liveonearth | Entries tagged with government

Over the last few years I have been "othered" by a surprising number of Americans. I have been called names by right-leaning folks who have mistaken me for a leftist. They called me a statist, a snowflake, a libtard. The leftists call me names too, especially when I reveal my libertarian sympathies. According to them I'm a transphobe, homophobe, islamophobe. I'm a woman so I don't get called sexist, but I do get called honey and darlin'. I'm so tired of it all. If you think I'm on either of those two sides, you're wrong

I believe that as humans we all should have certain rights, human rights, the most basic of those being dignity. There is nothing dignified about name calling. Tribalism doesn't have to go this low.

I believe that by working together, the people of a nation can achieve great things. Working together means getting past our differences enough to team up and think about the common good. I believe in the basic Christian values I learned as a child, that we should help out those in need, that we should be kind to all, even those who've made mistakes, even those who are different from us. It appears to me that democracy depends on us sharing those beliefs, and that a certain selfish narcissism has overtaken our culture. People say me mine, not us ours.

I believe in peace over profits. Sure, war is profitable. I did regret selling my Haliburton stock years ago, but I couldn't stand to have it in my portfolio. I'd rather live in a time and place when I do not fear being shot just for showing up on the street. I'd rather live in a time and place where connection is more valued than conflict.

I don't get my way. I want my vote to count in a democracy, and because of where I live and the way this democracy is structured, my vote doesn't count. I am building a micro-culture with me and mine, a small world where people are kind to each other, where listening happens, where compromise is possible. It doesn't fix the problem with our government, but it helps keep me sane.

I do NOT stand with the loudmouths on either side of this culture war, especially not the fascists. We cannot let them remain in power. We must somehow reach the people who fear socialism and communism, because we are so far from those concerns it's not even funny. We the people must speak up for decency, for fairness. And we are, we will.

I am frustrated and agonized by the malfunction of our government, by the two-party paralysis, by the electoral college and all the devices by which my vote is removed from the count. I am aggravated that I do not live in a swing state, so I don't even get to see the sneaky pac ads that musk paid for. I am aggravated that humanity, even the richest of humans, seem to still be inadequately evolved to work together longterm. We are too easily misled, too easily fooled. I mourn for all that we have lost, and hope that the screaming can be stopped and reasonable, kind people will once again step up to assert that cooperation is the way, and drama and dominance make for a masculine wet dream but result in unhappiness and disaster.

You don't know me. I'm from Tennessee and I was born in the 1960's. I've been an independent as long as I've been politically aware, because it is clear to me that both of our dominant parties here in the United States of America have become corrupt. Both are overly influenced by big money, favors and whatnot. Political figures on both sides have found ways to work the system to stay in power and enrich themselves. Both parties have become more extreme because our voting systems including closed primaries cause that. The incentives in our system are all wrong. It might seem to be time to blow it up, to clear the slate in a dramatic way.

I would argue there's a right and wrong way to clear the slate. Blowing it up is the wrong way because so much useful stuff gets destroyed in the process. The right way would be to update our voting systems so that no one population gets to decide for all of us. Open primaries, non-partisan districting, and ranked choice voting would fix our problems immediately. The far left wouldn't be stuffing wokeness down our throats. The far right wouldn't be trying to set up an authoritarian who will rule without regard for the Constitution. We would have more options, instead of always having to choose between extremes that are both awful.

The beauty of the American system of government and its Constitution is that it was designed to keep any one faction from gaining absolute power. That saying about power corrupting, and absolute power corrupting absolutely--that's absolutely true. Our government was designed to keep anyone from having too much power. The plan is to force us to compromise for the good of the people. Compromise is hard work.

Our government is supposed to be OF the people and FOR the people. Not OF the academics, Christians, rich people, minorities, white people, men or any other single group. OF THE PEOPLE. FOR THE PEOPLE. This is why America is a beacon on a hill for people all around the world. A place where regular people have a chance. A place where you won't get killed because you look different or celebrate a different totem. THIS is the greatness of America. Our forefathers had a vision and we have carried it forward for over 200 years.

Democracies usually fail before 200 years. It's rare for a democracy to last as long as this one has. And it is riddled with imperfections. It needs work, a big update, a major overhaul. Those who pretend it's perfect are totally nuts. We made a lot of changes early, and the civil war forced us to make a bunch more changes. We're about to have to get busy again. If this democracy doesn't fail this November because too many people vote for a DICTATOR, we still have a lot of work to do. The Democrats aren't autocrats like DJT, but they aren't going to give up power easily either. WE THE PEOPLE must force the changes needed, and those changes will disempower BOTH of our dominant political parties and return the power TO THE PEOPLE. Ranked choice voting. Open Primaries. Non-partisan districts for voting.

