I've been having some very fun arguments on Facebook lately. Well, fun for me-- I think some other people are getting pretty agitated. Agitation is sort of a normal state of mind for me, so I feel like it's my 'home court advantage'.
But that's the kind of brain I have. As you will see, I am about to blend the latest WikiLeaks scandal into totally separate discussions on global warming, alien visitation, giant human fossils, and the metaphysical nature of our very existence.
You see, I believe in a 'common thread' theory to life. I believe that Truth probably does exist, but it's scattered across the globe, in little tiny bits, in different religions, mysticisms, scientific studies and philosophies. Sort of like one big existential Easter egg hunt, if you will. And in the end, the more I investigate, the more I find one predominant common thread.
Reality is an illusion.
What we call reality is just a commonly agreed upon perception, after all. We say “the sky is blue”-- but it's not to a blind man. Sure, the same particles are in the air, refracting light in such a way that most of us see the same thing, which we have agreed to call 'blue'.
But really, it's just a nerve signal from our eyeballs to our brain that gives us an impression. That's all. We see people that have lost limbs in accidents get faked out by their brain, with nerve signals telling them that the limb is still there. How do we really know that a portion-- or perhaps all-- of our reality isn't the same thing?
I know fans of the “Matrix” are getting all giggly now, thinking of that paradigm-shifting scene where Keanu Reeves wakes up in a pod, and finds out his reality is only computer generated scenes from a master computer. Presumably, this same computer also told him he was a good actor.
Somehow, I find a direct correlation to this and the leaking of diplomatic emails that our country is currently in an uproar about, and with which the whole world will soon be abuzz.
Let me trace my thoughts: We talk bad about people behind their backs. We lie to their face, and act like nothing's wrong. And then we get upset when the truth of what we say and do is found out.
See? Reality is an illusion. The objectionable part, according to our government, is not so much the lies, bad talk and dirty back-room-dealing actions-- it's the fact that we blew their cover.
You see, they were struggling very hard to create a perception amongst certain people, and then got mad when their reality was exposed as an illusion. They scream, 'people's lives are at risk!'-- as if they were not at risk with every deceitful action this government has made in it's history. People's lives weren't at risk in Iraq and Afghanistan-- at least, not until now. They weren't at risk in Vietnam. Or Korea. Or in the World Wars in Europe, and around the globe.
No, no, no-- bombing countries, stealing their natural resources, making agreements to wipe out cultures, crippling economies, defrauding entire classes of people-- that's OK. But telling on us for doing it in nasty little semi-illegal underhanded ways-- THAT'S the problem.
Because ever since Hitler, the world has known that it's the BIG LIE that gets believed. And so therefore, how dare anyone expose the BIG LIE? Or any of our small ones that form the steps to the peak of deception that they have so carefully lead us to, for so many years?
“BUT WE'RE THE GOOD GUYS!”, you might scream. “We have to do this because everyone else is doing it, and how naive can you believe to think otherwise?”
That equates, in my opinion, to a George Bush-like preemptive bombing of the truth. And don't get me wrong-- it's both parties, it's most or all nations-- it's just the government way.
It's the lies that risk people lives, not telling the truth. It's the back room deals. It's the choosing of national sides, instead of choosing the human race.
History books have been re-written so many times that pages don't even get a chance to turn yellow anymore. Truth is forgotten, dooming generation after generation to repeating it's own mistakes. Our past is myth, people will say-- unless it reinforces something we want to believe now. And worst of all, people aren't really concerned about truth. They are far more concerned about being perceived as right. Passion exists for personal pride, rather than humility inspiring camaraderie in our species.
Basically, a huge part of the human population should just walk around with t-shirts on that say “I AM RIGHT!”. But history, sadly, proves we are not.
So don't try to prove or disprove global warming, or alien visitation, or giant human fossils. Just ask Hillary Clinton, and she will tell you the rubber-stamped official answer. Because we all know we can trust her-- and look, I saw her smile once! Therefore, I know she is honest, and nice.
Oh, I know one has nothing to do with the other. But there is the common thread-- reality is based on perception. A certain amount of the population will believe what they are told to believe. Theory becomes fact to those who believe the theory. Lies become truth to those who believe the lie. How dare anyone actually show courage, and have an independent mind, and do something honest-- lives are at stake!
Most importantly, the lives of the liars are at stake. The lives, the livelihoods, the prearranged deceptions, the back-room deals-- that's what's really at stake.
Reality is an illusion. Especially if you work in government.
There's a Bible verse that says basically “your back room lies will be shouted from the rooftops!”.
Today, in your presence, this prophecy is fulfilled.
I say-- Hallelujah!
I think, therefore I jam....and blog.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Cannibal Capitalism- the Rich Must Eat the Rich
(originally published September 2006 on AssociatedContent.com)
We live in a world that increasingly is becoming one market. In this new global economy, the disparity between rich and poor grows. Through the increased communications of our time, the gap between rich and poor is more clearly exposed than ever before.
In this new world, millionaires are simply secure bystanders. The truly rich must be defined as those who have reached billionaire status. It is this class of people who bear the obligation to create positive social change.
Free market economics has never had a playbook that included a social conscience, however. Supply and demand has a limited set of rules, and playing nice has never been among them.
Public opinion can have an effect on market trends—from making a supplier less popular, and less profitable, to causing the creation of government legislation that will negatively impact the bottom line. And while this impact cannot be overlooked, it is probably balanced out by the billion-dollar business’s ability to effect government and legislation through financial influence.
I believe that the true opportunity for social progress lies through the framing of such progress in profitable terms for the super rich. I believe that the true profit potential in a market place that has become as extremely financially polarized as the current world market is through the cannibalistic invasion of markets by successful businesses into other markets.
Let me explain this principle with an example. The Wal-Mart Company is truly a financially successful company. They face several public relation challenges, most notably their practice of not supplying health insurance to their employees, and paying wages that do not empower their employees with sufficiently livable incomes.
The Wal-Mart Company has also established a business practice of controlling costs by controlling as many possible circumstances in the cost process as possible.
In my vision of cannibalistic capitalism, the Wal-Mart Company would take the following steps:
They would analyze the medical market, and find that the reason they cannot afford to supply medical coverage lies in the exorbitant profit margins of the medical services market.
As Wal-Mart well knows, when any industry has too high of a profit margin, it leaves itself open to drastic invasion by a competitor willing to cut costs.
In the medical industry, this is true in multiple areas. First, medical colleges charge huge fees for schooling. This contributes to the process of doctors and staff who graduate from them, charging huge fees for their services.
Secondly, the insurance industry, which pays these doctors for the insured, also has huge profit margins.
And third, there is the pharmaceutical industry, which has perhaps the highest profit margin of all.
Wal-Mart has just this week begun a national price war on generic drugs, offering many at $4 for a month’s supply. I would suggest that this should be just the tip of the iceberg.
What Wal-Mart should do is begin a takeover of the entire medical industry.
The Walton family, who now boast four members with fortunes of over $30 billion each, should found a series of medical colleges, where they supply free tuition, in exchange for lifelong contracts of the doctor and staffs they train. These doctors will then work at Wal-Mart funded medical centers across America, at reasonable wages.
