I refer you to Common Dreams. There is an excellent article titled, "Recognizing the Language of Tyranny" written by Chris Hedges. He writes a regular column for truthdig.com. Hedges graduated from Harvard University Divinity School and was, for nearly two decades, a foreign correspondent for The New York Times.
Well worth the time to read.
Cowboy Bob
February 7, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
“Trust, Like The Soul, Never Returns Once It Is Gone”
That our entire system of politics and government is seriously broken is beyond dispute. All one has to do is expend the minimal amount of effort required to dig just below the surface and it becomes glaringly apparent that it isn’t working for the benefit of the people. It only serves the elite.
Both major political parties dominate and control the national agenda of what gets through the legislative process. Attempts by fledgling third political parties to make inroads into the system continue to be futile. The power and affluence of the two major players in this business renders any serious challenge moot.
The major parties have become completely owned and controlled by the massive amounts of money flowing into their coffers. Any serious effort that might benefit the people is little more than an illusion. We blithely go through the charade of behaving like serious citizens but, more often than not, we end up casting our votes for what we want to believe rather than on reality. They tell us what they think we want to hear and what is likely to “play in Peoria. “ We are much too complacent to bother with checking out the veracity of their assertions. We have no idea what we are getting or what measures we need to take in order to ensure the most elementary and credible standards of conduct and morality. Their public persona and lofty speeches make us feel good but, at the end of the day, they usually give us what they think we deserve, not necessarily what we need.
What goes on behind closed doors and in secret meetings is what determines the outcome, and it very rarely serves anyone other than the vested interests that lace their pockets and finance their campaigns. It is a mockery to believe there is any real meaning to the ceremonial charade we go through. They go to the electorate every so many years and seek their votes in order to return to their seats of power, and pander to their real constituents; big money and raw power. Is it any wonder the result of all of this is a body of legislators and elected officials who see themselves in some divinely ordained position where they can summarily ignore the will of the people and write the rules to suit themselves? They determine and approve their own compensation packages, benefits packages and a whole host of other perks that trump anything they might legislate in favor of the public. All they lack are the imperial togas and the laurel leaves adorning their heads. There is a striking similarity between whores and politicians. Both are for sale, at a price, with no commitment.
Given that we are not terribly bothered by all this drivel when things are going well, we don’t really pay much attention to what they are doing in our name. However, when the bottom starts to fall out from under us, then we shift into denial mode, naively believing things will get better, then slide further into full panic mode.
When panic overtakes reason we look for quick and easy answers to our problems. It doesn’t take long before hoards of demagogues come crawling out from under the base boards, promising easy solutions to combat stark reality. That is what we got from the elections of 2008 and 2010. We only need to seriously view the latest group of representatives elected to Congress. If that isn’t proof positive of our abdication of social and political responsibility, I don’t know what is! How can any rational mind look at that pathetic bunch of intellectually challenged, selfish, and simple-minded examples of humanity, and believe they can solve the complex problems facing this nation today, not the least of which are the economy and the fractured bedrock issues that have supported and sustained us as a civilized society? Moreover, can they even comprehend what they face?
The ravages of who and what our government really holds in store for us is borne out by the shenanigans brought down on our heads by The Federal Reserve, Wall Street, multi-national corporations, the super rich, home mortgage lenders, the health care industry, the pharmaceutical industry, big energy, agribusiness, and all the other heavy hitters to whom we have sold the very soul of this country. The servitude of the House, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court and the Military-Industrial Complex to big money and power is no longer subtle. It is glaringly apparent as the taxpayers are fleeced at will, and bear the financial burden, economic ruin and social chaos created by rapacious greed and the complete absence of human decency.
Our current two-party system is well on the way to permanently ensuring a two-class society. Both appear to be working for the same outcome. The only things that can prevent this from happening are (1) massive campaign finance reform, (2) term limits, (3) restricting the role played by lobbyists and the interests they represent, and (4) the strength of our collective will and commitment to make it all happen. Is it possible? Yes. Is it probable? Not likely.
There used to be standards of conduct, standards of character, standards of honesty and integrity that we used for evaluating how those we elect to office served us. Issues such as lying, cheating, bribery, conflicts-of-interest, stealing, etc., that used to be abhorrent are now commonplace. There are no real or lasting consequences for resorting to whatever measures the traffic will bear in the pursuit of personal gain at the taxpayer’s expense. We accept those flaws as a necessary evil in the character of our elected representatives. We accept them at face value and a necessary part of the cost of making the democratic process work, such as it is. Standards of morality which used to be a mark of trust are now mocked. Just look around you.
Leadership, statesmanship and the repository of wisdom residing within the electorate was once the gold standard which guided this “democracy.” Now it is compromise, bi-partisanship, politics and massive ignorance that steers our ship of state, the blame for which rests squarely on our shoulders for allowing it to happen.
The merits of a free-market system, and the foundations upon which it is based, used to be respected and trusted by the people. Now? Unbridled greed and exploitation of the human condition are the order of the day; whatever the traffic will bear.
I regard the free-market system of today as an aggressive and unrelenting assault on human dignity. The last consideration in the business equation today is the “human” element. The “free-market system” of today is a fraud. Taken to the extreme it can only result in the total disintegration of a civil society. I fear we are approaching the end-point on the continuum. Three of the most glaring examples of what lubricates that philosophy today is to be found in the total lack of a meaningful social conscience by the oligarchs, the preeminence of carbon-based energy and the token concern regarding global warming. Like the parasite that cannot see that it is killing the host on which it feeds, if given free reign, they will destroy the human race. It is simply a question of time, and time is not on our side. Greed says it is folly; sanity says it is not. Greed is winning. When we reach the point of no return, as we surely will, there will be no turning back. The human mantra of “More, More, More,” will gradually fade into a deafening silence. The Crown Jewel of Creation will enter the throes of a slow, agonizing death. Perhaps not in our lifetime, but sometime in the future.
The arrogance of corporate power believes those who invest in ownership have the absolute right to determine the direction and destiny of business enterprises, free of government restraint or social conscience. They believe the proper role of government is that of the enabler rather than the regulator.
Now, I ask you, how have we grown and evolved over the past 30 plus years of the uninterrupted, unabated assault on the social, economic and moral fabric of this nation? Look at private education vs. public education. Look at what is being done to social safety nets and our common welfare during these difficult economic times vs. what is being done for massive wealth, big business and financial institutions. Look at those who serve in the military vs. the “patriotic service” rendered by those who benefit from wealth, power and privilege. Look at the focus on attacking social programs as a means for reducing the national debt vs. demanding that massive wealth pay their fair share in taxes. Corruption is the standard; destruction is the end-game.
To honestly believe that this country is a real democracy is, in my opinion, exceedingly naive. If we accept the definition that says it is “an egalitarian and tolerant society,” then the few periods of enlightenment in the history of this great nation have been rather fleeting at best. The darker side of our human nature has a way of curtailing any real and lasting progress. We are a nation where there is a constant test of will as to who will dominate and who will serve. It is never put to rest, but continues to ebb and flow over time. Great wealth seems to survive the ups and downs of the cycles. The plight of the common people is most susceptible to the long-term negative consequences of those fluctuations.
The world is too complex to rely on what we like to refer to as a “democratic republic.” That system no longer accrues to the benefit of all the people in a fair and just way. There will always be the “haves” and the “have-nots,” but demonizing of the latter by the former never solves the problem.
Investment may provide the resources for business to operate, but it is those who labor in their service that produce the goods and services that enables ownership to prosper. That should count for something. The model adopted by several European countries is much more rational. Both owners and workers share in governing the enterprise. In today’s world, that makes a whole lot of sense to me. It not only acknowledges the essential role played by each, but it dignifies their respective contributions as well.
There is no way we can sugar-coat the frailties inherent in our human nature. We are, basically, survivors with all the aggression and ambition that go with it. No government can effectively represent the interests of all the people without safeguards that will define and guarantee standards of conduct that cannot be compromised. We cannot have meaningful and effective public and social services without paying taxes. That is a fundamental responsibility of citizenship that is best shared by requiring those who have the most to pay the most. Effective regulation keeps us honest.
The parliamentary system of government is, in my opinion, the soundest and least complicated form of democracy in the world. It provides the shortest distance between the electors and the elected and, therefore, offers a greater degree of accountability and transparency. There are no “squatter’s rights,” in that system. They are privileged to serve only so long as they retain the confidence of those who put them in office.
There has to be a massive and concerted effort to purge the corrosive and corrupting influences within the government we have, and strive to restore it to the level of integrity and honesty that have stood the test of time. Is it going to be easy? Not a chance. However, if we don’t breathe new life into and resuscitate “equality and justice for all,” we are a lost cause. We must stop deluding ourselves into believing that what we see and hear is necessarily truth and in our best interests. We have to find that out for ourselves. We have a right to expect that those who represent us will be honest with us, and we, in turn, have an obligation to hold their feet to the fire. Moreover, the resources we give to them must be seen as a solemn public trust, rather than their personal slush fund.
If we don’t get serious about the vast disparity in the way wealth and privilege are treated by government vs. what they ask the average American to bear, the consequences may be catastrophic. The working people of this country can only be pressed to sacrifice and give so much before their pent-up frustration and anger explodes. We may live to see the day when the fires of rebellion against decades of economic and social oppression, akin to what we see in the Middle East, may come home to haunt us, as well. The challenges facing this country are monumental. We not only face the task of changing the system, but we have to address the flaws in our basic human values in order to restore health to this nation and the government that is there to serve us. I am not so sure we have the will or the time to make that happen.
We have to stop accepting anything on blind faith. We must re-learn the merits of determination, hard work and the ability to question, question, question. However, the most essential goal of all is to rebuild a value system that stands for the common good, and that will create and nurture a unifying bond between all of us. Genuine respect and loyalty are never bought, they must be earned. That can only be realized when I have confidence that what I see is what I get. If I am to believe you and trust you, you must convince me that the prize is worth the cost of entering the contest.
