Friday, June 21, 2019

The New Era Socialist Thought

Socialism studies class division, the causes of class divisions and its effects on the people. A lot of Socialists wish to abolish all class divisions. They have seen that an unequal division of wealth causes economic class divisions, but have mistakenly attacked all class divisions.

Class divisions create hierarchies. Hierarchies are composed of many different types of classes. There are the hierarchies created by the dominant Capitalist economic system composed of rich and poor. There hierarchies in the home born of natural instincts, like parent and child. In school there students, teachers, principals, school board and such, all being part of a hierarchy. Even in social situations there will be subtle hierarchies due to the human factor of dominance and submissiveness. Take note that submissiveness is not a negative trait.

At work, and this is really important, there is a hierarchy. You who work the grind submit to it every day. A lot of you, even though you enjoy doing your skill, feel a little resentment having to submit to this. When you look at your paycheck, you feel a little bit like you may have been ripped off, don’t you. You have been all classified and placed into a notch in the machine. Your value has been calculated to the penny. How much value you create and how much of that value you get back. All of it created by your sweat and blood, created by your labor and thoughtful attention to detail. Your labor-value has been utilized to create wealth. You don’t get to have a say in it either.

There’s the problem with class and hierarchies. People don’t like it being a part of a hierarchy they have no say in. That’s why Socialists keep going on and on about having Democracy in the workplace. They say that the solution to the problem of class is to get rid of class wholesale. This is an error, and one of the causes of the failure of Socialism to take hold and Capitalism to win.

We New Era Socialists have to think of this problem in new era ways. Instead of abandoning class and hierarchies, we should think of them in a different manner. Like in the workplace, there has to be worker input into the processes. They, because their labor created the wealth, should have a say in the division of the wealth. On the boards of directors there should be people from the production floor there to advocate for them. Let there be hierarchies in the workplace, but allow the workers to have a say as to how those hierarchies function and are formed. This is the bringing of Democracy into the workplace.

The bringing of Democracy into the workplace is not the attempt to take from the owners their property. In reality it is merely the addressing of the problem of the unequal division of wealth. Addressing this problem at work would cause a transformation at home. In general, the standard of living would go up for people who are feeling kind of ripped off today when they look at their paycheck. Mostly the people on the bottom of the economic hierarchy would be affected.

One thing that would change is the notion of hierarchies. A natural hierarchy of experience would become the dominant hierarchical system. From the day we are born we look to the members of our species who have more years and experience for guidance and knowledge. It is a perfectly natural thing to do. From times of old we are told “Respect your elders.” and for good reason. Logic and reason would dictate that we should look to our people with more experience so that knowledge might be passed from one generation to the other, and thus we advance.

That regard for knowledge and experience should be present in the workplace. As the workers are allowed to vote for their advocate on the boards of a company, they would pick the person they respect for their knowledge and experience, coupled with a sense of justice and community. This would be a new hierarchy in the workplace which would form new classes of people who are more equal economically.

We have to evolve in our thinking about hierarchies. This is the New Era Socialist way of analyzing the situation. We New Era Socialists can’t be antagonists to Capitalists because that approach will get us nowhere. We have to show them that they are better off incorporating Socialist methods, like with the approach to hierarchies, than not.

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If you New Era Socialists want change there is only one way to peacefully get it under the current power structure. That way is with a massive vote of no confidence in political parties by a mass falling out of We the People from the political parties. We must all register No-Party affiliation in order to reign in political party power, and then thusly reign in their masters, the industry 1%ers.

I beg you. Go register as a non-affiliated voter right away. Watch as the political parties quake in fear as their precious voter base shrivels to nothing. They need you way more than you need them.

The political parties come and go. The Constitution lives on;

When people think in terms of Republican-v-Democrat I see a reflection of how thoroughly we have been indoctrinated.

We have got to break the current power structure, and it will not happen if we go about things as we always have. We have all got to drop out of the parties.

I'm not registered to a stupid partisan club. I am a free thinker. I dictate my own thoughts, then seek out candidates who best match that. I don't allow some ill advised compromise offered by thralls of industry. Namely the political parties.

Maybe if a political party offers some candidate who has policy that matches mine I might vote for them. No political party would be well advised to think they have my vote, or my registration in the bag. They don't own me, or my vote.

I own them, and so do you.

Here is the beginnings of an idea.

