I consider myself an optimist. A pragmatic optimist, if such a thing exists, it exists within me. I believe that things will change for the better.
I don’t think it is possible to be any more anti-free-market than me, and I’ll tell you why. What is a free market but corporate anarchy? The theory of supply and demand supposedly keeps everything on an even keel. And a free market supposedly regulates itself. Boy, what an interesting theory. I wonder if anyone would apply that to other arenas of life. Our children, for instance. Or the running of a household. Our families. Our work environment. Our lawns. Lawn! Regulate thyself!
Huh.
It’s ludicrous because it’s nonsensical.
Corporations may be individuals in the eyes of the law but in reality they are not. A corporation has no conscience. I am no economist as those close to me can firmly assert. I have no interest in any of this kind of stuff.
Shares.
Stocks.
Yawn.
Dividends.
Blach.
White noise.
Until of course I see how it is affecting the things I do care about. People. Animals. Plants. Water. Air. Land. Trees. Then I get involved.
Corporations must be regulated. It is essential. As it stands now, they regulate themselves. The numbers we see as far as emissions etc., are all generated by the corporation, not the regulatory agency. The regulatory agency might publish them but they are strictly numbers submitted by the industries themselves.
Understand that.
No one is regulating or overseeing these huge polluters. Some say, they answer to their shareholders and that keeps them honest.
Hmmm.
Uh.
No.
No, it doesn’t. Shareholders want to see good numbers. And that is what is provided. Good numbers. Low emissions and high returns is every shareholder’s desire, and your wish is their command.
It does not, however, share any space with reality.
Many manufacturers of chemical products locate next to waterways.
Did you know this?
So that they can dump all their waste into the water and it gets carried far, far way. And the concentration of blame gets more and more diluted.
Dioxin, for instance, has been identified as a cancer causer. Many people who work in these plants that have a by-product or an actual ingredient of dioxin, are not given any information about the negative effects or that they are even working with a dangerous chemical. The information they get has been through several spin cycles until all truth has been slammed against the inside drum and washed away with the rinse water.
Honest people believe what they are told because they often have a voice in their head that says – why would this not be the truth? Sound naïve? Maybe. But that’s exactly how the overwhelming majority of people are. That’s why the marketing works so well. Because we believe. We are trusting. And when that trust is betrayed, initially, it is absolute shock and disbelief? Our stock is worthless? What? Lay said everything was ok, what, what happened? Suckers? No. Average, glorious people. I would much rather be surrounded by the people that were bilked by Enron than those that did the bilking. I would choose them every single, solitary time. They are the norm. They are the people that would drive you to the hospital, run from their car on the freeway to your car buried by tons of gravel from an overturned 18-wheeler and start frantically digging or drop everything to help you when there is a death in the family. The Lays of this world would send you flowers, a camera crew or make a monster donation to some charity (and make damn sure that the press heard all about it), but it is very likely that if no cameras or press are around, Lay-types would be just as absent.
Corporations need monitoring. Not by people who have invested in them, that is not their job. They must be monitored by an agency in the government because the government is for and by the people. With the stranglehold that corporations have on our society one would think that this would just make sense. But unfortunately the stranglehold is also firmly squeezing every branch of our government.
Based on that ridiculous man that has those anti-gay protests at soldier’s funerals, bush decided that he was going to push through legislation that restricts protests on government land, including veteran cemeteries. Sounds good, right?
We don’t want that horrible man and his gang of extremists with their “God hates soldiers” signs dishonoring the mourning family of servicepeople, right?
Of course not!
But the thing is….this problem was already being addressed by the community. A community of motorcycling veterans had begun making an impromptu barrier, shielding by standing in front of the motorcycles that were placed strategically to block the view of the protesters and the mourners. Impromptu initially, but families and the press provided so much positive feedback to these guys that they started organizing the effort.
So, you see, the community stepped up and dealt with a problem. No legislation was needed.
But that’s the twist.
Bush et al knew that, but there has been an ongoing “thorn” in this administration’s side known as “anti-war protesters” or “pro-choice demonstrators” etc. that cause untold embarrassment. Who likes to bring one’s friends over to one’s house with a bunch of people screaming about how much your policies suck? You can’t even go out to dinner or a show without some leftist elitist pointing out a bunch of stuff you hadn’t thought about. It’s enough to put anyone off one’s appetite. So, pass a law. But because you’ve said something about upholding that blasted constitution thingee, you can’t violate the freedom of speech. There are ways around that, however, – kind of like the way they are making around their decision to intrude on our internet activities.
Tie to child porn.