It is time for government to earn our respect and our trust, and work to keep it. The future looks progressively more uncertain and ominous. Confidence in government is tenuous.
“Trust, like the soul, never returns once it is gone.“
Cowboy Bob
February 6, 2011
Both major political parties dominate and control the national agenda of what gets through the legislative process. Attempts by fledgling third political parties to make inroads into the system continue to be futile. The power and affluence of the two major players in this business renders any serious challenge moot.
The major parties have become completely owned and controlled by the massive amounts of money flowing into their coffers. Any serious effort that might benefit the people is little more than an illusion. We blithely go through the charade of behaving like serious citizens but, more often than not, we end up casting our votes for what we want to believe rather than on reality. They tell us what they think we want to hear and what is likely to “play in Peoria. “ We are much too complacent to bother with checking out the veracity of their assertions. We have no idea what we are getting or what measures we need to take in order to ensure the most elementary and credible standards of conduct and morality. Their public persona and lofty speeches make us feel good but, at the end of the day, they usually give us what they think we deserve, not necessarily what we need.
What goes on behind closed doors and in secret meetings is what determines the outcome, and it very rarely serves anyone other than the vested interests that lace their pockets and finance their campaigns. It is a mockery to believe there is any real meaning to the ceremonial charade we go through. They go to the electorate every so many years and seek their votes in order to return to their seats of power, and pander to their real constituents; big money and raw power. Is it any wonder the result of all of this is a body of legislators and elected officials who see themselves in some divinely ordained position where they can summarily ignore the will of the people and write the rules to suit themselves? They determine and approve their own compensation packages, benefits packages and a whole host of other perks that trump anything they might legislate in favor of the public. All they lack are the imperial togas and the laurel leaves adorning their heads. There is a striking similarity between whores and politicians. Both are for sale, at a price, with no commitment.
Given that we are not terribly bothered by all this drivel when things are going well, we don’t really pay much attention to what they are doing in our name. However, when the bottom starts to fall out from under us, then we shift into denial mode, naively believing things will get better, then slide further into full panic mode.
When panic overtakes reason we look for quick and easy answers to our problems. It doesn’t take long before hoards of demagogues come crawling out from under the base boards, promising easy solutions to combat stark reality. That is what we got from the elections of 2008 and 2010. We only need to seriously view the latest group of representatives elected to Congress. If that isn’t proof positive of our abdication of social and political responsibility, I don’t know what is! How can any rational mind look at that pathetic bunch of intellectually challenged, selfish, and simple-minded examples of humanity, and believe they can solve the complex problems facing this nation today, not the least of which are the economy and the fractured bedrock issues that have supported and sustained us as a civilized society? Moreover, can they even comprehend what they face?
The ravages of who and what our government really holds in store for us is borne out by the shenanigans brought down on our heads by The Federal Reserve, Wall Street, multi-national corporations, the super rich, home mortgage lenders, the health care industry, the pharmaceutical industry, big energy, agribusiness, and all the other heavy hitters to whom we have sold the very soul of this country. The servitude of the House, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court and the Military-Industrial Complex to big money and power is no longer subtle. It is glaringly apparent as the taxpayers are fleeced at will, and bear the financial burden, economic ruin and social chaos created by rapacious greed and the complete absence of human decency.
Our current two-party system is well on the way to permanently ensuring a two-class society. Both appear to be working for the same outcome. The only things that can prevent this from happening are (1) massive campaign finance reform, (2) term limits, (3) restricting the role played by lobbyists and the interests they represent, and (4) the strength of our collective will and commitment to make it all happen. Is it possible? Yes. Is it probable? Not likely.
There used to be standards of conduct, standards of character, standards of honesty and integrity that we used for evaluating how those we elect to office served us. Issues such as lying, cheating, bribery, conflicts-of-interest, stealing, etc., that used to be abhorrent are now commonplace. There are no real or lasting consequences for resorting to whatever measures the traffic will bear in the pursuit of personal gain at the taxpayer’s expense. We accept those flaws as a necessary evil in the character of our elected representatives. We accept them at face value and a necessary part of the cost of making the democratic process work, such as it is. Standards of morality which used to be a mark of trust are now mocked. Just look around you.
Leadership, statesmanship and the repository of wisdom residing within the electorate was once the gold standard which guided this “democracy.” Now it is compromise, bi-partisanship, politics and massive ignorance that steers our ship of state, the blame for which rests squarely on our shoulders for allowing it to happen.
The merits of a free-market system, and the foundations upon which it is based, used to be respected and trusted by the people. Now? Unbridled greed and exploitation of the human condition are the order of the day; whatever the traffic will bear.
I regard the free-market system of today as an aggressive and unrelenting assault on human dignity. The last consideration in the business equation today is the “human” element. The “free-market system” of today is a fraud. Taken to the extreme it can only result in the total disintegration of a civil society. I fear we are approaching the end-point on the continuum. Three of the most glaring examples of what lubricates that philosophy today is to be found in the total lack of a meaningful social conscience by the oligarchs, the preeminence of carbon-based energy and the token concern regarding global warming. Like the parasite that cannot see that it is killing the host on which it feeds, if given free reign, they will destroy the human race. It is simply a question of time, and time is not on our side. Greed says it is folly; sanity says it is not. Greed is winning. When we reach the point of no return, as we surely will, there will be no turning back. The human mantra of “More, More, More,” will gradually fade into a deafening silence. The Crown Jewel of Creation will enter the throes of a slow, agonizing death. Perhaps not in our lifetime, but sometime in the future.
The arrogance of corporate power believes those who invest in ownership have the absolute right to determine the direction and destiny of business enterprises, free of government restraint or social conscience. They believe the proper role of government is that of the enabler rather than the regulator.
Now, I ask you, how have we grown and evolved over the past 30 plus years of the uninterrupted, unabated assault on the social, economic and moral fabric of this nation? Look at private education vs. public education. Look at what is being done to social safety nets and our common welfare during these difficult economic times vs. what is being done for massive wealth, big business and financial institutions. Look at those who serve in the military vs. the “patriotic service” rendered by those who benefit from wealth, power and privilege. Look at the focus on attacking social programs as a means for reducing the national debt vs. demanding that massive wealth pay their fair share in taxes. Corruption is the standard; destruction is the end-game.
To honestly believe that this country is a real democracy is, in my opinion, exceedingly naive. If we accept the definition that says it is “an egalitarian and tolerant society,” then the few periods of enlightenment in the history of this great nation have been rather fleeting at best. The darker side of our human nature has a way of curtailing any real and lasting progress. We are a nation where there is a constant test of will as to who will dominate and who will serve. It is never put to rest, but continues to ebb and flow over time. Great wealth seems to survive the ups and downs of the cycles. The plight of the common people is most susceptible to the long-term negative consequences of those fluctuations.
The world is too complex to rely on what we like to refer to as a “democratic republic.” That system no longer accrues to the benefit of all the people in a fair and just way. There will always be the “haves” and the “have-nots,” but demonizing of the latter by the former never solves the problem.
Investment may provide the resources for business to operate, but it is those who labor in their service that produce the goods and services that enables ownership to prosper. That should count for something. The model adopted by several European countries is much more rational. Both owners and workers share in governing the enterprise. In today’s world, that makes a whole lot of sense to me. It not only acknowledges the essential role played by each, but it dignifies their respective contributions as well.
There is no way we can sugar-coat the frailties inherent in our human nature. We are, basically, survivors with all the aggression and ambition that go with it. No government can effectively represent the interests of all the people without safeguards that will define and guarantee standards of conduct that cannot be compromised. We cannot have meaningful and effective public and social services without paying taxes. That is a fundamental responsibility of citizenship that is best shared by requiring those who have the most to pay the most. Effective regulation keeps us honest.
The parliamentary system of government is, in my opinion, the soundest and least complicated form of democracy in the world. It provides the shortest distance between the electors and the elected and, therefore, offers a greater degree of accountability and transparency. There are no “squatter’s rights,” in that system. They are privileged to serve only so long as they retain the confidence of those who put them in office.
There has to be a massive and concerted effort to purge the corrosive and corrupting influences within the government we have, and strive to restore it to the level of integrity and honesty that have stood the test of time. Is it going to be easy? Not a chance. However, if we don’t breathe new life into and resuscitate “equality and justice for all,” we are a lost cause. We must stop deluding ourselves into believing that what we see and hear is necessarily truth and in our best interests. We have to find that out for ourselves. We have a right to expect that those who represent us will be honest with us, and we, in turn, have an obligation to hold their feet to the fire. Moreover, the resources we give to them must be seen as a solemn public trust, rather than their personal slush fund.
If we don’t get serious about the vast disparity in the way wealth and privilege are treated by government vs. what they ask the average American to bear, the consequences may be catastrophic. The working people of this country can only be pressed to sacrifice and give so much before their pent-up frustration and anger explodes. We may live to see the day when the fires of rebellion against decades of economic and social oppression, akin to what we see in the Middle East, may come home to haunt us, as well. The challenges facing this country are monumental. We not only face the task of changing the system, but we have to address the flaws in our basic human values in order to restore health to this nation and the government that is there to serve us. I am not so sure we have the will or the time to make that happen.
We have to stop accepting anything on blind faith. We must re-learn the merits of determination, hard work and the ability to question, question, question. However, the most essential goal of all is to rebuild a value system that stands for the common good, and that will create and nurture a unifying bond between all of us. Genuine respect and loyalty are never bought, they must be earned. That can only be realized when I have confidence that what I see is what I get. If I am to believe you and trust you, you must convince me that the prize is worth the cost of entering the contest.
It is time for government to earn our respect and our trust, and work to keep it. The future looks progressively more uncertain and ominous. Confidence in government is tenuous.
“Trust, like the soul, never returns once it is gone.“
Cowboy Bob
February 6, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The Pseudo-State of the Pretend Union
I draw your attention to this particular blog post, "The Pseudo-State of the Pretend Union," by David Michael Green, Professor of Political Science at Hofstra University. He has one of the best political minds in the business. He has a great style of writing and gets right to the heart of the matter.
