Now the real change begins

Have you noticed how much the word “crisis” is now used? Not too many decades ago, one seldom heard this word, especially in it’s morphed political connotation. Do we really have that many crises now that simply did not exist before? Or is the idea just a way for politicians doing their elected jobs, which is mostly to rule, and which to me is mostly to assign and fight for budget priorities. And at least at the federal level ideas like a crisis are a way to borrow more money without staying within budget.

Or does crisis mean our past leaders have done a poor job, from both national parties, I would add. Now all plan ahead, and some better than others.

Along the way, poor ethics and even the rule of law seem to come up more. Is saying one thing and doing another a smart political practice, or a personality defect? And do laws passed by legislatures and signed by executives and the oaths they take to enforce these laws still matter? As one of the “common masses” and the “governed” I still need to have faith in our present governments (school board, city, county, state, and federal). In turn, they still need to provide the reason for my simple faith and future vote.

One complicating problem is our hired bureacrats, which can mean many things. These mostly hard working Americans have to write rules which implement laws, or even and too often have to write the laws. And there are variations of "them". Some are at the executive level, some at the legislative level, all have their own tax payer funded gyms, and all have a great degree of influence which we do not vote on. But even they are subject to change.

Now one idea is to change the size of our USA Congress. The size of the Senate is in the Constitution, but the size of our House of Representatives is presently set by some vote and Presidential signing in the 19 teens. Another idea is to change the location of our federal capital city. Another is to term limit our legislators. After all we in the USA already made an amendement to term limit our executive.

Much friction is coming in the next decade. These present rulers, whom we have elected, are more and more having to make hard choices about budgets, a traditional reason we have politicians. Now how they decide, like to promote one group over another, honor legal contracts, etc. will affect we the “governed”. And we will respond with our votes. All this period will be full of friction, and different throughout our vast land and Country. And it will take a long time, like maybe a decade to sort out.

There are many things to worry about. Like what if our federal government can no longer borrow funds because nobody in their right mind will loan us the money. It has happened before, and many times. Then rough times will come, which will contribute to the real change that is also coming. As one way of life ends, another is coming, and to be in the New World and the USA is not a bad place to be when this change comes about. It is going to happen elsewhere, too.

Two themes course through this article. One is that change will come, no matter what any political leader tries to do to shape it their way and vision. I think of it as a human and masses imperative. The second theme is about voting, which is a way for change to happen. If voting is denied outright, or by subterfuge, or other like a dictatorship, then the change will still happen, though the process and friction will be much rougher and probably longer. But by golly, some less controlled change will happen in the end. As the old saying goes, be careful what you ask for...you might get it.

And I suspect family and children will bubble to the top. My guess is the human imperative is mostly about our kids' futures, and what we have to start to make it happen. And my guess is that we humans will keep our USA America as one nation, mostly for self interest, but also because we now have our own American culture that is worth preserving, in our self interest, of course.

Suppose Americans don’t vote for your idea?

There could be, and probably are, a myriad of reasons. The usual one I hear is the generalization of how we Americans think as a nation. That is so silly, since this is still a country of states, albeit, a United States.

I hear we “Americans are always in a hurry” for example. Yet I know, and I suppose many know, that there are many individuals who are not in a hurry, wherever they live.

Another I hear is the idea that “I know better”. Now that scares me because it suggests ignoring the American vote in favor of some other way. This suggests dictatorship and royalty type of things to me, all un-American.

What does still impress me is the idea of societal and peer pressure. It actually still exists in the USA. The usual example I think of is our treatment of our animals. Most will accept bad treatment of humans, but never the poor animals.

Now whether it is a urban vs. rural thing, or more likely some more esoteric idea like the environment, that is up to the voter in the end. I think most of us still have ties to the land, and enjoy it.

So fellow Americans know how well things are going here, environmentally speaking; just research child birth problems from environmental problems in China, for example. Things can be worse, elsewhere, as it is in China these days.

Back to the title of this post.

Most Americans will vote with their pocket book and their self-interests, to include, environmental. And of course that varies depending on where they live. This idea appeals to many because it just lets the voters be in charge. After all, it is their vote.

The difference between facts and optimism

My vote is that I would pay for people who report the facts, mostly as a short cut (so I don’t have to take the time) to learning the news. Now I think this is pretty human and traditional, for long evolved reasons.
Now some of us think our ethics are so poor these days in the west, that even lying is becoming acceptable to many on the way out.
Any way, I get my vote too, both political, and pocket book.
And I will pay for the facts. After all I want to think I know the news, which is mostly human, after all.
And human is not just “the west”.
Read or listen to what other humans in “the east” think about their situations.
Anyway, just the “facts, mam”.

What happens next?

Nobody knows for sure, but all can guess since that is just human nature, and parental nature probably. Most have heard of similar ideas like self-preservation and maternal-preservation. And governments can dictate behavior, but they can’t dictate what humans think, as much as they may try.

The scary part is the leadership in USA America. It seems we have presently some bad combination of lightweights and ideologues in both our executive branch, and our two legislative branches. And we elected them, and also the world does not stop. And USA America is still a big player in our human world.

Now in fairness, maybe the lightweight and ideologue collars are unfair, but that is still what probably most Americans, and maybe world people, think today. After all, the perception is just as important as the reality, and this idea goes back way before modern media like TV and modern methods like propaganda. Even Roman rulers and dictators had to listen and use this knowledge, and perception, to try rule.

And to predict, soothsay if you will, is analogous to psycho-babble in my opinion. To predict what and how and why people think is usually a waste of time. It is more practical to predict other people’s capabilities. The obvious example is men and women. We still can’t predict each other’s intents reliably. Now the capabilities, well that is another matter.

So what is going to happen in the near future, both foreign and domestic.

First the foreign area. The preverbal cork is out of the bottle, and all the world’s regional problems will become more obvious to both the western media and the citizens affected. Most conflicts start by poor judgment of the local regional leaders, which is pretty much how much can they get away with. It is the surprises from misjudgments that start regional wars. Now some wars may be between regions, and some may be internal, like a civil war. If one reads the local media, more of this is traditional human stuff.

Second the domestic, like USA America area. Here we have the lightweight problem, presently. Traditional history suggests terrible times, such as these days, often make a leader much greater because of his response given the challenges and problems. Another historical idea is that great leaders are born, and do well in whatever situation they get elected or appointed to. It is the other idea, that some lightweight human and his or her hired minions are doing their best in terrible times, and their best is “shabby”. In other words, other courses of action might have helped we common citizens better.

Now what shabby means depends on what happens. Lord hope it not be some kind of dictatorship or other such attempt to usurp control and power. Lord hope even these lightweights are more reserved and smarter.

Third is the wildcard idea. It can be both mother nature driven, or human nature driven. In either case, the idea of a “one world government” may fade as humans do the more traditional things like retreat to home and more local governments. In this case even the idea of nation states will probably fade in favor of whatever government existed before.

Yes, the world will go on for a while. And hopefully, though naïve I think, human voting will become more used than wars, revolutions, and civil wars. Now that is the human factor mixed with western influence. Just what mother nature does with us is another matter.

Let us not screw our kids over

It is kind of embarrassing to even bring this subject up. After all in the USA America most people still expect their kids to have an even better quality of life than their parents had. And their parent’s quality of life is pretty good, and has been, I think for the last decades.

Yet it seems many of our elected representatives, and our elected executives, seem to be on this course as a way to fund things and get elected in their future. In other words, borrowing from the future to make things nice today seems to be an accepted routine that we support with our votes.

I seem to be educated to the historical idea that taxation without representation caused a revolution. Now a revolution is not some academic idea, it is a human endeavor.

Now education is one key to civilization, and a uniting behavior, I think. And mostly education, as it applied to me, is just the idea that most humans should be educated to the level of all that has gone before. Mostly it is so new humans don’t have to figure out things discovered thousands of years ago, and in the interim period, for example. And along the way, educating young humans to learn the basic skills to perform a service to their employer is a big deal, too. Making change at a fast food market is an example.

And education is a two-way street. Some want to be educated by whatever their local system is, and some don’t. What’s new? We do have drop outs, and always will.

What is disturbing is three things:

1) Is educating our children for their benefit, and probably our human future benefit, mostly a present day adult jobs program? This is an embarrassing question to even ask.
2) Can educating our children be about teaching them things to shortcut having to figure out thousands of years of fellow human learning? In other words, do they have to “do it again”? In my “advanced” classes, that is pretty much what we did. I considered it a waste of time (at age 16 by the way).
3) In the most classical human mode, have we humans in the USA America have dumbed down our own kids (without trying to I think) in order to now figure out we have a problem, and will try to solve it in the future.

What’s wrong with what worked in the past? Why did we change it?