By controlling the cost of education, and the cost of medical staff, Wal-Mart would cut out two huge profit centers—middlemen, so to speak—that currently help drive medical costs beyond the reach of many Americans.
By lowering costs in this fashion, they could create a medical services industry, which would allow Americans to bypass the insurance industry altogether—and eliminate another middleman, and huge profit center—the hospital industry.
And with this new medical service industry, now low cost, like everything else Wal-Mart does, they can provide free health care to all of their employees.
By taking the next step—purchasing pharmaceutical companies and lowering costs and prices—they can lower their cost of employee benefits even more.
Similarly, Wal-Mart could also increase employee benefits by building apartment buildings above their current stores, and offering low rent housing. Current employees would benefit from low rent and easy access to work, and other residents would increase shopping time.
By supplying these human resource benefits, Wal-Mart would not only answer their public relations critics, but increase profitability, and branch into new areas of revenue that currently are ripe for invasion because of their bulging profit lines.
Increasingly in the 21st Century, I believe that it will be the companies that invest into human benefits, which will survive. Companies with skyrocketing profits who do not re-invest them into human benefits will be cannibalized by companies who do.
Human concerns—the cost of living, food, rent, medical needs, utilities, and the basics of life—are the true growth market of the 21st century. With possibly 40% of the world’s population living in poverty, it will be the companies who successfully address these needs that remain powerful, and grow into the giants of the next century.
Companies who look to expand fields of revenue by invading markets that are bloated with excessive profit margins are the ones who will grow fastest, and run the least risk. If there is a defined need—such as pharmaceuticals—and there are companies posting almost obscene profits, it only makes sense for someone else to come along and do the same thing cheaper, and take away their business.
In a free market economy, where supply and demand rule, there need be only a clever analysis of supply for obvious demands for a company to grow. If a company has it’s own capital, it can always find a market where it can provide quality for a lower price, and thereby automatically create a superior demand.
And in a world economy where there is a growing divide between rich and poor, the smart companies will learn to feed on the well-fed carcasses of the rich. Every industry that cheats consumers through excessive profiteering should become the prime target of any company that has the resources to produce for the same market.
In the end, the only argument that will convince billionaires to help society is profit. But, with clever analysis of the free market, the best profit will inevitably be found in long-term benefits made to society.
We live in a world that increasingly is becoming one market. In this new global economy, the disparity between rich and poor grows. Through the increased communications of our time, the gap between rich and poor is more clearly exposed than ever before.
In this new world, millionaires are simply secure bystanders. The truly rich must be defined as those who have reached billionaire status. It is this class of people who bear the obligation to create positive social change.
Free market economics has never had a playbook that included a social conscience, however. Supply and demand has a limited set of rules, and playing nice has never been among them.
Public opinion can have an effect on market trends—from making a supplier less popular, and less profitable, to causing the creation of government legislation that will negatively impact the bottom line. And while this impact cannot be overlooked, it is probably balanced out by the billion-dollar business’s ability to effect government and legislation through financial influence.
I believe that the true opportunity for social progress lies through the framing of such progress in profitable terms for the super rich. I believe that the true profit potential in a market place that has become as extremely financially polarized as the current world market is through the cannibalistic invasion of markets by successful businesses into other markets.
Let me explain this principle with an example. The Wal-Mart Company is truly a financially successful company. They face several public relation challenges, most notably their practice of not supplying health insurance to their employees, and paying wages that do not empower their employees with sufficiently livable incomes.
The Wal-Mart Company has also established a business practice of controlling costs by controlling as many possible circumstances in the cost process as possible.
In my vision of cannibalistic capitalism, the Wal-Mart Company would take the following steps:
They would analyze the medical market, and find that the reason they cannot afford to supply medical coverage lies in the exorbitant profit margins of the medical services market.
As Wal-Mart well knows, when any industry has too high of a profit margin, it leaves itself open to drastic invasion by a competitor willing to cut costs.
In the medical industry, this is true in multiple areas. First, medical colleges charge huge fees for schooling. This contributes to the process of doctors and staff who graduate from them, charging huge fees for their services.
Secondly, the insurance industry, which pays these doctors for the insured, also has huge profit margins.
And third, there is the pharmaceutical industry, which has perhaps the highest profit margin of all.
Wal-Mart has just this week begun a national price war on generic drugs, offering many at $4 for a month’s supply. I would suggest that this should be just the tip of the iceberg.
What Wal-Mart should do is begin a takeover of the entire medical industry.
The Walton family, who now boast four members with fortunes of over $30 billion each, should found a series of medical colleges, where they supply free tuition, in exchange for lifelong contracts of the doctor and staffs they train. These doctors will then work at Wal-Mart funded medical centers across America, at reasonable wages.
By controlling the cost of education, and the cost of medical staff, Wal-Mart would cut out two huge profit centers—middlemen, so to speak—that currently help drive medical costs beyond the reach of many Americans.
By lowering costs in this fashion, they could create a medical services industry, which would allow Americans to bypass the insurance industry altogether—and eliminate another middleman, and huge profit center—the hospital industry.
And with this new medical service industry, now low cost, like everything else Wal-Mart does, they can provide free health care to all of their employees.
By taking the next step—purchasing pharmaceutical companies and lowering costs and prices—they can lower their cost of employee benefits even more.
Similarly, Wal-Mart could also increase employee benefits by building apartment buildings above their current stores, and offering low rent housing. Current employees would benefit from low rent and easy access to work, and other residents would increase shopping time.
By supplying these human resource benefits, Wal-Mart would not only answer their public relations critics, but increase profitability, and branch into new areas of revenue that currently are ripe for invasion because of their bulging profit lines.
Increasingly in the 21st Century, I believe that it will be the companies that invest into human benefits, which will survive. Companies with skyrocketing profits who do not re-invest them into human benefits will be cannibalized by companies who do.
Human concerns—the cost of living, food, rent, medical needs, utilities, and the basics of life—are the true growth market of the 21st century. With possibly 40% of the world’s population living in poverty, it will be the companies who successfully address these needs that remain powerful, and grow into the giants of the next century.
Companies who look to expand fields of revenue by invading markets that are bloated with excessive profit margins are the ones who will grow fastest, and run the least risk. If there is a defined need—such as pharmaceuticals—and there are companies posting almost obscene profits, it only makes sense for someone else to come along and do the same thing cheaper, and take away their business.
In a free market economy, where supply and demand rule, there need be only a clever analysis of supply for obvious demands for a company to grow. If a company has it’s own capital, it can always find a market where it can provide quality for a lower price, and thereby automatically create a superior demand.
And in a world economy where there is a growing divide between rich and poor, the smart companies will learn to feed on the well-fed carcasses of the rich. Every industry that cheats consumers through excessive profiteering should become the prime target of any company that has the resources to produce for the same market.
In the end, the only argument that will convince billionaires to help society is profit. But, with clever analysis of the free market, the best profit will inevitably be found in long-term benefits made to society.
Diversity or Perversity?: the 2008 election
(originally published January, 2007 in The Burro magazine)
America is in for a very interesting couple of years. The national pursuit of nomination for each party’s candidacy for president should bring out every diversity, and possibly, quite a few perversities, which America has to offer.
