Another report from the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee

There are so many people who depend on the government dole, ala periodic checks through the mail, that I am embarrassed. After all these are otherwise normal humans.
The whole setup here is such that many who need checks for their reasons stay by the mailbox on the check day, so to defeat those who raid mailboxes for their own reasons.
And the best intents have failed when I see and observe those who get, like a check for $30,000 from the government, then spend it on drugs vice their families, or savings. Just for me, the children should get some benefit, but that just is not happening up here. And when pills are $80 a pop, then drug addicted parents are sacrificing their kid’s future. And they don’t care.
What a waste of humanity.
And as a child of the 60’s who was indoctrinated that marijuana was a victimless crime, well things have not worked out as most expected. It seems funny that back when the Beatles impacted us, most on the Cumberland Plateau bad mouthed long hair and drug use. Now most do it. Even in the 80’s when I drove an Isuzu Trooper up here, people looked at me funny, like I was some communist sympathizer, even when I served in the USMC.
Like I said, this is just a report.

These are times we can tell our children about

Seldom in life can one be on the inside observing vast changes going on. Such ideas suggest the forming of a new third national party, and perhaps the fading of one or both of two present national parties.

One has to go back to the American civil war, or the American revolution, as local examples of such times. Our ancestors were just as fervent and smart as we are, I think. And our American tradition and culture suggests voting to solve the frictions in our future, but there are other options as has happened before. Now voting and organizing takes time and energy, but these are times we can tell our children about as we see it going on.

What seems galling these days is that so many of our federal executive and its hired members and the federal legislature and its hired members are simply disconnected from their constituents these days. This smacks of royalty, at least for the time they have legal authority. And even now nepotism is kicking in our USA too many times, which is also galling to most Americans. The themes of the Weimer Republic in the 1930’s or King Louis the 16th in France are coming back to too many minds. Yes the times were different then, but we humans are pretty much the same over time, I think.

What happens when our federal government announces some kind of emergency, and usurps some kind of new rule that replaces our Constitution, and all its checks and balances limitations on power?

Good intentions, and throwing money at obvious problems, goes nowhere, too often. But that is what we in the USA have been doing for decades.

Also we have been electing so many of our representatives over such a long time. So it seems logical we Americans are also part of the current situation and problems. Now maybe we will change, assuming our votes still count.

What happens when all the federal government payments don’t come in our future? That is coming too, I think. Any government has to pay its bills, and this depends on income to dispense the wonderful benefits we in America have today. Right now it takes borrowing on our national reputation to get the extra money over tax income, and that may end sometime too soon. What a shame as to who messed it up the most. And our federal government and taxes make up some pretty good stuff, today.

The federal government has a choice. All it probably will do is “inflate” the value of our work and the dollars we earn. For a simple example, 10% inflation over 4 ½ years will make a million dollors worth half that. Even in simpler terms, going through the drive through bank machine will make us pay more for the same thing. And there are long term losses, too.

Yep, these are times we can tell our children about.

We’re different here in the USA
Most don’t know it, just because they live here. But many others do know it. Americans living around the world know it. And so many immigrating here know it, too. It is the same as why our ancestors came here, to better their and their family’s lives. That is so simple, most may not recognize it these days. And it is still alive and well thanks to a Constitution that is unique in human history. Yep, we are different, and lucky, too. There are worse places to be born. And yet so many Americans do not recognize it. It is simply beyond their American experience, and what is normal to them. And if we Americans are thought of as mongrels, so be it. Mongrels are considered to be genetically superior, and we probably are.
You know that change is constant. Ideas like American racial laws and the double standard have faded as the older generation humans who had these ideas imbued have died off. So what is coming, since we are all humans in the end. Now the future is always scary, but that is what our vote is about, assuming our votes still count, as in no voter fraud or other such fixing ideas happen. If our vote doesn’t count, then things resort to ideas like revolt or civil war, in the end.
There have always been ideals and good intentions to improve societies, often called communes. The older ideas are based on English family stuff, and more recently hippie communes. I personally live in Tennessee where efforts in these directions have been tried, and failed, mostly do to human traits. But God Bless these efforts…they continue. Hope always springs eternal.
Now can we just be humans in America, the new world. And are we humans in America these days one federally united country, or an united states with all the diversity that is promoted in so many ways. I suspect the latter, but that is just my politics.
Now it is fun, to me, to be older, before I die, which we all do, eventually. The idea of what I thought was the way to go at a much younger age depended on having the older generations die off. Now it has happened (they died off) , but my trust in 2009 in my fellow humans leading us today also are also failing, as is wasting our best intentions and monies.
Last, another American trait is our productivity. Most wake up in the morning and want to do well for our families. And we are still pretty productive. In the past, our state and federal laws and practices have supported all this human stuff. If the idea of those in power is to change to something else, we Americans should vote on it, don’t you think?

