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New Civilization News: The Elections: Be Careful What You Wish For |
Category: Politics 17 comments 6 Nov 2002 @ 10:30 by swan : Craig, I was shock at the electionresults too, especially in our home state of Minnesota. With the out pouring of grief about the death of Paul Wellstone one might have thought the Senate race would have went another way. In the newspaper a few days ago on the front page was a photo of George W Bush Kissing Norm Coleman ( the now senate winner) on the cheek. It was eerie. I have to believe that the political arena is not the only way for us to have a significant impact and the the political scene continues to reflect structures that are crumbling. We can only hope. 6 Nov 2002 @ 10:36 by craiglang : Update and Thanks Hi Katelyn, Thanx for the update. I just modified the entry to reflect that news...8^( BTW: It will be VERY interesting to hear more about what happened to Senator Wellstone's airplane. Methinks there is more than meets the eye here. Thanx, -Craig 6 Nov 2002 @ 10:38 by rishi : Good post Craig, this is a very thoughtful and to-the-point post. You're right, people are trading their sanity and even their very lives for the illusion of blindfolded comfort. Selfishness has taken root deep within the foundation of this society, so why not vote Republican, after all? What I perceive of this is that the majority of the American public has exactly the same values as the corporate republican rule, and the war-for-profit mindset. They have voted in this way, because they have the idea that Americans are better than anyone else in the world, and that others should die by the millions just so that they can have cheaper gas prices at the pump for a few more years. But in the end this society and others like it must fall and fall hard. Everyone either knows or at least suspects this, but do they care? No, so long as they are making a profit today and can sit in front of the television with a beer or wine, the rest of the world can go to hell for all they care. I invite you to our Raising the World Mind work group...your input is welcome. Rishi 6 Nov 2002 @ 11:13 by sharie : eerie It's eerie, alright. For months I have been questioning virtual strangers about their views on what's going on, and I found only one person who supports Bush. It seems to be all smoke and mirrors. I seriously doubt that the Minnesota election was honest, and I agree that there's more to the Wellstone crash. I read one letter saying that the electronics on a plane can be wiped out with a simple remote control, and once all power is gone, the plane is doomed. No doubt there's FBI control over the FAA investigation "for national security" of course. The stockmarket rally at the notice that fortunes can be made from stupid americans investing money into slaughtering babies speaks volumes about what's most important in the minds of men and women. It's nice to have a network of comraderie here over all this. 6 Nov 2002 @ 11:22 by shawa : From Europe... ..., we watch the terrible situation. Not to say that we don't have our own mess, but America was a leading light, truly - and it's all folding down before our very eyes. Sad, sad, sad. 6 Nov 2002 @ 12:01 by craiglang : A Nation's Soul is its People Hi Sharie and Shakti, Thanks for the notes. Shakti, thanx for the view from across the pond... 8^) What I note is that for good or ill, the soul of any nation is the collective soul of its people. The leaders can not go against that indefinitely. So as a leading light - as you say, I don't think that America is folding down - at least not permanently. Still, the collective field consciousness of the American populace seems to be sound asleep in many ways. But that does give me a ray of hope - that it can eventually awaken. I only hope it awakens in time. Remember that on December 6, 1941, pacifism was the prevailing politics of the day. So we know the people can be awakened very quickly. Unfortunately that awakening is usually very, very painful. Thanx, -Craig 6 Nov 2002 @ 12:14 by invictus : I agree with you Craig... I have very little faith in the political process around here, I'm afraid. Elections are turning into little more than funny fundraising contests with all the mud you can sling. As for the people that get elected (or not quite elected, but still elevated to power, as the case may be)... yuck. Good post. If what's going on with this country is really the will of its people as a whole, I'm very worried indeed. But at least it's still possible to have intelligent discussions with people; including the ones I don't agree with. That's a good thing... here's a little story about the kind of thing that really bothers me: Walking down the streets of Denver, I passed a guy wearing an anti-war button... I don't remember exactly what it said. It