Everyone hates that!
We all want child porn off the internet, so, heck! Sure, georgie, come on in, take a look around, see what’s going on. You’ve been so goshed darned good at everything thus far. How could you possibly screw this up?
We have so many precedents for how this is going to go, I can’t even pick one.
Taking a quick “fair and balanced” check, I think, are there other perspectives? I know that a lot of apologists are saying that they know it’s the good fight, that anyone scrutinized to this degree is bound to look bad (previous battles didn’t have this kind of up to the minute reporting due to the internet access), that we are impatient and we need to trust that this is a long term goal that we are trying to attain. Is that close? I mean, am hitting at least a couple of the high points?
I just don’t see how anyone can be buying this any more. This administration claims to support the troops, yet they throw them to the wolves when certain things become public. Where are the leaders, stepping up and taking responsibility for Abu Ghuraib? For the mistakes in directives? Where is the support for these guys mentally and emotionally – when they come back with all the things that they have seen running amok in their heads?
These guys are trained to take orders, to follow orders. They cannot inject their own thoughts or ideas or vibes into the command. They wouldn’t believe that they would be able to function militarily. The military has a certain way of operating, that, I think, everyone is well aware. There is also the study that was done in the early seventies regarding a prison guard/prisoner experiment that demonstrates what happens when people have authority over people for any extended period of time, with very few guidelines regarding their conduct with each other. It is a documented, researched fact that the information learned from this study proved repeatedly to be true. Therefore, why are these MPs that are not trained to supervise prisoners put into the exact position of these guys in the study? In charge of people that have described as the enemy, dangerous, described as a threat to their comrades and told to soften them up for interrogation?
Wha..?
And the guys that followed the orders are at fault?
Not the guys that ordered it?
The MPs behaved as every other human being is most likely to behave. It has been proved. But our government doesn’t stand behind these guys. They call the few that are caught, aberrant and “bad apples”.
Wow.
I think that only people that have been involved in the military can decide if we will go to war. It’s a mirror image of my belief in abortion. If you are involved in the process, then you have a say. Otherwise, sorry! We don’t care what you think.
Golly! Isn’t this the craziest “big government is bad” irony on steroids? This new amendment proposal? The endless spying? How many of those “outs” has bush written with each piece of legislation he signs his name to? 200?
He doesn’t veto. He just writes beside the law that he doesn’t have to follow it.
Nope, don’t have to follow that one.
No way! Not that either.
I think I want this right. Yep. I can definitely see me doing a lot of good with that option. Magic wand-like, don’t you think?
No. I just don’t think I should have to pay taxes.
Gosh, I just think that 55 on the freeway is so restrictive. I don’t think that one will apply to me.
Actually – that is kind of how I feel about driving 55. The only difference is that I would have to pay a fine without the magic wand.
Let’s get down to it.
I have been giving a lot of thought to this and have finally realized where my biggest disconnect was. Once it was located, a bridge was painstakingly build in order to reconnect. And this is what I have come up with.
Have you ever noticed juries? Juries in major cases, like murder or Enron or something like that. Have you ever noticed that all of them are just plain people. Teachers. Counter staff. Shop owners. Stay at home moms. Plumbers. Just your regular people. Have you ever noticed what happens to them when they get sworn in?
I’ve been to jury duty. Surprisingly, I get tossed pretty early in the rounds by both lawyers. Doesn’t pay to be opinionated, I suppose.
But I’ve been seated with these regular, ordinary people who are reading the paper, talking with each other, laughing, complaining, nervous, bored. Seriously, like on the bus. That boring and normal.
Yet they take that oath and they transform. They are told that what they decide is going to affect other people’s LIVES and suddenly the responsibility of it all hits them. Even in small claims court or minor deals, people on a jury care. I mean, what they are doing is a big deal to them. Their decision matters and their civic duty is unimpeachable.
They don’t have to be lawyers.
They don’t have to be judges.
They don’t have to be CEOs.
They don’t have to be college graduates.
They just have to care.
It is time to have our government actually be FOR AND BY the PEOPLE. Let’s get rid of all the career politicians and put in the plumbers. The librarians. The teachers. The soldiers. And swear them in. Tell them that they now represent all of these people and what they decide will matter and have a tremendous effect on others and watch what they do. Watch how they rise to the task. Because that’s what ordinary people do. They rush in to dig someone out. They donate their surgical skills. They rush terrorists on an airplane. That’s what normal people are capable of.