Democracies require work! They don't work if the people aren't paying attention or doing the work. A failing democracy is not a reason to give up, it's a reason to get after it! If we let Trump win it's because we gave up, we were too lazy and too ignorant to make the updates needed to keep rulership in the hands of the people. Or return it there, really.

If we let our government fall prey to a dictator who ditches the Constitution, we will have lost all that we've fought and died for, for so long. We'll be right back where we started when those rich Brits and the king were bossing us around. Don't remember that? It's because it was 200+ years ago! History seems real boring until you start repeating it. The LAST thing we need is to let Trump destroy all the democratic systems in our government in order to glorify himself. It will take hundreds of years to dig ourselves back out of that pit. Autocracy is a very bad trap.

If we let the Dems take this next election, we might live to see the changes that would actually help! We'll be fighting against them too, but at least they aren't about to ditch the Constitution and ignore federal law to deport a whole bunch of people.

There are LOTS of other changes that we need to work on, but our voting systems must come first. I pray that NO DICTATOR gains power before we are able to hit the RESET button on our systems and keep working toward a more perfect union.

Fascism
should rightly be called
Corporatism,
as it is the merger
of corporate
and government power.
~Benito Mussolini

Even those too lazy to vote feel it their birthright to blast our elected representatives from every direction. We complain bitterly when we do not get all we want as if it were possible to have more services with lower taxes, broader health care coverage with no federal involvement, a cleaner environment without regulations, security from terrorists with no infringement on privacy, and cheaper consumer goods made locally by workers with higher wages. In short, we crave all the benefits of change without the costs. When we are disappointed, our response is to retreat into cynicism, then start thinking about whether there might be a quicker, easier, and less democratic way to satisfy our wants.

--Madeline Albright on page 116 of Fascism, A Warning. This quote comes on the heels of a section about globalism and about the manipulation of public opinion using the internet. The first part of this book was the best short history of Europe I have ever read--for once it made sense. Excellent read: recommend.

Crossposts: https://liveonearth.livejournal.com/1443138.html

If times were ever interesting, these are getting right up there. In America, the Executive Branch sent an attack mob to the Legislative Branch of our government. Marched them right down the avenue from the White House and up the Capitol steps. One week ago. That mob overwhelmed all barriers and invaded the Capitol through the windows, during a session. The building was under lockdown for hours, with our representatives hidden in a subterranean chamber. You can see the patriot invasion on youtube. According to potus his mob looked "low class". But then later he pronounced "we love you" to the same crew.

Then today the president is impeached for the second time. How interesting. Twice. May that be followed by a Senate trial and prompt Removal.

The inauguration is planned to be a "hard target" so attacks may divert to state capitols which are considered "soft". White supremacists have been booted to the backroads of the internet and are developing clandestine communications to sort out their next grand move. They would enjoy a chance to kick some ass; a race war would do nicely.

The Executive Branch has been subverting the Judicial Branch by filling benches with sympathetic judges, but it is still a very separate Branch of power. Lawyers and especially judges tend to be smart and willful and develop their own thinking rather than adopting half-baked ideology. They see the obvious bogusness of the Big Lie. The election wasn't stolen. Those Attorney Generals, all 17 of them that signed on to a Texas lawsuit trying to flip the election, they aren't stupid. They have been corrupted. They must be getting rich. Or have their nuts in a vise. Or both. Barr is probably still trying to get his nuts out.

Oh yeah and the pandemic. Isn't that interesting? What fascinates me the most is how utterly ignorant most people are about how the body works, and how a virus works, and why some people live and some die from the same virus. The TERRAIN matters, my friends. If your organs are sick, you can be weakened and susceptible without knowing it. Science is really cool, too, it explains so much.

Ignorance about our government and institutions is also prevalent. Broad ignorance is the terrain on which half-baked ideologies grow. The difference is education. But our schools have gotten as lazy as our Capitol defenses. Believing that America truly is the greatest nation on earth has led to complacency and then denial. What? No problems here, we say, but the world knows better. America was a great experiment in government, still is as of this moment.

There is the possibility that Trump will function like a vaccine. Just a tiny dose, well four long years. Maybe that will autocrat-proof America. Or maybe the booster shot will be worse. And on top of that there is the possibility that this Republic will fail. Trump tried to bring down this government and to date has failed.

Interesting, huh.