expressed a general anti-war sentiment. At the same time, a woman passed by. There was no sign that she knew this man; they didn't acknowledge each other in any way. However, on seeing his button, she immediately blurted out "America Hater!" at him. It's that kind of thing that really bothers me, and that so many people seem to be taking on that kind of attitude. I would think the same thing if it were a Bush-supporting button the man had been wearing... it's those kind of snap judgments of people based on single characteristics or opinions that seem to be dominating so much of our political discourse these days. Prejudice, pure and simple. Did anyone hear that Canada issued a travel advisory to its citizens of Arab descent telling them to think twice about going to America, because of the scrutiny they would be subjected to? And people on both sides of the fence are doing it. I strongly believe in the anti-war "side" of it all, personally, but I'm not about to go around slurring someone just because they support war, or Bush. Hell, my own grandfather is one of them. I'm rambling now... point is that it that such things really bother me, and they seem to be happening quite a bit in the "land of the free". If might be naive of me to expect any different, I know. But still... 6 Nov 2002 @ 12:40 by vaxen : Since when... did 'America' become a 'Democracy?' It is so very obvious that you do not understand the difference between a 'Democracy' and a 'Republic.' Just because the, so called, 'Republican' party takes its' name from 'Republic' does'nt mean that they have fathomed the depths of that concept at all! There are several 'kinds' of Democracy, too. I suggest, wholeheartedly, that you discover the difference, for yourself, and that you see from whence cometh the lie! America was founded as a 'Republic!!! "A Republic if you can keep it."---B.Franklin Now here is some food for thought and a surmise that maybe all is not as it may seem to the jaded eyes of those who think that 'Democracy' can in any way be equated with freedom! "Have you ever wondered how Adolf Hitler, a destitute artist who lived in flophouses, was able to become Germany's preeiminent Furher-god in the 1930's and 1940's?" http://www.victorthorn.com/babel/issue79/bushnazi.html 6 Nov 2002 @ 15:22 by swan : Whew, adept at blaming others" is a bit strong isn't it Richard? Is it blame or just wonderment. Who said Wellstone was murdered? What I heard was he wasn't even supposed to be on that airplane and decided at the last minute to fly to Northern Minnesota. So who knows? As for our senate Race, Coleman only won by 2 percentage points: 50% to 48%, so it wasn't a sweeping win. As for the "Wellstone Rally" it was the work of one of Paul Wellstones best friends who got carried away during his remarks about Senator Wellstone. And to set the record straight , we are not all bachelor Norwegian farmers or Scandinavians. Some of us are great Irish Women. I was born and raised in Minnesota and am proud of it. And what can we do, is right! ============== CL Note: I second Swan's comments about ethnic remarks. Let's try and refrain from those. Thanx, -CL 6 Nov 2002 @ 16:18 by jazzolog : Svenska Flicka, Swan I was responding partly, I thought, to a comment earlier in this thread. But no matter, the question of Paul's unfortunate demise is all over the Internet, so we may as well take a look. Craig, I'll respect your requests about ethnicity in the future, even if I'm just talking about myself, my family, friends, and hometown. It's your Log. ============== CL Note: Sounds great - Thank you 6 Nov 2002 @ 16:29 by martha : Fears, teaching and veterans Very good thread going here and I enjoyed all the comments. Now a few of my own. Swan- gold star for reminding Jazz that he needs to tune into his feminine side more. Vaxen- I agree, we are not a democracy for "every person" and it is driving our collective unconscious crazy. I believe humanity craves democracy and that is part of our evolution. As we become more aware of the process of life through experience we become aware of inequity. We all experience it and it can make us bitter and cause us to place our belief that some party, church, individual, organization... will take care of us. The blindness of other's about the future of our nation is my fear. Jazz- Veteran's Day is to honor those that have protected the freedoms we have. (that's another discussion-freedom). It is disrespectful to them to make your war protest than. It is their day of honor. My father suffered tremendous losses both emotionally and physically defending our country against Hitler. It is disrespectful to him and all veterans to diminish thier sacrifice. Find another day. There are 364 more. This is not meant to dishonor you. I understand your passion. The channelling just needs a bit of an adjustment. And to all of you talking