Ideas for going forward

Here we as a USA country are in a recession, the winter is coming, and too many fellow citizens have income problems that make them and their families colder and hungrier and life style changing than they want to be.
For most of we USA citizens, the last half century has been comfortable and confident, as the status quo worked out. Something good must have been going on.
Now cycles of boom and bust seem to be a part of life, all over the world. Perhaps it is just a part of our human nature. Perhaps we have done some things that have intensified the boom and the bust? Here in our USA we have had two national parties for at least 8 generations (I count a generation as 20 years, genealogy wise), and we USA citizens have supported all this past stuff and elected all these people for a now long time. And the cycles have continued, boom and bust, for a long time.
And here we are again, questioning ourselves and how we got into the present mess we are in, and how can we get out. Part of this questioning is more underlying thoughts about our future, and ways to improve from the past. And this kind of discussion and debate even went on before our times and by our ancestors. They were smart, too. But now it is our turn.
I am from the school of thought that says identifying a problem is only part of what is needed. One should also offer solutions, ideally three, that decision makers can act on, if their judgment says so.
Here’s three American ideas, or at least I think they are American.

1) The government solution.
a. Term limit our legislators at all levels, federal, state, county, city, and school boards. Start with the federal legislators, maybe even one house like the House of Representatives. Now the amendment process required is long and often arduous, but we have already term limited the federal presidency, and we can do the same to the federal legislators. And I suspect the Congress will never limit themselves, so it will take the states to get this done. Since the process requires both proposing Amendments, and then ratifying these Amendments, it will take a long time, but one has to start sometime.
b. Require we in the federal government and its budget to live within our means (by amendment). This is commonly called a balance budget idea, like most families do. The results will be gut wrenching, but that is going to happen anyway and too often and to too many when we USA people can no longer get federal loans to pay for all these good things we have right now.
2) The American people solution.
a. I think most USA citizens believe in the idea of governments to rule us and provide the benefits we most appreciate, like police and fire safety, clean water, waste water treatment, electricity on demand (like keeping our refrigerators and freezers working all the time), and public national defense, since most think we still have enemies. If this is the case, which I think so, then our elected rulers at all levels should promote laws and policies that enhance all these things. Assigning priorities is key as to whom we decide to elect.
b. I also think we Americans have become used to the idea of Social Security and Medicare to take care of so many of us, to include our old ancestors who begat us (like our parents). This has much to do with the decline in the birth rate, I think. In the old days, one reason so many couples had many children was to take care of them when they got old.
c. Standards that seem to make sense are a wave of the future. The idea of ethics seems to be gaining force. The idea of PC and moral equivalency seems to be fading, as it should. We are a melting pot whether we like it or not. The value of education without brains or morals seems to be more doubted than it has in a long time. What is right or wrong is not inherited or innate; it is taught, mostly at home. And this idea is beginning to assert itself. And I only suggest we teach our kids our values, more so in our future. Anyway, we have to start somewhere.
d. The rule of those from the North East, to include schools and business institutions will come to an accommodation with the rest of the USA people, I think. After all, these NE people are Americans, too, as well as the rest of us, whom I think make up the majority. Things will sort out in the end, but the tidal motions will be difficult as people go through change.
e. Out of wedlock births are shameful. Kids with both a mother and a father at home are better off for the long run. The idea of shame as an American standard needs refurbishing. There is no moral equivalency for this idea.
3) The human solution.
a. Having a problem is less important than what you do about it.
b. Who knows what we Americans will do about the future? We, as humans in America, have three options. Voting (our traditional course), revolting, or a having a civil war, are the options.
c. Perhaps the government cure can be worse than the disease?
d. The human factor is always alive.
i. People just want to hear things straight. Parsing of words and phrases too often confuses. Just having a human explain things in a way we can understand is always most important.
ii. People will always accept criticism, like peer or spousal criticism. People will also resent insults of all kinds.
iii. People just want to have faith, and believe in their leaders, no matter what their leaders political beliefs. Trust, and again, faith, is key. Violate trust and faith, and all is lost to humans. Faith that our votes count is so key to continuing to support all our governments and Constitution.
e. This is the new world. All bets are off. We can do what ever we think will help our families and our future.
i. Consider a third national political party in our future... kind of like the Whig Party. Even Lincoln was a Whig before he became a Republican. The present day Tea Party stuff seems to be in that direction.
ii. In the last 5 generations, most third party efforts have been based on a personality, and funding. This time, the effort is based on an idea. The times they are a changing.