Voters overwhelmingly approved an update to the Irish constitution that removes a stiff penalty for blasphemy. Score one for freedom of speech and one for atheism!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/27/ireland-votes-to-oust-blasphemy-ban-from-constitution

Crossposts: https://liveonearth.livejournal.com/1449855.html

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.

—Joseph Goebbels

Source: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/joseph-goebbels-on-the-quot-big-lie-quot

Crossposts: https://liveonearth.livejournal.com/1447851.html

I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way against holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. That is the point at which the negation of Catholicism and the negation of Liberalism meet and keep high festival, and the end learns to justify the means.

--Baron Acton
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dalberg-Acton,_1st_Baron_Acton

Crossposts: https://liveonearth.livejournal.com/1444920.html

Trump is the first antidemocratic president in modern U.S. history. On too many days, beginning in the early hours, he flaunts his disdain for democratic institutions, the ideals of equality and social justice, civil discourse, civic virtues, and America itself. If transplanted to a country with fewer democratic safeguards, he would audition for dictator, because that is where his instincts lead. This frightening fact has consequences. The herd mentality is powerful in international affairs. Leaders around the globe observe, learn from, and mimic one another. They see where their peers are heading, what they can get away with, and how they can augment and perpetuate their power. The walk in one another's footsteps, as Hitler did with Mussolini--and today the herd is moving in a Fascist direction.
--Madeleine Albright in Fascism: A Warning, page 246 (in what I think is the final chapter).

Crossposts: https://liveonearth.livejournal.com/1444004.html

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby."
--Henry Louis Mencken in 'Notes On Journalism' in the Chicago Tribune (19 September 1926)

Crossposts: https://liveonearth.livejournal.com/1435759.html

Democracy is based on the belief that people are more good than bad, that we are more curious than controlling, more playful than violent, and more kind than selfish. I am not so sure anymore. If the ways of a democratic society are based on the common denominator, and humans at base are horny, greedy and cruel, then society will be the same.

I have come to suspect that we have not evolved to the point that our cognitive processes consistently overrule our animal instincts. The idea that we can base our choices on verifiable information appears damned. Civility is superficial and short-lived. Democracy fails in the face of the self-righteous greed of our kind. The solution of course would be a benevolent dictator, but the problem with those is that they are human too and the majority are not benevolent.

Please, America, prove me wrong.

Crossposts: https://liveonearth.livejournal.com/1434529.html

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

—Frederick Douglass

Crossposts: https://liveonearth.livejournal.com/1431442.html

"Do not take the Jews and Christians as allies"

I read this in a summary of an article by Lailatul Fitriyah in The Jakarta Post. He says "hard-line Muslims" are invoking a twisted interpretation of this verse to argue that true Muslims must not vote for a Christian governor.

Truth be known, American style freedoms only work if all religious people do NOT take the dictates of their religious books as literal requirements. What if all Christians did exactly what the Bible tells them to do? Nevermind the old testament, the new is just as full of horrors.

Islamism is what we call government within the Muslim religion. What do we call what we have, where religious people continually try to infiltrate government and government funded programs? Christianism?

Islam is not the problem, religion is.

There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.
—Isaac Asimov

He spoke at O'Connor's on June 27 for the FFRF. Overall what I learned from this retired polysci professor is that the framers of the US constitution intended to create a principle-based document that allows enough structure to prevent chaos, and enough freedom to allow evolution of our society and laws over time. He never said anything like that, it is purely my restatement of what I walked away with. Brudley is a good speaker and clearly has taught this subject matter in many different ways over the years. When faced with a mature atheist audience in liberal Portland, he was able to skim over a lot of topis that he belabors for undergraduates. One thing I liked about his speaking style (and will borrow): he said that questions for the purpose of clarification or elaboration are welcome during the presentation, all others had to wait until the end. This prevents diversions from the topic and keeps it all moving along.

He started out saying that the independent judiciary is detailed in Article 1, and that it was clearly a priority for the framers of the constitution. I also learned that Article 2 is the Executive article, and it is under this article that the constitution says that the president nominates supreme court justices and with the senates advice and consent these nominations can be confirmed. The president is instructed to choose based on fitness and qualifications, and not on nepotism or cronyism. The president is selected for this job because he is thought to be more insulated from the "passions and prejudices of the people".

Nowhere in the constitution does it say that the senate, or the people, should have any part in nominating judges. The Federalist Papers have an article by Hamilton that specifically says there shall be "no exertion of choice on the part of the Senate". Nowhere does it say that no SCOTUS judges may be nominated in the last year. To his knowledge our current VP Biden was the first to say that a lame duck president should not nominate--which was an easy gotcha for the Republicans. Brudney said that our system of checks and balances, and the separation of powers, is sometimes unproductive. You could say that. Stalemate potential is necessary in a principle-driven constitution that provides us with freedoms, and protects us from rash decisions by any branch of our government.