The Democratic Party should offer the most interesting array of diversity ever beheld on the American political scene. Hillary Clinton is already prominently mentioned as the front-runner in the race. Of course, a woman has never been nominated for a major party’s candidacy for president, let alone won the White House.
But then again, before this year, we have never had a woman as Speaker of the House- and now Nancy Pelosi (Dem., CA) holds that honor for the next session of Congress. Locally, we have just completed a historic election campaign that saw three women Democrats win office in the state congress.
So is it time for a woman to win the White House? Certainly, the idea has never had more support. Many people have commented that with women in power, our country would be far less likely to go to war. And having Margaret Thatcher and Indira Ghandi in power didn’t seem to hurt England or India. In fact, both women leaders were well respected during their time in office, and have fared well with historical evaluation.
But Hillary Clinton is not the only history-making potential candidate for the Democrats. Barak Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, is drawing huge raves with his charismatic speechmaking, and his intelligent, sincere approach to the issues of the day. Could our country be ready to accept an African-American as President of the United States?
From many sections of the country, the answer would be a resounding “no” to that question. But these same factions, still rooted in a prejudice that our country is in denial of, would also reject Clinton for being a woman.
Until the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, the Deep South of America was traditionally solidly Democrat. That alliance switched when democrat Lyndon Johnson pushed significant civil rights bills through Congress, immediately after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
So history would tell us that, if the Democratic Party feels that they are doing the right thing, they would do it in total disregard for isolated factions of public opinion, like racists of the Deep South.
Perhaps the Democrats will decide that the best one-two punch is the most diverse, and to the prejudiced, the most controversial. Perhaps the campaign bumper stickers will read “Clinton-Obama: Because Bigots Cause Drama.”
Other Democratic hopefuls offer a less diverse, more mainstream potential as candidates. One of my personal favorites is General Wesley Clark. I have long held the opinion that wars should be led by people who know what they are doing, and not by people who spent their National Guard duty snorting cocaine and skipping service time (yes, that is a reference to Martha Bush’s baby boy).
John Edwards has also announced his candidacy. He could quite possibly be the best mainstream candidate available for either party. His meteoric rise from trial lawyer to senator to VP nominee in the 2004 election speaks volumes for his potential. His current weakness is fundraising, but with major party backing, that could be resolved quickly.
No other possible candidate stands to make a realistic play, at this time, for the Democratic nomination, at this time.
The same cannot be said for the Republican Party. This is a wide-open field of potentiality, and while there are legitimate candidates available, there are also several possible nightmare possibilities for the future of our country.
The worst possible scenario would be that Vice President Dick Cheney actually runs for president. Never in the history of mass media has there been a man who was so incapable of presenting a pleasing public face. His vicious replies to the press are legendary. And his real life actions are just as bad. From his accidental shooting of a Texas party member while on a beer-guzzling hunting trip, to his cursing outbursts at press conferences and speeches, this man has shown his true color. It is Black, as in Black Mood, Black Cloud over his head, and the Black of the clothing of the mourning families of the over 3000 American service people who are dead in the Iraq war, which has only served to fatten the wallets of Halliburton, Cheney’s former company, and Cheney’s many friends in the oil industry and military industrial complex.
Another nightmare would be the continuance of the Bush Dynasty by running the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush. Yes, Jeb Bush of the 2000 Florida voting scandal, and of the Teri Schiavo fiasco, which attempted to ingratiate the younger brother to the religious right wing fanatics that form the base of the New Republican party, by highlighting him in a case of “right-to-life” versus legal rights to govern medical care by responsible family members.
While certainly Jeb would make a better president than his brother has (rumor has it he actually has a vocabulary over 100 words, including many words with more than two syllables), he would also be just another puppet to Pappa Bush’s CIA-led war machine advisors.
After being the head of the CIA, then Vice President, and finally a one-term President, Pappa Bush moved his son Dubya into the White House (through some cleverly managed voter fraud in Florida in 2000, and Ohio in 2004), while he took jobs representing the military industrial complex as a liaison to Saudi Arabia. Is it any wonder we are now at war with Saudi Arabia’s biggest competitor for the international oil trade-- Iraq? Don’t forget, 11 of the 14 terrorists responsible for September 11th’s tragic happenings were identified as Saudi Arabian.
One possible candidate for the Republicans who generates a lot of local interest is Arizona Senator John McCain. Recently ranked as the most influential senator in Congress, McCain has shown signs of moving away from the independent views that have made him a top choice for the White House. After publicly criticizing the religious right’s stranglehold on his party, he has appeared to ‘kiss-up’ to leaders such as Jerry Falwell. And even though he is a former Vietnam prisoner of war, he has sided with Bush in war plans, including recent suggestions of raising the number of troops in Iraq.
It may be just my impression, but McCain also seems to have gone through some recent plastic surgery. In November’s election analysis segments on national television, he was a frequent guest, and seemed to have a shine around his face that resembled an exhibit at Madame Toussade’s Wax Museum. Was it Doc Hollywood, to the rescue? Could a new face, and kissing up to the Right Wing, actually help win McCain the White House?
America is in for a very interesting couple of years. The national pursuit of nomination for each party’s candidacy for president should bring out every diversity, and possibly, quite a few perversities, which America has to offer.
The Democratic Party should offer the most interesting array of diversity ever beheld on the American political scene. Hillary Clinton is already prominently mentioned as the front-runner in the race. Of course, a woman has never been nominated for a major party’s candidacy for president, let alone won the White House.
But then again, before this year, we have never had a woman as Speaker of the House- and now Nancy Pelosi (Dem., CA) holds that honor for the next session of Congress. Locally, we have just completed a historic election campaign that saw three women Democrats win office in the state congress.
So is it time for a woman to win the White House? Certainly, the idea has never had more support. Many people have commented that with women in power, our country would be far less likely to go to war. And having Margaret Thatcher and Indira Ghandi in power didn’t seem to hurt England or India. In fact, both women leaders were well respected during their time in office, and have fared well with historical evaluation.
But Hillary Clinton is not the only history-making potential candidate for the Democrats. Barak Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, is drawing huge raves with his charismatic speechmaking, and his intelligent, sincere approach to the issues of the day. Could our country be ready to accept an African-American as President of the United States?
From many sections of the country, the answer would be a resounding “no” to that question. But these same factions, still rooted in a prejudice that our country is in denial of, would also reject Clinton for being a woman.
Until the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, the Deep South of America was traditionally solidly Democrat. That alliance switched when democrat Lyndon Johnson pushed significant civil rights bills through Congress, immediately after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
So history would tell us that, if the Democratic Party feels that they are doing the right thing, they would do it in total disregard for isolated factions of public opinion, like racists of the Deep South.
Perhaps the Democrats will decide that the best one-two punch is the most diverse, and to the prejudiced, the most controversial. Perhaps the campaign bumper stickers will read “Clinton-Obama: Because Bigots Cause Drama.”
Other Democratic hopefuls offer a less diverse, more mainstream potential as candidates. One of my personal favorites is General Wesley Clark. I have long held the opinion that wars should be led by people who know what they are doing, and not by people who spent their National Guard duty snorting cocaine and skipping service time (yes, that is a reference to Martha Bush’s baby boy).