Yes we, as USA Americans, have a way forward. And it appears it will take time to happen. But by golly, it will happen. Things will change, as always.

Would do you think?

What do we want, as in what do we want to vote for?

Most people, to include Americans, are disgusted with the ideas of nepotism, and cronyism. I suspect at all levels, to include school board, city, county, state, and federal. Most of us just want to live, and have an opportunity to go through life, and along the way, make things better for our kids. That is so simple, it is almost hard to believe. And add in the factor that so many are so busy in their lives that they don’t pay too much attention to present day politics at all levels, well, that is pretty much what is happening.

Voters should be ruthless about their values, and votes.

But what happens when too many of we USA citizens good cold and hungry, and can still vote. There are many professional organizers of the vote for the poor, but the majority of Americans who might be cold and hungry will show up in the end, and the winter is coming.

Another effort is on the way, I can suspect. The cold and hungry need to be addressed, and their families will help the most, I think.

This is the old idea of social security, by the way. That’s why we had more kids than we do these days. In the old days, our kids would suffer and take care of us old people.

In the meantime, who do you believe? And then vote.

One plan for our human future

It is pleasing to see political discussion about our human future on this earth. After all, other species reigned supreme before mammals and humans do so these days. Change is constant, one may say.

And the green house effect has been underway for a long time, and is still working its magic. For example, about 12,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, New York city was about ½ mile under the ice. Is that what we want to try restore?.

Where I live is south of the ice line as I read it, but things would have been pretty cold here anyway, like in our ideas about northern Siberia.

And the main friction is whether it is humans who are doing this warming enhancement, or is it mother nature future stuff which is beyond our influence.

My vote is towards mother nature, which is dismal in it’s prospects hundreds of years in the future. So we have time to adapt, but I suspect not reverse. If it sounds hopeless, it may be. And we humans are part of the problem, though a small part compared to mother nature.

There are many ways to adapt,and I suspect we will, over time. My guess is humans will survive what happens,anyway. Along the way, most will die, and some will survive by some kind of less than our modern experience.

In other words, things look bleak. And we cannot do much about it.

Bummer.

How come the girls in cheating don’t get the same standards as the boys?

Just wondering given the latest Tiger Woods stuff.

I mean more men cheat on their wives than wives cheat on their husbands, I think. Most of us have known some of both, unfortunately.

And what is new? And most marriages are pretty normal, I also think.

