Complacency, disenfranchisement and ignorance are a hard trifecta to overcome when citizen engagement is what is required. It's difficult to know what to do, but yelling from the rooftop with your hair on fire is better than nothing.
Thank you for this excellent essay. I believe the approach to dealing with this threat that’s most likely to succeed to a pro-active one. To quote Buckminster Fuller, “Don’t fight the existing system. Design a better system that makes the existing system obsolete.” That’s the goal of a project I’m working to launch with a speech I’m giving in September at the Oklahoma Museums Association’s annual conference. I’m calling it the American Moonshot Project. It will propose replacing the existing corrupt system with one based one values and developmental principles championed by societal transformation advocates such as Bucky Fuller, W Edwards Deming, Riane Eisler, Stephen R Covey, Fred Rogers and others.
Federal Judge Michael Luttig has just annotated the Declaration of Independence to show us where we are under the tyranny of Donald J. Trump (ie George III). If you just read the original Declaration of Independence, you will see where the trespasses of George III and Trump are EXACTLY the same. How many of the original 27 grievances listed are also currently ours?
We fought this war once. Judge Luttig is correct to point out that we have the right to get rid of the Trump Administration and the Supreme Court justices and members of Congress who have been complicit.
This was an attempted coup which was never stopped because it included the Supreme Court justices and members of Congress.
What the a administration and it’s accomplices are doing is in violation of our rights and what we fought once to get rid of.
Overthrow them - they are enemies of the United States 🇺🇸
Afraid they have bought the active/employed military with $157 billion increase in military budget. Many more billions for 10,000 ICE "officers" will create even more employment for military personnel (either active or retired). This kind of "work" will draw bullies and sadists and amplify these negative characteristics. The destruction to the lives of those who are kidnapped, detained and tortured is a violation of human rights, cannot be accepted and must stop. The families of the disappeared also suffer. They are the first political prisoners. This is the 4th Reich. These people are off their rockers.
So it's up to us. I wish it were otherwise.
We can't pretend this is not happening. That, I believe, is exactly what happened in Germany. Not enough people stood up to stop it. The longer it takes to stop it, the worse the destruction. When is enough enough?
Personally, more of a fan of the silent protest by sitting peacefully with many, many people thereby giving no opportunity for escalating violence in a violent country or giving the traitor an opportunity to declare martial law.
Presence and silence is powerful and it is not violent.
Thanks, Jim. The Wiki article on "inverted totalitarianism" gives a lengthy discussion of Wolin's work. In a nutshell, everything we see so clearly in today's corporate totalitarianism is exposed throughout Wolin's analysis. We know what's going on. The people as a whole are left in the dark, or in the shadows. All beautifully explained by Mr. Wolin.
Wolin's definition of fugitive democracy sounds more like protest or town halls on a small scale than democracy per se. He was a discerning political scientist very aware of the forces that made a mockery of democratic forces within society. (Chris Hedges interviewed Wolin several time before Wolin passed.)
Dr Paul Zeitz, author, physician and activist, has written a book that I think (?) includes information on Citizens' Assemblies. Here is the title of book: "Hit Refresh on the U.S. Constitution: A Revolutionary Roadmap for Fulfilling the Promise of Democracy."
Here is an article on Citizens' Assemblies in the US.
It's possible to use these and other tools to change the future. We can't just keep reacting. We have to rebuild what works, build new forms/organizations and not let the bad guys win by oppressing us and defeating us mentally and spiritually. If we have parallel structures like public banking (and workers coops), we can defeat them.
Thank you for these additions to this excellent essay. I agree we must stop reacting and build something new. To quote Buckminster Fuller, “Don’t fight the existing system. Design a better system that makes the existing system obsolete.” That’s the goal of a project I’m working to launch with a speech I’m giving in September at the Oklahoma Museums Association’s annual conference. I’m calling it the American Moonshot Project. If you’d like to know more, let me know.
The darkest of times requires more from all of us who value democracy and rule of law.
Saw this :
https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/803953/?force_banner=true&share_context=event_details&share_medium=copy_link
Complacency, disenfranchisement and ignorance are a hard trifecta to overcome when citizen engagement is what is required. It's difficult to know what to do, but yelling from the rooftop with your hair on fire is better than nothing.
Federal Judge Michael Luttig is asking all Americans to read the Declaration of Independence
What do you think about PEACEFUL, public readings?
What could be more patriotic?
