest among us and do little to nothing for those who fail to be first among the test takers. It is an all or nothing competition that misses the mark as to the intent and purpose of education. Many of us have remarkable learning gifts and talents but unless we stand alone atop the hill we are rarely recognized for our otherwise tremendous achievements. The idea that competing against each other for placements surely does provide for the winner but the bulk of all the rest are left with little to move forward toward. It seems to me that the goal of intellectualism is to bring all into it's field of understanding regardless of the competition we place ourselves under. Some are early bloomers and some are late bloomers and some are just a bit faster and slower than others but the stifling finality of being told we don't have what it takes, surely depresses and nullifies many from further intellectual advancement. Our psyche's are fragile enough without being told we don't measure up coming from arbitrary reasoning. We need to have an educational system that recognizes all of our potential while giving us a pathway for much needed reasonable achievement. I appreciate and admire the special among us who do have extraordinary mental acuity and they should be heralded toward a special future but the rest of us are equally ambitious to succeed and our only recourse is a discouraging future with little opportunity for success to be realized. I can see why many have just given up on modernization and intellectualism, it has been a brutal experience where we more often than not are avoided and forgotten.

The imperfect judging others when they are not perfect. (#2328)

We have a problem in our Democratic party. Somehow some of our younger members think that our leaders must be perfect or otherwise they are not worth defending at all. As if these younger members are wiser in their opinions on subjects they have less information on and no insight into the complexity the leaders are dealing with. It is an arrogance of youthful vigor. It is important that we point it out since so many of them have decided that voting is not worth it if they have to compromise on their principles in ANY way. It pains me to see such vibrant youth who are full of conviction fail to see that progress does not happen over night. I wish it did, but my lessons in life have shown that steady progress is the best we can hope for. So why would we throw away what steady progress we have made so that we can say that our purist point of view is greater than reality? It makes no sense in a world where perfection is rare and imperfection is more than common? I would hope that logic would win the day but it is beyond me that I keep fighting for those same ones who reject my efforts and ignore either regression or improvement in the name of purity. Here is the real conclusion, whether we fight together to improve our society in any way that we can or we fall to those who are willing to destroy our society and make it less than democratic. So, either help win on many fronts or allow ourselves to lose on all fronts. That is the choice in the end, not which candidate can be pure to our way of thinking. The illusion that the perfect is expected when we ourselves are more imperfect than not is ridiculous. So either we are pragmatic in our approach to governance or we are foolish and lost. We will see soon enough when the vote comes around again here in America in 2016. Hopefully the purists in our Democratic party will engage their minds and weigh the cost of helping us win with a less than perfect candidate or allowing a really bad one from the Republican party to emerge victorious because we defaulted our vote.

Contrasting myself with greedy capitalists (#2327)

Every year except one for about 12 years I have had a little project 2 days a year that I accomplish for a very modest sum. It is a laborious day of cleaning that requires me to "hire" people to help me. Now what I do instead is ask my friends and acquaintances for help on the two days a year. I need four people, plus myself, to efficiently complete the task in a roughly six hour time frame. I offer each of them, about one fifth of the contracted amount I receive as their incentive. So what I essentially do is pool the money into a pile, spend to buy equipment as needed and always coffee and donuts for everyone just before we start and lunch at lunch time and then give each their set amount when we are done. Now what generally happens is some extra expense sometimes occurs and what I do is take it out of my share, which more often then not leaves me with less than the others make. I am fine with that since all I did was facilitate the opportunity and then oversee the process making sure no obstruction deviates us from our completion. That is how I operate a capitalistic venture, not with profit as my only goal. I enjoy the shared experience my friends and acquaintances have during the day and the camaraderie of individuals acting as equals among themselves. We all do our jobs well and when we are done there is real satisfaction in the time and effort put forth. Greedy capitalists are not as personable as I am with my help. Instead they are all about manipulating their work force to get the most production out of them while spending the least amount possible. Their goal is the profit, not the shared time and experience. I like my system better because although I don't get much money from my endeavor I do get a life that is well lived and I am respected for it. I can walk around anywhere with my head held high because I am not trying to profit off of others, I am instead sharing profit with others.

