Useful Idiots Are Still Useful

There are a lot of smug, self-righteous folks out there — I hope not but maybe some right here reading this — who like to look down their noses at what they call “sheeple”.

Tellingly, if we are really honest with ourselves, at one time or another and to a greater or lesser degree, we’ve all been sheeple. We’ve gone with the flow. Gone along to get along. Yes, I’m embarrassed to say, I have too.

What am I supposed to take from that?

The hardest thing for me, as a very smart person, with a smart mouth, and a smart aleck attitude, to learn and fully internalize has been this:

Don’t judge.

Of course, there are situations and people all of the time which require a “judgment call”. Should I trust this person? Is that guy over there yelling at the top of his lungs about UFOs dangerous? Is this politician focused on getting my vote telling the truth or blowing smoke?

What I mean by ‘don’t judge’ is simple. Don’t make final declarations which cut you off from any further understanding or appreciation, whether it’s about a person or a circumstance.

Sheeple, for example.

The idiom implies that such people are incapable of thinking for themselves, that they purely are followers. The herd sleeps, they sleep. The herd chews on grass, they chew on grass. The herd runs into the chute to their slaughter, they run into the chute to their slaughter.

There’s some truth to that. But the fact is, we all do this. Anybody out there wearing their pants backwards or answering the phone by reciting Shakespearean couplets? Any of you celebrate your last birthday by playing the drum solo from In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida naked at the bottom of an empty swimming pool? 

We all do a lot of things in concert with others. We go to concerts and sing along with the chorus to our favorite songs. By the millions we watch the same TV shows, laugh at the same jokes, cry at the same tragedies, sit like hypnotized lumps taking in the daily news, then say the same things everyone else is saying about the same scandals.

And the undeniable truth is, sometimes it feels great being part of some “community” of people doing the same thing. Is anyone going to tell me that tens of thousands of people packing into a stadium or millions of people glued to the boob tube, watching grown men — very big grown men — battle to cart what looks like a leather melon to the end of a grassy rectangle, that’s asserting individuality and true independent thinking?

Rah rah rah. More beer! Yay!

Don’t judge.

Let me take this to another level.

‘Useful idiot’ is another phrase I’ve been giving serious thought to.

I watched a couple videos the other day, then shared them with a few trusted friends. They were appalled. They’re not speaking to me now.

Okay, what could be so offensive other than a porn movie featuring Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and a freshly disemboweled chimpanzee?

If you think you can handle it, here are two of a whole series of YouTube videos by a minor-genius video blogger by the name of Mark Dice.

The Common Sense Test

Talking With Californians

Yes, really it’s difficult. I keep telling myself: Don’t judge. Don’t judge.

Okay . . . if I don’t judge, what then? What exactly do I do?

First, some perspective. 

Our heralded democratic system is a great leveler. Every person in those videos, the ones who didn’t know why we celebrate the 4th of July and those who don’t know what country Mount Rushmore is in, has the right to vote. And here’s a truly sobering fact . . . EACH OF THEIR VOTES counts exactly the same as EACH OF OUR VOTES. 

Hey, it’s right there in the Constitution! One person, one vote. This is democracy in action, folks! Equality in the voting booth is the oxygen of our amazing political system! Ladies and gentlemen and everyone in between, this is SO INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL . . . I can’t stop crying! 

[ 42 minutes later: It’s taken a while, but I’ve finally gotten a grip and will now continue with my touching article. ]

Political activists are always asking: how can we get people involved, how can we get them engaged, how can we get them to vote, be a part of the solution instead of a part of the problem? That means everyone! Even the sheeple in the videos deserve to have a voice, right?

I’m simplifying but . . .

“Dude! I got some great reefer! If you vote for Bernie Sanders, man I’ll get you so high, you’ll meet Jim Morrison.”

“Hey, you are one fine-looking babe! How would you like $18,000? Tell you what, if you vote for this peace candidate, Theresa Treehugger, I’ll get you your money!”

Ridiculous? Actually, here’s the deal. Either we do it or someone else will. And then it will look like . . .

“Let’s make America great again! F*ck the Mexicans. F*ck the Muslims. Kill the Chinese. Kill the Russians.”

Make no mistake about it: USEFUL IDIOTS ARE STILL USEFUL!