And in the case of private school education these days, the most important, and recognized advantage is that the parents care, and participate. Plus they are paying on top of local property taxes, for example. While the kids are naturally the same as goes smartness, they are better educated in general, and offer a better prospect for marriage and work. In other words, they are better educated. An indirect idea, is that these kids have a father and mother at their home. Boys and girls are different, after all.

In the case of so many world humans coming to the USA to get educated, that is obviously a really good compliment. Two thoughts come to mind. One is that things must be worse back home than is reported in the USA. Second is that there is still value in a USA education that sells.

The obvious good idea is to look forward, and elect humans who will think this way at the school board, city, county, state, and even federal levels. Now every location will do it their own way, what’s new, but by golly it will be their way and about their kids.

At least that seems to be the way the new world USA America is evolving. And public education still seems to be the main idea for our future.

Last, just what is the intention of so many local school boards, and even higher levels of political and budget oversight, and even funding? Is the intention to educate their kids, or some other decision? If the deciders want to range out, consider what the State of Maine has done for almost a century. There I think they used vouchers because they thought it was smart. In the end, it was about the kids.

Now you decide where you live.

A sad state of affairs

Sometimes are better than others.

And this is an others time. Bummer for those affected, which are too many.

One common theme still bubbles to the top.

Ethics.

Now the idea of ethics is in the mind of the beholder. And I don’t mean this in a moral equivalency sort of way. Nor do I mean it in some kind of hedonistic way. More I mean it as ideas as “that is just not right”. One in Christianity might suggest the Golden Rule, and there are variations of this “ethic” throughout the world and across most cultures and religions. This idea is what I think of and mean and suggest. Basically, treat other humans like you want to be treated.

Now most know of people, usually relatives, who say something simple that is profound to you, and you will never forget it, though they probably will. Such a thing happened to me maybe three years ago from my brother, who has done well in the financial world, and subsequently has lost more value he earned in the past than I have. Now what got my attention was that he “never” bad mouths people to make himself feel better, nor does he disparage others that might in the end help him. Yet he volunteered that the present financial situation was caused or influenced by those with poor ethics, and that they should go to jail. Now that got my attention.

As part of my lament the reader may laugh at me. Why is because I expect some degree of honesty and truth from our elected leaders. Now like most humans, I expect politicians running for office to promise about anything, and I discount that as best my experience helps me. But once ruling, I expect more honesty and truth about real problems which still exist. After all, I have to live and exist, as does my family.

Now in too much of the world, the “message” and the coordinated effort to manipulate the actual news seems to work, until people go cold and hungry.

Now those who think they can rule through the use of “message” stuff are suffering from low “ethics” in my mind. This is not the Golden Rule, and certainly not the standards used not too many decades ago. Ruling usually means listening to those ruled. And the message idea always fails in the end, for many reasons.

Last on the ethics “idea”, too many in the USA America think they can legislate our way out of our present dilemma.

I wish them luck. Even back before WWII, our federal legislatures and our president passed “Neutrality Laws”. And we all know what that got us. We can pass all the USA laws we want, I guess.

There is an alternative. One might call it “Fresh Blood”. The idea is to elect rulers at all levels; school board, city, county, state, and federal, that influence our lives and our family’s lives, and they bring their own ethics to the table.

After all, cynicism is one thing, but unethical behavior is another.

Here is an idea. History is human according to humans.

And let us give the Brits some credit for helping shape our world, and I think, our future world. Said another way, their empire at their time introduced ideas that seem to be selling these days. The world these days is not an eastern or western construct, exactly; or even a religious construct, more a human construct.

Anyway old ideas like communism and socialism and capitalism and religious imposition are fading, I think. Anyway, that is just an idea. Unfortunately, we these days will also have to go through the process of change, and the friction that will ensue. And mostly this means all humans are created equal, though some clearly are more hard working and self sacrificing than others. Now mostly that means we love our families and our kids, and go forward in our own ways.

Now I suspect the impact/transition/future will be worse in our human eastern societies, especially if you buy the Brit/western ideas. Use your own experience to think about this. For example, do we humans want to revert to governments like royalty, dictatorship, or false democracies? In other words, using the Brit/western idea, can we still vote about our future, where ever we live on the earth?

In the converse, present rulers wherever also know to listen to the local people however they rule and collect taxes. Most don't seek anarchy. That’s just a dumb way to go. And most potentates know this.

The collapse of one way of life

And the birth of another.

The collapse is inevitable to many. It is mostly economic, but also cultural. The world continues on, to include people all around the world being themselves. The old days of western type domination, be it European colonial, USA economic domination, or military victory in the last World War, has brought us to the point we in the world, the human world, are today. Now others count, too, more than maybe they used to be in western terms.

It is the “birth of another” question I think about. Do we humans descend into anarchy, where the “new” governments usually come from. I hope not, since anarchy is not a good thing for most of humans and our families and quality of life. I still like having the electric refrigerator and freezer working 24/7, for example.

And I still think the USA Constitution is a good way for humans to go in the future. It seems to balance all our human foibles with human reality. And only the willingness of citizens to support it will sustain it. It is just that simple.

So what is going to happen in the next ten years? Nobody knows for sure. There are lots of wild cards. For example consider a civil war in China and if it goes nuclear, then the probable downwind irradiation pattern over Japan and later Hawaii.

I just hope we can survive anarchy and make our future quality of life as good, or better, than it may be today.

Now does that take a political organization like the U.N., or an idea. My vote is for the “idea”.

Now “voting” is another new world “future human” idea. The alternatives are like revolution, civil war, and murder and “pitch forks” in the streets as the low lifes and criminals come out…maybe even a few partisans, too.

Organizational ineptitude

Just who is in charge of our federal government these days? A pattern of behavior is what prompts the question. And as much as I may oppose a lot of the demonstrated politics in our federal government these days, I also want our federal government to succeed for the sake of the country as a whole.

That I am trying to even believe that the questions must be asked is worrisome. Again, there is a pattern of behavior that seems to keep repeating, or worse, compounding on itself. This suggests many more future and bigger problems that many in our federal government may not be up to solving, or even trying to solve in a helpful way.

Here’s some questions I do not know the answer to. And in doing so I know to resist trying to use psycho-babble to analyze intents. Analyzing capabilities is a much easier and more realistic task.

At the executive level:

1. Is the President in-charge, or those very close friends who he brought into the government with him?
2. Do the czars run the executive through delegation, or do the Cabinet Secretaries? Now blaming each other is so common a gambit for those who really don’t know what authority they have. Only the boss can say.
3. Do the czars have spending authority, or does the Congress still control the purse strings?
4. Do words still matter? All government people still take the oaths that they swear to as “for real?
5. Do most people in the federal government still believe in the rule of law? And do most people in the federal government still believe in enforcing federal laws that have been passed by our legislature and signed by our president. As a variation of the preceding questions, do most people in the federal government’s executive branch know they are obligated to uphold the laws?
6. Can anyone be held accountable in the executive these days? Of course the question assumes there is some level below the periodic vote that counts. A loosely held committee type governing means invites this question. In a government of humans, there is always a need for accountability and “head knocking”.

At the legislative level:

1. How many legislators still feel ties to their constituency in guiding their votes? Said another way, do the voters still count during a term of office. Now legislators have always had ways to connect back to their home base, and they still exist.
2. How many legislators have stronger loyalties to their party than to their constituents?
3. How much influence do the hired minions, usually called “staffers”, have in any legislator’s office? If the influence is great, do the staffers even bother to “read the bill”? One hopes someone “reads the bill” before a vote is recommended and then counted! That this is a question suggests a sad state of affairs.
4. Other than the vote, is there any way, other than crisis, to hold people accountable? Does past failure to uphold laws and the rules that come from these laws usually mean new laws, vice just applying the present laws with teeth?

At the federal bureaucracy level:

1. What percentage of people get fired or failed for their job performance? After all, trying to implement (write and then implement rules from) very long laws like the health care law is a difficult job, and some do better than others.
2. Have our federal civil service laws and rules made performance secondary?
3. Are many astonished at the performance bonuses so many civil service employees gain annually?
4. Just how are federal buereacrats hired into their positions? And what percentage get fired or relieved, like in the rest of the world?
5. Just how many fellow Americans manipate the present system to where it is easier to get one federal employee promoted away and above their compentency, than to get them fired? I've done it! And I did it based on advice from my boss.

At the moral level:

1. Can a “gift for words” be a qualifier for elected office? When people are cold and hungry, will words and good intentions count, both for those cold and hungry, and those who use a "gift for words"?
2. Does “lying” become a moral qualifier? If not, are voters worried that if they elect a known liar, then they may suffer?
3. Is saying one thing and doing another, a smart political strategy, or a personality defect?
4. Is charity a government taxpayer funded responsibility, as in police and fire protection, clean water, waste water treatment, and public electricity and highways have been in the past?
5. Is charity, or even empathy, a government function, or a personal decision?
6. Are people poor because of circumstances, or because they are deadbeats? Just who decides the answer to this question?
7. Just who is the "food police"? Is what we eat a personal or government decision?