New Era Socialism is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a liberal democratic polity and capitalist economy. The protocols and norms used to accomplish this involve a commitment to representative and participatory democracy; measures for income redistribution and regulation of the economy in the general interest; and welfare state provisions. New Era Socialism thus aims to create the conditions for capitalism to lead to greater democratic, egalitarian and solidaristic outcomes.

The natural resources of energy, materials and labor should be nationalized.

Persons, companies and corporations who own mineral rights under the current system should be compensated for the loss of their claim, but only up to the date of the current owner’s death in the case of an individual, and a one time cash payout to companies and corporations.

Resource extraction companies and corporations shall be enabled to submit bids on the extraction and warehousing of the people’s resources. The lowest bidder win the award of extraction,

The currency used by the people should be backed by the value of the People’s Resource Stockpile.

The People’s Resource Stockpile would be managed by a new Department of Resources.

Private industry, government and collectives may draw resources from the People’s Resource Stockpile.

The Department of Resources sets the price of any resource extracted using guidelines set by economic objectives, and policy.

Once a resource has been purchased from the People’s Resource Stockpile, it is no longer the property of the People. Regardless of that, the People shall maintain control of the safe use and disposal of any privately or collectively owned material resource.

Nationalized labor is the way to enact a universal basic income. To enable such a thing it would be required to institute a National Labor Force. Any person may, using only their free will, apply for employment in the National Labor Force. Any business or corporation may apply for labor from the National Labor Force, The National Labor Force shall be in competition with the private labor market.

All persons would be eligible for inclusion in the basic income program, but with conditions. There shall be levels of support which are dictated by the person’s activities in the National Labor Force.

Any person may obtain a minimum basic income by merely applying for it and showing need (set conditions). The basic income would be financed through the sale of materials and energy in the People’s Resource Stockpile. The minimum basic income should provide the proper level of subsistence which would maintain health and vitality in body and mind.

Any person who applies and is put on the list of available labor shall receive a premium above the basic stipend. There should be additions to the basic income to promote participation in the National Labor Force. There should be longevity bonuses and educational bonuses paid in addition to the basic income. There should also be taken into account the level of hazard, and a premium paid for that.

Companies, corporations and government entities who make use of the National Labor Force shall maintain a level of safety, and human factors consideration, in the workplace as dictated by the National Labor Force. Private industry that employs labor from the private labor market shall not undercut the minimum price of labor set by the National Labor Force because labor is a national resource.

Monies collected from the sale of the People’s resources shall grant the greatest benefit to We the People. These monies shall pay the private industry who won the bid to extract, and for cleanup. These monies shall provide for the Basic Universal Income. They shall provide for Universal Healthcare. The money collected from the sales of the people’s resources should be used also for remediation of environmental damages already caused.

All resources of energy and materials where ever they may be found in their natural state must be included in nationalization. Resources within our sphere of influence on and off the Earth must be owned by We the People in fact, and not just in theory.

This isn't simple. I would be disrespecting you if I did not share more. So here you are, for what it is worth.

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New Era Socialist Solutions

I'm sick of half measures and failed dreams. I am a Baby Boomer and a Child of the Apollo era. I grew up on the Florida North coast and witnessed Gemini and Apollo rockets blasting their way into orbit and to the moon. I have memories of all of my family sitting around that primitive B&W TV set in awe as humans set foot on the moon! I remember the words as Neil Armstrong uttered the words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

We had big dreams back then. Everyone thought that by the year 2000 there would be civilization on Mars and bases on the moon. Things didn't turn out that way. Our giant leap for mankind turned out to be a giant leap for proving our technological superiority over the USSR. Once that was done, the ball was dropped. Nixon halted the Apollo program with 2 missions worth of hardware gone to waste. What a disappointment!

July 20, 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing by Apollo. It has been half a century since this awesome feat. Something the world took part in. Could you try to imagine what our reality would be if we had of never stopped with the momentum we had gained during Apollo? Look at the technological spin-offs that has come from Apollo and the other space missions. Our lives would be profoundly different if we had of continued the effort to take the moon for all humankind.

When President Kennedy said "we do it because it is hard." it was extremely hard. We didn't know how we would pull it off. We had to make everything from scratch. The computers of that era were very primitive compared to today’s models. Our engineers were cutting things so close, when the Eagle landed there was only 9 seconds of fuel remaining. Our knowledge was lacking then, but the situation has changed significantly since the early days of NASA. Now our technological base is pretty solid. We have the means to follow through on the dream created by Apollo.

