Mike, I don't disagree. Let them eat cake. They will anyway.
The fine point being, once they are in, they aren't leaving regardless of the will of the people.
Perhaps. However, I don't want to paint American Democracy as such a bright, shiny, untarnished penny that we get everyone in the streets to start killing each other over it.
If you add up all the people who have been "left behind" by "American Democracy" over its history, well, it is not clear to my data analytics trained brain, that dying for it makes sense.
I am not advocating for a Trump based dynasty mind you. What I am saying is what I learned in Phsysics: For every action, there an equal and opposite reaction.
WITHOUT that equal and opposite reaction, well, the earth would have no natural stability.
So, maybe what we see happening, as repugnant as it is to think of someone like Trump leading that reaction, maybe it is what should NATURALLY occur.
Stopping it legally? Maybe we can.
But, I do not want Americans fighting in the streets killing each other over what has been, historically, an only partially successful form of government. American Democracy.
Just think about all the kids in Cambodia who have been blown up by our buried bombs over the last 60 years. Just that one statement gives you a picture of a big problem in America.
Many thanks for presenting a valuable viewpoint on all this. It matches a strange dream I had this morning: I was being chased and running and running full of fear. I finally turned around to see what/who was chasing me and it was a skinny man. I thought why am I running and tiring myself out for this? So I slowed down and turned around to face him (my fears). I felt very calm suddenly and the dream stopped. Whilst reading comments here this morning, like how scary the Manch-enemas are seemingly thwarting our voting rights, I felt that familiar fear rising again. Slithering past the side of my head like a large, furry snake hissing a deep, sneering sound that it is coming for me, again. I could feel it's stench too near me. That familiar anxiety of the past six years of fighting against the relentless fear of rising fascism and autocracy. It feeds off our fears. When I read Mike S.'s words just now, I felt the fear subside for a second time this morning.
We can either be deer frozen in the headlights of fear and depression, or we can choose to face our fears and use our good energy to do whatever we can from a place of being centered and knowing who really carries the Light and to use it well for the benefit of all, including this beautiful sphere we depend upon for Life. This community of thinkers, soul-searchers and activists use words and actions like Lightsabers (Star Wars fans...is that what they are called?). After taking much needed breaks, pull out your Lightsaber and use it in whatever way works for youтАФ but do it out of LOVE for what we want to create, not out of FEAR of repeating atrocities of the past (dark egos), or the much better Unknown, Yet to Be Created. The dark orange ones depend upon your fear to control you. When faced with these seemingly moronic, reversed-life entities...just look them in the eyes with pity, for they know not what they do ( or maybe their job is to help you see your new kind of power rise up?). Tap them with your Lightsaber. Oh, oh! And maybe as you knight them on both shoulders with your Light, say unto them, "Go out into the world and do unto others as you would have others do unto you!" And walk away and join your Light-giving friends in creating the new world waiting for us. It might be really fun--- and we certainly much higher senses of humor than the dark ones. Do they have any nighttime comedians or Saturday Night Live satirists? If the shadow dweller truly laughed, their faces might shatter into a thousand shards.
For the rest of us who feel compassion and empathy for All The People, it is hard to escape the labor pains of birthing something new and much better. There is a crack in everything. Each of US can shine our Lightsabers into the darkness. Just take turns to re-charge when necessary. We are in this for the long-haul, because deep change will be worth it. Maybe that is why we are all here at this time? To help one another mid-wife The Great Golden Rule Experiment in America? For All the People & the Planet this time?
Thanks, Mike, Ellie and Roland for some good inspiration this morning!
Penelope, dang (as they say down south), being chased by skinny man!
Not good!
I defintely don't recommend fear. About anything. It is not hard to train yourself not to ever feel fear. In fact, by the time I left my old farm I only ever felt (feel) either happy, or peeved.
Those are both healthy, action oriented emotions. Fear just paralyzes.
So, next time you start feeling intmidated either smile, or frown and get peeved.
Yes, I know peevishness! Much preferable to fear. But when I feel fear or hear about others, it does tend to tap into my inner angel in wanting to face things squarely and make things right. Fascists are really good at spreading fear and my friends of color, Jewish friends, the elderly and women friends are pretty frightenedтАФand for valid reasons. I think you understand that well. Today, I am feeling uplifted by my dream symbols, your words, our working justice system, and our collective powers to try to solve very old problems in new ways.
I vow to keep speaking quietly (with an occasional rant) and carry a big Lightsaber!
Mike, I agree. There should be no fighting. Democracy was never the unblemished prize that some think it was.
I feel like we've been holding an incredibly heavy box filled with supposedly "better things". Maybe it is time to put it down and let someone else play the game. Maybe they have "better things".