At the human evolution level:

1. Is there something worth both preserving and promoting in this new world USA country?
2. Are we in the USA going to revert to other forms of government, like royalty or dictatorship? Or are we still going to be revolutionaries that expand this new world USA country that so far has attracted a lot of fellow humans willing to work hard?

One can argue many things. In the meantime some questions should be asked, and this is one proposed list. After all, it is all about ourselves and our families futures. So now there is a reasonable worry that we may have elected too many incompetent, though smooth talking and often pedigree educated, and maybe immoral people to guide us through the near future. Now I am both worried, and also have hope for the future since I think the voters are still in charge.

Things in perspective

Perhaps we USA Americans still do not dominate the rest of the humans in the world. Perhaps other humans in the world will go their own way for their own reasons, generally local and family in nature, I think.

We USA Americans have had a great flowering in the last half of the 20th century, and most of us have qualities of life that are pretty good, at least compared to the last 100 years, or other places in our present human world.

Now perspective is something special if one can achieve it. And of course it is something akin to politics and a tendency for humans to generalize about almost anything.

So some perspective is appropriate when things seem to be going to hell in a hand basket these days. Maybe things are better than they seem, especially depending on where you live. Just what does one think about things, for example, in the NE part of Sri Lanka?

So, I, as a USA American, also have a heart and a mind, and that should count too for those westerner leaders who put some much importance into the hearts and minds idea.

So, and this is a perspective, things are better in the human world today than, say, 100 years ago. And a perspective is that western domination by all means, like a world war or two, or colonial expansion, or British cultural standards, have made the world human quality of life better, though not perfect by a long ways.

A last perspective appropriate to these days on the earth is that we humans can only change so much in a given period of time. This idea prompts one constant discussion…does the earth evolve gradually, or catastrophically, or some combination thereof.

Now my opinion is that the great flowering in the USA America has been too fast for much of the rest of the human world. And much friction will come out of this, like even a nuclear regional war or two. Change always also evokes opportunities for those willing. And some are “willing”. Present regional powers like Iran and China may surprise us in what their leaders do.

So I suggest one more perspective. We USA Americans simply do not dominate the rest of the human world these days. Our great flowering was really nice here, but kind of boring elsewhere. Now we new world types still do have great influence, mostly based on ideas and culture, economics, media, and even some military stuff. But even the military bit is just more defense than offense. I don’t know many who want to invade places like where they happen to live. In other words, respect those who live where they live.

Now one more perspective. For decades we USA American political leaders have wanted to promote the rest of the human world in our vision. Now we get to live it, it seems. And we are not too shabby, especially if one looks at the immigration stuff.

One last perspective. Much has been said about capitalism in the last year or so. What has bothered me is that, and again this is something between an opinion and a perspective, is that this is a western idea. Now I think the problems are more greed and human and ethics oriented, and those in the east are also pretty bad.

Leveraging one’s financial bet is one thing in America, raping the rain forest in Borneo is another. Both kind of things affect we humans.

Now that is a perspective.

Another political mafia comes to town

To be kind, that is probably the nature of American federal politics. Use your imagination and educated history and experience to form your own opinions.

Now some do better than others, or so I think.

And some of us citizens also respond in our own way; not necessarily the way the present political mafia with influence are used to in their USA area they came from.

If you buy this idea, then I suggest some “political mafias” are better than others.

Now decades of “delivering” using federal largesse (mostly tax money) is coming to an end, for obvious reasons. The promises have exceeded the revenue of the present tax paying living USA Americans. Worse case, we USA Americans have ceded our near national future to those who may or may not loan us enough money to do what the latest political mafia wants us to do at a federal level when the taxes are not enough.

Is this idea simple enough?

So what happens when the “borrowing” status quo comes to an end, and the present “political mafia” still has influence? Now that is a scary situation. Just who will this “political mafia” favor? Of course this idea portends an “end” situation, but it can also be a “beginning” situation.

If this case comes to pass, then the vote will guide us all. Of course here in the USA America we can still vote. If such ideas as planned vote fraud or just declaring some kind of crisis that changes our rule of law, then things are going to get really bad here in USA America. Nobody here in the USA has any experience with this these days. But this idea is so human, and it can happen here, too.

The end game I expect will be painful. And we did it to ourselves. Nobody had to help. And the future is good. Only we can help ourselves “out”.

The good news is that we humans in the New World are still the best hope for our human future, whatever we humans decide that is. There are worse places to be. I’ve been there.

Reinforce success, not failure

And voting is the main way to do it in the USA America. And voting’s effects will apply quicker, like over a decade or so, if more citizens vote at all levels, to include school boards, cities, counties, states, and federal.

The main idea is that most citizens will vote for their own interests, and their family’s interests, and their futures. Why else would most busy citizens take the time to filter out all the sales pitches presented to them by all the media means available, which are extensive these days in USA America.

I suspect that certain types of political leaders will “bubble” to the top over the coming decades. Those who value facts and truth and offer perspective, and then supporting laws that support the same, will gather an increasing influence if the voting citizens believe them. Whether that influence is to make things better, or just survive the problems from our past, is too hard to predict. In the end, the elected politicians who attempt to represent their voting constituents will predominate, as in get reelected. In other words, we the people are the solution, not the elected politicians we have chosen in our past. Now that is a big change from the last decades, like since the 1950’s.

Reinforcing success suggests supporting two ideas. One is that our USA American Constitution is worth both protecting, and enhancing. Second is that enhancing suggests starting again some amendment ideas, like a balanced budget amendment at the federal level, and term limits for legislators at all levels. After all we have already term limited our federal President, so why not our federal legislators?

Since this common citizen is not a politician, nor ever aspired to such a position, I still offer why I use the expression “USA American”. Mostly I want to differentiate between us and the rest of the new world, which I hope is the face of the future for humanity.

And things are not all doom and gloom. As much friction and criticism our USA American education establishment deserves, the difference between the highly educated citizens and the basically educated citizens is declining, I think. To me, most of we common citizens are able to have a respectable quality of life, which is special in this present human world. One has only to live overseas from the USA to best understand this idea.

Now of course it could be we USA Americans we have “dumbed down” all to get there, but maybe something else is going on, too. Let the voters decide based on their lives and results. Mostly the results are quality of life and happiness.

So, to conclude, I suggest we reinforce success, not failure. And the best way to do that is to vote, at all levels, school board, city, county, state, and federal.

Now there are other alternatives, like royalty, dictatorships, oligarchies; well you decide. Just who is going to impose their will, the citizens, or the rulers at the time? And are whoever is in charge at the time going to reinforce success, or failure?

On such questions are revolts and revolutions and civil wars made.

Let’s come home

We USA Americans are pretty neat. But we also eventually act in our own self interest, like protecting us, our families, and our future.

Along the way, we also think about the future of those we have conquered. This is unique in human history, I would propose. Now some other smart peoples have done similar things, too. And of course, done it in their way and during their times and locations. Inter marrying is one common technique.

We were attacked, or so I think most believe this. The vivid reports and videos about what happened in NYC on September 11th, 2001 say it all.

And we responded, too. In Afghanistan, we were smart and quick using the CIA and buckets full of cash to buy off adversaries. Along the way our Special Forces also did a fine job in getting the mission done. Anyway, we were defending ourselves from future attacks from that country’s political Taliban Party that supported the Al Qaeda people that wanted to kill and hurt us. And we, as a USA, did “good”.

Along the way, east met west, again. The longest lasting empire was not Rome (600 years), but Byzantium (1000 years), and the latter folks did it by blending west with east, mostly values and standards. Those who think they are so smart now should be introduced to their ancestors, who were smart, too.

What seems to be repeating itself is the self assurance that education, mostly college and more focused in NE USA Ivy league, gives us an advantage. While it may, many, like me, think it limits us, as a USA government if our government has hired these people in preferences; then we have hired a ruling class. And we have even elected those who are doing the “hiring”.

And so now it seems that our present government defines a mission in Afghanistan today as “nation building”. Sorry, but I thought when we got in to this miserable place on the earth, we were just defending ourselves.

Now let me define miserable place on earth. Try reading H.G Wells “Outline of History” first published in 1928, as an example.

Let’s come home from Iraq, too. The Brits and Russians have already done it, and I think we should, too. Just Google “the Durand Line” and then decide if you still want to support these old time 1890 diplomats decisions. Just what is “our mission” today.

Now if we do this kind of proposal, then things may be terrible, like a nuclear war between Pakistan and India, or a civil war in China that will probably go nuclear, too. Welcome to the future, and the horrible and terrible things like down range impacts, mostly weather determined. Now it will happen, just when. What a terrible state of humanity, which we humans made happen.