To really make you understand and appreciate how important this is, here’s my final thought. Someone in some elevated seat of power, someone with the money and resources to completely shape the future of your world, is thinking that very thing . . .

AND LOOKING AT YOU!

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Useful Idiots Are Still Useful | John Rachel

John Rachel Is A Tedious Bore!

 

I just looked at my last five posts and they are all about the same topic.

Listen, folks.  I truly get it.  A lot of people think I'm becoming a tedious bore.

But they're wrong!  I've always been a tedious bore.  Sometimes I'm able to disguise it better than others, dress up my dull, monotonous discursives a bit with some clever photo -- like the pandering photo to the right.

But I can hear the recent cries of anguish from my readers.

"Jesus H. Christ!  Yet another article on candidate contracts?  Is this guy a one-trick pony?"

Actually, the last time I checked I had thousands of tricks.  The thing is, two in particular stand out spectacularly from the rest.  So maybe I'm a two-trick pony?

These particular two stand out, because as far as I can see, both of them offer necessary tactics and solutions to the existential threat ripping our nation apart.  It's one huge, ugly monster with two heads:  Autocratic rule by a rich and powerful elite and psychotic levels of militarism and imperial aggression.

It's been a real interesting ride these last five years trying to promote candidate contracts and the Peace Dividend refund concept, both targeting the oligarchy's sinister, iron-fisted authoritarian grip on our politics -- and just about everything else -- and the creation of a military/security state to further tighten and reinforce that grip on the American citizenry and any other country which holds valuable resources ripe for plunder.

I've made my case in three books, and literally hundreds of articles.  With this much time invested, and a firm belief that despite a lack of much encouragement I'm onto something of value and positive potential, I'm not giving up.  Sometimes you go with your gut.

Both the candidate contract strategy and Peace Dividend concept have had more than their share of detractors.  Yet I forge on like a punch-drunk old boxer because no one -- NO ONE -- has come up with anything resembling a coherent, decisive reason why either of these detailed battle plans is not viable, why they're dead ends, why they're lost causes, why I should pack it in and live in a Yurt with some nomadic tribe in Mongolia.

I'm serious!  Any criticism dances around them like they're made of depleted uranium.

I get self-assured quips like:  "It'll never happen."  Wow!  That crushed five years of hard work in a single blow.

Or:  "I don't like contracts."  Which is a semi-literate version of, "Your idea sucks, dude!"

One very famous activist -- I won't name him because everyone who would bother to read this knows this guy -- ripped my book, Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy to shreds.  I'll give him credit for putting a lot of time into his demolition project.  He sent me a long email listing in great detail seven flaws in my approach.  The only problem was, not one of the seven things he targeted were even in my book!  I am dead serious.  Not a single one of the seven gaping holes in my plan were in my plan.  As I suspect happens a lot, he saw 'candidate contracts', then proceeded to dissect what he thought a candidate contract strategy would be about.  Talk about arrogant posturing.  And this guy is very famous!  Progressives from all over flock to his side for his sage advice.  God help us!

I beg people to give me constructive criticism, any kind of criticism, a bombshell that takes my ideas out like they'd just been hit by a MOAB.  Hey, put me out of my misery!  I've got four novels I'd much rather be working on.  PLEASE!  Give me your best shot.  Deliver me from all this yelling in an anechoic chamber at ghosts who are hologram doppelgangers for activists in a coma.

I'm still waiting.  How many articles have I written here, at OpEdNews, The Greanville Post?  Hundreds!  Now go through the comments.  A lot of the real critical stuff is self-aggrandizing bloviating, the rest irrefutable evidence that either they didn't read the article, or they must have put their brains in a fruit blender before they tried to read it, because obviously they didn't understand anything of what I was saying.

Often I've thought:  Maybe it's you, John.  Maybe you're not expressing yourself very clearly and that's why people don't get it.  (I spend a lot of time alone, so it's not that unusual for me to talk to myself, though usually it's a little more upbeat than this.)

The result has been the vast output of a variety of articles, each coming from a slightly different place, offering a different pitch, trying to find that magic winning formula for getting the ideas across.  I've even resorted to doing videos, despite the fact that if I had the money, the first thing I'd do is hire an actor with a great voice and reality show-host good looks to deliver a more seductive version of the message.