What is new, and disappointing to me, is that the women who knowingly have sexual affairs with married men are also sluts. They both are.

But it is never reported in most of our American media this way. Hence there seems to be a double standard being reinforced by our American media.

What a shame.

What a shame

We can argue till we are blue in the face about what is important, but in the end fellow humans may have to go hungry and cold, or die, or get malaria, or whatever. And when we humans seem to make things worse, well, we probably did. But then things will change. Nobody wants to wake up in the morning and make things worse. Nobody wants to wake up hungry and cold, or die. And our expanding numbers on this earth only make the frictions and demands on our resources, worse.

There are always alarming headlines. Today’s headlines include things like any day on the Drudge Report ( http://www.drudgereport.com/ ). The alarming headlines tend to focus on things economic, the status quo changing, lightweights and do gooders trying to run things, and the embarrassing and human tendencies to be human, which often translate to regional powers and dictators asserting themselves, and scientists still and always seeking patrons, mostly governments these days. They have to make a living, too.

But until people start dying in human caused stuff, things probably will not change much. What a shame.

The good news is that we have a “new world”. That is all of us who live here and are the progeny of our ancestors who immigrated, mostly for the hope to improve themselves, their families, their hope for the economic future, and to be here for so many other good reasons. In the process, we have made a new country in the USA with our own culture. And our culture is not too shabby, hence the immigration flows seem to be to the USA and not from the USA. Who cares what some “educated” elites say and think and rule by, since the patterns, mostly family and economic, will predominate in the end.

We today cannot rule and vote ourselves out of the future. Our history is full of such failed examples. This idea includes the three Neutrality Laws from the late 1930’s. Most rulers will try, though.

Our votes, where we can vote, may change things, maybe, and probably. But what happens when the have nots and deadbeats, can vote themselves benefits from the haves. Eventually, the whole thing will collapse. Somebody has to generate human wealth increases in the new world to pay for our culture, which is not too shabby.
What a shame.

Aren’t we humans fickle? And human.

These are momentous times

All times are momentous, but these days there is much change coming, and already going on.

Mostly it is in the new world, America, but also it is around the whole world.

We humans have so much in common, to include going cold and hungry, that unites us as humans. And generally, we humans can elect our politicians to help ourselves and our kids, most of the time and in most places. It is the ability to vote that makes change, normally, possible. But also revolutions and civil wars are another way to do the same. And this is coming too, I think.

When people think their leaders; elected, royalty, manipulated elections, tribal, or whatever; think their leaders are not doing a good job, like their families and health are threatened, then change will come. It’s inevitable. Yes, these are momentous times.

Return to America, the best example of humanity is doing well without all the other old world problems our ancestors emigrated from. We are the new world human world example, at least for today. This is not just some academic idea, just look at the emigration flows. People have been emigrating with their feet and pocket books. There is something good going on in America. And this idea is beyond just our natural resources to exploit.

What we in the USA should thank our ancestors for it is both our Constitution, and the idea of a constitution that promotes ideas like the rule of law, and also recognizes our human faults. No one is above the law, including our governments, to include our executives and our legislatures. Much lip service is given to the idea of honest differences of opinion, but I hope it happens under the idea of a vote.

Some has been said of the biggest fault in the idea of democracy in America, mostly in our republican form of government. Bottom line, our votes, and efforts to vote, count. Those like community organizers that promote using tax payer money to benefit their causes and people are a minority. The majority have families and ancestor and problems, too. And they need help, too. And if they vote, things, and change, will come.

Yes, much change is coming.

Helping our poor is a big deal. Helping our other Americans is a bigger deal. Helping our deadbeats is a waste of time.

It is time to vote about those that favor poor and deadbeats over the rest of us. Priorities do matter.

Good ideas and humans

Few humans want to wake up in the morning wanting to do a bad job.

And we are experiencing, as an American culture, something like this.

Maybe the ideas are good, maybe they’re not.

Maybe those we have elected to do their bit are failing in promoting our families?