We not only have the means, but we also have vastly more knowledge about our situation in space and the resources that could be had. What we need now is the national will to get the greatest migration of the human species ever attempted going. It has to be as important, if not more, than the effort to win WWII.

When we get to a point of maturity in this endeavor, a system of processes serving humanity involving off world energy and material resources would have been created. A lot of pressing problems will be solved as we go. In order to solve our problems using the systems we create we’ll have to think of these things in a different manner. Like the idea of a universal income. The realization of a national priority program of off world colonization/expansion (OWE) and industrialization would require a massive amount of labor. Labor who are highly educated would be required. Skills of all kinds would be needed. It would also require the harvesting of off world resources of materials and energy.

During the height of the Apollo there were 400,000 people employed in that program. Some people believe that off world colonization shouldn’t happen until we fix our problems here on Earth. Then in 2008-09 our people bailed out ingrate bankers and Wall Street money manipulators to the tune of $16 trillion. For that kind of money we could have had over 90 Apollo size projects going at the same time and from start to finish! Now you’re talking jobs. Millions and millions of badly needed jobs would certainly be created while building the 21st Century infrastructure. With that kind of tax base going, and coupled with proper taxation of the rich, all of our people could be cared for.

We would have to create something like a National Labor Force (NLF). We could also create a Universal Basic Income (UBI) that would work with the NLF. Any citizen in need would have a right to apply for the UBI and/or the NLF. If a person applies for the UBI they would receive a basic income that would maintain a healthy mind and body. If a person who is in the UBI program, or any other citizen who wishes to, applies for work in the NLF they would receive a higher income than the UBI. Any business may apply to hire labor from the NLF. The NLF would primarily be focused on Off World Expansion. As a person gains time served in the NLF, and in consideration of educational goals met, also considering the element of danger involved with an assignment, the NLF worker would receive premiums in pay as incentive and in recognition of these things. No privately held business would be legally able to undercut wages, conditions of employment or human factors set by the NLF.

Our citizen NLF/OWE pioneers would be the creators of a new civilization. As we go we’ll gain experience and knowledge. The human sphere of influence then will be as different 200 years from now because of it as it was different before the transition to industrialization. Pollution problems from industrial wastes of toxic substances and gasses can be largely eliminated by moving large industrial processes off world. New territories can be opened up for people go and live on Mars and the moon. NLF workers could e incentivized by giving title to a plot of land on Mars, good for the life of the person. After that it should pass to the next intrepid pioneer.

This is something real. We have SpaceX and the SLS. We can get this going in a big way if only people would say, let’s do it. I’m tired of politicians with no vision. I’m tired of politicians with just enough vision not to make any waves, or controversy over good issues. This is a good issue, but for far too long we have let the naysayers prevail. That must come to an end. Take Bernie Sanders for instance. It is good that he promotes rebuilding the earthly infrastructure, but he doesn’t go far enough. It is in disrepair and needing upgrading. After we put millions of people to work on that we’ll come to a point in time when all the rebuilding, repairing and upgrading will be caught up. What happens then? Lay off millions of people?

Why not do this? Put people through a program administered by Job Corps, in cooperation with NASA and other industry like SpaceX, which would have the end goal of producing the skilled labor needed for the OWE. As the Earth infrastructure is brought up to 21st century standards, we can start the push for the OWE, and be well underway when the Earth based infrastructure is caught up. All these people who worked on the Earth based systems can then be diverted to the OWE, if they so choose. This would be the start of an infrastructure program that would be truly without limit, and be boundless in opportunity for new expression of the human presence.

So far I just don’t see many people pushing anything revolutionary like this. There are plenty of good people willing to poke their thoughts out of the box a little, but not near far enough. We need to start thinking completely out of the box if we have any hope of reversing the damages done to our progress and environment.

Friday, April 12, 2019

New Era Socialist Solutions


I'm sick of half measures and failed dreams. I am a Baby Boomer and a Child of the Apollo era. I grew up on the Florida North coast and witnessed Gemini and Apollo rockets blasting their way into orbit and to the moon. I have memories of all of my family sitting around that primitive B&W TV set in awe as humans set foot on the moon! I remember the words as Neil Armstrong uttered the words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

We had big dreams back then. Everyone thought that by the year 2000 there would be civilization on Mars and bases on the moon. Things didn't turn out that way. Our giant leap for mankind turned out to be a giant leap for proving our technological superiority over the USSR. Once that was done, the ball was dropped. Nixon halted the Apollo program with 2 missions worth of hardware gone to waste. What a disappointment!