In the meantime, let us USA Americans come home. We have hearts and minds, too.

“I wish we had another choice”

And we USA Americans actually do have new voting choices in 2010. And the good news is that it is evolving as a peaceful revolution of sorts.

Leadership 101 includes treating people with respect. Most of us respect our seniors, “some more than others”. One might even think of the golden rule. I suspect most do in their own way. Another idea from Leadership 101 is that leaders “act” vice “react”. Two most “recent” examples come to mind about “reacting”. First is that city of Philadelphia is proposing to raise property taxes 10%, on top of a raise in city income taxes last year. This appears to this person to be “reacting” to preserve the status quo. Second is that writing pundits write about “anti-incumbent” trends in elections and the electorate. That theme implies “reaction” again, when perhaps, this portion of American electorate is really “acting”, and peacefully to boot, i.e., using their vote vice pitchforks in the street.

So we do have many choices as long as we can vote. Now this person accepts that there are professional masters at getting votes, and manipulating the USA American voting system. As much as I may not like it, that is just how things are these days. Now, of course, all this varies depending on where you live, and what level of government we are talking about. Bottom line, as long as we USA Americans can vote, that is good enough for this person.

And we do have voting choices for our near and far future, still. And we can still “act” for our families and our children’s benefits. No wonder all the present emigration patterns are towards us. There is something pretty good still going on here in the USA new world. Some is obviously economic, and some is political.

As long as we can vote, we still can decide our future. So we do have other choices, after all.

Classic propaganda

Most of us know it when we think we can feel it, see it, or smell it.

The technique is most classical in human history. Basically a main tenet is that if you say white is black long enough, then enough people will both believe it, and repeat it as their truth.

Now propaganda is close to marketing, but still different. Marketing tends to focus on telling humans how some product can satisfy their needs. Propaganda tends to focus on just what is going on, i.e., the truth.

Many know how to use propaganda. The famous quote attributed to former President Harry Truman comes to mind: “They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's.” He was referring to the Marines, by the way.

Having been a Marine Recruiter, I also know the old time phrase “don’t trust me…my lips are moving”. Just whether I was using marketing or propaganda techniques is always up for grabs. But to me I was using “marketing techniques”. And trying to get someone to vote with their feet and life is a tough sell anytime.

A tougher situation is arguing and debating what is going on in the USA today. My report where I live on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee is that the amount of misinformation people consume in their own way reflects somewhat that propaganda techniques are working, or so I “smelled”. For example, I am still hearing that Gore was the “legally” elected President in 2000. I was incredulous, and my source said this without any prompting. In fact, it was volunteered.

Anyway, if we get to a pitch forks in the streets type of situation, be aware some of these people are propaganda influenced. In other words, they believe what they are saying and doing. It is less a morals question, in my opinion.

In the same vein, many of these same people may be both toned down and differently motivated when they go hungry, or the electricity doesn’t come on to provide lights, keep their refrigerators and freezers working, or even pump the gas for their car.

Maybe they will even consider other points of view. Two examples are “just the facts mam” from the old TV series with Jack Webb, and “the rule of law” as presently established by our USA Constitution.

After all, never ever let the truth interfere with a good story. And nothing screws up a good story like an eye witness.

What is wrong with paying our way?

Most do it because they have to. Now some governments have tried other ways, mostly by borrowing or exploiting corruption and local assets, bribes if you will sometime. And these governments pretty much run the gammed from 1st world democracies to 3rd world dictatorships.

Now the theories abound, mostly advanced by highly educated people who we humans say are highly educated. Now one old joke comes to mind…ask three PhD’s a question and you’ll get at least four answers. Another idea of “an educated fool” also comes to mind.

There is so much discussion about what is best for our human world. That’s the good news. The bad news is that much still seems to be missing to many of us. I call it the human factor. Simply said, tell me or teach me how you think we humans will react, or more likely, will act. In the best case, suggest an answer to “what is important to humans”?

Now I will suggest one answer. Happiness is good health and self respect. Many can apply this idea universally. And most seek happiness.

Now here in the USA for decades now much has been promoted by the two national political parties. The main common promotion, to me, has been to throw tax money at problems, as if money will solve human problems, and the amount of money was the report card. The thing that always bothered me was whether my definition of happiness counted at all. Now being an engineer at heart, I could even round it down to ideas like “results”. Did it make our human condition in our new world in the USA better?

I have seen about three main ideas compete over the last few decades in the USA.

One perennial repeat in ideas is capitalism. Now to me it has shown to be a good way to accommodate human factors with happiness for all.

Another is to just recognize our humanity. As I read history, even in World War II, we had to have USA war bond drives to help get us Americans to loan our government our money that would prosecute a war that was obviously to our benefit.

The last is another variation of our humanity circa these days. What happens if fellow humans won’t loan us enough money for what our elected and even dictatorial politicians want to do? One obvious alternative is that we will live within our means, which are substantial after all.

Now the reason I ask is simple. If one were to loan, for example, $10 billion and expect to get $1 billion back in interest after 10 years, that sounds good. But if the same lender thinks the same original $10 billion after inflation will only be worth $5 billion at the end of the 10 year loan, then “the times will be changing”. Humans will act.

Now last, things seem simpler if we just live within our means without going through terrible situations like default, or just not being able to get enough humans to loan us money. The present taxes we humans pay in the USA (at all levels) are substantial, and provide many good benefits. There is a good reason for governments…just use roads as an example.

And the more recent political method of “crises” to govern is so silly to so many Americans who will act for their human benefit in their famiy and their life. If they can plan ahead and anticipate, why can’t their elected politicians? There are other alternatives that humans from the past have used…like plan ahead. That method has been used, and worked, as an example the idea of a rainy day fund comes to mind.

Now most have children, and some have grandchildren, and want the best for them.

Morals count a lot

Here in the new world USA this normal human principle is finally popping up, more and more. I suspect it is also popping up elsewhere, mostly in our western cultures.

Bottom line, to this old time Marine, is that something’s are just not right. This idea is called something like ethics or morals.

Now in the best western type of cultures, this idea can be taught. Now another point of view is that parents in any culture have to teach these ideas to their children. After all, it is our human future that really counts.

And humans in any culture, our kids, may not be the only alternative to our future. Perhaps the old time people count, too. I think the idea is still to survive as humans, and promote our way of life, where ever we may live.

Today there seems to be a tolerance, even an acceptance, that some fellow humans have figured out a way to go forward, in their vision of course. Most are westerners, in my opinion. And I just wonder what values they have been imbued with by their USA parents, or taught for credit by their USA educators?

Whatever way, do these many young people, who by the present system get hired and even promoted in our present USA federal government, have morals?

Just what is happiness?

Good health and self respect is one personal opinion. And I happen to live on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, where we have many “poor” people. And many adults seem to be “happy”, within in reason of course. Some are happier than others. Now most kids seem to be happy, enough.

This last weekend I even had about 15 kids (I’m not really sure the exact amount) and 6 dads up here for a father kid campout. Most of the dad’s came across as smart and hard working from the Nashville, TN, area. They impressed me collectively, as a host.

Of course the kids mostly just wanted to camp and fish, and do anything they did not do in Nashville. And of course, in Nashville, there is much suffering from the recent floods. And the other report I can provide is that these kids wanted this old guy to tell them local scary stories. Now I had been threatened enough by one of their mothers not to do this, and so I respected this. But the kids kept asking, anyway. And I “slipped” a little. After all I do have a few scars to “prove” my lies.

And maybe we have a local Monterey velociraptor that even the dogs fight, too.

What also got my attention was a question from one father, and he suggested other fathers had talked about the same question. To sum it down, they might move up to the Cumberland Plateau from Nashville if times get hard. I took this as a family and happiness question.

Hopefully, things won’t get this bad in our USA quality of life. Things 100 years ago were good for them, but so is today’s quality of life, which is better than 100 years ago in the USA. Examples like 24/7 electricity and beds bigger than “full” come to mind. How about just having a thermostat? How about having to keep the wood stove going at 3AM because kids are just too young to trust.

Anyway, whatever happens, I still think happiness is good health, and self respect. And I am so glad I live in the New World, even the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. This is lucky for me, mostly because I will trust the outcome better than anywhere else I have lived, mostly in the third world.

The cauldron bubbles on

Much is said of the problems our western cultures and governments are having. Mostly it seems like decades of elected habits have caught up and the era of status quo western type dominance is changing. This is not just an unsustainable borrowing and benefits problem, but longer than that; as in the final end of the European colonial era, and even the results of the last World War which ended in 1945. Also the “new world” experience continues to brew.

But all in the eastern cultures and governments is not so good, either. While in most western cultures the birth rate is declining towards sustainability, most eastern cultures have inclining birth rates. This rate multiplied by ever increasing demands for energy, like having electricity at all, and the friction between the rural elements and the urban elements, is generating many present and even future problems in our eastern world, or at least so I think. These eastern politicians have their own significant problems.