about our political system. If you drop out than you are allowing the herd to be lead. What we can all do is to talk with those that don't vote and get them to understand the power of our voice. I believe these United States of America will continue the polarizing injustice until in mass we will stand and say enough. My deepest fear is that our planet will be spoiled by irreversible pollution before we get it. martha@oopsislippedintothenegative.com 6 Nov 2002 @ 20:34 by vaxen : We crave... freedom from the tyranny of the masses Martha! That is what democracy is...tyranny for it allows a very small group of tyrants to dictate the lemmings way. I sha'nt rant on here about the evils of democracy...Probably I should do a log for that...but please read up on it! Now here is a site that discusses 'security' and so much more. Some enlightened 'military' thought and stuff that, I feel, is relative to this thread. http://www.c4i.org/ Thoughts about what to do are daily in my mind and I do believe that we are changing the worldface via the thoughts are things interface suggested by quantum mysticism...'the butterfly in Tokyo creating a hurricane in Miami by fluttering its wings.' Long live Pegasus! 6 Nov 2002 @ 21:12 by craiglang : Majority vs Consensus Hi Folks, One thing I've noted - in US politics especially - is the division it engenders. There is no consensus building - but rather a tyrany of the majority. When one side wins, the other gets galvanized to resist. It simply sets the conflict deeper - enhances the built-in polarity. In some organizations, societies, etc. whch I have heard of, there is often a consensus process. There is still a vote taken, but in the end, there is a check that the minority buys into the result. If not, then there is more work to do. Rather than win-lose, they go for win-win. In American politics, there seems to be a built in polarity. In the world of Law, it is called the adversarial system. In politics, its the two party system. In all cases, it is a system organized around conflict - built in discord. It would be very interesting to try an experiment, perhaps in an intentional community, or some regional organization. In such a community a democracy and consensus process would be combined. Thoughts anyone? Thanx, -Craig 7 Nov 2002 @ 01:52 by jazzolog : A Veteran Minority Member Martha, we have Memorial Day. I do my honoring then. I continue rankled and ruffled by Veterans Day. Find any VFW post that evening that has a bunch of Harleys parked outside, go on in and see what kind of honor you see then. Naturally, if a vet suffers a drunken stupor on his way out, falls down the stairs, we cheerfully pay for his hospital recovery. Craig, I appear to be the only NCN member who enjoys the division and dialogue of the democratic process here in this republic (OK Vaxen?). I've found that it is in consensus that I feel the pressure to enjoy the warm fuzzies of being one of the bunch. In the majority/minority situation that I prefer, I need to abide by the decision or law of the group but I still can campaign for my point of view, if I have the determination to do so. It's discouraging politically today, and I worry mightily about why so many people don't vote in this country, but I'll still speak my mind freely here in the States, and I like it like that. Shakti uses a combination approach, I believe, in the community in which she lives. Perhaps she'll comment too. 7 Nov 2002 @ 04:06 by swan : Richard, calling me a "loose Swedish girl" is a bit strong, as well. Now you will have to step out into THE ALLEY and duke it out with me:-) I appologize Craig for getting off of the track of your log. 7 Nov 2002 @ 04:59 by jazzolog : Sigh~~~ You could have written to me privately about this, Katelyn. I have no idea what source you have for that translation...but of course certain ethnic groups (how's that Craig?) do have a reputation regarding sexuality too. Svenska means Swedish. Flicka means girl. http://www-lexikon.nada.kth.se/skolverket/swe-eng.shtml Of course, you are not a Swedish girl, but I wanted you to see the reply, that's all. 7 Nov 2002 @ 05:47 by istvan : "Stupid is what stupid does" Mediocrity of the masses have allowed in the past and present social systems to flourish in the cesspools of civilisations where the most aggressive individuals gain control of the people in clever ways, using the basic methods of deceit. It works folks. --------------------------------------------------------------------- "The economy, stupid? Let's take a look. The markets? Down, down, down. During Bush's term, the Dow has gone from 10,578.20 on Jan. 22, 2001, to 8,397.03 on Oct. 31, 2002 -- a decline of 20.6 percent. Unemployment? Up, up, up. January 2001 to October 2002, nonfarm payrolls have fallen by 1.49 million, as the jobless rate has jumped in Bush's term from 4.2 percent to 