John Edwards has also announced his candidacy. He could quite possibly be the best mainstream candidate available for either party. His meteoric rise from trial lawyer to senator to VP nominee in the 2004 election speaks volumes for his potential. His current weakness is fundraising, but with major party backing, that could be resolved quickly.
No other possible candidate stands to make a realistic play, at this time, for the Democratic nomination, at this time.
The same cannot be said for the Republican Party. This is a wide-open field of potentiality, and while there are legitimate candidates available, there are also several possible nightmare possibilities for the future of our country.
The worst possible scenario would be that Vice President Dick Cheney actually runs for president. Never in the history of mass media has there been a man who was so incapable of presenting a pleasing public face. His vicious replies to the press are legendary. And his real life actions are just as bad. From his accidental shooting of a Texas party member while on a beer-guzzling hunting trip, to his cursing outbursts at press conferences and speeches, this man has shown his true color. It is Black, as in Black Mood, Black Cloud over his head, and the Black of the clothing of the mourning families of the over 3000 American service people who are dead in the Iraq war, which has only served to fatten the wallets of Halliburton, Cheney’s former company, and Cheney’s many friends in the oil industry and military industrial complex.
Another nightmare would be the continuance of the Bush Dynasty by running the Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush. Yes, Jeb Bush of the 2000 Florida voting scandal, and of the Teri Schiavo fiasco, which attempted to ingratiate the younger brother to the religious right wing fanatics that form the base of the New Republican party, by highlighting him in a case of “right-to-life” versus legal rights to govern medical care by responsible family members.
While certainly Jeb would make a better president than his brother has (rumor has it he actually has a vocabulary over 100 words, including many words with more than two syllables), he would also be just another puppet to Pappa Bush’s CIA-led war machine advisors.
After being the head of the CIA, then Vice President, and finally a one-term President, Pappa Bush moved his son Dubya into the White House (through some cleverly managed voter fraud in Florida in 2000, and Ohio in 2004), while he took jobs representing the military industrial complex as a liaison to Saudi Arabia. Is it any wonder we are now at war with Saudi Arabia’s biggest competitor for the international oil trade-- Iraq? Don’t forget, 11 of the 14 terrorists responsible for September 11th’s tragic happenings were identified as Saudi Arabian.
One possible candidate for the Republicans who generates a lot of local interest is Arizona Senator John McCain. Recently ranked as the most influential senator in Congress, McCain has shown signs of moving away from the independent views that have made him a top choice for the White House. After publicly criticizing the religious right’s stranglehold on his party, he has appeared to ‘kiss-up’ to leaders such as Jerry Falwell. And even though he is a former Vietnam prisoner of war, he has sided with Bush in war plans, including recent suggestions of raising the number of troops in Iraq.
It may be just my impression, but McCain also seems to have gone through some recent plastic surgery. In November’s election analysis segments on national television, he was a frequent guest, and seemed to have a shine around his face that resembled an exhibit at Madame Toussade’s Wax Museum. Was it Doc Hollywood, to the rescue? Could a new face, and kissing up to the Right Wing, actually help win McCain the White House?
Texas Hold 'Em Up
(originally published April, 2007 in The Burro magazine)
For the last few years, the craze has grown for the poker game ‘Texas Hold ‘em’. But an even bigger Texas frenzy has developed at the same time. That would be, of course, the explosion of profits by oil companies, at the expense of a captive American public.
Should we expect different? We did, after all, allow two Texas oil men to take over the White House. Should we be surprised when Exxon posts the largest quarterly profits of any corporation ever-- topping $10 billion in profit every quarter in 2006? Should we be surprised when gas prices near $3 a gallon?
Like any good poker game, when you have the big pile of chips, you push the bets up until the other guy quits. But most Americans can’t walk away from the table in the game of gas price gouging. Repression of electric car technology by American car companies and the big oil companies have left us with no real market choices when it comes to automobiles that don’t use gasoline.
I am a huge fan of electric cars. My current favorite is online HERE . But having someone build an all-electric two seat sports car (that costs over $100,000) does most of America no good whatsoever. Since GM took the EV-1 off the market, deciding to play nice with oil companies, and take California to court for the audacity of pushing electric car technology for the masses, there have been almost no options for the average consumer.
Now, rumors are piling up about missing oil reserves in Iraq. And the company filling the gas tanks of our troops in Iraq-- Dick Cheney’s Halliburton-- has just decided they should move their corporate headquarters to Dubai.
Coincidence? Or did they learn from Enron, and decide that a few thousand miles between them and federal investigators would make paper shredding a whole lot easier?
Could it be possible that stolen Iriaqi oil is being billed to our government by Halliburton? Who knows? But certainly we can say this-- the American public is not only being taken for a ride on gas prices, it’s the most expensive ride our nation has ever seen. It is the duty of lawmakers everywhere to stop this corporate orgy of greed and social irresponsibility.
For the last few years, the craze has grown for the poker game ‘Texas Hold ‘em’. But an even bigger Texas frenzy has developed at the same time. That would be, of course, the explosion of profits by oil companies, at the expense of a captive American public.
Should we expect different? We did, after all, allow two Texas oil men to take over the White House. Should we be surprised when Exxon posts the largest quarterly profits of any corporation ever-- topping $10 billion in profit every quarter in 2006? Should we be surprised when gas prices near $3 a gallon?
Like any good poker game, when you have the big pile of chips, you push the bets up until the other guy quits. But most Americans can’t walk away from the table in the game of gas price gouging. Repression of electric car technology by American car companies and the big oil companies have left us with no real market choices when it comes to automobiles that don’t use gasoline.
I am a huge fan of electric cars. My current favorite is online HERE . But having someone build an all-electric two seat sports car (that costs over $100,000) does most of America no good whatsoever. Since GM took the EV-1 off the market, deciding to play nice with oil companies, and take California to court for the audacity of pushing electric car technology for the masses, there have been almost no options for the average consumer.
Now, rumors are piling up about missing oil reserves in Iraq. And the company filling the gas tanks of our troops in Iraq-- Dick Cheney’s Halliburton-- has just decided they should move their corporate headquarters to Dubai.
Coincidence? Or did they learn from Enron, and decide that a few thousand miles between them and federal investigators would make paper shredding a whole lot easier?
Could it be possible that stolen Iriaqi oil is being billed to our government by Halliburton? Who knows? But certainly we can say this-- the American public is not only being taken for a ride on gas prices, it’s the most expensive ride our nation has ever seen. It is the duty of lawmakers everywhere to stop this corporate orgy of greed and social irresponsibility.
In every generation, there comes a time for Change
(originally published May, 2007 in The Burro magazine)
This Memorial Day, let’s celebrate The American Way-- innovation, and a common effort to increase the common good. This Memorial Day, let us remember what the brave soldiers of past and present really have fought for-- The American Dream. It’s a dream where anyone can get ahead through hard work, and you can hope for a better life for your children than you had.
Part of the American Dream-- the dream that men and women have died for, for over 200 years-- involves change. At first, it was change from British rule, to a new system of government called Democracy. You might guess that the British were not too fond of the concept, and they fought it-- with soldiers, guns, political measures, and every other way they could fathom.