July 20, 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing by Apollo. It has been half a century since this awesome feat. Something the world took part in. Could you try to imagine what our reality would be if we had of never stopped with the momentum we had gained during Apollo? Look at the technological spin-offs that has come from Apollo and the other space missions. Our lives would be profoundly different if we had of continued the effort to take the moon for all humankind.

When president Kennedy said "we do it because it is hard.", it was extremely hard. We didn't know how we would pull it off. We had to make everything from scratch.

When President Kennedy said "we do it because it is hard." it was extremely hard. We didn't know how we would pull it off. We had to make everything from scratch. The computers of that era were very primitive compared to today’s models. Our engineers were cutting things so close, when the Eagle landed there was only 9 seconds of fuel remaining. Our knowledge was lacking then, but the situation has changed significantly since the early days of NASA. Now our technological base is pretty solid. We have the means to follow through on the dream created by Apollo.

We not only have the means, but we also have vastly more knowledge about our situation in space and the resources that could be had. What we need now is the national will to get the greatest migration of the human species ever attempted going. It has to be as important, if not more, than the effort to win WWII.


When we get to a point of maturity in this endeavor, a system of processes serving humanity involving off world energy and material resources would have been created. A lot of pressing problems will be solved as we go. In order to solve our problems using the systems we create we’ll have to think of these things in a different manner. Like the idea of a universal income. The realization of a national priority program of off world colonization/expansion (OWE) and industrialization would require a massive amount of labor. Labor who are highly educated would be required. Skills of all kinds would be needed. It would also require the harvesting of off world resources of materials and energy.

During the height of the Apollo there were 400,000 people employed in that program. Some people believe that off world colonization shouldn’t happen until we fix our problems here on Earth. Then in 2008-09 our people bailed out ingrate bankers and Wall Street money manipulators to the tune of $16 trillion. For that kind of money we could have had over 90 Apollo size projects going at the same time and from start to finish! Now you’re talking jobs. Millions and millions of badly needed jobs would certainly be created while building the 21st Century infrastructure. With that kind of tax base going, and coupled with proper taxation of the rich, all of our people could be cared for.

We would have to create something like a National Labor Force (NLF). We could also create a Universal Basic Income (UBI) that would work with the NLF. Any citizen in need would have a right to apply for the UBI and/or the NLF. If a person applies for the UBI they would receive a basic income that would maintain a healthy mind and body. If a person who is in the UBI program, or any other citizen who wishes to, applies for work in the NLF they would receive a higher income than the UBI. Any business may apply to hire labor from the NLF. The NLF would primarily be focused on Off World Expansion. As a person gains time served in the NLF, and in consideration of educational goals met, also considering the element of danger involved with an assignment, the NLF worker would receive premiums in pay as incentive and in recognition of these things. No privately held business would be legally able to undercut wages, conditions of employment or human factors set by the NLF.


Our citizen NLF/OWE pioneers would be the creators of a new civilization. As we go we’ll gain experience and knowledge. The human sphere of influence then will be as different 200 years from now because of it as it was different before the transition to industrialization. Pollution problems from industrial wastes of toxic substances and gasses can be largely eliminated by moving large industrial processes off world. New territories can be opened up for people go and live on Mars and the moon. NLF workers could e incentivized by giving title to a plot of land on Mars, good for the life of the person. After that it should pass to the next intrepid pioneer.

This is something real. We have SpaceX and the SLS. We can get this going in a big way if only people would say, let’s do it. I’m tired of politicians with no vision. I’m tired of politicians with just enough vision not to make any waves, or controversy over good issues. This is a good issue, but for far too long we have let the naysayers prevail. That must come to an end. Take Bernie Sanders for instance. It is good that he promotes rebuilding the earthly infrastructure, but he doesn’t go far enough.  It is in disrepair and needing upgrading.  After we put millions of people to work on that we’ll come to a point in time when all the rebuilding, repairing and upgrading will be caught up. What happens then? Lay off millions of people?