Where does your acquiescence end and the defending of your principles begin? (#2326)

I know my limitations, because I know myself. I, like the cartoon character Popeye, can stands so much and then can't stands no more, paraphrased. That is generally how I operate out in my world. However there are some things that I will not tolerate from the get go. Racism and sexism are not given an inch of humor or dignified allowance in my presence. I also find that those who blame the poor for their plight get a quick smack down from me as well. To define my position almost to a tee is to take the Republican party vision for America and reverse it. I often get this statement from those who don't know me to try to dialogue or compromise with Republican positions. I respond with the wisdom I have accumulated over the course of several decades that dialoguing or compromising with crazy and wrong is not to be borne. I am either on the right side of an issue or I am wrong. There is no dialoguing or compromising with not doing something right, there is only dialoguing and compromising with doing something right, period! I have also learned that acquiescing in the face of force, intimidation or duress is a situational fear I have overcome. First, I just don't care what others think about me so there is no peer pressure for me to be guided or persuaded by that isn't my own noble intent. Second, I have taken the lesson of Nathan Hale, our great American Revolutionary hero, and made a stand to defend what is right, regardless of whether my death is a price I must pay. Did you get that? I am willing to die for what is right well before I grovel in front of what is wrong. It is that simple. Stand for what we all know is right and good and then let the chips fall where they may. Change is a fact of life and if we are going to effect the kind of change we know and deserve, we have to put all our money on the table and ride it out. Each of us is the change we were hoping for. 

A purposeful life (#2325)

What is it in life that we are supposed to be doing? Is there a destiny we each are "made" for? Generally, I would answer yes, but I couldn't say what each of us is purposed for specifically. We are an interesting species. We are animals for sure but we are also enlightened animals who are able to distinguish between our natural instinct to live and our natural instinct to know. We are at an evolutionary stage for our species where we are not so much encompassed with our own individual survival as we are with our communal survival. Together we are a greater than we are apart. Knowing this and given our thirst for knowledge we are destined to reach out beyond our own planet and become the Universal explorers we most fittingly exemplify. We are intelligent and curious, a rather daunting combination although some among us are less than bold in this fact. Yet we will move forward into our manifest destiny just like we have in the past. It is who we are to increase our knowledge while increasing the space we occupy. I have said this so many times before but it always bears repeating. We are biological data processors. We have five senses that we use to probe outside ourselves for information. We have a mind that not only reasons, analyzes and concludes, but we have an immense memory base from which we comprehensively reevalute from as new information comes in. We are the greatest physical specimen of a probe that has ever existed in our limited history. We are "built" to process information while also we are of a physical nature that we can mobilize in any terrain given our ability to solve any obstacle that comes our way. We are greater than artificial intelligence since we are the ultimate biological prototype. Our nature to care sets us apart from any other species as we can mold ourselves to fit into a community of laws that we willingly submit our behaviors to. Each of us is a unique and masterful display of evolution from this existence. Now we only need to maximize our efficiency in the span of time we currently have to enjoy our purpose.

Democracy is about creating equality, not denying it (#2324)

Sometimes I wonder if Republicans actually get that we live under a democratic government or if they do get it and want to destroy it for another form of government. The signs are there for the most part that Republicans are not defenders of democracy. At almost every turn Republicans want to deny rights to any class of American citizen that runs afoul of their hypocritical puritanical and greed driven views. For the first thing we are a nation that was created to be free from religious persecution while at the same time free to worship any religion we choose without penalty. Secondly, Republicans are some of the worst offenders of the taboo behaviors they often rail against. The depth of the Republican hypocrisy is unfathomable. However, for some reason we, the ordinary citizens who are the majority of voters in our country, seem to keep voting for them. Now I understand that politics can be tricky if you don't pay much attention to it. It is incredulous that a major political party could be intentionally sabotaging our national integrity under democracy, yet that is exactly what is happening. When the democratic ideals of community, tolerance and diversity are attacked by Republicans it can leave no doubt that the premise that Republicans want to replace our hard fought for democracy with another form of government that gives greater voice to the wealthy and faux religious is real. People are human beings and as we know we are all uniquely different. People are not corporations nor is money speech, yet the Republican party is giving greater deference to both corporations and money as a higher priority than human life. Whatever it is that Republicans are trying to replace our democracy with it cannot and shall not be allowed. Republicans have staked their ground out and are fighting to make the rest of us stand on it with them. Shall we stop voting for them and vanquish them like all the other enemies of democracy? That is the question isn't it?