Pull up this latest blog post. You will be glad you did.
Cheers.
Cowboy Bob
February 1, 2011
Pull up this latest blog post. You will be glad you did.
Cheers.
Cowboy Bob
February 1, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
.... another gem saved from an earlier time.
“I believe that opening one’s self to another in trust requires greater courage than any act of purely physical valor, because we are risking what we judge to be most precious - our own ego. To make one’s self vulnerable is the highest form of compliment, for it is a statement of our greatest gift to another person - our trust in him.”
------ George Leonard
November 1985
Posted by: Cowboy Bob
January 22, 2011
sbphilosopher@gmail.com
------ George Leonard
November 1985
Posted by: Cowboy Bob
January 22, 2011
sbphilosopher@gmail.com
"The Evolving Relationship"
Like many people, I am a person who, over the course of my adult life, has tucked away bits of wisdom for periodic refreshers in the future. Unfortunately, those intentions are quickly forgotten as are those bits of wisdom. As I re-discover some of those treasures, I will share them with you.
Cowboy Bob
January 22, 2011
THE EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP
by
Jordan Paul, Ph.D and Margaret Paul, Ph.D
We are not born afraid to show our emotions. Babies freely express their feels of pain, joy, sexuality. Unafraid of rejection, we are born open to life, curious, eager to learn. We cry when unhappy, hurt or afraid. Later, when happy, we add laughter to our natural repertoire of behavior and still later, sexual feelings and curiosity are naturally expressed. We flowed from our instinctual, inner self and were one with that natural self -- our outer behavior and inner feelings were harmonious. We are not born afraid of being who we really are.
The more approval children get for their natural self the greater their self-esteem. It’s that kind of love which teaches faith and self-respect. We all need love if the potential in all areas of our personality is to flower. Only by meeting challenges can we grow, but when we are afraid of failure, disapproval, and rejection, we pull in, afraid to venture further and test ourselves out.
The messages we start receiving soon after birth, however, are that there is something wrong with us. Our cries often bring disapproval -- “Don’t cry” (accompanied with irritation, anger, hitting). “You’re too sensitive” (said with disgust). “You mean that hurt your feelings?” (said with derision). “You shouldn’t let things like that upset you.” (said with caring but an obvious message that there’s something wrong with you for feeling sad). “I’ll give you something to cry about.” (no comment necessary for that one). Expressions of intense, spontaneous, free-flowing joy and curiosity bring more disapproval - “Calm down,” “Control yourself,” “Don’t ask so many questions.” (all carrying the message that you’re wrong, bad, not right). Expressions of sexuality bring even more disapproval A great deal of our natural curiosity, openness, and sensitivity -- fear, sadness, frustration, joy, sexuality, sensuality -- is made wrong by those who are most important to us; our family.
How could we, as young children, have believed we were okay when the constant overt and covert beat of our parents’ message was, “You are not okay. You need to change who you really are and become what we think you should be and then you will be lovable.” Since children are very sensitive to parental rejection, disapproval hurts and is frightening. Needing our parents love and approval but not getting support for who we really are, we become protected with the hope of becoming lovable. We learn to hide our natural responses by either suppressing our feelings or getting angry.
As we grow up, our protections become so well engrained and automatic that, as adults, we are often unaware that we’re protected most of the time. We become so identified with our protected side we may believe that’s who we really are. When protections are lowered (for instance, when we fall in love, ingest certain chemicals, or go on vacation) the person we experience may not feel like our real self. Our natural self may have diminished to the point where it feels like a stranger.
We become approval seekers, afraid to be ourselves, believing that we’re not okay, forgetting our real identity, looking to others to tell us how to be. We absorb our parents’ beliefs that the universe is a dangerous, unfriendly place and therefore we must always be on guard, protected. We lose faith in ourselves, in the God within and without. Putting most of our energy into trying to be what we hope will be an okay, acceptable, lovable, worthwhile person; we lose touch with who we really are.
The poster in our office, which is almost everyone’s favorite, shows a very sad dog looking out a window saying, “I’ve tried so hard to be what I’m supposed to be that I forgot who I am.” Not a very pretty situation, is it? And we keep doing this generation after generation. Is there any wonder that we have such little faith in the inherent goodness of either ourselves or our children?
Jordan Paul and Margaret Paul, authors of the book Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You? are psychologists and are licensed Marriage
Cowboy Bob
January 22, 2011
THE EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP
by
Jordan Paul, Ph.D and Margaret Paul, Ph.D
We are not born afraid to show our emotions. Babies freely express their feels of pain, joy, sexuality. Unafraid of rejection, we are born open to life, curious, eager to learn. We cry when unhappy, hurt or afraid. Later, when happy, we add laughter to our natural repertoire of behavior and still later, sexual feelings and curiosity are naturally expressed. We flowed from our instinctual, inner self and were one with that natural self -- our outer behavior and inner feelings were harmonious. We are not born afraid of being who we really are.
The more approval children get for their natural self the greater their self-esteem. It’s that kind of love which teaches faith and self-respect. We all need love if the potential in all areas of our personality is to flower. Only by meeting challenges can we grow, but when we are afraid of failure, disapproval, and rejection, we pull in, afraid to venture further and test ourselves out.
The messages we start receiving soon after birth, however, are that there is something wrong with us. Our cries often bring disapproval -- “Don’t cry” (accompanied with irritation, anger, hitting). “You’re too sensitive” (said with disgust). “You mean that hurt your feelings?” (said with derision). “You shouldn’t let things like that upset you.” (said with caring but an obvious message that there’s something wrong with you for feeling sad). “I’ll give you something to cry about.” (no comment necessary for that one). Expressions of intense, spontaneous, free-flowing joy and curiosity bring more disapproval - “Calm down,” “Control yourself,” “Don’t ask so many questions.” (all carrying the message that you’re wrong, bad, not right). Expressions of sexuality bring even more disapproval A great deal of our natural curiosity, openness, and sensitivity -- fear, sadness, frustration, joy, sexuality, sensuality -- is made wrong by those who are most important to us; our family.
How could we, as young children, have believed we were okay when the constant overt and covert beat of our parents’ message was, “You are not okay. You need to change who you really are and become what we think you should be and then you will be lovable.” Since children are very sensitive to parental rejection, disapproval hurts and is frightening. Needing our parents love and approval but not getting support for who we really are, we become protected with the hope of becoming lovable. We learn to hide our natural responses by either suppressing our feelings or getting angry.
As we grow up, our protections become so well engrained and automatic that, as adults, we are often unaware that we’re protected most of the time. We become so identified with our protected side we may believe that’s who we really are. When protections are lowered (for instance, when we fall in love, ingest certain chemicals, or go on vacation) the person we experience may not feel like our real self. Our natural self may have diminished to the point where it feels like a stranger.
We become approval seekers, afraid to be ourselves, believing that we’re not okay, forgetting our real identity, looking to others to tell us how to be. We absorb our parents’ beliefs that the universe is a dangerous, unfriendly place and therefore we must always be on guard, protected. We lose faith in ourselves, in the God within and without. Putting most of our energy into trying to be what we hope will be an okay, acceptable, lovable, worthwhile person; we lose touch with who we really are.
The poster in our office, which is almost everyone’s favorite, shows a very sad dog looking out a window saying, “I’ve tried so hard to be what I’m supposed to be that I forgot who I am.” Not a very pretty situation, is it? And we keep doing this generation after generation. Is there any wonder that we have such little faith in the inherent goodness of either ourselves or our children?
Jordan Paul and Margaret Paul, authors of the book Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You? are psychologists and are licensed Marriage
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Great Source of Exceptional Insights
For sometime I have been subscribed to an outstanding source of information regarding the politics and government of this country. The guy's intellect and ability to write makes mine pale in comparison.
I highly recommend that you check out The Regressive Antidote (dmg@REGRESSIVEANTIDOTE.NET), written by David Michael Green, who is a Professor of Political Science at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York. He will help to keep you focused on what is happening. You will find him extremely interesting, provocative, funny and sardonic.
Good reading!
Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
January 20, 2011
I highly recommend that you check out The Regressive Antidote (dmg@REGRESSIVEANTIDOTE.NET), written by David Michael Green, who is a Professor of Political Science at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York. He will help to keep you focused on what is happening. You will find him extremely interesting, provocative, funny and sardonic.
Good reading!
Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
January 20, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
"Big Brother Is Watching; I Must Be Doing Something Right!"
To say that I am more than mildly irritated would be an understatement, the reasons for which will become apparent within the context of this epistle.
As most bloggers do, I have a monitoring service that tracks various interesting and relevant aspects of activity on my blog site. The information provided is innocuous but does provide valuable data relative to the distribution and interest in what I have written.
For sometime it has been common knowledge that Google has been providing surveillance services to the U.S. Government without informing or gaining the approval of their subscribers. My monitoring service has routinely shown that my blog is reviewed on a daily basis, without fail, by googlebot in Mountain View, California. Three days ago, I decided it would be the decent and kind thing to do to (a) make them aware of the fact that I was cognizant of their monitoring my blog for reasons unknown to me, but (b) I am sure the U.S. Government must be very pleased with their diligence in carrying out their surveillance activities. The next two days indicated a sudden absence of any such activity by googlebot. I must have hit a nerve somewhere within that vast organization.
Today, I opened the monitoring report from the service to which I subscribe. Rather than the customary few, I was greeted with 19 hits, from unknown sources, in the past two days with 134 pages of what I have, so far, published on my blog and which have been “viewed” by those same sources. I immediately concluded that I must have struck a nerve somewhere in the vast labyrinths of the murky world of intelligence. Why? Was it for the purpose of intimidation or something far more sinister? How am I to know?
Permit me to set the record straight. I have two serious concerns about where this country is headed. One is the broad base of complacency and sheer ignorance among the electorate of this country that enables those in positions of prominence who choose to exploit their trust for less than noble purposes. The other is the cadre of “politicos” and vested interests that have profited handsomely from that broad base of apathy and ignorance. It has not been just an opportunity for those who exploit it for ulterior motives; it has been a veritable gold mine that just keeps on giving to those who wish to profit.