Why not do this? Put people through a program administered by Job Corps, in cooperation with NASA and other industry like SpaceX, which would have the end goal of producing the skilled labor needed for the OWE. As the Earth infrastructure is brought up to 21st century standards, we can start the push for the OWE, and be well underway when the Earth based infrastructure is caught up. All these people who worked on the Earth based systems can then be diverted to the OWE, if they so choose. This would be the start of an infrastructure program that would be truly without limit, and be boundless in opportunity for new expression of the human presence.

So far I just don’t see many people pushing anything revolutionary like this. There are plenty of good people willing to poke their thoughts out of the box a little, but not near far enough. We need to start thinking completely out of the box if we have any hope of reversing the damages done to our progress and environment. Who will step up? I would follow a person with such vision for the future.


Sunday, December 9, 2018

Wisconsin & Michigan GOP Prove Party's Contempt for Voters

It is lousy, scheming, underhanded tricks like this that further reinforce my belief that the presence of political parties in government has become toxic to the principals of Liberty, Equality and Community.

The political parties are so obsessed with having/keeping power that no means is unsavory enough to be withheld in their pursuit of their selfish ends. The partisans, and without honor, attempt to use the processes of government to usurp the authority of the voting public. Let us consider that if the Republican party in Wisconsin had came out on top during the 2018 midterm elections that they would not be advancing bills that diminish the power of the governor. You can bet that if their dirty trick works other partisans in other states will attempt the same thing. You can be also be assured that if their dirty trick don’t work that they’ll spend a lot of effort coming up with another trick. When they craft another scheme, they’ll employ it.

All of the parties use the functions and processes of government to solidify their hold on power. When the voting public place partisans into public office the partisans will immediately begin to scheme up ways of keeping power, and removing power from the other partisan political bodies. This cycle goes back and forth, each time diminishing the power of We the People. So what to do? The states and parties who control the governments have proven that they can not be trusted with such awesome powers as dictating election law. They have proven by their actions that they will use the machinery of government to take power from you and me if it serves them and their corporate masters.

The thing to do is to remove power from all political parties. To remove power from political parties We the People must register as “No Party”, and do it in mass. We the People must be the ultimate nonpartisans. We the People can give a vote of no confidence in parties by dropping out of them. Abandon them like you would any abusive relationship. Refuse to take the abuse.

We the People should cause all states to have the same elections laws by adopting a System of Uniform Voter & Election Laws (SUVEL). Have all states and territories elections be brought under SUVAL, and increase the authority of the Federal Elections Commission so that they may monitor the states and enforce SUVAL.

One item of extreme importance that should be included in the SUVAL is, all citizens are automatically registered to vote when they reach the age of 18. The political parties would use the government machine to attempt to crush any such change because it would destroy the partisan voter registration system which props up their hold on government. Any attempt to crush an automatic voter registration system being implemented is proof of party contempt for the citizens. It would be further proof of charges made here in previous paragraphs.

If our nation implemented automatic voter registration, all voters would automatically be registered as “No Party” because no government, or person can choose who you associate with. I seriously doubt that once people are automatically registered to vote that they would go the extra step to declare party affiliation so they might vote in a party primary. It would be more likely that the political parties, while they still hold power and before these changes cause their power to diminish much, would clamor for open primaries in all states, and/or attempt to reverse automatic voter registration.

We can not allow the partisan thralls of corporations to withhold power from We the People by the criminal misuse of our governmental systems and processes. We the People must never tolerate political parties, persons, or entities to take our rightful power. The start is, We MUST ALL DROP OUT OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES and be the Ultimate Nonpartisans.

Earth's Tree of Life is Humanities Charge: It Must Survive

They say that there may have been life on Mars early in that planet's history. If that is true we should gain one vital message from that reality. That message being, just because there is life on a planet now doesn't mean that there will be life on the same planet later. Earth is a planet with life on it now.

Some people comfort themselves with thoughts of humans being favored by a creator being. Some people believe that death isn’t an issue because of a promised afterlife. Some people don’t believe in notions of gods and afterlives, but could care less anyway. They say to themselves “I’ll be dead then anyway, so who gives a crap?” Whatever the case, the humans rationalized keeping doing the things they have been always doing. Things that seem to not be working out to well. Things like the mass killing of other species, even unto extinction. The digging into the Earth, the scraping of the surface for materials of all kinds, with utter abandon. The pouring out of substances that are toxic to living creatures into the waters and the air, without restraint. But people comfort themselves.