5.7. Basic economic indicators? Teetering between indifferent and terrifying. Gross domestic product, which averaged a 3.1 percent annual growth rate in the first seven quarters under Clinton, compared with a 1.4 percent average in the same period under Bush. In the second quarter alone, pension wealth fell by over $469 billion, or 5.3 percent. Housing prices cushioned the blow a little but still left a net decline in wealth of 3.4 percent in one quarter, with its successor shaping up to be just as bad. It looks as though the boom in house prices has topped out. Oil prices are up 40 percent since the start of the year. The telecommunication industry is on its ass, and it will take a very long time to crawl back from overcapacity in the 90 percent range. The airline industry is on life support. The official rate of profit on capital stock in the non-financial corporate sector as a whole is now is at its lowest level of the post-war period (except for 1980 and 1982). A recession? Most assuredly. Prospects of long-term economic doldrums? Near certain. OK. So not only do we have an economy slowly flapping its way to the bottom of the fishtank, we have two men in the White House who, scarcely two months ago, were hiding out in some subterranean war room in the Appalachians, hoping to dodge subpoenas on account of their shady business conduct, even as all their buddies at Enron were striking to make deals with the Justice Department. It's true. Bush's Harken antics make the Clintons' involvement in Whitewater look like the pitiful little failed real estate deal that it was. Here we have a rich mine of corruption and insider dealing featuring such highlights as the Harvard endowment bailing out Junior at the behest of a Texas oilman. We have officials in the administration of Bush Sr., tearing up SEC rules to save the ass of the president's son. We have... well, you know the story. And Cheney? As bad, if not worse, in terms of self-enrichment at the expense of the public investors in Halliburton. This was the economic and scandal-stained backdrop to the midterm campaign. So, what happened? The public said, "Sure, the economy doesn't look good, but we're not stupid. The economy's sagging, but you can't blame the whole of the '90s on George Bush. Gives us till 2004, and we'll tell you what we think then." The problem is, the Democrats have no credibility because they haven't earned any. No one believes they have an economic strategy, and as we hunker down amidst the rubble of the bubble, we can ask, what were the Democrats doing as that same '90s bubble swelled? Led by Senator Joe Lieberman they destroyed the regulatory apparatus put in place in the '30s, after the '20s bubble, and burst into ecstatic applause every time the federal watchdog of the markets, Alan Greenspan, ambled along to the Hill to tell everyone what a fine job he'd been doing. On top of all that, we've had the war whoop against Saddam Hussein. It has not been popular. A majority of Americans appear to believe that it's not a particularly good idea to trash Iraq, even though it would be fun to see Saddam Hussein swinging from a lamppost. Aside from Tony Blair, the world is against it. Closer to home, the Joint Chiefs are against it. All the same, the whooping worked. It changed the subject from the economy and Harken and Halliburton. It got the Democrats rearing and plunging till Gephardt panicked and rushed to the White House to enlist in the great Crusade. My bet is now that the war fever will subside, not least because George Bush can count yet another triumph after his brave assists to President-elect Lula in Brazil and Gerhard Schroeder in Germany. His warmongering has handed the Islamic Party a great victory in Turkey. The Democrats are a party of ghosts and revenants, not the most convincing battalion to put against the party of property and oil, of fundamentalist Christians now in coalition with warmongering Jewish neocons, which is, of course, the big political story of the season." © 2002 Creators Syndicate ### These people won. Amazing, is it not? Now you can have your democracy and eat it too. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Other entries in Politics 1 Jul 2010 @ 02:21: PHILIPPINES’ NEW PRESIDENT: AKBAR OR NERO? 4 Jun 2010 @ 08:30: SCUTTLE EU NOW, BEFORE 4TH REICH OPTION AWAKENS! 17 Nov 2008 @ 10:11: My 'story' I just uploaded to change.gov 8 Nov 2008 @ 16:06: A Boy Named Sue and the False American Dream 7 Nov 2008 @ 16:01: No He Can't... 6 Nov 2008 @ 09:16: History is NOW 5 Nov 2008 @ 16:58: Obamas World - Africa and the World beyond Poverty !? - but how? - what world? 5 Nov 2008 @ 14:02: Proud to be An American 26 Oct 2008 @ 15:26: Systemic Intelligence: How to teach Systemic Thinking effectively 26 Oct 2008 @ 10:27: OBAMA IS AMERICA’S MAN OF THE HOUR
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