As the adage goes- everything happens for a reason.
Native "removal" (which actually means extermination).
Slavery (including horrors beyond belief that were legal).
Jim Crow
Segregation (formally by Federal "Red Lining")
Preventing some Americans from getting loans for housing.
Vietnam (where we invaded a country that was trying to free itself from Colonial rule and wantonly and with abandon killed innocent humans for 20 years).
Outsourcing, pushing many into poverty that were middle class.
Offshoring of America's manufacturing (now this bites in so many ways).
Afghanistan (where America killed innocent humans for 20 years for the simple goal of enriching military contractors).
Iraq (where America has killed innocent humans for 20 years for the simple goal of enriching military contractors.
btw: I am sure this list of limitations associated with "American Democracy" is very, very partial.
In this time, when everyone in the West is supposed to be upset by Russia's push for a "zone of interest", you might also remind of the US relationship to Latin America.
US investments in SE Asia outside China exceed those inside China. That is set to be a reason for the US to defend against any expansion of Chinese interest in the region. For the US investments in Indonesia, the murder of one million people was required; all that could possibly start labor unions or act for workers rights.
Now, Sweden, as the rest of the rich world is not innocent of anything of this, just by profiting and not actually doing things.
As I have written here before, I think fascism should be understood as 'surviving at the cost of others', and counted generations back, and globally. Industrialization and globalization have enabled a lot of us to survive without noticing at who's cost. One sign of fascism I think is 'to go with the winners', as was very much the luck of Sweden after WWII. Originally I think that belongs to women who can give birth, and is legitimate for the sake of new life. Not respected though if the winning side is changing, as we can see from the poor Norwegian and Danish women getting children with German soldiers after 1940.
I hope the split in the US, even if created by one minority side, does not obscure the fact that we are all survivors at the cost of others.
Nor am I counting on that. Your first post hinted that there might be room for a second thought, before the split becomes that between 'good' and 'evil' on both sides.
Mike, I don't disagree. Let them eat cake. They will anyway.
The fine point being, once they are in, they aren't leaving regardless of the will of the people.
Perhaps. However, I don't want to paint American Democracy as such a bright, shiny, untarnished penny that we get everyone in the streets to start killing each other over it.
If you add up all the people who have been "left behind" by "American Democracy" over its history, well, it is not clear to my data analytics trained brain, that dying for it makes sense.
I am not advocating for a Trump based dynasty mind you. What I am saying is what I learned in Phsysics: For every action, there an equal and opposite reaction.
WITHOUT that equal and opposite reaction, well, the earth would have no natural stability.
So, maybe what we see happening, as repugnant as it is to think of someone like Trump leading that reaction, maybe it is what should NATURALLY occur.
Stopping it legally? Maybe we can.
But, I do not want Americans fighting in the streets killing each other over what has been, historically, an only partially successful form of government. American Democracy.
Just think about all the kids in Cambodia who have been blown up by our buried bombs over the last 60 years. Just that one statement gives you a picture of a big problem in America.
Many thanks for presenting a valuable viewpoint on all this. It matches a strange dream I had this morning: I was being chased and running and running full of fear. I finally turned around to see what/who was chasing me and it was a skinny man. I thought why am I running and tiring myself out for this? So I slowed down and turned around to face him (my fears). I felt very calm suddenly and the dream stopped. Whilst reading comments here this morning, like how scary the Manch-enemas are seemingly thwarting our voting rights, I felt that familiar fear rising again. Slithering past the side of my head like a large, furry snake hissing a deep, sneering sound that it is coming for me, again. I could feel it's stench too near me. That familiar anxiety of the past six years of fighting against the relentless fear of rising fascism and autocracy. It feeds off our fears. When I read Mike S.'s words just now, I felt the fear subside for a second time this morning.
We can either be deer frozen in the headlights of fear and depression, or we can choose to face our fears and use our good energy to do whatever we can from a place of being centered and knowing who really carries the Light and to use it well for the benefit of all, including this beautiful sphere we depend upon for Life. This community of thinkers, soul-searchers and activists use words and actions like Lightsabers (Star Wars fans...is that what they are called?). After taking much needed breaks, pull out your Lightsaber and use it in whatever way works for youтАФ but do it out of LOVE for what we want to create, not out of FEAR of repeating atrocities of the past (dark egos), or the much better Unknown, Yet to Be Created. The dark orange ones depend upon your fear to control you. When faced with these seemingly moronic, reversed-life entities...just look them in the eyes with pity, for they know not what they do ( or maybe their job is to help you see your new kind of power rise up?). Tap them with your Lightsaber. Oh, oh! And maybe as you knight them on both shoulders with your Light, say unto them, "Go out into the world and do unto others as you would have others do unto you!" And walk away and join your Light-giving friends in creating the new world waiting for us. It might be really fun--- and we certainly much higher senses of humor than the dark ones. Do they have any nighttime comedians or Saturday Night Live satirists? If the shadow dweller truly laughed, their faces might shatter into a thousand shards.