It is as if we humans all have decided to party down and eat it all. To intoxicate ourselves with over consumption to the point of our collective death. Who cares, right? Live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself. We got plans to deal with the problems. Just today I read of a scheme to spray substances into the air to block out the rays of the sun. Some kind of sulfur compound I believe they said. So we’re saved! We can continue to burn baby, burn. We’ll just cool things down by spraying even more crap into the atmosphere.

Knock, knock, knock! HELLO! Is anyone home? We have no idea if such a scheme to mitigate the damages (heating) to our ecosystem would work. Doing such a thing could cause more damages than they fix.

There is one thing we do know will work. Stop doing what we’ve been doing. Stop doing things like the mass killing of other species, even unto extinction. The digging into the Earth, the scraping of the surface for materials of all kinds, with utter abandon. The pouring out of substances that are toxic to living creatures into the waters and the air, without restraint. Just don’t do that. You want the Earth to end up like Mars?

We need to be doing everything possible to ensure the long term survival of this Earth’s Tree of Life. We, as creatures that are a part of that tree and who have evolved into intellectual beings, are responsible for the survival of the Earth born Tree of Life. Not only that, we have become the means to spread Earth’s life throughout the cosmos. If we do not do that, we will have failed our Tree of Life.

Isn’t that what successful life always tries to do, spread out? Look at life on Earth. We have found life in the deepest caves and tunnels. We have found life of all kinds everywhere. Even humans have spread out to occupy even the most harsh of environments. Just like a colony of cells in a petri dish spreading out to consume all the nutrients and take up all the room, humans have spread out all over the surface of the Earth. They have even made an effort  to spread upwards.

We have to do that spreading out, and the preserving of the petri dish of Earth’s Tree of Life, which is the the planet. If we don’t, the Earth will one day resemble Mars. There may be ruins that last for several eons, but even the most sturdy of human constructs will eventually crumble into dust. Then the human oblivion will be had. The Earth would be merely another nameless planet around a nameless star in the vast infinity of time and space.

There very well may be other planets out there with there own tree of life. There may be intelligent creatures in those other trees of life. They may be creatures that are not ruled by self gratification. They may be intelligent creatures with a single minded purpose, to spread out and to consume. To occupy more space and to spread their own tree of life. You can be most assured, when one tree of life intelligence detects another, there will be consequences. In time one tree of life intelligence detects a threat from another, or detects that the other tree of life may be consumed. We should be doing everything in our power to ensure that the Earth’s Tree of Life is not the consumed. That means spreading out.

We just had a climate assessment issued that didn’t paint a very pretty picture for the future of life on this planet. The response from our gluttonous leaders was extremely anemic. I guess they don’t care if the Earth one day looks like Mars. After all, they will be dead by then enjoying an eternal afterlife, or not.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Robots & Universal Basic Income

I hate this kind of development. Robots shouldn't be allowed to do some human jobs. Like this flippy or the check out line at the store. Give the robots hazardous jobs. They can go flip something in an environment humans can't go. Otherwise flipping burgers is not a good reason to put humans on the street and in poverty.

They said that automation would free humans from drudgery. That is true in a lot of ways, but the freedom from drudgery isn't so sweet when you can't pay your bills, or buy groceries to feed your kids.

Either prohibit robots from doing some jobs, or enact a Universal Basic Income (UBI) to compensate our hard working humans who have been displaced by machines. Place a tax on the Hours of Operation of robotic workers to help pay for the UBI. Nationalize all natural resources of materials and energy to help pay for the UBI.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

The Sacred Honor of our Founders Sacrificed to Partisanship

I want other people to be my friend. I just don't want to have to earn friendship by being a phoney. I also don't want to have pretend friendships by nodding the head in agreement to everything said. I realize I'm not going to agree with everyone, and everyone isn't going to agree with me. I accept that I can not be a friend to everyone, but I can still treat them with respect as long as the respect is mutual.

That mutual respect seems to be missing in today's atmosphere of hyper-partisanship. You have to pick a side. There is no middle ground. You either think like me, walk like me, look like me, say the same things as me, or you are the enemy. That is not a very good way for humans to interact. It only leads to conflict.

I will not knowingly be manipulated by a person and call them my friend. That is no friend because they are trying to forcefully extract something from me through the manipulation. No one bothers to attempt to manipulate someone already in compliance. If something is good there is no need for manipulation, only presentation. Present to me a good argument and I'll in good faith, using logic and reason so much as I'm able, consider it. Attempt to manipulate me into compliance and I'll resist it.

