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4th of July, Some Changes
& Adding Something New
Hard to believe it’s July. Still waiting for things to slow down, but time keeps flying by. If I shift my perspective a little bit, however, I see some things just seem to take forever. Waiting on politicians to think big—in terms of what’s good for the county—for instance.
At times it gets to me, but there’s a lot that looks positive. We hope to shift our energy mix and reign in institutions whose mis-speculations have changed the lives of many people around the world.
Noticing our government came early for me. I’ve always appreciated the Fourth of July as an opportunity to embrace our roots. My early memories of Independence Day came during my grades 3–7 when I lived in Arlington, next door to D.C.
We studied the Founding Fathers (FF) and our beginnings a lot. Heard the best of what they had to say—their highest ideals. Yes, brainwashed early.
About all we knew about partisanship and the Senators of the day was that they were first in war, first in peace and last in the American League (that was baseball then).
The FF put our system together with more teamwork than any Senators ever known. They did it without contemporary governments to model themselves after. We did borrow too, from the Iroquois and others.
What was different then was that the FFs’ intent was to create a government that worked long-term, not to win a vote or get reelected. They were attempting something that had never been successfully done before: self-government. They knew their agreement was more important than forcing their will. The world watched to see if we’d make it. Some still wonder if we can live up to our stated ideals.
Now we argue about whether we have a republic or a democracy, but you won’t find either word in the Constitution. In those days, however, there was no mistaking that in the eyes of the world, we had formed a democracy. Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic study of America was after all, titled, Democracy in America.
The idea that common people could choose their leaders was universally laughed at. With modern technology and communications, we’re now often way ahead of our leaders.
There’s a lot missing for me these days when I compare what I learned and appreciated growing up, with what we have today—enough that I want to alter how I spend some of my life.
When I started this magazine as The Light Connection there was no monthly publication getting into the topics of self-empowerment and exploring how we can take responsibility for our health, personal growth and well-being.
When I look now, I don’t see a lot of people writing about the world that I see. That can be good—an opening—as well as a warning sign, perhaps.
But I’ve also heard from enough people who encourage me to write more to know I’m not alone. As the world looks upside down and backward more and more, if only for my own sanity I feel compelled to question and attempt to balance the extremes I hear.
We learned that our beginnings were inspired by ideals, not related to the rights of the king. What was central was that power was related to the principle of equality—one man, one vote, meant we were all equally powerful.
What’s missing in the Capitol today is balance. There was a time when agreements were worked out between the parties and they had a thing not too long ago called bipartisanship.
Today we hear more about beating filibusters than winning a majority. Doesn’t it seem that some Congressmen want it to fall apart so the other side will look bad? They actually think that there is “another side.” They think of winners and losers—instead of us/US.
While the arguments we hear are framed as the politics of the Left and the Right, it’s more about haves and have-nots. Both parties are connected to powerful moneyed interests, and few of our reps have-not. Their challenge is thinking that money is power and that it can solve problems.
Personally I long for the good old days when big corporations were part of the community and paid taxes. Now two-thirds of them don’t.
And I long for the days when we had a secret ballot and counted votes by hand. Now we let corporations count the votes and the secret is how they do it. How do the machines work?
Our recent history has shown us two very questionable presidential elections. In the last primary in South Carolina an unknown who didn’t campaign won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator. Most of the residents in the town he lives in don’t know him—and that town has 4,000 people in it! The media and our representatives aren’t asking how or why that happened. Why?
The focus of those who count the votes is on quick and easy—not taking the time to get it right. After interviewing Steven Freeman of ElectionIntegrity.org last month I signed up to follow their election discussion—by people who study the patterns. There were enough irregularities that showed the need to look at closer.
In the case of S. Carolina you don’t even have to be an expert to question what happened. The national media isn’t looking—and then wonder why people are paying less attention to them.
Instead the media tells us what they think the election means—and how well they predicted it—even though the results could be based on manipulated machines.
Most of the time they tell us how important it is to listen to them. You should know the condition that’s found in every household that’s killing people, tune in at 11.
So much has changed in our country recently. Personally I think we should embrace this new personhood status of corporations and apply their rights to us too. Then we can tell BP that they just missed their third strike—for poor planning, no clean up strategy and no clue—and cancel their vote and voice. Damages? Make that four strikes.
There’s so much that seems backward these days. I’ve always heard that the traditional approach was that those with money started companies and created jobs. Yet in California we have a couple of millionaires—Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina—who spent over $100 million and created only pr jobs and ads. They both say we need jobs.
Given how “California’s unfavorable business climate” appears to have been pretty favorable for them, why wait to be elected? Follow the motto of another corporation and “Just Do It.” Create jobs.
Maybe our leaders are just misunderstood. The governor of AZ made an unfortunate slip saying you can tell someone is illegal by their dress. But she’s making up for it. Facing boycotts, fewer tourists and Vegas close by, she announced that most of the illegal immigrants there are smuggling drugs. In other words—Hey, the illegals are everywhere and they’ve got lot of drugs to sell. Forget Vegas, spend your lost weekend here.
Yes, it’s true. I don’t want to blog unless I have fun, too. The plan is to spend more time writing, do it more often and put it online—and make it shorter. Right now, by the time another month comes around I’m so full of things to say it’s tough to get short and sweet. That’s my goal. From past experience, I know it will take on a life of its own.
This doesn’t mean less of The Life Connection, but more systems will become automated here. In fact we just increased our distribution (see page 7).
I hope to discover how to balance my time and do both.
I know that there are a lot of blogs out there. They get a lot of criticism from the mainsteam media. But there is something missing in the media or they wouldn’t exist.
I want the focus on freedom, not Fear at 11. Let’s get free of the fear, anger and greed—and remember this country is about us/US—as a starting place.
Too many are wedded to the idea that money brings us happiness and power. The founders’ focus was on powerful principles, not money, and they created something very powerful. Principles sustain us better. We can find them—our roots— in the U.S. Constitution.
The FF also worked knowing there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has time.
It’s come for me. Visit www.MusingsAboutUs.com
Have a great month,