On the outside chance the terrible tragedy in Tucson, Arizona may figure into this equation, let me make it abundantly clear that there is no place in this country for violence or the wholesale prostitution that enables violence to be done in our name. I would ask you, are tragedies such as mass murder and assassinations that are so much a part of the fabric of this nation the fault of the people? I think not. Once again, I have no doubts but that our ignorance and complacency help to make those acts of violence possible. But, that same ignorance and complacency has enabled the legions of politicians and the complicity of vested interests to profit handsomely from the massive amounts of money that have flowed into their coffers. The most prominent is the National Rifle Association, and other organizations and individuals of like mind, all for the avowed purpose of aborting any attempts at meaningful gun control, that would effectively reduce the threat posed by the indiscriminate proliferation of guns and other weapons of violence that are a constant threat to all peace-loving people. Why have they not been held to account for their blatant disregard for the safety of the citizens of this country they are sworn to uphold? Why in the world would any citizen of this country need a gun for any purpose other than game hunting and law enforcement? The smoke screen of guns for personal protection is more illusory than an established fact. Truth be known, most of those guns probably pose more of a threat to the owner than they do to the imagined criminal that is going to break into their homes with the intent of doing them bodily harm.
Why, I ask you, do we permit those on the lunatic fringe and those right, smack dab in the middle, to cow and intimidate us into believing that owning guns is a fundamental right and an absolute necessity? To the extent that perception exists in regard to the Second Amendment, as far as I am concerned, it could and should be changed. We are a long way away from the frontier that spawned that mind set. The world of today is far too dangerous, and modern weaponry is far too sophisticated, for us to hang onto the mistaken notion that by curtailing the ownership and latent power of those lethal instruments is somehow a violation of our civil rights. To that I would say, “Hogwash.” Thank God Dick Cheney only had a hunting rifle. I shudder to think what might have been the outcome if his weapon had a magazine which held 32 rounds of ammunition. The entire hunting party might have been leveled.
If we are ever to curtail the power of conspiracy theorists or other fringe elements, then there has to be absolute transparency in government. For far too long we have acquiesced to those who convince us it is, somehow, essential to our national security. I doubt the veracity of that statement. Rather, the excesses of the power of that privilege have done more to enable those who seek to exploit the people of this country than to protect them. The gun-control issue is but one. How about those who enable legislatures to make secret deals that are clearly contrary to the best interests of and the will of the people? How about those who vote for and support illegal wars that have virtually no relevance to any real threat to our standing as a world power?
I believe every healthy relationship ever known to mankind must, by definition, be a reciprocal relationship. People who profit from our society must give back to it in equal measure. That means opportunity and economic justice for all. To the extent that does not happen, then someone suffers. Right now, those suffering the most are those who have been most exploited by the very ones who should be concerned about them.
You cannot have a civilized society without paying your fair share of the taxes. You cannot have a modern, healthy democracy by reducing working people to the level of serfs. Eventually, it will come back to bite the “haves” on the ass to their individual and collective peril. My worst fear is that, because there is such a preponderance of weaponry in the hands of those at the bottom of the food chain, they will be pushed to the point of desperation. That, in turn, will lead them to take up their guns, go to the streets and take that which they have been denied the right to earn by honest means. That, folks is a fact of life and not the machinations of an insane mind. That is reality and simple, elementary logic.
We can never hope to have a healthy, viable society unless there is equal opportunity for all. That, by definition, supports the notion that we have an obligation, as a society, to protect ourselves from the frailties of our own human nature. We must ensure that there are regulations and oversight in place to accomplish that, with full accountability and transparency for those dependent upon and affected by those safeguards. Otherwise, we will all be held hostage to raw power in all its forms from which we, as a people and a nation, will continue to suffer.
Our society must rest on a solid base of all those virtues that have somehow fallen out of vogue by the narcissistic, hedonistic and materialistic pursuits that have dominated our national psyche for much too long. Call them what you will, but they are a measure of what we refer to as matters of “morality” or “character.” They are all around us and, if we will but look for them, they exist within most of us. Our very human decency depends on recognition of the fact that, ultimately, they must be the guiding principles by which we live.
For those of you in the United States and Canada who feel the need to monitor the works of people, such as me, who genuinely give a damn about our country and its people in their entirety, I would suggest you reign in your paranoia. You don’t have to sit in some darkened room in front of a computer monitoring my every word. I have nothing to hide and nothing about which I should feel a modicum of shame. Just send me your e-mail address and I will be more than happy to refer you to every blog I post from this point forward. That will eliminate the rather clandestine and sordid manner in which you feel you have to work in order to peruse my meager attempts at writing. Hopefully, you may find a few pearls of wisdom within those words that will provide you with a few insights into another perspective which you might find helpful. If that is the case, then all this will not have been in vain.
As of this writing, I have a deep and abiding concern about the manner in which those we elect to office have chosen to do the people’s business. Am I going to stop criticizing the mainstream political parties? No. Am I going to stop criticizing the institutions of government? No. Am I going to stop criticizing our government for the manner in which it chooses to operate? No. Am I going to stop criticizing those who profit from the compromises made on their behalf by our government officials? No. Am I going to stop criticizing a corporate news media that fails to serve as the real watchdog on government? No. To do otherwise would be an abdication of my principles of personal integrity and fair play. It would be an abdication of my responsibility as a citizen, and it would be an abdication of my duty as an American.
I have little confidence that the changes we need to make in order to repair the damage done to this democracy are going to be realized any time soon. For that reason, I still hold firmly to the belief that we need a new political party, the main thrust of which is to restore integrity to our government, the way it does business and the manner in which it relates to the people who support it. Only through a duly elected government that is spawned by that new political perspective and dedicated to the finest ideals for governing, can we hope to restore this country to the greatness it once was, and bring it back from the brink on which it currently stands.
Cowboy Bob
January 13, 2011
As most bloggers do, I have a monitoring service that tracks various interesting and relevant aspects of activity on my blog site. The information provided is innocuous but does provide valuable data relative to the distribution and interest in what I have written.
For sometime it has been common knowledge that Google has been providing surveillance services to the U.S. Government without informing or gaining the approval of their subscribers. My monitoring service has routinely shown that my blog is reviewed on a daily basis, without fail, by googlebot in Mountain View, California. Three days ago, I decided it would be the decent and kind thing to do to (a) make them aware of the fact that I was cognizant of their monitoring my blog for reasons unknown to me, but (b) I am sure the U.S. Government must be very pleased with their diligence in carrying out their surveillance activities. The next two days indicated a sudden absence of any such activity by googlebot. I must have hit a nerve somewhere within that vast organization.
Today, I opened the monitoring report from the service to which I subscribe. Rather than the customary few, I was greeted with 19 hits, from unknown sources, in the past two days with 134 pages of what I have, so far, published on my blog and which have been “viewed” by those same sources. I immediately concluded that I must have struck a nerve somewhere in the vast labyrinths of the murky world of intelligence. Why? Was it for the purpose of intimidation or something far more sinister? How am I to know?
Permit me to set the record straight. I have two serious concerns about where this country is headed. One is the broad base of complacency and sheer ignorance among the electorate of this country that enables those in positions of prominence who choose to exploit their trust for less than noble purposes. The other is the cadre of “politicos” and vested interests that have profited handsomely from that broad base of apathy and ignorance. It has not been just an opportunity for those who exploit it for ulterior motives; it has been a veritable gold mine that just keeps on giving to those who wish to profit.
On the outside chance the terrible tragedy in Tucson, Arizona may figure into this equation, let me make it abundantly clear that there is no place in this country for violence or the wholesale prostitution that enables violence to be done in our name. I would ask you, are tragedies such as mass murder and assassinations that are so much a part of the fabric of this nation the fault of the people? I think not. Once again, I have no doubts but that our ignorance and complacency help to make those acts of violence possible. But, that same ignorance and complacency has enabled the legions of politicians and the complicity of vested interests to profit handsomely from the massive amounts of money that have flowed into their coffers. The most prominent is the National Rifle Association, and other organizations and individuals of like mind, all for the avowed purpose of aborting any attempts at meaningful gun control, that would effectively reduce the threat posed by the indiscriminate proliferation of guns and other weapons of violence that are a constant threat to all peace-loving people. Why have they not been held to account for their blatant disregard for the safety of the citizens of this country they are sworn to uphold? Why in the world would any citizen of this country need a gun for any purpose other than game hunting and law enforcement? The smoke screen of guns for personal protection is more illusory than an established fact. Truth be known, most of those guns probably pose more of a threat to the owner than they do to the imagined criminal that is going to break into their homes with the intent of doing them bodily harm.
Why, I ask you, do we permit those on the lunatic fringe and those right, smack dab in the middle, to cow and intimidate us into believing that owning guns is a fundamental right and an absolute necessity? To the extent that perception exists in regard to the Second Amendment, as far as I am concerned, it could and should be changed. We are a long way away from the frontier that spawned that mind set. The world of today is far too dangerous, and modern weaponry is far too sophisticated, for us to hang onto the mistaken notion that by curtailing the ownership and latent power of those lethal instruments is somehow a violation of our civil rights. To that I would say, “Hogwash.” Thank God Dick Cheney only had a hunting rifle. I shudder to think what might have been the outcome if his weapon had a magazine which held 32 rounds of ammunition. The entire hunting party might have been leveled.
If we are ever to curtail the power of conspiracy theorists or other fringe elements, then there has to be absolute transparency in government. For far too long we have acquiesced to those who convince us it is, somehow, essential to our national security. I doubt the veracity of that statement. Rather, the excesses of the power of that privilege have done more to enable those who seek to exploit the people of this country than to protect them. The gun-control issue is but one. How about those who enable legislatures to make secret deals that are clearly contrary to the best interests of and the will of the people? How about those who vote for and support illegal wars that have virtually no relevance to any real threat to our standing as a world power?