The nobility of honor (#2323)

You may ask yourself why should I care about what I do or say since I live my life and then it is over. You my think that there is no comprehensive record of your acts and thoughts that will be recorded for eternity so why shouldn't I just care about my own self based wants and needs? You may think that denying yourself whatever it is you desire is a fools errand for no logical purpose in the eternal scope of things. Now you may be afraid of some afterlife you have been told you will pay a price for not being a good person, but that is just conjecture based upon faith or hope. So outside of some possible retribution from a belief system, you are free to be whoever or whatever kind of person you desire. Surely we have laws from our society to help guide us in our behaviors but all too often, too many have found numerous ways to circumvent those laws and they do as they please anyway. My experience has taught me that being a good man is a reward I want for myself. Let me explain. First and most important by being a good man I get to experience life in a noble way. I am refreshed at each awakening to a new day with a confident and serene feeling. Wherever I go I can smile and feel satisfaction in my wake. Other people treat me with respect and with welcoming greetings. A calmness has enveloped me because my acts and purposeful thoughts center around doing good things. I like the concept of honor, it is admirable and worthy of being part of. I tend to think that our Universe is recording our lives in some eternal way. Why do I think that? Because I want my life to be recorded, the bad and the good of it. I wasn't very good starting off but I am finishing my life off with much more good in it. I now understand that what I desire to feel inside me is best experienced when I am being the best at being good. So although I don't specifically know my true destiny in this existence, I do know that the nobility of honor is my quest regardless of where it takes me.

Compare and contrast (#2322)

Romancing hardship, pain and suffering is ludicrous yet that is what the Republican party is doing with it's survival of the fittest agenda. They would like us to believe that our pioneering spirit rose from an elitism and we would all be better off with a world that gave us nothing and made us earn everything. What Republicans won't tell us is that they know our pioneering spirit has nothing to do with an illusory romantic vision of manifest destiny or some other idealistic motivation. They know it came out of despair and abuse. We pioneered as a nation because it was the only way for us to find freedom from despicable rule by the wealthy who used us as tools and objects and then discarded us with little nothing for our forced service. We sought to build a shared life on our terms, greater and more honorable than greed, even if it meant facing other dangers. Struggling to be free and to having a life built by our own hands and the hands of our communities was our reason for pioneering. We couldn't break through the tight gripped control of the capitalists where we were so we moved where they weren't. A hope or dream for a better world was our last resort. That is how we should be living as the most incredible species ever evolved. It is an embarrassment to any free thinker that we would seek to control ourselves out of some devised greed instead of some communal obligation to happiness. The pursuit of happiness is genetic to our American experience as it was highlighted on our American Declaration of Independence from Britain. Life is not about capitalizing on each other where there is only one or two eventual winners and everyone else is left holding an empty bag. Life is about working together to build a better nation where all citizens have a right to a respectable existence and a say in how we govern ourselves.