We’ve gone through many changes as a country since then-- from a small group of colonies to a vast country that embraces a whole continent. We’ve gone from an agricultural society to the industrial revolution, from candles to electricity in most every home, from outhouses to indoor plumbing. We’ve gone from horse drawn carriages to the automobile, from the abacus to the calculator to the computer. Still, one thing remains the same in all of these changes. They were resisted, tooth and nail, by the people who had time and money invested in the old ways.
We are at one of those huge crossroads in our history once again. Oil companies and combustion-engine car companies are doing everything they can to keep us from advancing to the next stage of The American Dream-- where we develop eco-friendly cars and power solutions that save the environment for our children and grand- children. They have mounted a propaganda campaign that denies scientific fact about global warming. They have repressed technology that would have given us electric cars a decade ago-- and instead, are charging us over $3 a gallon for gas. They stall solar and wind power development wherever they can, and instead charge us high rates for electricity created by pollution-causing coal.
And they are using their power, and their money, on every level, including their most successful effort in all of American history. And that is, of course, the election of an American President whose sole purpose in office has been to promote their agenda, and make them profit. We make jokes about George Bush’s intellect, but the harsh fact is that he is the most successful president in American history-- at creating profits for his friends at oil companies, military contractors, drug companies, and companies that taint our food supply with experimental genetically altered food.
So the question is, this Memorial Day-- who will be the next generation of brave Americans to fight for The American Dream? Who will put down the priorities of their everyday life, and sacrifice for the common good? Who is willing to go to war, so that their children and grand-children have a better life than they did?
This is not a war that needs to be fought with guns. This is a war of politics, of power of the people, of taking back our great form of government from the people who are abusing it, because they are invested in old ways at a historical time of change.
How will future generations remember us on Memorial Day, years from now? Will our country live on? With our dependency on foreign oil and our trade deficit with China, surely some doubt exists.
Where we would be now if past generations had been too busy to fight for our common good-- if the richest people on the planet cried poor when it came time to give? Ask yourself that, the next time you are asked to volunteer or donate to your local Democratic party.
This Memorial Day, let’s celebrate The American Way-- innovation, and a common effort to increase the common good. This Memorial Day, let us remember what the brave soldiers of past and present really have fought for-- The American Dream. It’s a dream where anyone can get ahead through hard work, and you can hope for a better life for your children than you had.
Part of the American Dream-- the dream that men and women have died for, for over 200 years-- involves change. At first, it was change from British rule, to a new system of government called Democracy. You might guess that the British were not too fond of the concept, and they fought it-- with soldiers, guns, political measures, and every other way they could fathom.
We’ve gone through many changes as a country since then-- from a small group of colonies to a vast country that embraces a whole continent. We’ve gone from an agricultural society to the industrial revolution, from candles to electricity in most every home, from outhouses to indoor plumbing. We’ve gone from horse drawn carriages to the automobile, from the abacus to the calculator to the computer. Still, one thing remains the same in all of these changes. They were resisted, tooth and nail, by the people who had time and money invested in the old ways.
We are at one of those huge crossroads in our history once again. Oil companies and combustion-engine car companies are doing everything they can to keep us from advancing to the next stage of The American Dream-- where we develop eco-friendly cars and power solutions that save the environment for our children and grand- children. They have mounted a propaganda campaign that denies scientific fact about global warming. They have repressed technology that would have given us electric cars a decade ago-- and instead, are charging us over $3 a gallon for gas. They stall solar and wind power development wherever they can, and instead charge us high rates for electricity created by pollution-causing coal.
And they are using their power, and their money, on every level, including their most successful effort in all of American history. And that is, of course, the election of an American President whose sole purpose in office has been to promote their agenda, and make them profit. We make jokes about George Bush’s intellect, but the harsh fact is that he is the most successful president in American history-- at creating profits for his friends at oil companies, military contractors, drug companies, and companies that taint our food supply with experimental genetically altered food.
So the question is, this Memorial Day-- who will be the next generation of brave Americans to fight for The American Dream? Who will put down the priorities of their everyday life, and sacrifice for the common good? Who is willing to go to war, so that their children and grand-children have a better life than they did?
This is not a war that needs to be fought with guns. This is a war of politics, of power of the people, of taking back our great form of government from the people who are abusing it, because they are invested in old ways at a historical time of change.
How will future generations remember us on Memorial Day, years from now? Will our country live on? With our dependency on foreign oil and our trade deficit with China, surely some doubt exists.
Where we would be now if past generations had been too busy to fight for our common good-- if the richest people on the planet cried poor when it came time to give? Ask yourself that, the next time you are asked to volunteer or donate to your local Democratic party.
Monopoly of Power
(originally published July, 2007 in The Burro magazine)
We’ve all played the game Monopoly. As a kid, I remember times when the game seemed so unfair that someone would take out their frustration by throwing the board up into the air, scrambling pieces and money. This generally signified that, in their opinion, the game was over.
Often, accusations of cheating would fill the air, and tempers would flare. Oh, the joy of counting out those rolls on the dice and seeing them end up on Boardwalk or Park Place, right after you put your hotels on! The brand of capitalism was firmly seared into our child-like brains, and while we did not get to enjoy the money we made, we certainly enjoyed humiliating our sibling rivals.
But in real life, there is no game board. Accusations of cheating might still fill the air, but there is no higher force to appeal to, like we used to do to our mother or father, who were hiding in the kitchen, trying to grab a moment of sanity between refereeing sessions.
George Bush and Dick Cheney own Boardwalk, Park Place, all the railroads and utilities, and have the only copy of the rules-- mysteriously blotted with scribbled notes that we cannot see, even with a subpeona.
And, oh yes-- they have a whole deck of Get Out Of Jail Free cards, which only they are allowed to use.
This past week, ‘Scooter’ Libby’s sentence was commutated before he even had time to appeal it. I guess the White House wanted to make sure we knew what they have been telling us for several years now-- courts only count when they decide what Bush and Cheney want them to decide.
Like the recent Supreme Court rulings, slashing previous court rulings down like a new lawnmower through dry grass. Those rulings are just fine.
And the court rulings that the deceased Enron head’s fines didn’t have to be paid by his estate. That’s good law there, by golly.
But when Libby-- who knew enough to put Dick Cheney on the hot seat for treason in exposing the identity of an undercover CIA agent-- was convicted, well, that was not good, at all.
Last week, I also watched a film on a website that absolutely proves that Bush, Cheney and their CIA buddies planned and carried out the 9-11 disaster at the World Trade Towers. You can see it online at www.loosechange911.com.
And it wasn’t just to start a war so Halliburton could make hundreds of billions of dollars, and the oil companies could pillage America by doubling gas prices. Oh no.
They also stole a billion dollars in gold that was under the Towers. And made over $100 million by betting that airline stocks would sink in the aftermath.
The cell calls we heard about are disproved. The plane in Pennsylvania? It landed in Cleveland.
The Pentagon? Eye witnesses tell of an Army helicopter firing a cruise missile into it. There was no plane. Pentagon officials even describe smelling the explosive used in cruise missiles.