I believe every healthy relationship ever known to mankind must, by definition, be a reciprocal relationship. People who profit from our society must give back to it in equal measure. That means opportunity and economic justice for all. To the extent that does not happen, then someone suffers. Right now, those suffering the most are those who have been most exploited by the very ones who should be concerned about them.
You cannot have a civilized society without paying your fair share of the taxes. You cannot have a modern, healthy democracy by reducing working people to the level of serfs. Eventually, it will come back to bite the “haves” on the ass to their individual and collective peril. My worst fear is that, because there is such a preponderance of weaponry in the hands of those at the bottom of the food chain, they will be pushed to the point of desperation. That, in turn, will lead them to take up their guns, go to the streets and take that which they have been denied the right to earn by honest means. That, folks is a fact of life and not the machinations of an insane mind. That is reality and simple, elementary logic.
We can never hope to have a healthy, viable society unless there is equal opportunity for all. That, by definition, supports the notion that we have an obligation, as a society, to protect ourselves from the frailties of our own human nature. We must ensure that there are regulations and oversight in place to accomplish that, with full accountability and transparency for those dependent upon and affected by those safeguards. Otherwise, we will all be held hostage to raw power in all its forms from which we, as a people and a nation, will continue to suffer.
Our society must rest on a solid base of all those virtues that have somehow fallen out of vogue by the narcissistic, hedonistic and materialistic pursuits that have dominated our national psyche for much too long. Call them what you will, but they are a measure of what we refer to as matters of “morality” or “character.” They are all around us and, if we will but look for them, they exist within most of us. Our very human decency depends on recognition of the fact that, ultimately, they must be the guiding principles by which we live.
For those of you in the United States and Canada who feel the need to monitor the works of people, such as me, who genuinely give a damn about our country and its people in their entirety, I would suggest you reign in your paranoia. You don’t have to sit in some darkened room in front of a computer monitoring my every word. I have nothing to hide and nothing about which I should feel a modicum of shame. Just send me your e-mail address and I will be more than happy to refer you to every blog I post from this point forward. That will eliminate the rather clandestine and sordid manner in which you feel you have to work in order to peruse my meager attempts at writing. Hopefully, you may find a few pearls of wisdom within those words that will provide you with a few insights into another perspective which you might find helpful. If that is the case, then all this will not have been in vain.
As of this writing, I have a deep and abiding concern about the manner in which those we elect to office have chosen to do the people’s business. Am I going to stop criticizing the mainstream political parties? No. Am I going to stop criticizing the institutions of government? No. Am I going to stop criticizing our government for the manner in which it chooses to operate? No. Am I going to stop criticizing those who profit from the compromises made on their behalf by our government officials? No. Am I going to stop criticizing a corporate news media that fails to serve as the real watchdog on government? No. To do otherwise would be an abdication of my principles of personal integrity and fair play. It would be an abdication of my responsibility as a citizen, and it would be an abdication of my duty as an American.
I have little confidence that the changes we need to make in order to repair the damage done to this democracy are going to be realized any time soon. For that reason, I still hold firmly to the belief that we need a new political party, the main thrust of which is to restore integrity to our government, the way it does business and the manner in which it relates to the people who support it. Only through a duly elected government that is spawned by that new political perspective and dedicated to the finest ideals for governing, can we hope to restore this country to the greatness it once was, and bring it back from the brink on which it currently stands.
Cowboy Bob
January 13, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
"It's More Than Just The Appearance Of Impropriety"
I have to confess that I, among millions of others, was totally mesmerized by Barack Obama during his quest for and election to the Presidency in 2008. I have to; also, confess that it did not take long for the disparity between his words and his actions to become an issue of growing concern to me. At this juncture, like so many others, I am totally disillusioned with the man euphemistically referred to as “Mr. President.” As I reflect on his record during the past two years, the only consistency I can find in his behavior is the glaring dichotomy between his posturing in public and his real persona behind closed doors with the power brokers in our economic and social systems. He is repeating that which he has so often gotten away with in all the current round of appointments to his White House Staff.
Despite the persistent need for many Progressives to view this man through rose-colored glasses, in reality he is no friend of Democrats or the American people. He is the classic caricature of an “Insider,” in every respect. He is far too cozy with some of the most sullied and evil people in the history of the Republic. They are the ones who have co-opted the entire Federal Government by doing the bidding for the oligarchs, the plutocrats, big business and the military/industrial complex.
It has become difficult, but I have come to the conclusion that his rise to power was brilliantly planned and orchestrated by some of the darkest and most powerful forces in our society. He is as ruthless and calculating as anyone who has ever sat in the White House. One only has to look at the cadre of carry-overs from the Clinton Administration and his steadfast and unwavering support of them. Every significant piece of legislation that was, ostensibly, created to serve the Middle Class and the working people of this country, in the end, has only served to further the interests of the super-rich, Wall Street and the elitists in our society. His penchant for “bi-partisanship” is nothing more than a ruse for carrying on the mission of the oligarchs, plutocrats and multi-national corporations.
The complacency among the citizens of this country is so complete that he doesn’t even bother to acknowledge that there may be some valid questions regarding his judgment and the integrity of those he is gathering around him. That, folks, is an indictment of us, not of him.
Permit me to pass on to you a few insights into the major players with whom he has surrounded himself:
GENE SPERLING:
a. Currently serving as a Counselor to TIMOTHY GEITHNER, Secretary of
The Treasury.
b. During the Clinton Administration, Deputy Director of the National
Economic Council while the Council was directed by ROBERT RUBIN,
later to become Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton
Administration.
c. Became National Economic Advisor to President Clinton in 1996.
d. Principal negotiator with then Secretary of the Treasury, LAWRENCE
SUMMERS of the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, also known as
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, that repealed large portions of the
Depression era Glass-Stegall Act which allowed banks, security
firms and insurance companies to merge.
WILLIAM MICHAEL DALEY:
a. Associated with the Amalgamated Bank of Chicago, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank One Corporation in Chicago.
b. In 1993 served as special counsel to the President on issues
relating to the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA).
c. In 1997, Secretary of Commerce in the administration of President
Bill Clinton.
d. Served on the advisory board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.
e. Enthusiastically supported by JP Morgan Chairman Jamie Dimon, the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Third Way and Karl Rove.
f. Was an outspoken critic of Health Care Reform, Financial Regulation
and The Consumer Protection Agency.
LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS:
a. Director of the White House National Economic Council for President
Barack Obama.
b. Staff of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Reagan.
c. Served as economic advisor to Michael Dukakis in 1988.
d. Chief Economist for the World Bank 1991-1993.
e. Undersecretary for International Affairs in the Clinton
Administration.
f. Served in the United States Treasury during the Clinton
Administration, and was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1999,
succeeding ROBERT RUBIN.
g. Leading voice in the Clinton Administration against greenhouse gas
reductions and against U.S. participation in the Kyoto Protocol.
h. Acting on the advice of Kenneth Lay, Summers urged Governor Davis to
relax California’s environmental standards in order to reassure the markets.
i. In 1999, hailed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which lifted more than
six decades of restrictions against banks offering commercial
banking, insurance and investment services (by repealing key
provisions in the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act).
j. As a member of President Clinton’s Working Group on Financial
Markets, Summers, along with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) Chairman Arthur Levitt, Fed Chairman Greenspan and
Secretary Rubin, torpedoed an effort to regulate the derivatives
that many blame for bringing the financial market down in the Fall
of 2008.
TIMOTHY FRANZ GEITHNER:
a. Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998
-2001) under Treasury Secretaries ROBERT RUBIN and LAWRENCE
SUMMERS in the Clinton Administration.
b. In 1993 named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
c. Instrumental in the rescue and sale of Bear-Stearns in 2008, and the
subsequent bailouts that followed at the end of the Bush
Administration and the beginning of the Obama Administration.
d. Currently serving as the Secretary of the Treasury under President
Obama.
Early in my career as an executive, I was advised by a young and highly principled attorney that if one is to maintain his character, he must not just avoid anything that would lead to self-serving compromise, but one must judiciously avoid anything that might have the “appearance” of compromise. That is a piece of advice I never forgot, and which I believe to be as poignant today as it was then. Sadly, to use a popular cliché, “we have moved on,” and no longer seem to place much stock in that bit of wisdom. We think nothing of committing infractions against the principles that define our character. We are the poorer for it.
If the characters I have profiled above don’t meet the test of “appearance,’ then I would ask, “What does?“ Moreover, I don’t think it is a stretch to say that their histories rise to the level of outright collusion, compromise and conflicts of interest.
I still hold out faint hope that we can somehow rescue ourselves from the dismal future staring us in the face. However, only by revisiting those principles and standards of character that once guided us in the conduct of our personal, business and public lives can we begin to turn the tide on our looming national demise. But, I don’t think we can find the rubrics upon which to build a better government among the remnants of our major political parties or within the halls of government as they currently exist. That can only come about through a new political party, dedicated to honesty and integrity in our system of government and those who serve us, and that doesn‘t shy away from perseverance and hard work.
We need a real leader that will embody the courage, decency, honesty, and integrity this nation is crying out for, with a cadre of dedicated people to make it happen, from the grass roots all the way to the top. Once those few are identified, then comes the question as to whether they want to take on such a Herculean task and the many personal sacrifices it will require. That is the stuff of heroes.
We have a few gutsy people in public service, some of whom might fit the bill. There are others out in the hinterland who might, also, be viable. That quest is probably better left to younger and better minds. The entrenched old dogs cannot be trusted with such an arduous and noble endeavor. They blew the opportunity a long, long time ago.
Whoever dares to flirt with such a venture must, of necessity, reflect on what it means to be a person of integrity sufficient to transcend being just a politician and a member in good standing with the “Old Boys Club.” His/her aspirations must ascend to a higher level that is characteristic of statesmanship and, yes, that of a real leader.
Before we go anywhere, we need to accept that we, as members of the human race, are inherently flawed. If we are to be guided by our better angels, then we must be mindful of our proclivity to fall from time to time, and not tolerate or rationalize those human frailties that mitigate against our aspirations to be good and decent people in every aspect of our lives. Self-discipline is the first canon of that endeavor. Character is lost when we deny our own foibles. It is regained when we acknowledge our imperfections and set ourselves to the task of righting the wrongs of the past.