What do I mean? After all we are a great force in the present world today. But one should remind ourselves there are other great forces in the world today, too. And they might not think like us, etc. Most of we in the USA these days have been brought up by those we elected to think we are omnipotent. But maybe we are not, and should recognize this. Other peoples love their families too, and do whatever the situation presents itself to go forward.

We as a country and culture have spent decades of many efforts trying to make so much of the “other world” self sufficient, and we have succeeded or made progress, I think. At least we are doing OK. Well these people have values too, and also love their families. And they are simply being human, to include expressing their values, often local, which is normal.

Hence the friction point.

Do politicians with good intentions predominate, or do humans predominate?

I suspect the humanity will predominate. How it sorts out will be interesting.

And even here in the USA, we also have hearts and minds.

What happens if other people think differently?

What happens if other people are not like us?

What happens if they don’t respond for their own reasons?

A logical consequence of the present foreign policy is that others should finally respond to our treating them with dignity and listening to them. But what happens if they don’t respond to our goals. What happens if they have their own goals, especially if that is the way they were raised up. This is a classic East vs. West cultural friction.

One logical consequence of the present foreign policy will lead us to war if the others reject our good efforts. This means our kids and families going in harm’s way. Why?

Another consequence is to back off, our bluff being rejected by the opponent. The logical consequence is that appeasement will only kick the probability of war down a few years.

Then many people will die.

There are alternatives. Confronting Iran, for example, now, will make things better in the end, at least we hope. But ignoring the rise of this regional power and its leaders will only make things worse, or at least, many think so.

Germany and Japan were regional powers, and look what we got to solve in WWII, of course, for our own reasons.

What does gentleman mean these days?

A lot.

We have more in common than that which divides us.

It is sad that we common citizens may have to dictate common decent behavior for our “elected” representatives. We dictate this through our vote, so there is a time delay factor. But for sure, our votes count, and change is coming, and at so many levels.

What a sad state of affairs, but in the end, we did it to ourselves by those we have elected. But in the same vein, we can also undo ourselves. Hence future votes.

We have a hopeful future. A hopeful future is a family and job oriented idea that helps us promote our kids potential. And we Americans are so willing to work for this idea.

Coming home to roost

The title is associated with phrases like “chickens coming home to roost”. It is often used with the idea that some problems result from our own mistakes.

Now our nation with its present elected leadership is struggling over what to do about our future interests in Afghanistan. The reason we sent combat troops and the CIA with suite cases of cash into Afghanistan beginning late 2001, and after the 9/11attacks, was in our national interests, I believe. Now years later, the circumstances have changed. The circumstances include the morphing of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and even our future national interests in the USA.

Other changes have occurred, too. Most are not reported by our “media”, mostly out of ignorance due to inexperience. By the way, in the old days (to me) we would say the “press” (which implied newspapers and magazines), but now so much more news seems to come via TV and the internet here in the USA.

After Vietnam, we as a nation created an all volunteer military force. This process included downsizing the overall military size, and putting much more of our national military strength in our Reserves and National Guards. One ulterior motive for the military leaders then, seldom discussed much back them, was to make it difficult for politicians to get us involved overseas in any military action since now it will take “activating the reserves”. Activating the reserves was avoided by our political leaders during the Vietnam period. And actually many Reserves and National Guard members already know this. Just look at the numbers of Americans from these groups that full time air transport people and things to Iraq, for example.

American people and businesses have all supported this, with loyalty and sacrifice. Good on ‘em.

Then things continued. After the downfall of the Soviet Union, a “peace dividend” was both pursued and expected. This further reduced our military might, mostly for good reason most thought. At the same time, the power of the dollar declined in our defense budget, for many reasons, and what we got was less and less, though more professional than ever.

Now things are coming home to roost.

While we in the USA may be the only remaining superpower, we no longer can back that up with our will. This may be OK. It is probably most hard on our State Department to try “pretend” the “old days” apply. Any astute Asians (to include Indians) understand this idea. They have their own problems, too. And the USA is not the best answer in too many cases.