Did you know steel melts at 3000 degrees, and airplane fuel burns at 1000 degrees less? Did you know that excavators found molten steel below the Towers, two weeks after the tragedy? Did you know that news teams and demolition experts said the Towers were blown up professionally?
Did you know that nearly identical buildings around the world have burned over 24 hours without falling? But one of the Towers fell after less than one hour of burning?
I watched this film. And then I watched Libby ‘get out of jail free’. And I just wanted to throw the board into the air, and tell my parents that these guys were cheating.
What can we do? What choices do we really have? I don’t condone violence, so radical thoughts have to be overlooked. I already volunteer for the Democrats-- and like a lot of people, I am wondering why there aren’t impeachment hearings, and why they caved in on pulling us out of war.
For a couple of days, I just calmed myself by looking at properties in other countries. That’s how bad it is. I just wanted to move away.
But I am staying, for now. I am telling people about this movie-- you can watch it online, or buy the DVD.
www.loosechange911.com.
Maybe if I get enough people to watch this movie, it will be like our forefathers dumping tea into Boston Harbor.
For the King George that is in the White House now, that’s as close to trashing the Monopoly board as I can get.
We’ve all played the game Monopoly. As a kid, I remember times when the game seemed so unfair that someone would take out their frustration by throwing the board up into the air, scrambling pieces and money. This generally signified that, in their opinion, the game was over.
Often, accusations of cheating would fill the air, and tempers would flare. Oh, the joy of counting out those rolls on the dice and seeing them end up on Boardwalk or Park Place, right after you put your hotels on! The brand of capitalism was firmly seared into our child-like brains, and while we did not get to enjoy the money we made, we certainly enjoyed humiliating our sibling rivals.
But in real life, there is no game board. Accusations of cheating might still fill the air, but there is no higher force to appeal to, like we used to do to our mother or father, who were hiding in the kitchen, trying to grab a moment of sanity between refereeing sessions.
George Bush and Dick Cheney own Boardwalk, Park Place, all the railroads and utilities, and have the only copy of the rules-- mysteriously blotted with scribbled notes that we cannot see, even with a subpeona.
And, oh yes-- they have a whole deck of Get Out Of Jail Free cards, which only they are allowed to use.
This past week, ‘Scooter’ Libby’s sentence was commutated before he even had time to appeal it. I guess the White House wanted to make sure we knew what they have been telling us for several years now-- courts only count when they decide what Bush and Cheney want them to decide.
Like the recent Supreme Court rulings, slashing previous court rulings down like a new lawnmower through dry grass. Those rulings are just fine.
And the court rulings that the deceased Enron head’s fines didn’t have to be paid by his estate. That’s good law there, by golly.
But when Libby-- who knew enough to put Dick Cheney on the hot seat for treason in exposing the identity of an undercover CIA agent-- was convicted, well, that was not good, at all.
Last week, I also watched a film on a website that absolutely proves that Bush, Cheney and their CIA buddies planned and carried out the 9-11 disaster at the World Trade Towers. You can see it online at www.loosechange911.com.
And it wasn’t just to start a war so Halliburton could make hundreds of billions of dollars, and the oil companies could pillage America by doubling gas prices. Oh no.
They also stole a billion dollars in gold that was under the Towers. And made over $100 million by betting that airline stocks would sink in the aftermath.
The cell calls we heard about are disproved. The plane in Pennsylvania? It landed in Cleveland.
The Pentagon? Eye witnesses tell of an Army helicopter firing a cruise missile into it. There was no plane. Pentagon officials even describe smelling the explosive used in cruise missiles.
Did you know steel melts at 3000 degrees, and airplane fuel burns at 1000 degrees less? Did you know that excavators found molten steel below the Towers, two weeks after the tragedy? Did you know that news teams and demolition experts said the Towers were blown up professionally?
Did you know that nearly identical buildings around the world have burned over 24 hours without falling? But one of the Towers fell after less than one hour of burning?
I watched this film. And then I watched Libby ‘get out of jail free’. And I just wanted to throw the board into the air, and tell my parents that these guys were cheating.
What can we do? What choices do we really have? I don’t condone violence, so radical thoughts have to be overlooked. I already volunteer for the Democrats-- and like a lot of people, I am wondering why there aren’t impeachment hearings, and why they caved in on pulling us out of war.
For a couple of days, I just calmed myself by looking at properties in other countries. That’s how bad it is. I just wanted to move away.
But I am staying, for now. I am telling people about this movie-- you can watch it online, or buy the DVD.
www.loosechange911.com.
Maybe if I get enough people to watch this movie, it will be like our forefathers dumping tea into Boston Harbor.
For the King George that is in the White House now, that’s as close to trashing the Monopoly board as I can get.
Apathy- the Open Door to Oppression
(Originally printed December, 2007 in The Burro magazine)
It never ceases to amaze me how many people do not register to vote, or do not vote when the opportunity is there.
When asked, these people always cite the same reasons. The government won’t listen to them, anyway, so why even bother?
I wonder if these same people would care about who had keys to their house, or their car. Would they be so apathetic about issues like that?
Would they care who walked their kids to the bus stop? Would they care about who was a teacher in their schools?
Government affects every issue in our lives, and every aspect of our future— but many people care more about their favorite TV show than voting. Sure, we don’t have enough Democrats in Congress to override a presidential veto—but who cares? People get much more excited about who was just voted off ‘Dancing with the Stars” or “American Idol”.
Maybe we should allow phone calling and text messages for national elections, like those TV shows. But I really doubt it is a matter of convenience that keeps people from voting, or registering to vote.
For years, I felt the same way. I wasn’t rich, and so why even bother? Rich people and richer corporations really ruled our country, I thought. What chance does one person have to be heard?
But George Bush pushed me into getting involved in 2006. I have a daughter, Aimee, who just recently finished six years as a translator in the Navy, and another, Holly, who is married to an Army soldier who has done several tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. My son James is currently a Navy satellite navigation chief on a submarine.
With Bush’s seemingly obvious disregard for our service men and women slapping one side of my face, and his buddies making record corporate profits in oil and the military industrial complex, slapping the other, I finally woke up. I had to get involved.
Now, let me put this into context. I grew up, the first generation not to be drafted, with echoes of the Vietnam War all around me. I grew up in a hippie town, Athens, Ohio—home to liberals galore, and so steeped in the 1960’s culture that The Grateful Dead stayed for an extra week after a concert, just to party.
I grew up with the television show M.A.S.H forming my complete view on war, and Alan Alda being a social hero.
So when my daughter Aimee told me she wanted to enlist, part of me died just a little. She said that she needed to do this to pay for college. George Bush had ruined my company when he got elected, with the big tech stock market crash in fall 2000, so I couldn’t help. I had to fire my 25 employees, close my offices on the main intersection of downtown Cleveland, and had lost the last bundle of cash that my ex-wife’s lawyers had allowed me to still have.
So knowing that my daughter’s situation was dire, I conceded and signed the papers. A little voice inside cried out, “I can’t believe you are going to let her serve The Man!” . Inside, I realized that I had secretly hoped for another career for her, one that hopefully included wearing tie-dyed clothing and singing Janis Joplin songs.