Enlightenment or ignorance (#2321)

Who knew that after the awakening of the renaissance centuries ago that today we would be fighting over whether to advanced and modernize our American society or whether to go back to a faith system where a belief in something is greater than the scientific fact of everything else. I am not saying that we must choose between the two, but to give a belief system greater societal rule over logic and reality is a step backwards toward an unenlightened era. I know we can each have a faith system for ourselves that calms or gives comfort in times of trouble but not a s ystem of rule that everyone must be legally bound to obey. I keep my own personal faith system to myself since it is mine and I need comfort and calming from time to time. But I am an enlightened soul who must build upon the great renaissance achievements previously established. I am a modern man who can only see possibilities for greater care and wonder in my future. It is the wondering part that has gripped me to my bones. I am a soul who needs to know and if there are those who would stifle me based upon some arbitrary dogma of a religious bent, then we will have trouble. I do not push or advocate my own personal belief on anyone as each of us must find our own compass for moving forward, nor will I have anyone else attempt to force my compass away from any direction it may take me. Living a simple life that makes us comfortable is appealing but not at the expense of the liberty of others who choose a more difficult and rewarding life. Enlightenment is a challenge to simplicity as a rule and for me enlightenment is my path. I am a biological data processor in all regards and for me to not utilize my abilities is for me to deny I am human.

Harm is harm, it is that simple (#2320)

Politics is not that difficult to understand. If it helps most people then it is likely very good. If it harms most people it is likely very bad. Simple! Like our social safety net programs are which are designed to help those who are less advantaged than others. We need them in order to protect the many from the nasty brutish nature of how our capitalistic economic system has evolved. As you may have noticed, only a few ever get to become wealthy. It is a mirage that we all will be millionaires in our lifetimes. A mirage that has been peddled for the last few generations to keep us from recognizing the unequal way our society distributes privilege and advantage. When the spokespeople for the wealthy tell us that it is our own fault that we are not wealthy like them, they are lying to us. Many who are wealthy got there through inheritance or advantages most of us never get. They are not exceptional human beings able to overcome obstacles that litter the road. Most of them have had a smooth road to traverse while the rest of us have been dodging mines over every step. We who are not wealthy are not wealthy because we are defective, we are not wealthy because the wealthy make it difficult for us to succeed. The truth of it is that the wealthy need a large class of non-wealthy to exist so that they can remain wealthy themselves. By keeping competition down from the rest of us not only are the wealthy able to control the economy in a much more collusive way, they have a large bank of workers to draw from. We the non-wealthy must wake up to the fact that we are not ever going to be wealthy, but we can still have a quality of life that doesn't discard us after our utility to the wealthy has expired.

On the subject of sex, which obviously came before marriage (#2319)

We human beings are of the animal kingdom here on Earth. Our connection with the other animals has been well established. We all share the same natural ability to procreate through a sexual encounter between the male and female genders of our own species'. This has been going on since before our recorded history. To put this into perspective, sexual relations between members of our human species predates our conscious remembering, long before any concept of marriage was devised. The concept of marriage is more akin to property rights in it's origin than to the ideal of two becoming one. The civilization of our human members into society has helped afforded us the ability to devise a marriage concept to help bring about an order to our societies. A way to calm the chaotic and lawlessness of arbitrary emotional desire. Marriage as an institution can be a good paradigm when it is entered into with the high aspiration of shared love and devotion. But marriage is not the genesis of sexual relations. Sexual relations predated the concept of marriage by millenniums. So although we are a more modern civilized being we must not lose sight of the fact that we are and were animals who had sexual relations long before we put a restriction on it's utility. Marriage is a subset of sex and that order is right and good if we are to respect the actual history and natural rights of our species. Of course we by law do not allow the taking of sex as a right when it is entered into under force or duress, etc... or restricted by age requirements. It is proper to define restrictive roles of sex in order to protect any who would be violated by the act. Yet, we should never stop any who are rightfully allowed to have sex because they are not married or offend our personal religious choices. Otherwise we would be denying the natural order of sexual intercourse as a right when utilized between two consenting adults. Or are we now to be considered to have evolved from our previous animal state?