But it also means things like the Tennessee reserve 278th ACR (Armored Calvary Regiment) gets activated and deployed for the first time since WWII in 2004, and now again in 2010.

And if we expand our deployments to Afghanistan to include more active duty military from the USA, like Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, then we Americans had better think this is in our national interests.

Now national interests mean different things to different people.

To the mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, children, and other relatives, thinking about our loved ones going in harm’s way can be tolerated if it is in “our” interests. If it cannot be tolerated, then it is not in our national interests. Hence the vote.

My mother lost a husband to death in WWII. I have thought about all this. And she had a child, too. My older brother.

These are momentous times. All times are momentous, but these are our momentous times.

Things are coming home to roost. Much of the world’s future will be influenced by what the USA leaders do, and who we elect to be our leaders, in the next two decades or so. But now we are no longer the dominating player in the world.

Let me end on a positive note, based on faith in humanity. Much as our human traits have hurt us in such forms as the Third Reich and Communism and now Islamic terrorism, they have been eventually dominated by humanity in the long run, and whatever that means, mostly being ourselves. Now that invites problems, too…like too many people on the earth, and too many do-gooders in the West.

But, again, on a positive note, perhaps we humans will sort this problem out, too. And I suspect, and hope, votes will in the end trump revolutions and civil wars, but we will see. Now this idea is both East and West.

Isn’t it amazing?

Here we live in one of the best countries in human history. And it is best for so many reasons.

Now it seems so many Americans may revert us back to some other less well off times. Some say we are already on that path.

I suspect their intentions of change are good. But intentions are a poor substitute for promoting our citizens…all of us. Our “all of us” quality of life is important.

And no amount of smooth talking will help people who are cold and hungry.

And we have alternatives to improving our quality of life. All that has gone on before may have caused as many problems as were solved. And the alternatives are at all levels, federal, state, county, city, and school boards.

One question as I frame it is: Are we a one-size fits all country with its bureaucracies, or are we a “group of united states” with all its bureaucracies? In other words, what are we today? Are we rural, urban, or something in between? Are we old, young, or something in between?

The consequences, if we can vote, are enormous. The idea of federal social security taxes to take care of our elders has reduced the old idea that one couple must have many kids in order to take care of mom and dad when they get old. In other words, our birth rate went down.

These are momentous times. Ideas like revolt and civil war are coming up again.

Isn’t it amazing? Now we will learn how many of our human ancestors may have thought and now begin to go through our own thought process. Of course, this assumes we can still vote, and our votes count. And voting is so much the American way.

Our Constitution defines two legislative bodies, the House and the Senate. The House stands for election every two years. The Senate members stand for election every six years. And we Americans have financed them, their very expensive staffs, and their pension and medical plans to aid the effort to do good.

As an example, do most Americans know that, for example, Congresswoman Pelosi has three staffs, a speaker of the house staff, a democratic party staff, and a congresswoman staff, and we pay for it. It is such these days that the senate and house staffs have their own exercise clubs, and neither accepts the others, and we pay for these clubs, to include the use of federal buildings.

So what will we do? Vote I hope. It is our country after all. And that idea is not amazing.

What’s gonna happen when we default?

It’s gonna be bad.

And the impacts vary depending on which government we are talking about. Some are better than others. There are federal, state, county, city, and even school boards that have much to say about taxing us. And we continue to pay because we have to.

And default means simply we cannot pay our debtors. Fellow human beings with money will not throw their money away out of American patriotism. They have to live, too.

And our own governments can only spend what they have, even including borrowing until it busts.

Too many companies like Moody’s are already predicting the junk bond status of US Treasury bills, thought the years do vary in their forecasts. It is closer than we should hope.

And we Americans still have to live and go on. And we will.

Times are gonna be hard. Many will be cold and hungry this winter. But in the same vein, we will both survive and be better for it. God help us all.