Bottom line, we humans are procreating more humans than perhaps the planet can support? Perhaps the western cultures have introduced a quality of life that many eastern cultures aspire too, but our future planet cannot support…as well as the local country. For example, China today is still ¾ rural, I think, and if these ¾ of a billion plus people start living like those in western cultures, then we humans have a problem. The handwriting is already on the wall, so to speak. Just look at what the overseas’ Chinese are doing to the rainforests in Borneo, for example.

Even very sincere Muslim’s are now asserting themselves. Having lived in Saudi Arabia, I as westerner don’t like their treatment of women, but that is just me. Now the weirdos who have bought radicalism is another subject, but still a minority of humans. Now this idea of weirdos can be applied to many groups. Being a GaTech type of engineer, a small percentage of humans multiplied by any human population can present many problems.

Having been a US Marine, identifying a problem is no good unless one also offers solutions to decision makers. The way I am taught, one should usually offer three solutions…two alternatives are usually obvious, and the third is a kinda wildcard. The rewarding part of doing this drill is that one can be “human” vice political. Certain alternatives might work, but if the humanity is not factored in, then it will fail, I think. The idea is success, by the way. Good intentions or idealogy don’t count for much.

Anyway, I suggest, if you buy this cauldron idea, then make up your own mind, and vote accordingly. I assume most of any readership is western, but there may be a few eastern culture types, too. Bottom line, this cauldron is human, not western or eastern, and in this idea is a way forward. I just hope we can vote, vice the alternatives like revolution or civil war. Now I am not that optimistic, but only time will tell.

What a country!

Only in a wonderful country like the USA can a Puerto Rican heritage Congressman from an obviously gerrymandered Chicago district protest a law enacted in Arizona by fellow citizens, and do his protest from Washington, D.C. Here is a link to the map. Make up your own mind.

http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/il04_109.gif

And he calls himself a Latino, which is another USA federal government term to make census taking more practical. Yet many know things like Mexicans really don’t like Guatemalans, yet all are Latinos in the USA terminology.

To conclude, I live in what I think is a pretty good county in rural Tennessee. Less this lead-in seem depreciating; well if you have a heart related problem, then this is also an oasis in the desert. You go figure it out.

Now here is what we “rural” people pay our local elected persons to do “our” business. And of course, this money comes from the local taxpayers. Now just what the health and retirement benefits are, I just don’t know right now.

What are we paying them for their services? What are their duties?

Most all of the salaries are set by formulas dictated by state law and are based on population data for our area. According to public record, here are the salaries for the offices up for election on Tuesday's ballot:

County Executive, $84,668. The holder of this office is the chief financial and administrative officer for the county and is responsible for helping develop the county budget and for oversight of the budget.

Road Supervisor, $79,436. The holder of this office runs the county's Highway Department and is in charge of road and bridge construction and maintenance.

Trustee, $72,214. The county trustee is the treasurer for county government and is responsible for collecting property taxes and other fees and revenue, disbursing the funds and investing idle county funds.

County Clerk, $72,214. The county clerk heads the office that handles motor vehicle titling, registration, noting of liens, issue of marriage licenses and county business licenses, collection of business taxes and keeping of records and minutes of the County Commission and the County Beer Board.

Circuit Court Clerk, $72,214. The holder of this office runs the clerical system for General Sessions, Criminal Court, and Juvenile Court, issuing warrants, summons, citations and keeping records of court cases.

Register of Deeds, $72,214. This office holder heads the office that handles the recording of property deeds and other legal documents.

Sheriff, $79,436. This office holder heads the countywide law enforcement agency which investigates crimes and accidents, patrols roads, provides security at the Justice Center and at various public events, provides resource officers in public schools, and runs the county jail.

County Commissioner, $400 per month. The county commission is the county legislative body and consists of 24 members, two from each of 12 county districts. Among the duties of the commissioners are setting the property tax rate, development and approval of the county budget and generally determining how county funds are spent.

District Attorney, $136,392. The DA is the chief criminal prosecutor in Putnam and six other area counties in the 13th Judicial District.

Circuit Court Judge, $154,320. A Circuit Court judge presides over courts of general jurisdiction, hearing civil and criminal cases and appeals of decisions from lower courts. This judge serves Putnam and six other area counties in the 13th Judicial District.

California here I am gone

I actually sang the old song “California Here I Come” when I crossed over into California from Arizona vicinity of Needles. The time was circa 1960 I seem to recall. We were moving there on military orders, and came from Tennessee.

Since then I have lived in southern California off and on about 6 years. All my trips to northern California were as a tourist and a camper. Northern California is a pretty place. But on the USA map it is one place, California.

And somehow I could read the handwriting on the wall, as I saw it, and chose to end up elsewhere. Now this post is not about elsewhere, it is about California. I voted with my feet.

Now when I read about the brouhaha about some California governments trying to boycott Arizona businesses three things come to mind.

Is there an adult in charge? Will some elected Califronia politician step up and say something like, let’s think about all this? After all much of southern California’s present electricity and water comes from Arizona, on purpose and driven by past politics in California.

Next, the old idea of as California goes, so goes the USA. Things like Japanese cars are a good example. But bad examples can be like the city of Los Angeles going bankrupt, whatever that turns out to mean. To me it means a lot of people are going to suffer.

Last, an awful lot of people who don’t live there seem to be willing to tell those who live there how to live. Now that bothers me, since where I live on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee I would prefer to vote locally, and have that idea help me. I really don’t know what is going on in this Arizona/California region, though I believe I do.

I guess there is a kind of fourth general idea. How about that true ideas trump all. We collectively are living with enough ignorance and emotion to be disappointed in what our politicians may do these days. As Jack Webb said in a long ago TV series “Dragnet”, “just the facts mam”.

Now I hear enough pundits say what they think, to where I recognize they have not done their homework about where other Americans live. When I think about all this, I think these pundits are not as much lying as just reverberating some idea they believe to be true. And still, most are outsiders from the area they "pundit" about.

For example, USA citizens who live on the Mexico and USA border area also expect basic government security like police protection on their land. Now they do pay taxes, and have some expectation of getting their governments to do the basic things, like security. I also expect the same kind of thing where I live.

Hence California, here I am gone. The people there and the politicians they elected at all levels had their chance, over decades I would say. And as California goes, so goes the USA. I hope the rest of Americans are smarter than this. I sure hope so from my vantage on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee.

Educating the normal people

I think of people as being either smart, normal, or dumb. If you buy that idea, then read on.

I for one used to think I was “smart” until I got into advanced mathematics at GaTech. Then I realized I was normal, albeit a hard worker in the mathematics area.

Now that I am older, I think about how to give my kids and grandkids every advantage in life they can have. And I depend on educators to help in this effort. Obviously this makes sense given the long historical human record of having schools to educate our young humans.

Now there is much disgust with the present education “system” in America. I am sure the people who work in the system are well educated, and also mostly hard workers. Yet the “output” is poor, it seems. When a cash register clerk in an Atlanta McDonalds drive through can’t make change, that is pretty bad. That kid got screwed. And along the way, the perception is that things are worse now, not better.

Now one light bulb went on, recently.

Suppose the smart educators who devise so many initiatives are doing the “classic” “for lack of knowing what to do, they do what they know”? In plain English, perhaps they are just poorly led in focusing on the smart people, or treating normal people like smart people.

Now I have delved into generalizing, which is a poor way to go. There are so many people in the USA, that a decentralized approach supervised by local school boards and local governments is probably best. The alternatives like federal and state government education supervision naturally suffer when it comes to “our” kids.

In all cases, what’s the focus? Is it the smart kids, or the dumb kids, or the majority normal kids?

And, depending on where you live, there are other problems, like the out-of-wedlock birth rates…that is future kids needing an education that come from a home with a mother and no father around.

Back to the “normal” kids. Perhaps “they” must be the focus of education to benefit them. Now here ideas abound, and I have mine, too. The key point is to educate them to be successful in the basic skills, like the 3R’s, or making a home budget, etc. In the old days it was called the 3R’s, and even today ideas like a home budget and balancing a check book and doing basic home maintenance should be taught as a priority. If there are not enough hours, then priorities should predominate to educate our majority “normal” kids.

There are only so many hours in the school year to teach. Setting priorities is fundamental to enhancing our kid’s potential to be good workers and satisfied citizens. And this is a local decision, depending on local situations I think.

Bottom line. How do we educate the majority normal kids? My suggestion is to recognize that most of us are “normal”, and to give these kids a priority in all local education decisions about how to do this. Said another way, if we can’t do it all right now, just do the basics, like educating our normal kids.