How will you handle death? (#2318)

Death will come to all of us as the one certainty we have. I wish it were not so, since I first learned of death it broke my heart. The unfairness of random death is even more heartbreaking when it comes so unexpectedly. But nothing I have said so far is any different than anything else everyone has or will experience so I am not unique in any way on this subject. I have been fortunate in that I have lived almost 60 years and a mostly full life to boot. Not so much a conventional average life but one of my own where I got to do things my way, even if for a short period of time. So I can at least plan for my eventual demise by instituting my wishes for my remains. I have come to grips with death and it's eventuality. I no longer run around in chaos denying the inevitable. Although I accept that I will die, I want my death to be of some progressive act. Not just a dying on the vine but with a greater good purpose. Standing up for rights, or against cruelty and harm. I have lived mostly as an honorable man, who protected the weak and downtrodden. I have done so because I have seen first hand what happens when good men do nothing and bad men get away with it. When I was younger and less strident in my principles I couldn't or wouldn't protect those who were being unjustly and wrongly abused. But as I have gotten older, stronger and wiser, I let nothing of the sort happen in my presence without me pushing back with steely determination. A conviction worthy of putting my life on the line to stop the brutish and abhorrent from occurring. This may be how I die, and if so that would be noble and typical of my values. Whether or not, I will die at some point and the idea that fear will play a part in it is not part of my calculation, however being stalwart and courageous is part of my plan for how I will pass from this plane of existence.

Universal voter registration (#2317)

Democracy in its essential form is the governance of all by all. now we can't let some vote, like those in prison for violent crimes or those who are not American citizens, but we have laws now that protect us from those events occurring. So the rest of us are rightfully allowed to cast a ballot in any and all public elections. There needs to be no restrictions on a one person one vote doctrine regardless of any inconvenience to any political party. Rights of citizens overrule rights of political parties. That we have a candidate running for president in 2016, Hillary Clinton, who is advocating for universal voter registration for all eligible American citizens would seem like a policy that every American would have no argument against. Yet we would be mistaken to think so. The Republican party has been trying for at least a decade to restrict voting for the less affluent, women and persons of color. This is a fact no an opinion. Too many Republican controlled states have devised laws that make voting harder for these aforementioned groups. The intent of these laws is masked by the Republican claims that voter fraud is rampant. But to claim it without any verifiable proof only makes it a lie. The intent rather of these Republican voter restriction laws is to lessen the base of the opposing party. Think about that for just a moment, the Republican party is working to deny votes to those who are not affiliated with them. Do you see the problem here? Republicans cannot win on their agenda of hating people not like them and instead are denying them a voice in our democracy. Now this may seem obtuse or rather insignificant to you because your otherwise busy life is too demanding to care for this but if you don't care, your otherwise busy life will become even more busy just to stay where you are now instead of easing your busyness for you to have more time for the quality things in it.

Evolution demands that we defeat the unknown (#2316)

It may take close to eternity but it is a mandate for an enlightened human being. Nothing in life is a greater purpose for our species than to capture the flag of the unknown. how do we do that? We never quit on our drive to learn. If we are not leading the charge into the unknown then we are not the best of our species. I hear Republicans talk about their survival of the fittest philosophy in ways that are illogical. Republicans don't seem to get that education as a priority is how we survive as a species. They must only attribute survival to brute or conniving force. I wonder what their end game is since it doesn't involve bold and courageous exploration of knowledge and intelligence. Since the inception of our lives we have been struggling to learn and know what is about us, yet Republicans want us to be satisfied with policies that destroy our planet and neglect our duty to each other. Now Republicans may be happy to sit back in life and wait for some type of future after death, but I am not deluded enough to share their fear based illusion. I want to live my life in this existence with all the power and energy I have. I can only do that by being informed and able to imagine ways to create and innovate new ways to learn and understand. Satisfying every human beings essential need is our foundation and from there we all can be part of the great discoveries yet to come. Our species will not survive a survival of the fittest mentality if it isn't more than just an excuse to dominate economics. A true survival of the fittest pits humans against the unknown, not humans against each other. It is time for real leaders to step up and define the role of our humanity and our ambitions, not just to survive but to dominate all that we do and don't know.