Six years later, she got out alive—with two babies and a husband now, but still my little girl. My daughter Holly’s husband survives, which is a focus of constant prayer. And my son James is circling North Korea as we speak, in the fifth month of a seven-month deployment.
Kind of makes those headlines come alive for me, as you might imagine.
So in the fall of 2006, I got involved. Having a media background, I was able to help out in the elections that saw Amanda Aguirre, Lynne Pancrazi and Theresa Ulmer get elected. Every single volunteer during that time should feel a great deal of pride for helping these amazing ladies, all Democrats, get elected.
And since then, with ‘The Burro’, and daily office duties at the Democratic Party’s headquarters, I have stayed involved.
But sadly, the vast majority of Yuma County residents do not feel the same way.
I often have wondered, in my 5-plus years here, what it is about Yuma that promotes such a widespread apathy about voting. And volunteering.
Of course, it’s not just politics. The apathy seems to invade every pore of daily life, in many people. Life is just slower, in every respect. I often joke that people in this town take two hours to watch ‘60 Minutes’.
I don’t know if it has anything to do with the Mexican culture, and the historical love of the siesta. Perhaps the Anglo culture should be more closely examined. After all, what can be said about a town where people gave up on their long trek across the old west, just a couple of miles short of the Promised Land of California?
You do have to give a lot of credit to the folks who turned desert into farmland, and who tamed this wilderness into what it is now. But how does such a pioneering spirit turn into unregistered voters, and voter turnouts like we saw in the last city election?
There is NO EXCUSE for voter turnout like we saw in the last election. You people that did not vote have absolutely no right to ever complain about what city council does. A whopping total of 7,668 people voted for city council, and the issues on the ballot.
That means over 25,000 registered voters in the City of Yuma did not vote!
And of course, that doesn’t even touch the amount of unregistered voting- eligible people in the City of Yuma. That number is a bit harder to determine, as I found in a recent conversation with County Recorder Susan Marler. The Federal Government keeps numbers on voter-eligible age brackets—anyone 18 or older- but it does not claim accuracy, because of the number of non-citizens that are included in those figures.
The estimated population in Yuma County in 2004 was just over 176,000. That was a ten percent increase over 2000. According to online figures, in 2005, we had over 52,000 of our residents below the voting age of 18.
That would mean we have 124,000 people in the county that are ‘of-age’ to vote. According to figures from the Arizona Democratic Party, there are just over 56,000 people registered to vote in Yuma County.
Let’s do the math together, shall we? Over 68,000 people in our county don’t care enough to even register to vote.
Our city had an estimated population in 2005 of almost 89,000 people. If the same percentages of them are of voting age as in the county, then that’s almost 63,000 people who are voter-eligible.
Which would mean that around 55,000 people in the City of Yuma don’t care enough to vote. And that they are willing to be ruled by the decisions of the less than 8000 people who do vote.
What is wrong with this picture? I know that “Back to the Future” is probably too old of a movie to reference, but please picture me pounding my forehead as I scream, “Hello, McFly!!!”
So less than 8000 people decided that your city council members should make $300 a month. They also decided your mayor should be among the most underpaid mayors in America. And that you don’t need more money for public parks, and other civic improvements.
Let’s put this local apathy in historical perspective with a widely known poem from World War II, written by a German named Pastor Martin Niemoller:
First they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Now, let’s try to make that poem more modern, more relevant. Here’s my version:
First, they ran an Oil Man for President
And I did not vote
Because I believed it wouldn’t matter.
Then the Oil Man took us into an illegal war, But I didn’t vote for Congress,
either, So my elected officials didn’t listen to my complaints.
Then thousands of people died, from my country and many others,
And it seemed like no one could stop the Oil Man, Because I still wouldn’t even register to vote.
Let me be quite blunt about this— if you are waiting for an American Revolution, and you think it will happen any other way than voting, then you are a complete idiot. Sure, our original Right to Bear Arms was meant to give us the power to overthrow a crooked government, like the one we had thrown out in the Revolutionary War (it was King George then, too, wasn’t it?). But you and I can’t buy a Stealth Bomber, or a tank.
Armed revolution in this country has absolutely no chance of succeeding. But arm yourselves with a voter registration form, and you can fire a round on Election Day that could be heard around the world.
Repeatedly, I have run ads in The Burro that say “Volunteer. Vote. Victory!” But we can’t even get volunteers to come into the office and make phone calls. And frankly, the only reason our office is open is because the State Party pays the rent. The apathy that I have detailed in recent elections extends all the way to the core of our local party.
Ask yourself, when was the last time you volunteered? Or donated? Maybe you have a special cause that you are involved in, and your time and money goes there. But what cause is more important than what kind of government we have? And who is in office?
The 2000 presidential election was lost through voter fraud in Florida, and 2004 was lost through voter fraud in Ohio. But these elections could have easily been won— by Democrats— if eligible voters had voted.
Now, there is no hint of voter fraud in Yuma, but just to illustrate the point, let’s use those numbers. Which election do you think would be easier to cheat in— the one we had, with less than 8000 votes cast, or the one where 63,000 eligible voters cast their ballots?
We have the ability in this country to elect better people, in vast majorities for every election, and sweeping across both sides of Congress. But until we start registering voters, and those voters start exercising their voting rights, we make it easy to cheat in elections. In fact, we are saying that we don’t care if they cheat. We don’t care what they do. And we don’t care who does it.
This empowers people like the Bush administration to do anything they want—keep us in a war that we hate, raise gas prices above three dollars a gallon, have health care and prescription prices soar through the roof...
Just remember— if you don’t vote, don’t come crying to me about it later.
You can register to vote by stopping into our new offices at 1600 S.4th Avenue, suite D (for Democrat), or by going to the County Recorder’s office, or online HERE. You can get an early ballot sent to your home, so you don’t even have to leave the house.
Or you can just wait until the Nazis—or Blackwater—come rolling down the street.
Maybe then people will believe that voting is not just a right— it’s a responsibility.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people do not register to vote, or do not vote when the opportunity is there.
When asked, these people always cite the same reasons. The government won’t listen to them, anyway, so why even bother?
I wonder if these same people would care about who had keys to their house, or their car. Would they be so apathetic about issues like that?
Would they care who walked their kids to the bus stop? Would they care about who was a teacher in their schools?
Government affects every issue in our lives, and every aspect of our future— but many people care more about their favorite TV show than voting. Sure, we don’t have enough Democrats in Congress to override a presidential veto—but who cares? People get much more excited about who was just voted off ‘Dancing with the Stars” or “American Idol”.
Maybe we should allow phone calling and text messages for national elections, like those TV shows. But I really doubt it is a matter of convenience that keeps people from voting, or registering to vote.
For years, I felt the same way. I wasn’t rich, and so why even bother? Rich people and richer corporations really ruled our country, I thought. What chance does one person have to be heard?
But George Bush pushed me into getting involved in 2006. I have a daughter, Aimee, who just recently finished six years as a translator in the Navy, and another, Holly, who is married to an Army soldier who has done several tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. My son James is currently a Navy satellite navigation chief on a submarine.