PS
Anybody who has had a baby knows much of the basic and beginning parenting skills, like changing diapers and feeding babies, is simply not taught in school. There are things we learn out of school, and taught by family members. My suggestion is that this still should be taught out of school. But we still need to be taught, helped if you will. Nobody I know is born knowing how to raise a baby.

The beginning of the end

The title suggests the bad news using this old time expression.

One can also express hope and expect that after the end of our recent decades of American voting and political behavior, a new beginning will blossom. Of course most would ask, what does that mean for me? The quick answer is that we will live like normal human beings, and accommodate to whatever our circumstances are. Some will do better than others…what’s new?

Now the “end” can mean many things, mostly a change in the status quo. One guess is that many governments will default on their obligations from our past. Default pretty much means can’t pay its bills, and all other options have been exhausted. Just imagine trying to buy groceries with an IOU from some government. Or just imagine working for a company that is no longer being paid by some government, and still expecting to go to work and get a paycheck. Or just imagine being home invaded by a criminal, and there is no local police protection to respond to help ourselves. Or how about my child getting typhoid from the local untreated water, and expecting they might die? Or last, how about my electricity and phone doesn’t work?

Some of us are going to get “screwed over” after a lifetime of other behavior and faith.

Now the “future” can also mean many things, and again, mostly be a change in the status quo.

For example, voters in the USA will probably elect future politicians that vote for and provide for laws and practices that promote the common good…not the present time talk but the real common good. The obvious example is that if there is not enough money to do everything we desire, then we should do the basics first. Now that is a future.

And of course we in the USA don’t exist in a vacuum. The rest of the human world will influence us, too. And much of the friction in the USA is also going on elsewhere, just differently. The wildcard is the present dictators in the regional powers that may drag us down with them. After all this happened in WWII with the regional powers of Japan and Germany dragging us down. And now it may happen in China (a civil war) or Iran or North Korea (a local or regional war). One obvious American question one has heard before still is valid: “can we all just get along?” Or another question still arises, why should my family member die for their problem?

Anyway, as bad as things may get financially and politically that affects our USA future, and after much USA human suffering that may be coming (it will vary locally of course), I forecast we will emerge a human normal reasonable people and nation (locally varied of course, again). The interim period will involve much friction, but also in the end we in the new world USA are not too shabby a people.

And we will continue to vote our way to our future. And this will still attract so much of the rest of the future human world. We have a special idea and principle here that does so well for humans. And so many of them know the alternatives are not as good as the future USA.

So the “beginning of the end” can also be the “beginning of the future”. Now that is a voter decision in the USA, I think. Should be interesting. At least where I live I think so.

I can be worried, too

When decades of our past elected governments passing laws and employing practices that ultimately threaten our collective well-being, like our lives, then the times will change.

And all I want to do is to be represented. Yes, me, my family, and my neighbors.

Now my worry is way past the present economic hardship period we as a USA are experiencing. Even our federal government still collects over $4 trillion in taxes these days that is then dispensed as benefits; but on top of that the federal government chooses to dispense another $2 trillion in benefits it must borrow to get.

What happens if humans won’t loan the federal government the money? Now I am worried. Even in WWII, the USA had to have war bond drives to get Americans to loan the federal government the money to prosecute a war, which obviously was in our self interest.

The consequences then, and now, both worry me.

The brouhaha in Arizona as reported is a symptom of why to be worried. Lawlessness and even marauding murder and kidnapping have come to Arizona. It has taken over a decade for the consequences of the past laws and practices to cause the local people in Arizona to protect themselves as best they can these days.

What worries me is to hear our President say he will use the powers of the federal government to try overturn the decisions of the local people in Arizona. And it worries me that there are already federal laws that only have to be used to do the same kind of thing. It worries me that the oath the President took in front of the whole nation did not mean much, to him.

Now I own and live on about a square mile of land on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. Now this does not make me an Arizona rancher in the border lands, but the idea that when I am out and about on my property that some illegal or other trespasser can kill me worries me. Especially what worries me is that no one in any government will enforce the present laws.

Now I also worry than no past or future law can be enforced. Has it come to this? Can we actually have laws, and practices, that allow, actually, promote anarchy. Or even worse, can we choose to ignore any present law or practice to behoove what any government person at whatever level thinks is appropriate. I am worried this is going on.

Less this worry seem extreme, just review what is going on in England in regards the piracy going on off the coast of East Africa. Here the human rights of the pirates are being respected over the rights of the humans on the invaded and captured ships. Hence, if I were a captured pirate, I would rather deal with a British warship than say, an Indian warship.

I also worry that the present USA Federal government, which represents us around the world, may in the end, use ideas and practices that may get a lot of us killed, to include us, or most importantly, our family members and local friends. Along the way so many more world citizens may also suffer death, and other such mayhem.

Now is my worry a consideration in how I vote? I know so.

Preparing meals is a good deal

Now many in the west these days are not trained about preparing food for their family. Now probably more females in the east are also trained by their mothers to prepare a meal (what an advantage). Mostly it means cooking the local foods.

In either case, any meal preparer learns, and follows their own customs.

The normal dilemma is simple. How do we feed our family, mostly our kids.

The obvious dilemma is the amount of food, and then on a cascading down slope the caloric value, then the taste value, then the health value.

Now most will think all this discussion is silly, and they may be correct.

Along the way, there are fads, like cooking in boiling liquids that add to the flavor of whatever we have prepared and put on the sticks. I remember one style was called “fondue”, and it was OK, especially with some wine added in!

Now here in the west (the USA) where I live, I still thank my mother’s mother for teaching me and more importantly inspiring me about cooking . Now she did it her way, and I can do it my way these days. Most importantly to me, it is her ideas that carry on.

And of course the methods of cooking have evolved, too. I even have options of microwave ovens, or even heat ovens I can set the temperature on, and trust it.

And of course I can even trust chilled food and drinks that even kids may carry to their school. Here in the USA west, I can live like an old time royal person in either the east, or the west.

This is a good deal for those that can or want to cook.

The Tea Party idea

Not too long ago when asked who would I vote for in the 2008 federal election, the usual answer was “I wished we had another choice”. Now the location I can report from is the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. This whole talk got my attention. Hence my report on an idea.

I am age 62, and also educated, in my opinion. I went to Ga Tech.

I moved here from Atlanta a good while back and on purpose. I voted with my pocket book, so to speak. Quality of life was a big part of my decision about my life. I had been the President of a company based in Athens, Ga, a good place to live, I think. And the job was quite good, too.

Since my move, things have changed, a lot. Mostly for our American good, I think.

We in America have had many third party movements, even before my time (born in 1948).

This time things seem to be different, like the idea of an idea vice some present individual with money and motivation counts more than the overriding idea. In other words, the idea counts most, and whom we vote for reflects the American idea of voting. Said simply and another way, there seems to be an idea that many Americans will vote for an idea for the future, vice a party. Mostly the idea is our future, mostly our family’s future.

Let me forecast another way. The present status quo in America favors our present two party system, both Republican and Democrats. The idea of the Tea Party, I think, is just to vote American. In this idea much change will come.

Now conventional wisdom is to try divide and conquer, as in most suspect the Tea Party Ideas will hurt the republicans more than the democrats. So be it in 2010.

But the idea does not change, and the consequences do not change. And the highest percentage of independents does not change. Americans are mostly just going along, as just in being themselves and looking out for their quality of life. The voters still have a choice as to their future, in the end.

Just another report about American friction

Just last night about midnight on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee a friend of mine about age 24 was lambasting the current state of affairs here in America. I (age 62) had just awakened and so was full of senior energy to debate. Later I crashed, burned, and died, as did he. Then it was about 0200 locally.

What astounded me was his ignorance about the facts. What did not astound me was the reports of “his” facts.

I’ll only focus on one of his “facts”. It was that Gore was the legally elected president in 2000. I was surprised to hear this even now in 2010. When I asked him an historical question, like how many times this had happened before when the majority vote went one way, and the electoral vote went another way, he was embarrassed. He could not answer. He thought his passion was in his time and according to his beliefs. He was astonished to hear this has happened before, like three times if you include 2000.

My suggestion that he use the Amendment process to change the Constitution was accepted. It is a pain in the tail, by the way. But there are like 27 Amendments, so we can change our Constitution if we want to. He agreed with the idea of the rule of law, and taking an oath to an idea, vice an individual.

He had never even heard of King Louis 16th or the Weimer Republic. The idea of hauling in a wheel barrow full of paper money to buy a loaf of bread was simply silly to him. The idea of taking an oath to some individual (like Hitler), like what happened in Nazi Germany or is still happening in Iran with the Army of God, was new to him. The idea of paying a bribe just to travel was also new to him.

From there, I went on transmit, which is dumb. But I did. I made analogies to other forms of governments which I have experienced (lived under) around the world. Some got his attention, like what I did to keep from being assassinated in Istanbul a long time ago. Is that what we want here in America?