Barry’s mantra of “Change We Can Believe In,” rings rather hollow against the backdrop of the social and economic wasteland started by Reagan and continuing unabated up to and including the incumbent resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Somehow, the credo that “Vice Is Nice, But Incest Is Best,” seems more befitting of that unholy alliance.
At the end of the day, as was once so aptly stated by some prominent mind, the name of which escapes me, says it all. “The evil that men do shall proffer so long as good men do nothing.” It is up to the collective “us” to change the direction of this country for the benefit of everyone and not just the select few who have ordained themselves the elite and privileged over the masses among us. A two-class society just isn’t in keeping with our American traditions.
If we remain complacent, quivering like a bunch of dogs passing peach seeds, the bad guys will win and we will lose. Do we really want to go down that road? I don’t think so.
Cowboy Bob
January 8, 2011
Despite the persistent need for many Progressives to view this man through rose-colored glasses, in reality he is no friend of Democrats or the American people. He is the classic caricature of an “Insider,” in every respect. He is far too cozy with some of the most sullied and evil people in the history of the Republic. They are the ones who have co-opted the entire Federal Government by doing the bidding for the oligarchs, the plutocrats, big business and the military/industrial complex.
It has become difficult, but I have come to the conclusion that his rise to power was brilliantly planned and orchestrated by some of the darkest and most powerful forces in our society. He is as ruthless and calculating as anyone who has ever sat in the White House. One only has to look at the cadre of carry-overs from the Clinton Administration and his steadfast and unwavering support of them. Every significant piece of legislation that was, ostensibly, created to serve the Middle Class and the working people of this country, in the end, has only served to further the interests of the super-rich, Wall Street and the elitists in our society. His penchant for “bi-partisanship” is nothing more than a ruse for carrying on the mission of the oligarchs, plutocrats and multi-national corporations.
The complacency among the citizens of this country is so complete that he doesn’t even bother to acknowledge that there may be some valid questions regarding his judgment and the integrity of those he is gathering around him. That, folks, is an indictment of us, not of him.
Permit me to pass on to you a few insights into the major players with whom he has surrounded himself:
GENE SPERLING:
a. Currently serving as a Counselor to TIMOTHY GEITHNER, Secretary of
The Treasury.
b. During the Clinton Administration, Deputy Director of the National
Economic Council while the Council was directed by ROBERT RUBIN,
later to become Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton
Administration.
c. Became National Economic Advisor to President Clinton in 1996.
d. Principal negotiator with then Secretary of the Treasury, LAWRENCE
SUMMERS of the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, also known as
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, that repealed large portions of the
Depression era Glass-Stegall Act which allowed banks, security
firms and insurance companies to merge.
WILLIAM MICHAEL DALEY:
a. Associated with the Amalgamated Bank of Chicago, J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank One Corporation in Chicago.
b. In 1993 served as special counsel to the President on issues
relating to the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA).
c. In 1997, Secretary of Commerce in the administration of President
Bill Clinton.
d. Served on the advisory board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.
e. Enthusiastically supported by JP Morgan Chairman Jamie Dimon, the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Third Way and Karl Rove.
f. Was an outspoken critic of Health Care Reform, Financial Regulation
and The Consumer Protection Agency.
LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS:
a. Director of the White House National Economic Council for President
Barack Obama.
b. Staff of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Reagan.
c. Served as economic advisor to Michael Dukakis in 1988.
d. Chief Economist for the World Bank 1991-1993.
e. Undersecretary for International Affairs in the Clinton
Administration.
f. Served in the United States Treasury during the Clinton
Administration, and was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1999,
succeeding ROBERT RUBIN.
g. Leading voice in the Clinton Administration against greenhouse gas
reductions and against U.S. participation in the Kyoto Protocol.
h. Acting on the advice of Kenneth Lay, Summers urged Governor Davis to
relax California’s environmental standards in order to reassure the markets.
i. In 1999, hailed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which lifted more than
six decades of restrictions against banks offering commercial
banking, insurance and investment services (by repealing key
provisions in the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act).
j. As a member of President Clinton’s Working Group on Financial
Markets, Summers, along with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) Chairman Arthur Levitt, Fed Chairman Greenspan and
Secretary Rubin, torpedoed an effort to regulate the derivatives
that many blame for bringing the financial market down in the Fall
of 2008.
TIMOTHY FRANZ GEITHNER:
a. Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998
-2001) under Treasury Secretaries ROBERT RUBIN and LAWRENCE
SUMMERS in the Clinton Administration.
b. In 1993 named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
c. Instrumental in the rescue and sale of Bear-Stearns in 2008, and the
subsequent bailouts that followed at the end of the Bush
Administration and the beginning of the Obama Administration.
d. Currently serving as the Secretary of the Treasury under President
Obama.
Early in my career as an executive, I was advised by a young and highly principled attorney that if one is to maintain his character, he must not just avoid anything that would lead to self-serving compromise, but one must judiciously avoid anything that might have the “appearance” of compromise. That is a piece of advice I never forgot, and which I believe to be as poignant today as it was then. Sadly, to use a popular cliché, “we have moved on,” and no longer seem to place much stock in that bit of wisdom. We think nothing of committing infractions against the principles that define our character. We are the poorer for it.
If the characters I have profiled above don’t meet the test of “appearance,’ then I would ask, “What does?“ Moreover, I don’t think it is a stretch to say that their histories rise to the level of outright collusion, compromise and conflicts of interest.
I still hold out faint hope that we can somehow rescue ourselves from the dismal future staring us in the face. However, only by revisiting those principles and standards of character that once guided us in the conduct of our personal, business and public lives can we begin to turn the tide on our looming national demise. But, I don’t think we can find the rubrics upon which to build a better government among the remnants of our major political parties or within the halls of government as they currently exist. That can only come about through a new political party, dedicated to honesty and integrity in our system of government and those who serve us, and that doesn‘t shy away from perseverance and hard work.
We need a real leader that will embody the courage, decency, honesty, and integrity this nation is crying out for, with a cadre of dedicated people to make it happen, from the grass roots all the way to the top. Once those few are identified, then comes the question as to whether they want to take on such a Herculean task and the many personal sacrifices it will require. That is the stuff of heroes.
We have a few gutsy people in public service, some of whom might fit the bill. There are others out in the hinterland who might, also, be viable. That quest is probably better left to younger and better minds. The entrenched old dogs cannot be trusted with such an arduous and noble endeavor. They blew the opportunity a long, long time ago.
Whoever dares to flirt with such a venture must, of necessity, reflect on what it means to be a person of integrity sufficient to transcend being just a politician and a member in good standing with the “Old Boys Club.” His/her aspirations must ascend to a higher level that is characteristic of statesmanship and, yes, that of a real leader.
Before we go anywhere, we need to accept that we, as members of the human race, are inherently flawed. If we are to be guided by our better angels, then we must be mindful of our proclivity to fall from time to time, and not tolerate or rationalize those human frailties that mitigate against our aspirations to be good and decent people in every aspect of our lives. Self-discipline is the first canon of that endeavor. Character is lost when we deny our own foibles. It is regained when we acknowledge our imperfections and set ourselves to the task of righting the wrongs of the past.
Barry’s mantra of “Change We Can Believe In,” rings rather hollow against the backdrop of the social and economic wasteland started by Reagan and continuing unabated up to and including the incumbent resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Somehow, the credo that “Vice Is Nice, But Incest Is Best,” seems more befitting of that unholy alliance.
At the end of the day, as was once so aptly stated by some prominent mind, the name of which escapes me, says it all. “The evil that men do shall proffer so long as good men do nothing.” It is up to the collective “us” to change the direction of this country for the benefit of everyone and not just the select few who have ordained themselves the elite and privileged over the masses among us. A two-class society just isn’t in keeping with our American traditions.
If we remain complacent, quivering like a bunch of dogs passing peach seeds, the bad guys will win and we will lose. Do we really want to go down that road? I don’t think so.
Cowboy Bob
January 8, 2011
Friday, December 10, 2010
Does Anyone Believe The "Blitz" Is Good?
Don't you just love it?
The maggots for the oligarchs, in the personages of Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2 and Obama are coming out in droves to devour what remains of the national corpse, all the while trying to convince us that they are there to restore life to the dead!
Is any rational person actually going to fall for this? They have long ago established themselves as consummate frauds, all belonging to the same club that is destroying this country. How much more are we, the people, going to take from this bunch of marauding thieves?
When was Bill Clinton elevated to sainthood and Obama beatified, and by whose authority?
Time for a new, independent, credible political party.
Cowboy Bob
December 10, 2010
The maggots for the oligarchs, in the personages of Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2 and Obama are coming out in droves to devour what remains of the national corpse, all the while trying to convince us that they are there to restore life to the dead!
Is any rational person actually going to fall for this? They have long ago established themselves as consummate frauds, all belonging to the same club that is destroying this country. How much more are we, the people, going to take from this bunch of marauding thieves?
When was Bill Clinton elevated to sainthood and Obama beatified, and by whose authority?
Time for a new, independent, credible political party.
Cowboy Bob
December 10, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
“Old Glory Is Flying Upside Down On The Ship Of State”
I cannot think of an image that more typifies the state of the leadership of this country than that of Nero playing his violin while Rome burns. It really is that absurd. We are going from bad to worse at meteoric speed, and nothing serious is being done to avert the impending disaster.
Let’s face it. We have no leadership. We have not seen leadership in this country for a very long time, but we have been skillfully manipulated for decades. Sadly, it still continues. The President has done absolutely nothing to neither restore confidence in leadership from the White House nor inspire integrity in government. He has exploited our trust and confidence by pandering to the worst among us. What, I ask you, has he done to make this country better for all of us? He has been adamant about bringing in some of the most compromised and highly suspect losers from previous administrations (most notably that of Bill Clinton) and the most sinister corporate interests among us. For example, we still have Ben Bernanke at the helm of the Federal Reserve, freely manipulating our financial system much like the Wizard of Oz behind his curtain in the Emerald City. He is no longer credible. Timothy Geithner still remains as Secretary of the Treasury, despite his rather clouded past and suspect motives, with no solid base of confidence in his abilities or intentions, yet still held out by the Administration as a paragon of expertise and virtue in the world of finance.