I think some people were blinded by the noble goal. They wanted what they wanted at any cost. The ends justified the means. In the process honor and respect where abandoned. People started doing the same thing, employing the same methods, as the people they felt oppressed by. Supporting one person over the other was no longer something done out of agreement with policy to them. The support of the opposing candidate was now a hostile act done to keep someone else down, they thought, or were manipulated into thinking. Policy was not the major factor in a choice, but rather superficial characteristics became the major deciding factor. For some people, if a person supported someone without the superficial characteristics of the person they supported it wasn't out of a respect for policy. It was because they hated the superficial characteristics.

That caused another partisanship. A partisanship not of political origin, but rather of gender and race. Respect for our Constitutional rights to choose were thrown by the wayside as unimportant. Only the goal mattered. If a person wasn't on the right side of partisanship, they became the scapegoat of a failed cause. Two sides could be in agreement on everything, but for some people if the superficial characteristics were absent every agreement between them became the least important thing.

I think this is a giant problem. It is not how an enlightened people should go about business. What ever happened to the disdain of having to "choose between two evils"? Ever since I was old enough to understand speech I have heard people elude to that in disgust. Nowadays you have to choose an evil or else you're looked as the enemy. If you don't choose the same evil as me, then it is all your fault when our evil doesn't win, they say. In reality, it is because of the evil that evil wins.

I'll never support someone because of superficial characteristics. I'll never support a position just to get cozy with someone or a group. I'll not be a part of a cult of personality. I'll never knowingly be manipulated into supporting someone or some thing that I feel is wrong, or not honorable. If I did, I would would lose respect for myself. I would have to jump through mental hoops trying to justify a support of something I really didn't support. How could I expect anyone to respect me if I were to do that? How could I expect anyone to respect me if I don't even respect myself?

I've went through this entire exercise without the mention of any names. I haven't pointed a finger at a single person. I did that on purpose. My goal with writing this is not to blame a person, but to blame an idea. The idea of supporting people because of superficial characteristics, and nothing else matters.

You readers can make of this what you will. For some people, as they read, names will come to mind. Some people will read this and still be offended because of being blinded by the goal.

I'll mention one name now as an example. This is not to say that this writing is about that one person. It just illustrates an extreme example of the partisan manipulation.

Once I was watching on TV a Trump rally. A lady said "If you don't support Trump, I'll punch you in the face." That had nothing to do with respecting the rights our Founders pledged their "Sacred Honor" to obtain. That is the most extreme type of example, but it was there on many levels and among all sides.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Don't End Funding of the International Space Station, Expand It

It is short sighted to end funding of the ISS and counter to the best interests of the people of Earth. It shows how the priorities of our nation's leaders is not in the best interests of the American people, or of the world in general.

Instead of abandoning this orbital station, it should be boosted into geosynchronous orbit and expanded on. It should be improved and additions made for the servicing and refueling of satellites and outbound spacecraft.

 Ending the ISS Support

The article says that it costs NASA $3 to $4 billion each year, and so far represents a $87 billion investment by the taxpayers. Let us compare costs and benefits. It is costing the American people approximately $8 billion a year in subsidies to the oil industry. We could fund the ISS for 2 years for every 1 year we end oil industry subsidies. Along with that oil subsidies cost comes massive environmental degradation. With proper funding and utilization of the ISS our nation could end the oil industry stranglehold on our civilization. We could expand our jobs base with the expansion of the ISS and new missions opened up through the OWE.

What about tax breaks for billionaires? It has been said it will cost our nation's taxpayers $1.5 trillion to pay for these massive tax breaks. That is enough money to fund our share of the international cost for the next 187.5 years, or enough to expand our total share 17 times. In other words, to add to the ISS expansions 17 times over what we've already put into it.

Of course all of that will require many skilled hands on and off Earth. That directly translates into more jobs for our people. Better jobs that require the best educated population we can produce. We need to have national priority projects of such a magnitude and purpose. The problems solved for the human race are many and time is growing ever shorter. We can not kick this can down the road any longer.

Support the OWE! Tell all of your friends. Get them to understand the extreme importance of the OWE. Make them understand it is a life and death matter. Communicate with your congresspersons. Tell them you demand this paradigm shift in our entire civilization. We OWE it to ourselves, and to them who come after us. We can be looked upon by future people as the ones who saved humanity, or the ones who caused the fall. The choice is ours to make, but we better make it real soon.

 The OWE