the shadow knows

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
- VOLTAIRE
i do believe this quote by Voltaire.  It was proved to me in glaring detail when our nation decided to invade Iraq, but this is not why i use this quote today.  Today it relates to the upcoming elections and a chat i had this morning, while walking at dawn.

As the sun was rising we discussed the failings and attributes of those running for our local Governor.  Local politics are interesting because they are exactly like National politics just on a smaller scale.

Here in the islands we have the sitting Governor running for re-election against a man who was a previous Lieutenant Governor and commissioner of the Public Finance Authority.  Both representative groups are out blaming the other for gross misuse of public funds. 

The sitting governor has a security fence around his private home, built by the taxpayers that is enough of an injustice to cause some voters to vote for the other guy.  The ex commissioner had a hotel reconstructed under his watch that went millions and millions over budget that will also cause some voters to vote for the other guy.  Which misuse was graver is not discussed nor are the circumstances that led to the alleged squandering of public money by both sides.

Unfortunately these two issues, not what they both did during their careers, not how they changed things or kept things the same in government will be the deciding topics for why people will vote the way they do.

Today no one has time to really examine the politicians they vote for.  All political parties know this and capitalize upon the negative.  President Obama has been slimmed since before he took office, no one looks at his actual record.

Melee is known as a confused struggle.  Our political arena's are nothing more than confused struggles between groups of people that lack important information.

A lot of what goes on in our political discourse today and leading up to the elections next week is based upon blame.  Blame, that more often than not is irrational.

"Blaming is a way of devaluing others. The end result is that the blamer feels superior. Others are seen as less worthwhile making the blamer  "perfect". Off-loading blame means putting the other person down by emphasizing his or her flaws." (Snatched from Wikipedia)

Today in politics the blame game is the only game in town.  If you can make your constituents believe that your opponent engaged in some heinous activity you have captured their vote. 

It is as simple as that.  Blame the other guy for all the nations ills and you get back in, after engaging in two wars, wrecking the economy, and bailing out your buddies with TARP money. 

Demonize them, demonize liberals, demonize minorities, demonize Muslims, demonize immigrants, demonize LBGT people, demonize non-christians, blame them for all the nations ills.  Just don't look too closely at those you might put back in, don't ask them important questions, like who is paying them to represent them, or how are they buying their seat.

No longer do politicians take questions that they have to answer for.  They don't want to debate today...you might catch them out.  No longer do they have to prove that they can do the job.  All they have to do is insinuate that their opponent took something from you.  Make you feel abused and they have your vote.

We are a nation of uninformed voters.  Too many people go to the polls knowing nothing about who they will vote for.  So here are a few myth busters before you go to vote next week.

1) President Obama tripled the deficit.
NOT TRUE: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
  NOT TRUE: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.

3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
  NOT TRUE: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

4) The stimulus didn't work.
  NOT TRUE: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
  NOT TRUE: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
NOT TRUE: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
  NOT TRUE: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
  NOT TRUE: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.

The above is from the Campaign for American Future

As T.S. Elliot put it:
"Between the idea And the reality. Between the motion And the act. Falls the Shadow"

Investigate the shadow before you vote, become an informed voter and vote for your interests, not those who want to continue to offshore American jobs.

happiness is contentment

Contentment is seeing a pink flamingo on St. Croix when they haven't been seen in years and years.  i know this is a fuzzy picture but seeing this tall bird in our beautiful water is mind blowing to say the least.  Having never seen one outside of a zoo, the feeling of contentment was overpowering.  That bird was magnificent.

Throughout our lives there is the outside clamoring, ringing against our psyche, which asks the question “Are you happy?”

“Are you happy?”

This has been a philosophical dilemma for millennia. 

How do we define happiness and what constitutes being happy? 

i’ve always thought that loving yourself is the first step, loving all your faults and attributes, but hell, i don’t know the answer  to "Are you happy?" any more than any one else does.

And, i’m not going to write about happiness because it is an impossible subject, one where too many go to find unhappiness.

But i will talk about contentment.

The sea gives me a warm feeling of connectedness, makes me want to celebrate, enjoy myself, have fun out there, whoop it up and tell the world if they aren't in the water they are missing out.  The mountains do the same when i hike or ski or just enjoy.  Watching nature in any environment certainly fulfills my need to be contented and at peace with the world.  Having peaceful relations with family and friends is important too, and being honest with everyone is a good thing. 

So is being at peace happiness…or is it being contented, i don’t know?

The daily drama of our lives fluctuates so much between frustration and elation that i think any definition of happiness is lacking.  No one explanation suffices for all of us.  We all have our own definitions of happiness and what makes us happy.   

Here’s mine.

Happiness is so broadminded, so idealistic, that it defies definition.

Now being content is easier, it can mean living in the moment with your family, loving having lunch with a close friend, walking in the dark with your neighbors, enjoying a swim with all your buddies, connecting when you are in the grocery store line, doing the best you can at your job and accepting what you have.

A Jewish poet and philosopher born in Spain had this to say about contentment.