I am now firmly convinced that absolutely nothing has or will be done in Washington for the people of this country. It just isn’t going to happen if we remain on course. The constituency of our elected officials is, without exaggeration, the world of vested interests that, by definition, are the adversaries of those who simply want to live and work in an honest and healthy society, governed by honest and able servants of the people.
Why do we insist on according deference to those who tenaciously continue to undermine the best interests of the people? I thought respect was to be earned, not conferred. What have they done to earn our respect? Not much from my perspective.
We have no dearth of knowledge, talent and intelligence to serve this country. It is all around us and, once in a while, we get a glimpse of that treasure when we are privy to a few minutes of their knowledge and talents on what passes for news programs. But, where are they in the halls of government to guide us toward a better future. They are not asked to contribute. Why? Because government doesn’t want them there. They don’t want them to complicate the pursuit or mirror the massive corruption that is all around them. Without them, the people end up the beneficiaries of a puppet show, masterfully orchestrated by the oligarchs, plutocrats and corporate barons who own every aspect of a government founded for the welfare of the people.
What did we get for a Financial Reform Bill? Who wrote it? Where were those great minds in the world of economics and finance to guide those deliberations toward a more solid, honest and enduring financial system for us all? They weren’t asked to be there. The few who tried were marginalized and told, “Thanks but no thanks.” It was business as usual, with the fox guarding the hen house.
What did we get for a national health system? Who wrote it? No one was asked to sit at the table behind closed doors to look out for our interests. “Barry” just did what he always does -- he took care of his real constituency and it sure as hell wasn’t the common folk among us, was it?
How can anyone remotely entertain the notion that there is one modicum of integrity, character and commitment to anything having to do with government and its relationship to those who put them in office? All they seek from us is our vote, and there is no limit to the methods of deception and the amount of money they will spend to get it. When the polls close, they pack up their tent and steal away to continue their plundering of the country, unbridled, for another two, four or six years. And, we the people are left with nothing.
Those who serve in the halls of government do not operate from a base of what is right, but what is expeditious and of most benefit to those who own them. It has been said that our government works on compromise. Compromise, by definition, works toward a standard, not of excellence, but of mediocrity. Bi-partisanship is compromise taken to the lowest level of acceptability to the greatest number. It accomplishes little of real substance and inspires no one. Compromise in government is analogous to what a whore does for money. They do only what they have to do for the money, and that money comes from the bottomless reservoir of power and greed that feeds our national system of governance. To think otherwise is self-delusional to the extreme.
To invite politicians, present and former, to serve on commissions and advisory groups to the government is cronyism at its worst. To ask those who are likely to be affected by the outcome to participate in framing regulations is not only a blatant conflict of interest; it is stacking the deck in their favor. No one in my lifetime has been more determined and tenacious in that regard than Barack Obama. He should know better and he should be held to a higher standard, both for what he has done and what he has not done in the public interest.
As for the watchdog function of the Fourth Estate, that evaporated a long time ago. They feed us only what the hand that feeds them wants us to know, and they skillfully shape our perceptions and appetites for the bounty of that table. And, of course, we demand nothing more. We simply accept what they have to offer. Thank God for those few brave investigative journalists who won’t give up and the medium of the Internet to facilitate their endeavors.
We have some real leaders among us, but I rather suspect that those of real character simply don’t want to venture into a world where the compromises they might be asked to make would induce an immediate need to vomit. Or, perhaps, it would place the safety of their families in jeopardy, or they simply see no real hope of changing things for the better. I respect those feelings. But it is only real leadership, based on sound character and a sense of what is right and just that is going to pull us out of this mess.
So, where does all this leave us?
I have an abiding respect for the great minds among us who may feel they cannot compromise their intellectual integrity by being actively engaged in the world of politics. However, when there is no respect for knowledge and expertise within government, where are we, the people, to look? We are in a national crisis of major proportions. I do not think the great seats of learning and the academicians who reside there can properly withhold the precious knowledge and wisdom that only they possess, that may well weigh heavily on vital issues confronting this country.
The one shining light in government is, in my opinion, Elizabeth Warren. She is the personification of Joan of Arc when it comes to her courage and determination to right the egregious wrongs of the financial industries. But, how long can she hold out as the sole warrior fighting that battle? I have no confidence that she has any solid guarantee against having been marked for a limited life in the Executive Branch. After all, Timothy Geithner has made no bones about not wanting her there, and he is her boss, duly anointed by the incumbent resident in the White House. Given his track record for standing firm on his commitments, does anyone care to make book on her prospects for a long and successful future?
Every branch of government is broken. The two-party system exists in name only. Washington is awash in money and bribery on a scale never before imagined in our history. It is so powerful and so pervasive that we see faint hope of reining it in in the service of the people. We have come to accept it by default. As a consequence, we have abdicated our solemn responsibility to ensure “a government of the people, for the people and by the people.” Instead we have demagogues of every ilk taking over government. Those same demagogues offer us no insights or knowledge as to how we might constructively address the challenges we face. Rather, we get trite and simplistic solutions to very complex and complicated issues, something they are neither inclined nor capable of providing. Motive and conduct have trumped knowledge and enlightenment. Politics are pre-eminent over purpose.
There is a better way, but if government doesn’t value the great minds among us, then how can we call on them to help guide us through this sinister and perilous maze of confusion? Where can Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Simon Johnson, Joseph Stiglitz, Peter Morici, James Galbraith, William Black, Nouriel Roubini, Brooksley Born and all those of like mind and stature find a safe refuge in a haven where they can engage in the discourse and analysis of the great issues facing us? There have to be ways of providing for a solid foundation upon which we can build a renewed optimism that things can, indeed, get better?
Our Nation’s Capitol is replete with think tanks created for every conceivable purpose under the sun. Most of them serve various special interests or constituents that have agendas of their own.
Has not the time come for us to tap into the greatest pool of knowledge and talent among us in order to solve the myriad critical problems facing us, and to change the course of this country? I can think of no better place to seek that help than from those who occupy positions of academic stature and prominence in our nation’s universities and colleges.
Permit me to offer a suggestion.
Might it not be helpful for us consider the creation of a national organization (think tank) for the expressed purpose of calling on the best intellectual and academic minds among us to proffer solutions to the most pressing issues of our day. The final product of any such endeavor would be for the sole purpose of providing an assessment and solutions for the benefit of the people of this country, and beholden to no authority except that of this organization and the disciplines they serve. It would have no relationship to or act on behalf of any other organization, the United States Government or any agency thereof.
1. The institute would be a nonprofit organization devoted exclusively
to the study and resolution of major issues impinging on the ability
of this country to resolve matters in the best interests of its citizens.
2. The organization would be established to ensure freedom of its deliberations
from any outside interests that might seek to influence the outcome of those
deliberations.
3. A paid staff would provide the management and logistical support to
those engaged in the business of the organization.
4. Financial support would be provided by grants from private foundations and
trusts. No government, corporate or private funds would be accepted. The goals
would be to ensure absolute objectivity in all work done by and for the institute.
5. The institute would bring together the expertise culled from the various
universities and colleges specific to issues that are in keeping with their
academic pursuits. Only those having academic appointments, as their primary
vocation, would be eligible to serve on study committees. Those having ties to
other interests would, naturally, have to declare those affiliations at the outset
as a means of determining and ensuring that no bias or conflicts of interest
exists. Every effort would have to be made to ensure complete objectivity and
integrity applied to the outcome of any issue or issues under study.
6. The end result of their deliberations would be the publication of position
papers available for public consumption, and not the property of any specific
entity outside that of the institute.
a. Economists would focus on economic policies and issues, such
as the structure and regulation of the various financial
interests that impinge on the interests and health of society.
b. Trade specialists would focus on trade policies and issues.
c. Tax experts would focus on tax policies and issues.
d. Legal experts would focus on legal issues affecting the
broader society. For example, the recent ruling by the
Supreme Court on Citizens United.
e. Other interests that may have a profound and lasting affect
on society, (not necessarily in rank order of priority) such
as:
1) Deficit reduction and a healthy economy.
2) Immigration
3) Government regulation
4) Environmental issues
5) Health care policies and programs.
6) Defense policies.
7) Government procurement policies and procedures.
8) Economic stimulus goals and programs.
9) Etc.
I believe such an approach would enable society to have the benefit of the best minds, knowledge and expertise available to serve the public interest, free of influence from government, special interests and private money.
It would be a legitimate and open avenue for overcoming the shroud of mystery commonplace in government bodies. It would remove the means that enable them to serve their own interests and those who fund their ambitions, at the expense of those they are elected to serve.
Such an organization would be able to restore the “watchdog” function over government envisioned by the Founding Fathers, but which has been supplanted by the interests of corporate news media.
Above all, it would establish a standard of objectivity based on knowledge that is sorely lacking in our political milieu today. Now, more than ever, the body politic and our country need the means to cut through all the deceptive practices that only seek to confuse us and cloud the issues. In the final analysis, it would introduce a level of transparency to Washington that is, at best, murky. It would bring a level of expertise to the deliberations within the halls of government that is sorely lacking. And, most of all, it would bring a new level of objectivity to the business of this country. The time has surely come.
The very survival of this country depends on the active participation of the finest minds among us. They are our best and brightest hope for addressing and solving the ominous problems we face today.
Old Glory is flying upside down on the Ship of State.