Judge Luttig STICKS THE DAGGER in SCOTUS’s Sellout of the Constitution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgTSIylPcpQ
Judge Luttig - "STICKS THE DAGGER in SCOTUS’s Sellout of the Constitution"- published 2 hours ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgTSIylPcpQ
“Democracy survives in the cracks of domination.” 👏🏼
Thank you for this excellent essay. I believe the approach to dealing with this threat that’s most likely to succeed to a pro-active one. To quote Buckminster Fuller, “Don’t fight the existing system. Design a better system that makes the existing system obsolete.” That’s the goal of a project I’m working to launch with a speech I’m giving in September at the Oklahoma Museums Association’s annual conference. I’m calling it the American Moonshot Project. It will propose replacing the existing corrupt system with one based one values and developmental principles championed by societal transformation advocates such as Bucky Fuller, W Edwards Deming, Riane Eisler, Stephen R Covey, Fred Rogers and others.
If you’d like to know more, please let me know.
Federal Judge Michael Luttig has just annotated the Declaration of Independence to show us where we are under the tyranny of Donald J. Trump (ie George III). If you just read the original Declaration of Independence, you will see where the trespasses of George III and Trump are EXACTLY the same. How many of the original 27 grievances listed are also currently ours?
https://www.telos.news/p/luttig-the-self-evident-truths-of-freedom
Was very worthwhile to watch and quite disturbing.
The Declaration of Independence -
We fought this war once. Judge Luttig is correct to point out that we have the right to get rid of the Trump Administration and the Supreme Court justices and members of Congress who have been complicit.
This was an attempted coup which was never stopped because it included the Supreme Court justices and members of Congress.
What the a administration and it’s accomplices are doing is in violation of our rights and what we fought once to get rid of.
Overthrow them - they are enemies of the United States 🇺🇸
Afraid they have bought the active/employed military with $157 billion increase in military budget. Many more billions for 10,000 ICE "officers" will create even more employment for military personnel (either active or retired). This kind of "work" will draw bullies and sadists and amplify these negative characteristics. The destruction to the lives of those who are kidnapped, detained and tortured is a violation of human rights, cannot be accepted and must stop. The families of the disappeared also suffer. They are the first political prisoners. This is the 4th Reich. These people are off their rockers.
So it's up to us. I wish it were otherwise.
We can't pretend this is not happening. That, I believe, is exactly what happened in Germany. Not enough people stood up to stop it. The longer it takes to stop it, the worse the destruction. When is enough enough?
This administration does seem to be following the Nazi model. We have the Second Amendment that’s the difference. I
Personally, more of a fan of the silent protest by sitting peacefully with many, many people thereby giving no opportunity for escalating violence in a violent country or giving the traitor an opportunity to declare martial law.
Presence and silence is powerful and it is not violent.
Thanks for another great reference!
Thanks, Jim. The Wiki article on "inverted totalitarianism" gives a lengthy discussion of Wolin's work. In a nutshell, everything we see so clearly in today's corporate totalitarianism is exposed throughout Wolin's analysis. We know what's going on. The people as a whole are left in the dark, or in the shadows. All beautifully explained by Mr. Wolin.
Wolin's definition of fugitive democracy sounds more like protest or town halls on a small scale than democracy per se. He was a discerning political scientist very aware of the forces that made a mockery of democratic forces within society. (Chris Hedges interviewed Wolin several time before Wolin passed.)
Dr Paul Zeitz, author, physician and activist, has written a book that I think (?) includes information on Citizens' Assemblies. Here is the title of book: "Hit Refresh on the U.S. Constitution: A Revolutionary Roadmap for Fulfilling the Promise of Democracy."
Here is an article on Citizens' Assemblies in the US.
https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/briefs/comparing-citizens-assemblies-across-the-united-states/
It's possible to use these and other tools to change the future. We can't just keep reacting. We have to rebuild what works, build new forms/organizations and not let the bad guys win by oppressing us and defeating us mentally and spiritually. If we have parallel structures like public banking (and workers coops), we can defeat them.
https://publicbankinginstitute.org/
We are many. They are few. This is a significant advantage. We just have to use it.
Lincoln might not have created the phrase. Don't know if he even repeated it, but it's still useful:
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
Thank you for these additions to this excellent essay. I agree we must stop reacting and build something new. To quote Buckminster Fuller, “Don’t fight the existing system. Design a better system that makes the existing system obsolete.” That’s the goal of a project I’m working to launch with a speech I’m giving in September at the Oklahoma Museums Association’s annual conference. I’m calling it the American Moonshot Project. If you’d like to know more, let me know.
Fuck Putin!
Never a bad time say it :)