Mind you, I have a phenomenal life here in Japan.  Except for the gnawing aggravation and frustration associated with my long-distance dedication to activism, I live a fairy tale life in a beautiful, traditional, rural community situated between Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto -- each one of those comes with its own distinct personality and host of urban attractions.  My beautiful, talented Japanese wife and I travel extensively, with her showing me the splendors of this fascinating country which I now embrace as my home.

But when I look back at the "homeland", I want to scream!  What has happened to the U.S. is a nightmare of a nightmare of a nervous breakdown.  In my worst moments, I see the whole world -- including my charming town -- being plunged into a nuclear holocaust, a war driven by pride, hubris, arrogance, ignorance, insensitivity, delusion, demagoguery, pathological levels of disregard for decency and human life.  In my better moments -- fewer and farther between these days -- I just see America being consigned to the septic tank of history, plunged into the dank, degrading stink hole of a Dark Ages Redux.

But there's three compelling reason why I'll continue pushing -- at least for a while -- my two apparently incomprehensible strategies.

1. There's a pivotal election coming up.  Forget about 2020.  We might not even make it to 2020.  A lot depends on whether the accelerating implosion of our country and the decline of the fortunes of everyday people continues, or finally meets its Waterloo.  It's up to us and that's why I keep fighting.
2. Very recently I've had some encouraging breakthroughs.  One gentleman in Scranton, Pennsylvania bought 20 print copies of my Peace Dividend book, handed them out to all of his friends and fell0w-activists.  Now they regularly discuss the strategy in their peace planning sessions.
3. I am now on the board of a activist organization called Citizens Against Plutocracy.  This small group of dedicated progressives and its sister organization, Revolt Against Plutocracy, are actively promoting my candidate contract strategy, under the rubric CFAR, which stands for Contract For American Renewal.

[Author stops, spots a frog stuck to the window next to his chair, prompting him to reflect:  Is this as tedious as I think it is?  Maybe I should wrap this up.  Ah!  I'll throw in the old non-sequitur.  That always gets them where the rubber meets the cerebellum!]

1st Rule of Fight Club:  Don't talk about fight club.

1st Rule of Propaganda:  Repeat lies so often people eventually believe them.

1st Rule of Activism:  Repeat truth so often people start paying attention.

Alright, enough.  My mind spilleth over . . . and it's a mess.

Having said all of the foregoing -- are you still with me? . . . doubtful but as a tedious bore, I'm used to rejection -- I'm going to take a short break.  The next two or three articles will not be hard-core political but family-friendly fluff.

Just because I can.

Or is it by popular demand?


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



John Rachel Is A Tedious Bore!

Mobilization Without Method Is Meaningless

 

Everyone knows this expression:  There was method to his madness.

What does it mean?  It means that regardless of how crazy the person acted, no matter how much he appeared to be nuts, behind that facade there was a solid plan, and that plan presumably resulted in successfully achieving what he set out to achieve.

It is this sense of 'method' I'm referring to in the title of this essay.

If there is any doubt about my message, here it is:  To mobilize people behind any cause, regardless of how worthy that cause is, regardless of how intrinsically appealing it may be to get these folks marching, singing, chanting, shouting for that cause, if there is no clear strategy which targets an equally clear and obvious outcome, with a realistic expectation that the strategy will achieve that outcome, then the mobilization is a waste of time.

I didn't say it wasn't fun or satisfying.  I didn't say it didn't have notable and perhaps positive collateral effects.  But I am saying that anyone who thinks that mobilization is some guarantee of making substantial change and achieving desired reforms is surely kidding themselves.

This is why, despite being the biggest mass movement in recent history, OWS completely failed.  Spokespersons for OWS will say it didn't fail at all, because it had no preconceived agenda or goals.  But that is a frivolous cop out.  By the time OWS went international and 'occupy' was attached to everything from towns to shopping malls, labor unions, and even Facebook, there was certainly a goal.  It may not have appeared on any official documents, but that was because as an experiment in unstructured, horizontal command-and-control, married to spontaneous democratic expression, any attempt at formalizing anything at all was discouraged and successfully thwarted.

Nevertheless, it was evident to everyone who watched the marches, read the protest signs, listened to the speeches, or was constantly bombarded by the most successful, ubiquitous meme to erupt in colloquial English in the last five decades -- the 1% vs the 99% -- exactly what all of the brouhaha was about.