Cowboy Bob
December 5, 2010
Let’s face it. We have no leadership. We have not seen leadership in this country for a very long time, but we have been skillfully manipulated for decades. Sadly, it still continues. The President has done absolutely nothing to neither restore confidence in leadership from the White House nor inspire integrity in government. He has exploited our trust and confidence by pandering to the worst among us. What, I ask you, has he done to make this country better for all of us? He has been adamant about bringing in some of the most compromised and highly suspect losers from previous administrations (most notably that of Bill Clinton) and the most sinister corporate interests among us. For example, we still have Ben Bernanke at the helm of the Federal Reserve, freely manipulating our financial system much like the Wizard of Oz behind his curtain in the Emerald City. He is no longer credible. Timothy Geithner still remains as Secretary of the Treasury, despite his rather clouded past and suspect motives, with no solid base of confidence in his abilities or intentions, yet still held out by the Administration as a paragon of expertise and virtue in the world of finance.
I am now firmly convinced that absolutely nothing has or will be done in Washington for the people of this country. It just isn’t going to happen if we remain on course. The constituency of our elected officials is, without exaggeration, the world of vested interests that, by definition, are the adversaries of those who simply want to live and work in an honest and healthy society, governed by honest and able servants of the people.
Why do we insist on according deference to those who tenaciously continue to undermine the best interests of the people? I thought respect was to be earned, not conferred. What have they done to earn our respect? Not much from my perspective.
We have no dearth of knowledge, talent and intelligence to serve this country. It is all around us and, once in a while, we get a glimpse of that treasure when we are privy to a few minutes of their knowledge and talents on what passes for news programs. But, where are they in the halls of government to guide us toward a better future. They are not asked to contribute. Why? Because government doesn’t want them there. They don’t want them to complicate the pursuit or mirror the massive corruption that is all around them. Without them, the people end up the beneficiaries of a puppet show, masterfully orchestrated by the oligarchs, plutocrats and corporate barons who own every aspect of a government founded for the welfare of the people.
What did we get for a Financial Reform Bill? Who wrote it? Where were those great minds in the world of economics and finance to guide those deliberations toward a more solid, honest and enduring financial system for us all? They weren’t asked to be there. The few who tried were marginalized and told, “Thanks but no thanks.” It was business as usual, with the fox guarding the hen house.
What did we get for a national health system? Who wrote it? No one was asked to sit at the table behind closed doors to look out for our interests. “Barry” just did what he always does -- he took care of his real constituency and it sure as hell wasn’t the common folk among us, was it?
How can anyone remotely entertain the notion that there is one modicum of integrity, character and commitment to anything having to do with government and its relationship to those who put them in office? All they seek from us is our vote, and there is no limit to the methods of deception and the amount of money they will spend to get it. When the polls close, they pack up their tent and steal away to continue their plundering of the country, unbridled, for another two, four or six years. And, we the people are left with nothing.
Those who serve in the halls of government do not operate from a base of what is right, but what is expeditious and of most benefit to those who own them. It has been said that our government works on compromise. Compromise, by definition, works toward a standard, not of excellence, but of mediocrity. Bi-partisanship is compromise taken to the lowest level of acceptability to the greatest number. It accomplishes little of real substance and inspires no one. Compromise in government is analogous to what a whore does for money. They do only what they have to do for the money, and that money comes from the bottomless reservoir of power and greed that feeds our national system of governance. To think otherwise is self-delusional to the extreme.
To invite politicians, present and former, to serve on commissions and advisory groups to the government is cronyism at its worst. To ask those who are likely to be affected by the outcome to participate in framing regulations is not only a blatant conflict of interest; it is stacking the deck in their favor. No one in my lifetime has been more determined and tenacious in that regard than Barack Obama. He should know better and he should be held to a higher standard, both for what he has done and what he has not done in the public interest.
As for the watchdog function of the Fourth Estate, that evaporated a long time ago. They feed us only what the hand that feeds them wants us to know, and they skillfully shape our perceptions and appetites for the bounty of that table. And, of course, we demand nothing more. We simply accept what they have to offer. Thank God for those few brave investigative journalists who won’t give up and the medium of the Internet to facilitate their endeavors.
We have some real leaders among us, but I rather suspect that those of real character simply don’t want to venture into a world where the compromises they might be asked to make would induce an immediate need to vomit. Or, perhaps, it would place the safety of their families in jeopardy, or they simply see no real hope of changing things for the better. I respect those feelings. But it is only real leadership, based on sound character and a sense of what is right and just that is going to pull us out of this mess.
So, where does all this leave us?
I have an abiding respect for the great minds among us who may feel they cannot compromise their intellectual integrity by being actively engaged in the world of politics. However, when there is no respect for knowledge and expertise within government, where are we, the people, to look? We are in a national crisis of major proportions. I do not think the great seats of learning and the academicians who reside there can properly withhold the precious knowledge and wisdom that only they possess, that may well weigh heavily on vital issues confronting this country.
The one shining light in government is, in my opinion, Elizabeth Warren. She is the personification of Joan of Arc when it comes to her courage and determination to right the egregious wrongs of the financial industries. But, how long can she hold out as the sole warrior fighting that battle? I have no confidence that she has any solid guarantee against having been marked for a limited life in the Executive Branch. After all, Timothy Geithner has made no bones about not wanting her there, and he is her boss, duly anointed by the incumbent resident in the White House. Given his track record for standing firm on his commitments, does anyone care to make book on her prospects for a long and successful future?
Every branch of government is broken. The two-party system exists in name only. Washington is awash in money and bribery on a scale never before imagined in our history. It is so powerful and so pervasive that we see faint hope of reining it in in the service of the people. We have come to accept it by default. As a consequence, we have abdicated our solemn responsibility to ensure “a government of the people, for the people and by the people.” Instead we have demagogues of every ilk taking over government. Those same demagogues offer us no insights or knowledge as to how we might constructively address the challenges we face. Rather, we get trite and simplistic solutions to very complex and complicated issues, something they are neither inclined nor capable of providing. Motive and conduct have trumped knowledge and enlightenment. Politics are pre-eminent over purpose.
There is a better way, but if government doesn’t value the great minds among us, then how can we call on them to help guide us through this sinister and perilous maze of confusion? Where can Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Simon Johnson, Joseph Stiglitz, Peter Morici, James Galbraith, William Black, Nouriel Roubini, Brooksley Born and all those of like mind and stature find a safe refuge in a haven where they can engage in the discourse and analysis of the great issues facing us? There have to be ways of providing for a solid foundation upon which we can build a renewed optimism that things can, indeed, get better?
Our Nation’s Capitol is replete with think tanks created for every conceivable purpose under the sun. Most of them serve various special interests or constituents that have agendas of their own.
Has not the time come for us to tap into the greatest pool of knowledge and talent among us in order to solve the myriad critical problems facing us, and to change the course of this country? I can think of no better place to seek that help than from those who occupy positions of academic stature and prominence in our nation’s universities and colleges.
Permit me to offer a suggestion.
Might it not be helpful for us consider the creation of a national organization (think tank) for the expressed purpose of calling on the best intellectual and academic minds among us to proffer solutions to the most pressing issues of our day. The final product of any such endeavor would be for the sole purpose of providing an assessment and solutions for the benefit of the people of this country, and beholden to no authority except that of this organization and the disciplines they serve. It would have no relationship to or act on behalf of any other organization, the United States Government or any agency thereof.
1. The institute would be a nonprofit organization devoted exclusively
to the study and resolution of major issues impinging on the ability
of this country to resolve matters in the best interests of its citizens.
2. The organization would be established to ensure freedom of its deliberations
from any outside interests that might seek to influence the outcome of those
deliberations.
3. A paid staff would provide the management and logistical support to
those engaged in the business of the organization.
4. Financial support would be provided by grants from private foundations and
trusts. No government, corporate or private funds would be accepted. The goals
would be to ensure absolute objectivity in all work done by and for the institute.
5. The institute would bring together the expertise culled from the various
universities and colleges specific to issues that are in keeping with their
academic pursuits. Only those having academic appointments, as their primary
vocation, would be eligible to serve on study committees. Those having ties to
other interests would, naturally, have to declare those affiliations at the outset
as a means of determining and ensuring that no bias or conflicts of interest
exists. Every effort would have to be made to ensure complete objectivity and
integrity applied to the outcome of any issue or issues under study.
6. The end result of their deliberations would be the publication of position
papers available for public consumption, and not the property of any specific
entity outside that of the institute.
a. Economists would focus on economic policies and issues, such
as the structure and regulation of the various financial
interests that impinge on the interests and health of society.
b. Trade specialists would focus on trade policies and issues.
c. Tax experts would focus on tax policies and issues.
d. Legal experts would focus on legal issues affecting the
broader society. For example, the recent ruling by the
Supreme Court on Citizens United.
e. Other interests that may have a profound and lasting affect
on society, (not necessarily in rank order of priority) such
as:
1) Deficit reduction and a healthy economy.
2) Immigration
3) Government regulation
4) Environmental issues
5) Health care policies and programs.
6) Defense policies.
7) Government procurement policies and procedures.
8) Economic stimulus goals and programs.
9) Etc.
I believe such an approach would enable society to have the benefit of the best minds, knowledge and expertise available to serve the public interest, free of influence from government, special interests and private money.
It would be a legitimate and open avenue for overcoming the shroud of mystery commonplace in government bodies. It would remove the means that enable them to serve their own interests and those who fund their ambitions, at the expense of those they are elected to serve.
Such an organization would be able to restore the “watchdog” function over government envisioned by the Founding Fathers, but which has been supplanted by the interests of corporate news media.
Above all, it would establish a standard of objectivity based on knowledge that is sorely lacking in our political milieu today. Now, more than ever, the body politic and our country need the means to cut through all the deceptive practices that only seek to confuse us and cloud the issues. In the final analysis, it would introduce a level of transparency to Washington that is, at best, murky. It would bring a level of expertise to the deliberations within the halls of government that is sorely lacking. And, most of all, it would bring a new level of objectivity to the business of this country. The time has surely come.
The very survival of this country depends on the active participation of the finest minds among us. They are our best and brightest hope for addressing and solving the ominous problems we face today.
Old Glory is flying upside down on the Ship of State.
Cowboy Bob
December 5, 2010
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