Reason Rally 2016: A Bloc Party that Counts

by Lyz Liddell

Executive Director

Reason Rally 2016

The latest polls show that the percentage of people who don’t care about a candidate's religion is increasing, and that “nones” are an ever-growing segment of the under-45 population — key voters! That’s great news for those who support separation of church and state, critical thinking, and just plain good sense. As the Pew Research report [http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/] states:

“Meanwhile, the number of religiously unaffiliated adults has increased by roughly 19 million since 2007. There are now approximately 56 million religiously unaffiliated adults in the U.S., and this group – sometimes called religious ‘nones’ – is more numerous than either Catholics or mainline Protestants, according to the new survey. Indeed, the unaffiliated are now second in size only to evangelical Protestants among major religious groups in the U.S.”

We all have the opportunity to celebrate our increasing numbers — and build our power as a voting bloc — by attending Reason Rally 2016, June 4, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. You’ll hear great speakers and entertainers — Carolyn Porco, Bill Nye, Julia Sweeney and more — as well as comedians, lots of music, and a good time for all.

It’s a Voting Bloc Party for those who believe that public policy should be made based on scientific evidence, not religious beliefs. It’s also an opportunity to take the message of science-driven public policy directly to your own members of Congress on the lobbying days that precede Reason Rally 2016. The focus of the lobbying will be sex education and the wasted money devoted to abstinence-only curricula that have been shown to be counter-productive. IN fact, abstinence-only sex ed correlates with increased teen pregnancy!

So check out the speakers, hotel and travel deals, and sign up to lobby at our website, reasonrally.org. Bring your friends, then go home and vote in every election, from school board to president. Let’s Speak Up for Reason! Let’s make the media and politicians court us as much as they court the religious right.

I'm not talking about the ignorant rebels who've been co-opted by corporate Republican interests and convinced to vote against their own best interests. I'm talking about those Tea Party thinkers who know that our government is run by and for big business (not "the people"), and would like to do something about it.

This is what I've been talking about. The possibility that the left wing and the right wing could reach around the back of the government bird and strangle the business creature that is riding on its back.

*first use of tag: Bernie

If you know what's good for you, if you know that they're leftists, you won't believe anything they say any time, anywhere, about anything … So we have now the Four Corners of Deceit, and the two universes in which we live. The Universe of Lies, the Universe of Reality, and The Four Corners of Deceit: Government, academia, science, and media. Those institutions are now corrupt and exist by virtue of deceit.

—Rush Limbaugh when discussing climate science

There are no gods, no devils,
no angels, no heaven or hell.
There is only our natural world.
Religion is but myth and superstition
that hardens hearts
and enslaves minds.

--Inscription planned for a monument
to be installed on Arkansas Capitol grounds,
if the state persists displaying
the 10 commandments.

I have been increasingly conscious, for the last 10 years or so, of deaths among my contemporaries. My generation is on the way out, and each death I have felt as an abruption, a tearing away of part of myself. There will be no one like us when we are gone, but then there is no one like anyone else, ever. When people die, they cannot be replaced. They leave holes that cannot be filled, for it is the fate — the genetic and neural fate — of every human being to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death.
--Oliver Sachs
(New York Times, Opinion, “Oliver Sacks on Learning He Has Terminal Cancer,” Feb. 19, 2015)

( This from the FFRF blog: )

*Created tags for reason and humanism.

SOURCE
http://ffrf.org/news/blog/item/23735-remembering-oliver-sacks

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INTERESTING TIMES

are better than no times at all.

Entries tagged with government

Which side do you think I'm on?

Dear Trump Voters

QotD: Corporatism

QotD: We (Americans) are Spoiled

Interesting Times

Blasphemy law removed from Ireland's constitution

QotD: Goebbels on Repetition

QotD: Power Corrupts

QotD: Albright on Trump

QotD: 50% of everybody is below average-->democracy fails

The Problem with Democracy: We are Horny, Greedy and Cruel

QotD: Power Concedes Nothing Without Demand

Quranic Verse: Take it Literally?

QotD: Isaac Asimov on One Unintended Consequence of Democracy

Kent Brudney on Constitutional directives for SCOTUS Judge Nomination and Confirmation

Reason Rally June 4 @ Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC

The Tea Party ought to be supporting Bernie

QotD: Rush Roots of the American Divide

QotD: No Devils, No Angels, No Heaven or Hell

In Memory of Oliver