The problem of the closed mind (#2315)

On this subject there is much to be objective about. The closed mind is a fear based solution that won't accept anything other than the comfort the closed mind allows. Even to the point of cognitive dissonance, the closed mind will prevail despite the erroneousness of the defended concept. The veritable brick wall is far more than just metaphorical in this instance. For too many the closed mind around a belief or an illogical ideal is to be protected at all costs. I do understand how attractive the closed mind can be and the sanctuary it offers to those who are overwhelmed with confusion and chaos. Yet the closed mind is an attempt to escape, not an attempt to overcome. Retreating from life is rarely a strategy that brings honor and respect to one's destiny. An open mind however is one that not only provides additional insights into all of life, it allows us to move freely and confidently in any circle of existence. An open mind is a value worth more than treasure or adulation. An open mind gives us the ability to reorganize our information and knowledge in order to stay in harmony with the past, present and future. An open mind keeps us honest in our evaluations and perspectives. In all reality, an open mind is a healthy paradigm. The closed mind gives us a presumed safe harbor but it ignores the whirligig of life and defaults back to intolerance and a lack of diversity. Who are we to judge another based upon some formula we declare is the only correct one? It is absurd to think that in the infancy of our society of humans and other like animals, compared to the Universe, that we would know the only way to be in a world of constant change! I follow principles for living that establish my behavior but I would never dare to condescend upon others my control or rule over them as a solution. The closed mind would however and for me that is intolerable.

Can't change my heart (#2314)

A different type post today. I did some early morning shopping for building materials and on my way home I saw a little scraggly black doggie meandering around a busy intersection. At first I thought maybe the dog was with someone but as I was driving I could see no one near him. I kept going away from the intersection and the more I got away the worse I felt for not stopping and investigating the doggie. I finally turned around and headed back to find him and see if he had any identification. I searched where I originally saw him but I couldn't see him anywhere. So I stopped and asked some fellows hanging out around a parking lot and they said he was across the street heading away. So I drove across the street but couldn't see him. I almost just kept going but instead I pulled off on a frontage road adjacent to the main drag and I saw in the bushes a dark spot. I drove a little closer and there was the doggie laying just off the main road. I stopped about 20 feet short of him but the doggie immediately became frightened and started away from me and out into the main road. After a some motorists braked to keep from hitting the dog, the dog made it across the busy street and into some a retail shopping center. I followed across with my truck and the dog went to an isolated area and when I cautiously approached the dog took off in a full run away from me. I decided right there that I was probably more a danger to his life than him being lost or homeless. I had already cringed at the prospect that I had caused him to scurry in front on traffic and I wasn't about to do it again. All this to say that the best of intentions I had, to bring the doggie to my house, where I could later this morning get him to the vet for whatever needs he has, if the dog didn't have identification, was left unfulfilled. I like that I acted out of concern for the dog's welfare but the fear the little doggie had was too much for the dog to trust me. I tried and luckily didn't make things worse anyway.

Get busy living or get busy dying (#2313)

Life is about change. Know this one thing and everything else will fall into place for you. If you are looking to stay still don't worry, death will take care of that. Now not that we can't pause and reflect but not for long as change is continual despite our best wishes. I have struggled with how to live my life since I was too young to remember. I learned early on that death is inevitable for all of us so how I live needed to be understood by me from the get go. What I didn't know then was that although I am unique, I am not special in that being. We are all unique and we all deserve the right to choose a life for ourselves that is free from unjust control. By not staying busy in life we are abdicating time from ourselves to nothing. We are giving away the most precious gift in this existence, time. Now I know we all get tired and have a need to rest and contemplate but being weary should only require minimal rest to recover from then it should be full steam ahead into whatever ambition or acceptable desire we can imagine. I have always been about improving life in any way I know how to do. There are many like me who also see building a better world for us to live in and explore outer space from as an utmost priority. However, there are still those, especially the wealthy and their political acolytes who want no greater world to live in on the contrary, they would have us go back from modernity to some more easily managed serfdom paradigm. Apparently they can control us better the less enlightened and poorer we are. I say nonsense to them and forge ahead with my goal of lifting every soul up from despair and impoverishment. A noble ideal, which by the way, represents my soul. So busy it is for me and if I have any luck whatsoever, I will see some progress before my time here in this existence expires.