The problem is. We have become so inwardly focused. What’s my piece of the pie? How much do I get? How come he has more? When we should be focusing outwardly. How can I make this day better? How can I impact the world positively? How can I restore or renew something? How can I make someone happier? Healthier? What can I give to help someone? Where do I need to go to brighten someone’s day? Outward focus. That’s what happens when we all focus on something bigger than ourselves. Our responsibility for each other. That’s why the average citizens in this country need to run for office, and be put in. Because what they don’t understand, they will strive to grasp. What they don’t know they will reach to learn. The people of this country have infinite potential, even those considered weak or lost because they, I have found, are usually the ones who make the most breathtaking leaps. I will never forget how homeless men helped me to my car and around the area after the San Francisco earthquake in ’89. It was absolutely remarkable. Pristine kindness from the most genuine hearts who had nothing but the ultimate outward focus.
Awesome.
Anyway, I say, vote them in. Ordinary people.
No ordinary person would allow someone to dump chemicals into other people’s drinking water and not have to clean it up and pay for it.
No ordinary person would spend billions of dollars to build stuff we don’t need.
No ordinary person would allow others to torture animals.
No ordinary person would put their initials on a form that approved spending ten bucks for a Kleenex and twenty bucks for an Excedrin.
No ordinary person would allow people to be evicted for no reason but greed from their homes that had been there for generations.
No ordinary person would deny other people healthcare.
No ordinary person would keep other people from getting married.
No ordinary person would send kids off to war unless there was a damned good reason and all our friends believed it was a good idea.
No ordinary person would feel ok about bribery.
Because this isn’t the gas station or the convenience store. You aren’t fronting a guy a pack of smokes because he’s in there all the time and you know he’ll be in tomorrow. You are responsible for millions upon millions, if not billions of people. You are responsible for the health and welfare of not only all those people but also all the animals, water, trees, mountains, grass, etc. that constitute a country. So, it’s not like a little thing at this level and I think ordinary people know that. Everything is a big deal. Everything you do, everything you say. Is a big deal. Ordinary people would get that. I think un-ordinary people do not get that. It is time to take the P. Diddy element out of politics. How about the Kobe effect? The Angelina and Brad factor? The star power. The extraordinary persons. The "wow" factor. The well connected. Let’s take that out and put it where it belongs, in theatrics.
And let’s get down to regular politicking. Where the average guy doesn’t just get involved the first week of November, he’s involved throughout.
I think things would change for the better.
I don’t think it is possible to be any more anti-free-market than me, and I’ll tell you why. What is a free market but corporate anarchy? The theory of supply and demand supposedly keeps everything on an even keel. And a free market supposedly regulates itself. Boy, what an interesting theory. I wonder if anyone would apply that to other arenas of life. Our children, for instance. Or the running of a household. Our families. Our work environment. Our lawns. Lawn! Regulate thyself!
Huh.
It’s ludicrous because it’s nonsensical.
Corporations may be individuals in the eyes of the law but in reality they are not. A corporation has no conscience. I am no economist as those close to me can firmly assert. I have no interest in any of this kind of stuff.
Shares.
Stocks.
Yawn.
Dividends.
Blach.
White noise.
Until of course I see how it is affecting the things I do care about. People. Animals. Plants. Water. Air. Land. Trees. Then I get involved.
Corporations must be regulated. It is essential. As it stands now, they regulate themselves. The numbers we see as far as emissions etc., are all generated by the corporation, not the regulatory agency. The regulatory agency might publish them but they are strictly numbers submitted by the industries themselves.
Understand that.
No one is regulating or overseeing these huge polluters. Some say, they answer to their shareholders and that keeps them honest.
Hmmm.
Uh.
No.
No, it doesn’t. Shareholders want to see good numbers. And that is what is provided. Good numbers. Low emissions and high returns is every shareholder’s desire, and your wish is their command.
It does not, however, share any space with reality.
Many manufacturers of chemical products locate next to waterways.
Did you know this?
So that they can dump all their waste into the water and it gets carried far, far way. And the concentration of blame gets more and more diluted.
Dioxin, for instance, has been identified as a cancer causer. Many people who work in these plants that have a by-product or an actual ingredient of dioxin, are not given any information about the negative effects or that they are even working with a dangerous chemical. The information they get has been through several spin cycles until all truth has been slammed against the inside drum and washed away with the rinse water.