Winds of change are about

These are momentous times. For those that think about it, we are going through what many of an ancestors went through, albeit, for different reasons. This makes our times special, and unique. After so many decades of Democrat and Republican rule, perhaps there is another way.

Most Americans want change in their own mind. And unfortunately Obama is not “the one”. He did ride the idea of change into office, but Americans still want “real” change. Much has been said about partisan bickering and all, but I think most just think and vote about America first, and along with that idea, our families and our children first. Otherwise they are too busy with their families and businesses to take the time to keep a closer tab. That’s just the way we are.

The era of big government is over it was once said. Change suggests there are maybe better alternatives to big governments, at all levels. And some alternatives may work better than others. In so many ways, we Americans are pretty blue collar and selfish, as in our own interests trump all. This is so human and American, and still seems to be a majority; that still pays taxes.

In a time of great American marketing techniques (perhaps propaganda) it is still important to listen. Most people will tell you what is important to them, if you are willing to listen to them. And change still seems to be a message of a basic national need to go another way. After decades of Democrat and Republican rule, there are alternatives to these two parties.

Hence, the winds of change.

The era of good intentions is over

So much has changed in the last and many decades since WWII. And change is good, I think. The other thought is how about we just live within our means.

Our American character to help our less well off may have been exploited beyond taking care of our own families which is so important to all, and should be the priority of any public policy. And the image of the poor being poor through no fault of their own has masked so much of our American population that are dead beats, that is they are too lazy to work, and get included with our noble efforts to help our poor, especially their kids. Most would say being “poor” in America is a lot better than being poor in so many third world countries. Where I live on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee is good evidence of my opinion. And I have lived in the third world.

This roller coaster of a ride to “help” others, while well intentioned in general, may also bankrupt our country. After all, we can afford up to our budget, and that’s it. Borrowing to go forward as a public policy that will burden our progeny to working months per year just to pay our bills, and may even cause generational warfare in the future, is a poor way to go. Sounds course, but people are people, in the end. And by bankrupt, this means not being able to borrow money, and pay the bills. Then things will get really ugly. Like dog eat dog. Is this what we want?

I think we got to this point by electing people from both national parties at all levels, school boards, city, county, state, and federal. And when times get hard, we will assert our votes perhaps another way. The era of good intentions is over.

So what do we do. Vote at all levels. While going through the hoops is a burden, there is no other way to change things. Except of course civil war or a revolution, which is now so un-American.

Our ancestors were not perfect, either.

Nobody wakes up in the morning wanting to do a bad job.

And as part of the European colonization times about 100 years ago or so, the idea of a nation state was dictated and decided on by diplomats in their time. The main way to do this was to agree on boundaries, and then have policies that supported the idea of nation states. Most of this was to benefit colonization with all its benefits, some local I may add.

Along the way, nobody seems to have asked the locals about their “national” loyalty, and what it took to raise a family to have kids who had self respect and some hope of a future.

Now we are paying the price, it seems. The price means things like using our militaries to impose our will. This is fine if it is in our self interest. This is one reason we fight wars.

Afghanistan is gaining all the media interests these days. But the friction between the idea of nation states and local tribes and warlords still goes on. In Afghanistan, some Americans might wonder why are they resisting us and killing some of us. Perhaps some of them are just being tribal with all its amplifications. As poor as their land and life may be by Western standards, that is what they know and will fight for. They have families, too.

Now they, mostly the Pashtun tribe in Afghanistan, are not perfect either. Their promotion of Osama Bin Laden is a good example. But that was 10 years ago, and now the present tribal leaders still have their own problems, but it is not the 10 year old tribal leader’s decisions and financing. Just like we Americans, foreigners, including outsiders, suffer in the end.

Add in another tribe with its leader’s aspirations, the Persians (who are not Arabs), and things can get complicated for the manipulator. But there are self correcting local solutions, and these people know it. And any attempt to dominate the region will be regionally resisted. Such is their dilemma. Welcome to a part of the world that is tribal.