With Bush’s seemingly obvious disregard for our service men and women slapping one side of my face, and his buddies making record corporate profits in oil and the military industrial complex, slapping the other, I finally woke up. I had to get involved.
Now, let me put this into context. I grew up, the first generation not to be drafted, with echoes of the Vietnam War all around me. I grew up in a hippie town, Athens, Ohio—home to liberals galore, and so steeped in the 1960’s culture that The Grateful Dead stayed for an extra week after a concert, just to party.
I grew up with the television show M.A.S.H forming my complete view on war, and Alan Alda being a social hero.
So when my daughter Aimee told me she wanted to enlist, part of me died just a little. She said that she needed to do this to pay for college. George Bush had ruined my company when he got elected, with the big tech stock market crash in fall 2000, so I couldn’t help. I had to fire my 25 employees, close my offices on the main intersection of downtown Cleveland, and had lost the last bundle of cash that my ex-wife’s lawyers had allowed me to still have.
So knowing that my daughter’s situation was dire, I conceded and signed the papers. A little voice inside cried out, “I can’t believe you are going to let her serve The Man!” . Inside, I realized that I had secretly hoped for another career for her, one that hopefully included wearing tie-dyed clothing and singing Janis Joplin songs.
Six years later, she got out alive—with two babies and a husband now, but still my little girl. My daughter Holly’s husband survives, which is a focus of constant prayer. And my son James is circling North Korea as we speak, in the fifth month of a seven-month deployment.
Kind of makes those headlines come alive for me, as you might imagine.
So in the fall of 2006, I got involved. Having a media background, I was able to help out in the elections that saw Amanda Aguirre, Lynne Pancrazi and Theresa Ulmer get elected. Every single volunteer during that time should feel a great deal of pride for helping these amazing ladies, all Democrats, get elected.
And since then, with ‘The Burro’, and daily office duties at the Democratic Party’s headquarters, I have stayed involved.
But sadly, the vast majority of Yuma County residents do not feel the same way.
I often have wondered, in my 5-plus years here, what it is about Yuma that promotes such a widespread apathy about voting. And volunteering.
Of course, it’s not just politics. The apathy seems to invade every pore of daily life, in many people. Life is just slower, in every respect. I often joke that people in this town take two hours to watch ‘60 Minutes’.
I don’t know if it has anything to do with the Mexican culture, and the historical love of the siesta. Perhaps the Anglo culture should be more closely examined. After all, what can be said about a town where people gave up on their long trek across the old west, just a couple of miles short of the Promised Land of California?
You do have to give a lot of credit to the folks who turned desert into farmland, and who tamed this wilderness into what it is now. But how does such a pioneering spirit turn into unregistered voters, and voter turnouts like we saw in the last city election?
There is NO EXCUSE for voter turnout like we saw in the last election. You people that did not vote have absolutely no right to ever complain about what city council does. A whopping total of 7,668 people voted for city council, and the issues on the ballot.
That means over 25,000 registered voters in the City of Yuma did not vote!
And of course, that doesn’t even touch the amount of unregistered voting- eligible people in the City of Yuma. That number is a bit harder to determine, as I found in a recent conversation with County Recorder Susan Marler. The Federal Government keeps numbers on voter-eligible age brackets—anyone 18 or older- but it does not claim accuracy, because of the number of non-citizens that are included in those figures.
The estimated population in Yuma County in 2004 was just over 176,000. That was a ten percent increase over 2000. According to online figures, in 2005, we had over 52,000 of our residents below the voting age of 18.
That would mean we have 124,000 people in the county that are ‘of-age’ to vote. According to figures from the Arizona Democratic Party, there are just over 56,000 people registered to vote in Yuma County.
Let’s do the math together, shall we? Over 68,000 people in our county don’t care enough to even register to vote.
Our city had an estimated population in 2005 of almost 89,000 people. If the same percentages of them are of voting age as in the county, then that’s almost 63,000 people who are voter-eligible.
Which would mean that around 55,000 people in the City of Yuma don’t care enough to vote. And that they are willing to be ruled by the decisions of the less than 8000 people who do vote.
What is wrong with this picture? I know that “Back to the Future” is probably too old of a movie to reference, but please picture me pounding my forehead as I scream, “Hello, McFly!!!”
So less than 8000 people decided that your city council members should make $300 a month. They also decided your mayor should be among the most underpaid mayors in America. And that you don’t need more money for public parks, and other civic improvements.
Let’s put this local apathy in historical perspective with a widely known poem from World War II, written by a German named Pastor Martin Niemoller:
First they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Now, let’s try to make that poem more modern, more relevant. Here’s my version:
First, they ran an Oil Man for President
And I did not vote
Because I believed it wouldn’t matter.
Then the Oil Man took us into an illegal war, But I didn’t vote for Congress,
either, So my elected officials didn’t listen to my complaints.
Then thousands of people died, from my country and many others,
And it seemed like no one could stop the Oil Man, Because I still wouldn’t even register to vote.
Let me be quite blunt about this— if you are waiting for an American Revolution, and you think it will happen any other way than voting, then you are a complete idiot. Sure, our original Right to Bear Arms was meant to give us the power to overthrow a crooked government, like the one we had thrown out in the Revolutionary War (it was King George then, too, wasn’t it?). But you and I can’t buy a Stealth Bomber, or a tank.
Armed revolution in this country has absolutely no chance of succeeding. But arm yourselves with a voter registration form, and you can fire a round on Election Day that could be heard around the world.
Repeatedly, I have run ads in The Burro that say “Volunteer. Vote. Victory!” But we can’t even get volunteers to come into the office and make phone calls. And frankly, the only reason our office is open is because the State Party pays the rent. The apathy that I have detailed in recent elections extends all the way to the core of our local party.
Ask yourself, when was the last time you volunteered? Or donated? Maybe you have a special cause that you are involved in, and your time and money goes there. But what cause is more important than what kind of government we have? And who is in office?
The 2000 presidential election was lost through voter fraud in Florida, and 2004 was lost through voter fraud in Ohio. But these elections could have easily been won— by Democrats— if eligible voters had voted.
Now, there is no hint of voter fraud in Yuma, but just to illustrate the point, let’s use those numbers. Which election do you think would be easier to cheat in— the one we had, with less than 8000 votes cast, or the one where 63,000 eligible voters cast their ballots?
We have the ability in this country to elect better people, in vast majorities for every election, and sweeping across both sides of Congress. But until we start registering voters, and those voters start exercising their voting rights, we make it easy to cheat in elections. In fact, we are saying that we don’t care if they cheat. We don’t care what they do. And we don’t care who does it.
This empowers people like the Bush administration to do anything they want—keep us in a war that we hate, raise gas prices above three dollars a gallon, have health care and prescription prices soar through the roof...
Just remember— if you don’t vote, don’t come crying to me about it later.
You can register to vote by stopping into our new offices at 1600 S.4th Avenue, suite D (for Democrat), or by going to the County Recorder’s office, or online HERE. You can get an early ballot sent to your home, so you don’t even have to leave the house.
Or you can just wait until the Nazis—or Blackwater—come rolling down the street.
Maybe then people will believe that voting is not just a right— it’s a responsibility.
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