For the rest of us who feel compassion and empathy for All The People, it is hard to escape the labor pains of birthing something new and much better. There is a crack in everything. Each of US can shine our Lightsabers into the darkness. Just take turns to re-charge when necessary. We are in this for the long-haul, because deep change will be worth it. Maybe that is why we are all here at this time? To help one another mid-wife The Great Golden Rule Experiment in America? For All the People & the Planet this time?
Thanks, Mike, Ellie and Roland for some good inspiration this morning!
Penelope, dang (as they say down south), being chased by skinny man!
Not good!
I defintely don't recommend fear. About anything. It is not hard to train yourself not to ever feel fear. In fact, by the time I left my old farm I only ever felt (feel) either happy, or peeved.
Those are both healthy, action oriented emotions. Fear just paralyzes.
So, next time you start feeling intmidated either smile, or frown and get peeved.
:-)
Yes, I know peevishness! Much preferable to fear. But when I feel fear or hear about others, it does tend to tap into my inner angel in wanting to face things squarely and make things right. Fascists are really good at spreading fear and my friends of color, Jewish friends, the elderly and women friends are pretty frightenedтАФand for valid reasons. I think you understand that well. Today, I am feeling uplifted by my dream symbols, your words, our working justice system, and our collective powers to try to solve very old problems in new ways.
I vow to keep speaking quietly (with an occasional rant) and carry a big Lightsaber!
Mike, I agree. There should be no fighting. Democracy was never the unblemished prize that some think it was.
I feel like we've been holding an incredibly heavy box filled with supposedly "better things". Maybe it is time to put it down and let someone else play the game. Maybe they have "better things".
As the adage goes- everything happens for a reason.
American Democracy has supported:
Native "removal" (which actually means extermination).
Slavery (including horrors beyond belief that were legal).
Jim Crow
Segregation (formally by Federal "Red Lining")
Preventing some Americans from getting loans for housing.
Vietnam (where we invaded a country that was trying to free itself from Colonial rule and wantonly and with abandon killed innocent humans for 20 years).
Outsourcing, pushing many into poverty that were middle class.
Offshoring of America's manufacturing (now this bites in so many ways).
Afghanistan (where America killed innocent humans for 20 years for the simple goal of enriching military contractors).
Iraq (where America has killed innocent humans for 20 years for the simple goal of enriching military contractors.
btw: I am sure this list of limitations associated with "American Democracy" is very, very partial.
Mike, you are spot on.
In this time, when everyone in the West is supposed to be upset by Russia's push for a "zone of interest", you might also remind of the US relationship to Latin America.
Olaf,
Yes, I forgot all the dictatorships we put in place when the people of Latin America VOTED for socialist policy leaders.
Yep, you are right. Thank you.
In fact, one of Ronnie's signature accomplishments was weapons sales to Iraq and money transfer to a bloodthirsty dictator in Latin America.
(Sweden)
US investments in SE Asia outside China exceed those inside China. That is set to be a reason for the US to defend against any expansion of Chinese interest in the region. For the US investments in Indonesia, the murder of one million people was required; all that could possibly start labor unions or act for workers rights.
Now, Sweden, as the rest of the rich world is not innocent of anything of this, just by profiting and not actually doing things.
As I have written here before, I think fascism should be understood as 'surviving at the cost of others', and counted generations back, and globally. Industrialization and globalization have enabled a lot of us to survive without noticing at who's cost. One sign of fascism I think is 'to go with the winners', as was very much the luck of Sweden after WWII. Originally I think that belongs to women who can give birth, and is legitimate for the sake of new life. Not respected though if the winning side is changing, as we can see from the poor Norwegian and Danish women getting children with German soldiers after 1940.
I hope the split in the US, even if created by one minority side, does not obscure the fact that we are all survivors at the cost of others.
Olaf,
"I hope the split in the US, even if created by one minority side, does not obscure the fact that we are all survivors at the cost of others."
I don't have any confidence that Republicans can do anything other than demonize anyone who is not like them.
So, empathy is something I am not counting on. Republicans have lost that capacity.
Nor am I counting on that. Your first post hinted that there might be room for a second thought, before the split becomes that between 'good' and 'evil' on both sides.