Honest people believe what they are told because they often have a voice in their head that says – why would this not be the truth? Sound naïve? Maybe. But that’s exactly how the overwhelming majority of people are. That’s why the marketing works so well. Because we believe. We are trusting. And when that trust is betrayed, initially, it is absolute shock and disbelief? Our stock is worthless? What? Lay said everything was ok, what, what happened? Suckers? No. Average, glorious people. I would much rather be surrounded by the people that were bilked by Enron than those that did the bilking. I would choose them every single, solitary time. They are the norm. They are the people that would drive you to the hospital, run from their car on the freeway to your car buried by tons of gravel from an overturned 18-wheeler and start frantically digging or drop everything to help you when there is a death in the family. The Lays of this world would send you flowers, a camera crew or make a monster donation to some charity (and make damn sure that the press heard all about it), but it is very likely that if no cameras or press are around, Lay-types would be just as absent.
Corporations need monitoring. Not by people who have invested in them, that is not their job. They must be monitored by an agency in the government because the government is for and by the people. With the stranglehold that corporations have on our society one would think that this would just make sense. But unfortunately the stranglehold is also firmly squeezing every branch of our government.
Based on that ridiculous man that has those anti-gay protests at soldier’s funerals, bush decided that he was going to push through legislation that restricts protests on government land, including veteran cemeteries. Sounds good, right?
We don’t want that horrible man and his gang of extremists with their “God hates soldiers” signs dishonoring the mourning family of servicepeople, right?
Of course not!
But the thing is….this problem was already being addressed by the community. A community of motorcycling veterans had begun making an impromptu barrier, shielding by standing in front of the motorcycles that were placed strategically to block the view of the protesters and the mourners. Impromptu initially, but families and the press provided so much positive feedback to these guys that they started organizing the effort.
So, you see, the community stepped up and dealt with a problem. No legislation was needed.
But that’s the twist.
Bush et al knew that, but there has been an ongoing “thorn” in this administration’s side known as “anti-war protesters” or “pro-choice demonstrators” etc. that cause untold embarrassment. Who likes to bring one’s friends over to one’s house with a bunch of people screaming about how much your policies suck? You can’t even go out to dinner or a show without some leftist elitist pointing out a bunch of stuff you hadn’t thought about. It’s enough to put anyone off one’s appetite. So, pass a law. But because you’ve said something about upholding that blasted constitution thingee, you can’t violate the freedom of speech. There are ways around that, however, – kind of like the way they are making around their decision to intrude on our internet activities.
Tie to child porn.
Everyone hates that!
We all want child porn off the internet, so, heck! Sure, georgie, come on in, take a look around, see what’s going on. You’ve been so goshed darned good at everything thus far. How could you possibly screw this up?
We have so many precedents for how this is going to go, I can’t even pick one.
Taking a quick “fair and balanced” check, I think, are there other perspectives? I know that a lot of apologists are saying that they know it’s the good fight, that anyone scrutinized to this degree is bound to look bad (previous battles didn’t have this kind of up to the minute reporting due to the internet access), that we are impatient and we need to trust that this is a long term goal that we are trying to attain. Is that close? I mean, am hitting at least a couple of the high points?
I just don’t see how anyone can be buying this any more. This administration claims to support the troops, yet they throw them to the wolves when certain things become public. Where are the leaders, stepping up and taking responsibility for Abu Ghuraib? For the mistakes in directives? Where is the support for these guys mentally and emotionally – when they come back with all the things that they have seen running amok in their heads?
These guys are trained to take orders, to follow orders. They cannot inject their own thoughts or ideas or vibes into the command. They wouldn’t believe that they would be able to function militarily. The military has a certain way of operating, that, I think, everyone is well aware. There is also the study that was done in the early seventies regarding a prison guard/prisoner experiment that demonstrates what happens when people have authority over people for any extended period of time, with very few guidelines regarding their conduct with each other. It is a documented, researched fact that the information learned from this study proved repeatedly to be true. Therefore, why are these MPs that are not trained to supervise prisoners put into the exact position of these guys in the study? In charge of people that have described as the enemy, dangerous, described as a threat to their comrades and told to soften them up for interrogation?
Wha..?
And the guys that followed the orders are at fault?
Not the guys that ordered it?
The MPs behaved as every other human being is most likely to behave. It has been proved. But our government doesn’t stand behind these guys. They call the few that are caught, aberrant and “bad apples”.
Wow.
I think that only people that have been involved in the military can decide if we will go to war. It’s a mirror image of my belief in abortion. If you are involved in the process, then you have a say. Otherwise, sorry! We don’t care what you think.
Golly! Isn’t this the craziest “big government is bad” irony on steroids? This new amendment proposal? The endless spying? How many of those “outs” has bush written with each piece of legislation he signs his name to? 200?
He doesn’t veto. He just writes beside the law that he doesn’t have to follow it.