And all we want to do is help. Like I am from the government, and I am here to help you.

Think about so many areas in Africa, or the trans-caucus, and our ancestors have set us up to support their ideas. Perhaps there is another way? Let’s consider doing it.

The future looks bleak if we continue this kind of foreign policy. By bleak I mean being un-American. Some might even say invoke the new world. That is what humans seem to be doing anyway. There is a way forward.

The American evolution continues

Times are hard for 1/10 of our fellow Americans without jobs. Our declining property and even sales tax bases for many local and state governments are causing a lot of problems for keeping the past going. One State is even cutting the school time to 4 days a week in order to keep all present teachers employed, even those that might teach “pet care” as an elective. One city may even lease its water system for “its” city monetary needs to the probable detriment of its taxpaying citizens who will probably pay more for what they now pay to the city for water and other such things.

Now we already pay considerable taxes to all our governments like school boards, cities, counties, states, and our federal government. Most consider our common good as a good reason to do all this.

The problems that are becoming apparent in this recent evolution are the priorities of those politicians we have elected to lead us in our common goals, like educating our kids in such a way that can make them successful and happy (as in run a home family and do a good job that gains self respect).

There is one obvious friction. Many present politicians will maintain the present status quo as best as they can. After all, for lack of knowing what to do, they do what they know. And there are alternatives, like assigning priorities that benefit most of us citizens. Home security (police and fire protection for example), clean water and waste water treatment, national defense, and promoting families come to mind. And in the end, all solutions are local for local reasons. And in the recent evolution we simply can’t afford all these good intentions.

While there are obviously poor moves that some fellow Americans have made towards an imperial federal government, the rest of the country is just working and paying the taxes that provide for our common good. And never assume conspiracy when simple incompetency will do. This is the nature of evolution, even an American evolution. And never forget even we Americans can have “educated fools”. At all levels, I think.

So as we do evolve, three ideas bubble up to the top. Promote and protect our families. And recognize and benefit our vast size and differences. And third, do things at all levels that promote the first two ideas.

Like the title suggested, we Americans are evolving. And we are doing so in our new world with all it financial and other problems.

The best way to evolve is to vote, at all levels.

Many believe that the main fault with our form of government here in the USA is the ability for the have-nots to vote themselves benefits paid for by the haves. I think this is correct. Entire organizations, like “community organizers” milk this idea to the max. And our American national character to help our less well off gets exploited, it seems. But in our American evolution in our new world, we can do things differently. Again, vote at all levels. The have-nots are a minority in the end, and we majority can help them as we choose. This is another example of evolution. And I live and have worked in a very poor area of our Country, Appalachia, so I have some experience in this subject.

Yes, the American evolution continues, and this evolution still attracts so many fellow humans in our world.

Whoa be to those who think they can work around the American Constitution

These are momentous times not just because of our jobs problems for so many fellow Americans, but also because there is now becoming to appear a group in our Executive and our Legislative branches who want to rule, and by their edict. I am sure they have good intentions, and they work hard for their objectives.

The friction they are encountering is our American way, often expressed by our American Constitution, and it is frustrating to this group of fellow Americans.

And this group, if you believe it, are frustrated because they do believe in their good intentions and ideas. Maybe they are wrong, for so many reasons. Hence the checks and balances system seems to work OK.

Checks and balances is an idea that reflects that humans live here, and some even rule here. And some most aggressive rulers want to impose their good ideas. And if they are correct, then let them get Amendments to our Constitution passed per our Constitution. After all, Americans do change, too. But it is up to us and our elected leaders to do such things. Ruling imperially, vice changing our Constitution, is just silly.

And the imperial inclined rulers in America can’t do it anyway. And I suspect we will vote in new political leaders who will work another way. This idea is an American way. Some might even say it is a new world way.

After all, we are different from the rest of the world.