“Who seeks more than he needs, hinders himself from enjoying what he has. Seek what you need and give up what you need not. For in giving up what you don’t need, you’ll learn what you really do need.”  Solomon ibn Gabirol

different folks

i was in the grocery store this afternoon thinking about how we group everyone.  Today the Vitran buses had gone to pick up the elderly that don't have cars, so they could do their shopping.  When i entered the store and saw all the old people i thought to myself this would be a slow day at the check out stand.  This would be a slow day going down the aisles.  i had grouped all the elderly in the store and declared them slow in my head.

Many of us believe that we are open and accepting of others differences.    In fact, this is not the case at all.  All of us, no matter what our background automatically divide people into groups. Some do this in a more methodical manner, white, black, rich, poor, while others are more subtle in their approach, "yes there are haves and have nots."

All of us are drawn to associating with like minded people, putting ourselves in groups we think are beneficial to us.  If you have the same beliefs and life style, alternative points of view don't have to be explored; they can easily be discarded when traveling in those "tight circles" that reinforce a particular idea,way of life, or belief about a group of people.  We all have our "tight circles" no matter who we are.

When you go out of your comfort zone, out of that limited circle, to explore the possibilities, to explore the reality of a new way of doing things; thinking about life and relating to others can make your life much more satisfying.  If you take on a higher level of understanding and truth it will affect you, your family and your peers.

Today in the store i had to check myself,  i had work to do, personal work.  i had to tell myself that not all these elderly were slow, or without cars, or would make the check out wait longer. i had to tell myself that if i got rid of my initial annoyance the trip through the store would be more pleasurable.  i had to remind myself that many of these elderly had fascinating stories to tell.

Today in the news we are inundated with issues that divide us into groups.  Immigrants, welfare mothers, rich, poor, middle class, government workers, private workers, soldiers, republicans, democrats, i could go on and on but i think you get the picture.  Each and every one of these monikers conjures up an image that is used to divide us.

Each and every one of those above categories represent individual human beings that don't fit the negative  marquee.  They don't carry the negative baggage that each of those groups names may trigger for some when the label is attached.  Every one of those groups is made up of people who don't fit the narrative.

As a path, to break yourself of dividing us all into groups, instead of humans, you have to give up the fiction that you are always right, that what you think about these groups is accurate, even if you've studied the group.  None of us are 100% right, nor are we too old or too young to learn about something new that can help change the world.  Remember we all do it, each and every one of us groups humans, even if you say you don't, you do.

So today's message is that  grouping human beings hurts all of us when the categories conjure up negative connotations. 

You don't need the social support of your peers to break out, to doubt what you are being fed about groups of people, be they rich, poor,white, black, purple, welfare moms, republicans or democrats.  You don't need their support to stop grouping people.  You don't need anyone to approve of you relating to each and every person as a human being first.  You don't need anyone to approve of you practicing it every day as a path towards stopping yourself when you put anyone into a group that you view negatively.

So go on, take those first baby steps alone and place humans first, think about the human beings in that group first, before the group image takes over and ruins your brain.

We the People

Plato had a knack for thinking in such broad terms about government that it is still relevant today.

In The Guardian's Manner of Life, he writes, that the aim in founding the commonwealth was not to make any one class especially happy.

Today, we must remember, that also was the aim of the founding fathers when they declared independence from England.  Declaring Independence was not to make any one class of people happy but to form a union that would prevent that from happening.

Back then Plato said:
"We thought we should have the best chance of finding justice in a state so constituted where the aim was not to make any one class specially happy, but to secure the greatest possible happiness for the nation as a whole.  If we were to focus on a select few the Guardians we have chosen to represent us will bring the whole state to utter ruin" Plato

Today the focus on wealth  and what it can achieve through the use of political donations is creating a nation where the ordinary voter no longer has the ability to get his message out to the masses.   Our nation is heading towards ruin, we see it everyday with the focus on profits over people and the nation.

Today, think tanks financed by oil, insurance and pharmeceutical companies dominate all facets of our communication systems. They have carte blanche to disseminate their talking points and they do.  They send out endless bulk e-mails saying the same things over and over to instill unreasonable fear. They pay their lackies to spout out fear on the nations multi media channels.  They have been given free rein to spend as much money as they can on politicians that will do their bidding when elected.  Unfortunately, the uneducated masses fall right in line, voting against their best interests.

The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court allowed corporations to become people.  Allowed them the same rights as citizens.  Even going so far as to allow foreign corporations to donate to political groups through back door methods. No longer is our nation about representing the "voter or person" for the term person, now means corporation.  Corporations who have no one individual accountable and are considered "people," can give as much money as they want, anywhere they want with no limits.

What does this mean for our "democracy."  How can we call ourselves a nation of laws when those very laws have been manipulated to allow corporations to act as individuals?

As Plato stated...our nation was never about allowing one section of society to commandeer the reins of power for their own benefit; as he said, it will only create ruin.  Justice Stevens recognized this in his dissent when he stated:

"At bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics."

Our laws were established to represent "We the People" and i close with the preamble as a reminder of where this country is not going, for "We the People" are loosing our voice.

We the People  of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.