Last I heard, unbelievably to me, the old equivalence argument. In his opinion, the last 8 year president was so bad that to express my disappointment in the present president was also bad. I got my feelings hurt when he called me a Republican, and I reminded him for the umpteenth time that I was an independent.

So I guess there is much friction about. Some of it is based on pure ignorance. Some of it is based on facts.

In the end, I guess it is what the voters decide, good, bad, or indifferent.

Here is a guess about the Korean peninsula

The present leader of North Korea will die from getting old. Now by nepotism, he inherited his position from his father, and he was savvy enough to survive. Now will his chosen son inherit it in the same way; most doubt it. I agree.

What happens when the people who live in North Korea evolve in this case. Mostly most think they just want to live (like eat and have families), but other factors come into play, too.

Many will move to a better place, like South Korea, and some will move to China by the border area. All this emigration will cause much friction. In the meantime, normal Korean practices from the South will also begin to assert themselves. But in the same time, there will be a Korean uniting that will take decades to enhance. In all this there is hope.

The future debate to this westerner is how will it all sort out. My guess is just fine. There may be surprises along the way.

The idea is that Koreans are different than, say, Japanese, or any kind of Chinese.

Now there are wild cards. For example, will the humans who rule the present government in North Korea go nuclear in some way? Or will the USA government choose some military option response. Or will we just let it go?

What is important to Americans

Is it our quality of life we enjoy these days? There are many reasons to think so.

This idea includes our government getting involved in charity to take care and provide opportunity to our perceived American have nots. In the meantime, there is still much USA private charity going on. Even our dead beats seem to benefit, depending on where one lives. And what is so sad is that we also turned so many of our mentally “off” people out to the urban streets about 50 years ago, and now they have to survive as homeless people.

This these days is not too important to Americans, I think.

What is important is quality of life to most Americans.

And so many American politicians (mostly federal), mostly in the last two or three decades ago, passed things like NAFTA, and other free trades laws. I think the consequence was an improvement of our quality of life. An example might be the clothes we wear, or the electrical widgets we use today. So many common Americans are living like royalty in earlier times. This is good, I think.

Along the way, I ask a question. Have we Americans given up our independence to be ourselves. If the answer is yes, then there are two obvious answers. One is yes, let other humans tell us what is going to happen. Second is no, we are going to be Americans and new world, and we will sort it out. In this case, the sorting out will be normally human, which is pretty neat in the long run.

Now that may be expensive (as in quality of life), but so have other cultures and tribes gone through this process. We are probably new world better, I hope.

One more thought. How much quality of life can we afford? Where I live on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, using a hammer drill also requires “bits”. One stone sign project took two bits from China and one bit from Brazil. Later I went to a German bit which cost much more, but it worked in the end. You go figure.

So what is our quality of life benefit going forward to be? I would suggest to vote.

Our vote, at all levels, school board, county, state, and federal, will best suggest what is important to Americans. And in this is the way to our future we choose to go.

Trust and faith

Most Americans will accept about anything political. But if they lose trust and faith, then things will begin to change. We all expect to be ruled at all levels, and also expect to be represented at all levels. In our American past this idea has been to most citizen’s advantage, and they voted that way. Hence the trust and faith idea. And all levels means federal, state, county, and school board, for example.

The key idea to this voter is to be represented, and of course be able to vote. How else can I exhibit trust and faith in those who display these qualities I choose to vote for? Later paying the taxes for all this usually comes as I expect it will. Paying taxes is never an enjoyable experience, like in paying property taxes.

To follow this one line of logic, it is shameful that my daughter who lives in Charlotte, NC, has to hire private police protection on top of the local property tax paid police protection. Now that is a version of her local trust and faith. And you know what, she and her family are moving away.

If that is what it has come to in Charlotte, then voting will become a big deal in the next couple of decades. Paying property taxes is supposed to provide basic services.

Even paying other taxes, like federal income tax, is much the same. Having written one check to the federal government for over a million dollars in 2003 or so brings up the question of trust and faith, again. I don’t know where it went, and most importantly, how did I benefit from the payment?

Now there is much publicity, aka, news, about “spreading the wealth around”. Now many such good intentioned ideas have been tried before. Just where I live in Tennessee is such a recipient of these ideas, including hippie communes that migrated here. All, historically, fail in the end.

Why is pretty simple. It is a human kinda thing. Not all humans will tolerate dead beats, both males and females. One of the burdens in life is to have to work to support a family we choose to have. Now there are many variations of how we humans exist. All these variations include trust and confidence.

Now being manipulated by the best American advertising and political focus group efforts thrust to most Americans by our present media is just an advancement from the old time Nazi propaganda. The idea is pretty much the same, just more professional.

Now just how we will respond and vote is still unclear. The idea of human trust and faith, I suspect, will count a lot. Also organizing efforts like community organizers will influence things, too. But in the end numbers count, and the majority of Americans will vote based on their trust and faith.

Progressives in Putnum County, Tennessee

Things have changed up here on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. And we locals have elected these present local rulers, and their hired minions. While this is a pretty nice rural county in the USA, I think our elected leaders and their hired minions have become local rulers, vice local representatives.

Of course, this is a voter decision, in the end.

So what is important to us, the local county citizens?

Now I have my opinions, and most others who read this post have their opinions.

I just hope, and will vote this way, is to do the basics, like security (police), fire protection, clean water, and waste water stuff. Even public education of our children is also a big deal. All the other things our local governments have done in the past may pale, I think.

What I find interesting these days in local politics and rules is that local trespassers can complain to the police after I catch them invading my land, and along the way doing vandalism and damage to my land, and then complain to the police that I am being a pain.

Such is living in a progressive rural county in Tennessee. And I am still paying local property taxes for this “treatment”.

Just who is being in charge, or even represented?

I am just glad I can vote.

Another electricity update

There are two kinds of public electricity. One is called DC which was promoted by Edison. The other kind is called AC which was promoted by Tesla and is what we use today. AC won out a long time ago for good reason.

Now here In rural Tennessee, like Monterey on the Cumberland Plateau, we are pretty used to electricity on demand these days. Rural electrification occurred around the 1940’s or so, I think. So more to many, things like washing machines and refrigerators and freezers became very useful. So did telephones. And we bought them and used them.

So is electricity on demand a “right”? For example do we expect that the lights will come on when we turn the switch. Do we expect that our refrigerators and freezers will work 24/7/365? Do we even bother to understand where all this “energy” came from?

The alternatives, like oil lamps and candles, like we are taught Lincoln learned by, are not as good. In other words, rural electrification was a benefit to most rural Americans at the time, who both enjoyed the benefit, and probably voted for their benefit, too. And they probably spent their money at their time to even buy things like washing machines and refrigerators and freezers. They probably even hooked up a telephone, and paid for it.

In my experience, even my mother’s father had a telephone number like 7, later 7 and 22, in this then rural town called Franklin, Tn, circa 1930’s or 1940’s.

So which way are we common citizens going to go in regards our electricity usage?

It is a voting question

Do we Americans want to be ruled or just represented?

The question is a big deal to many. So many humans in the world cannot just be represented.

Now here in the USA there seems to be today a kind of “perfect storm” of the executive and the legislative working together to rule us. And we did vote for them, so be it. But we can vote other ways in the future, too, it seems. And even today we still are complaisant, as even paying all our taxes on time, local, state, and federal. After all, we did vote for these people, local, state, and federal.

As an old song goes by Bob Dylan, the times they are a changing.

My encouragement is to vote. That’s it.

Those who have organized their voters, as in community organizers, have done a good job. But in the future, the majority can still vote, too. There are alternatives, like what most voters think, and are willing to pay for.

The idea is pretty simple. It has been offered many ways over hundreds of years. Basically if the minority have nots finally figure out in a democracy that they can vote themselves incomes from the majority haves, then eventually, the whole system will collapse.

The obvious question is why would these minority voters do such things. The obvious answer is selfishness. Mostly in the short term, like decades, it seems. What’s in it for me today seems to be a human embarrassing tendency.

So just go vote.

The idea of the USA and the new world are so different from the rest of the old world still counts. That is probably why so many of our ancestors immigrated here. And being able to vote was a big deal.

The good news and the bad news

Guessing about our USA future is tough and mostly a waste of mental effort, I think. Most guesses still depend on where one lives and what they do, and of course, their experience in their lifetime. Now age seems to add to the seasoning in all this idea.

Yet we are still interdependent, and so what one does one place may affect me where I live, for example.

Here’s some guesses.

First the good news. We Americans in the USA are not too shabby. Like all other humans in the world, we will work, and use a goal of benefiting our family’s futures. And I suspect while most don’t think about the ideology, most will vote and even fight if need be to keep this good system going. Even our government and private support of our dead beat elements should benefit in the long run. Even our retiree’s in the present laws get a good quality of life. What a country.