Nope, don’t have to follow that one.
No way! Not that either.
I think I want this right. Yep. I can definitely see me doing a lot of good with that option. Magic wand-like, don’t you think?
No. I just don’t think I should have to pay taxes.
Gosh, I just think that 55 on the freeway is so restrictive. I don’t think that one will apply to me.
Actually – that is kind of how I feel about driving 55. The only difference is that I would have to pay a fine without the magic wand.
Let’s get down to it.
I have been giving a lot of thought to this and have finally realized where my biggest disconnect was. Once it was located, a bridge was painstakingly build in order to reconnect. And this is what I have come up with.
Have you ever noticed juries? Juries in major cases, like murder or Enron or something like that. Have you ever noticed that all of them are just plain people. Teachers. Counter staff. Shop owners. Stay at home moms. Plumbers. Just your regular people. Have you ever noticed what happens to them when they get sworn in?
I’ve been to jury duty. Surprisingly, I get tossed pretty early in the rounds by both lawyers. Doesn’t pay to be opinionated, I suppose.
But I’ve been seated with these regular, ordinary people who are reading the paper, talking with each other, laughing, complaining, nervous, bored. Seriously, like on the bus. That boring and normal.
Yet they take that oath and they transform. They are told that what they decide is going to affect other people’s LIVES and suddenly the responsibility of it all hits them. Even in small claims court or minor deals, people on a jury care. I mean, what they are doing is a big deal to them. Their decision matters and their civic duty is unimpeachable.
They don’t have to be lawyers.
They don’t have to be judges.
They don’t have to be CEOs.
They don’t have to be college graduates.
They just have to care.
It is time to have our government actually be FOR AND BY the PEOPLE. Let’s get rid of all the career politicians and put in the plumbers. The librarians. The teachers. The soldiers. And swear them in. Tell them that they now represent all of these people and what they decide will matter and have a tremendous effect on others and watch what they do. Watch how they rise to the task. Because that’s what ordinary people do. They rush in to dig someone out. They donate their surgical skills. They rush terrorists on an airplane. That’s what normal people are capable of.
The problem is. We have become so inwardly focused. What’s my piece of the pie? How much do I get? How come he has more? When we should be focusing outwardly. How can I make this day better? How can I impact the world positively? How can I restore or renew something? How can I make someone happier? Healthier? What can I give to help someone? Where do I need to go to brighten someone’s day? Outward focus. That’s what happens when we all focus on something bigger than ourselves. Our responsibility for each other. That’s why the average citizens in this country need to run for office, and be put in. Because what they don’t understand, they will strive to grasp. What they don’t know they will reach to learn. The people of this country have infinite potential, even those considered weak or lost because they, I have found, are usually the ones who make the most breathtaking leaps. I will never forget how homeless men helped me to my car and around the area after the San Francisco earthquake in ’89. It was absolutely remarkable. Pristine kindness from the most genuine hearts who had nothing but the ultimate outward focus.
Awesome.
Anyway, I say, vote them in. Ordinary people.
No ordinary person would allow someone to dump chemicals into other people’s drinking water and not have to clean it up and pay for it.
No ordinary person would spend billions of dollars to build stuff we don’t need.
No ordinary person would allow others to torture animals.
No ordinary person would put their initials on a form that approved spending ten bucks for a Kleenex and twenty bucks for an Excedrin.
No ordinary person would allow people to be evicted for no reason but greed from their homes that had been there for generations.
No ordinary person would deny other people healthcare.
No ordinary person would keep other people from getting married.
No ordinary person would send kids off to war unless there was a damned good reason and all our friends believed it was a good idea.
No ordinary person would feel ok about bribery.
Because this isn’t the gas station or the convenience store. You aren’t fronting a guy a pack of smokes because he’s in there all the time and you know he’ll be in tomorrow. You are responsible for millions upon millions, if not billions of people. You are responsible for the health and welfare of not only all those people but also all the animals, water, trees, mountains, grass, etc. that constitute a country. So, it’s not like a little thing at this level and I think ordinary people know that. Everything is a big deal. Everything you do, everything you say. Is a big deal. Ordinary people would get that. I think un-ordinary people do not get that. It is time to take the P. Diddy element out of politics. How about the Kobe effect? The Angelina and Brad factor? The star power. The extraordinary persons. The "wow" factor. The well connected. Let’s take that out and put it where it belongs, in theatrics.
And let’s get down to regular politicking. Where the average guy doesn’t just get involved the first week of November, he’s involved throughout.
I think things would change for the better.
Comments