Second the bad news. This wonderful country and underlying system may collapse for lack of funding. All these wonderful benefits, at all levels, like school boards, county, state, and federal, may exceed the ability to pay. If this happens, then the adjustments and friction is going to be painful. Anyway, if the money isn’t there, then it isn’t there. Now the borrowing option, which has been a last resort to so many politicians now for many decades, may probably come to an end.

So here’s a guess to our next 100 years future.

We USA Americans will in the end be ourselves, to include those we vote for. And we will be still America as a United States vice some “federal government” . Tribes and other such local ideas (like state and county) will still count. And I predict, compared to the rest of the human world, the so called “new world” will still attract a lot of humanity. The alternatives are worse it seems.

The family future idea counts a lot, too.

So much for the good news and bad news.

The coming political and voter decisions

Which way is it going to be? Are our local county and state governments going to provide basic services as a priority, or provide other priorities at the expense of basic services?

Now I define basic services as police, fire, clean water, waste water treatment, and reliable electricity for me and my loved ones.

The first patterns of behavior are slowly emerging, and it doesn’t look good for providing basic services as a priority. Said another way, if you can’t do it all, at least do the basics. And so many Americans work at providing these basic services do so well.

Now some governments do better than others. This can be construed as a local type of political and voter decision.

Now to abandon basic services is to invite anarchy, by the way.

There is an old saying that goes like this: “For lack of knowing what to do, we do what we know”. Those political leaders used to the status quo may end up like the dinosaurs who perished. Perhaps this analogy applies to some state and county governments, today. Perhaps it might even apply to some public school boards. It might even apply to our federal government.

I guess I wonder if it will finally take people dying to prompt the change to the present pattern of behavior. What a shame if this is what it takes. And this “taking” will last a long time, I think. Again, it did not have to happen, if it does.

What a shame.

Most of us just want to wake up in the morning and do a good job. Along the way some clean water and flush toilets help. So does knowing I can call a local police and fire force if I need too. And having the lights come on when I turn the switch helps too. And counting on the electrical refrigerator and freezer working is a nice plus in the preservation of my family's food.

The idea of change in our American future is what most Americans want.

So many that voted for Obama, and his party, was on the hope of change. After all, after now decades of the alternative Democratic and Republican Party choices, well, so many Americans just wish they had another choice. Said another way, Obama is not the one as it has turned out.

Now we Americans still have to live in the real world, including our American world. And our world includes other elections other than federal, like state, county, local, and even school boards. And they impose taxes, too. We just have to sort it out, like normal.

So how do we go forward in our American future?

I don’t know.

But I suspect change is still coming, all for our best, at least in future voter’s minds, at all levels, by the way.

The key point is being able to vote.

I suspect many hard times are coming, and may last for decades. I just hope the latest “crisis” does not become an excuse to transition to some kind of royalty or dictatorship government. I just hope we can still vote at all levels, and for what we think is in our interests.

Now at least the German voters in their time elected people like Adolf Hitler to impose himself and his Party.

But we are different, and their method back then won’t work today in America. We are so different, and hopefully our future votes will express it.

Where’s the professionalism?

It is hard to figure this one out as far as reporting goes. After all, most world citizens just want the “news”, as in reporting the facts, and that is good enough. Now things in western news seem to have gone off course, at least for a while. Now also we humans have some hope in the more eastern type of reporting, as in these humans are also OK.

Now I think most people wish for the best, and anticipate the worst, and use their news to help them along. Mostly most readers of the “news” just want to learn a business advantage or family advantage they can anticipate to enhance their family’s future. This is so human.

What is hard for this human who lives in the USA is to discern what is “facts” and what is “opinion”. Having been a professionally trained sales person (a USMC recruiter), I understand the idea of a “sales pitch”.

And there is also the rest of humanity, like the rest of the world. My example invokes India, who have I think has 400 million humans living without electricity, so obviously there is no electrically delivered news. Yet I suspect they get their news, one way or the other. And they count, too.

My western type summation is simple. A lot of our fellow humans are simply different from people not like us, like easterners, and they have families and values, too. If you follow this logic, then perhaps we can lead a new way to just reporting the “news”. How about “just the facts”, which takes a lot of work and time in western talk. This idea, in academic talk, would be a paradigm shift. It’s going to happen, just how is the question? What’s the local joke…do you want fries with your order?

Now easterners are no better, since they are humans, too. But perhaps we humans can exploit all this now long established, and latest technological means, to transmit information, to include the news.

What appears to me is that so many of our young people in journalism schools are being taught about how to deliver the news, and even how you look, is a big deal. Now this idea may work on parents, but I don’t think it will work on the world, including the USA.

Now this will take some professionalism to make things better. Ideas like oaths mean something will come into play.

Are the western educators up to this. I hope so, since I am a westerner. But if not, then I guess people like them will simply be superseded in time.

Would you like fries with your order?

Is there a privileged class in the USA?

The simple answer is no.

Now some may think they are from a privileged class, even an elite class. After all, they have been successful in their lives, and so should their children, who they will sponsor and pay for in so many ways. Maybe this happened to them, too. Maybe they even inherited money from some ancestor’s past.

And with so many children benefiting from all their parent's wonderful efforts and sacrifices, perhaps we can breed smart people, and then educate them in the higher schools that will enhance their lives, and hopefully, the nation. Along the way we expect these same children will gain the experience that made their parents so successful in their time. This sounds pretty human to most of us.

The catch is the “breeding”. Now every parent will help their kid most any way they can, and there are a lot of American kids out there who are born smart (through luck I would say), who will also offer good national, state, and local leadership based on their brains, education, and even minimal experience which will late mature over time, one hopes.

And a lot of these future leaders are not from what I call the present day privileged class. American is much bigger than this, much bigger than being a big “high school”.

Now it seems for centuries now, and for good reason I think, that the best schools for educating our young people are found in the NE part of the USA. I am from such a point of view, for example.

But the world has changed, and so have our schools of educating our children. Because the USA is OK, we now have many good schools for educating our children, smart, normal, or dumb. Now that is a parental problem to deal with.

I suspect there will be many years of friction as America changes, in this way, too.

Also. There was a book published, and an idea, about all this, many decades ago. It was called “The Best and the Brightest”, and I enjoyed it. But if this is what we have gotten, then I will shop elsewhere. Mostly the idea shopping around counts.

We in the USA have “bright” people, and should reinforce them in academic terms, and later in elections. We are way past the idea of the NE USA schools educating our young people.

Now if some of these “best” people ruled in their own way by their advice to those who appointed them, then maybe we are in trouble in our national future today. Said another way, can we find better political leaders to go forward?

After all, there are other courses of action, and other leaders we can vote on, also. And they are pretty best and bright, too.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

This old time phrase still seems to apply to today’s times. The idea is pretty human…we always hope for the best and expect other courses of action, i.e. the other side of the fence idea, applies to we humans.

And while change is constant, it is not always for the best, as in our future, as in our family’s futures. Sometimes change may make our human quality of life less.

Now I have been tempted to buy this older idea since we in the USA and the new world seem to have an OK quality of life. Perhaps we should reduce our quality of life, if that will “save the world”. But what if, like the facts, interfere, like make our futures worse, and on purpose. Like I said in the title, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

One for fact idea bothers me. I now hear organizations like the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) want to dictate to me, a land owner, how I should live and survive up here on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. First they don’t want to pay for their idea (like taxes), other than their own salaries. Second is that they want to maintain the “environment” in their vision, which is pretty much in the “eye of the beholder”. Now I even have sympathies, until I hear the definition of “what environment” the “eye of the beholder” wants this place to look like.

As a report to the reader of this post, much of this land when we Europeans came here was open land, with Eastern Buffalo (now long extinct) and Elk grazing in the pastures, kinda like “Little House on the Prairie”.

Even at the end of the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago, New York City was still ½ mile under the ice. Is that the objective, which is obviously silly? And if the objective is make it like the last 100 years, well that is silly, too.

Now we in the USA can discuss and argue until we are blue in the face. What seems especially frustrating is that anyone can “hang a shingle” saying they are an environmentalist.

Now let’s move overseas. My example is India. There are 400 million humans there in rural areas without electricity. And I also read they want electricity to improve their quality of life. So where is there a discussion in the western world about all this. Now if you are a local political leader in this India example, then there is much more discussion, including environmental kind of things. Yes, there is another point of view, depending on where one sits.

My question to myself today is simple two ways. How do how I try to enhance my family’s future? And so far, how much are we humans affecting our environment, as compared to how much effect does mother nature still have?

And I don’t think of myself as stupid. I went to GaTech on a scholarship, so I give myself some credit.

I just now wonder how green the grass will be on the other side of the fence.

Now we have many courses of action that will enhance our family’s futures in our own homeland.

So be it.