In the broader sense, it was about the ruling class -- the 1% -- forcing its elitist world view and self-serving agenda on everyone else -- the 99% -- using their privilege and raw power to callously and ruthlessly turn everyday people into serfs.

In a more specific sense, it was about overwhelming, abusive, and anti-democratic wealth inequality.  It was hardly random that the movement was started in the heart of America's financial district and the anger and vilification was directed at incomprehensibly wealthy investment bankers and Wall Street high-rollers.

Of course, any thoughtful exploration of these two parallel themes -- monopoly on power and obscene accumulation of wealth -- would naturally conclude that they are inextricably related and mutually reinforcing.  Not that there was much analysis going on.  The OWS protests were pretty much an 'it's-us-against-them' affair, with lots of noise and bluster, but with absolutely nothing remotely resembling a grab for power anywhere in sight.

Thus, in terms of specific demands, it was quite common for news commentators to ask:  What do the protestors want?

This was a legitimate if mostly rhetorical question.  As a matter of record, there were no actual demands aired by the movement, much less tacit undercurrents of a coup d'etat.

There weren't any coherent demands, no specific policy proposals, not even obvious ones.  It wouldn't have been out of place, as an example, to at least talk about GBI -- guaranteed basic income -- as a conspicuous path to begin addressing the grotesque level of wealth inequality.

There were no hard and fast calls for student debt forgiveness, free college education, mortgage default relief, capping credit card interest rates, free access to universal health care, and a host of other palliatives which would have somewhat reduced the wealth gap.

This is not a criticism of OWS or anyone who bobbled up, even if temporarily, from the rank-and-file to take credit -- or blame, depending on where you stand in judgment -- for what happened.  OWS was an intriguing and inspiring new experiment in activism, which attempted to skirt the usual pitfalls of hierarchical, top-down organization.  It was what it was, and I believe should be respected for that.
But that doesn't prevent us from learning from it, and taking every precaution to not make the same mistakes again.

If you're going to assemble a mob, give them something to do.

Give them something which will make a substantial and decisive difference.

Camaraderie is a good thing.  It's a social high.  Feeling like you're part of something offers relief from a sense of isolation and helplessness.

But it's only a feeling.  It's not politics.  Politics is about power.  Only power can confront power.
After the marches are done, after the protest signs are put away, when we're in our cars or on buses headed back home, we always need to ask ourselves:  Do we now have power to implement the changes we want?

If the answer is 'no', then we didn't have an effective plan.

The best time for an effective plan is BEFORE we hit the streets, before we march and sing our songs, before we waste valuable time and energy in a frustrating and fruitless attempt to get those NOW IN POWER to do anything for us.  Asking the the ruling elite and their lapdogs in our governing institutions to listen to our demands and serve our interests is like asking a carjacker to be sure and wash our automobile and return it in the morning with a full tank.

Here comes my plug:  I have an end-to-end plan, a carefully-crafted strategy for engaging a broad base of U.S. citizens, uniting them into an overwhelming voting bloc, directed at stopping America's out-of-control militarism and endless wars of aggression.

You can get a general idea here:  The Peace Dividend

Next time we march for peace, we'll know where we're headed and how to get there.

At least, that's the hope that gets me from day to day in these insane times.

---

 

The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World is now available both as an ebook and deluxe paperback at many of the usual outlets . . .

Amazon (Kindle) / US . . . amzn.to/2cpIRfQ
Amazon (Print) / US . . . amzn.to/2cEhnCb
Amazon (Kindle) / Canada . . . amzn.to/2ciZKdl
Amazon (Kindle) / Japan . . . amzn.to/2cbf3TO
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/2cWxvzd
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/2cI8cB6
Apple iTunes . . . apple.co/2cqw7an
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/2cb6Cse
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/2c3mJsl


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Mobilization Without Method Is Meaningless

Dealing With A Serial Killer

There's a serial killer loose in town.  Eight to ten people a month have been murdered over the past several years.  They're dropping like flies!

Well, they're not actually dropping like flies.  Flies usually fall on their backs, their legs do this happy feet dance, they expire with little fanfare or ritual, then dry up and blow away.

On the other hand . . .

This homicidal monster has some strange fetishes. He ends a person's life immediately by driving an axe in the face, then cuts the dead body into various size chunks.  The entrails he drapes in trees around town, the finely-carved fillets of flesh from the meatier parts of the body -- thighs, calves, arms, backs and stomachs if there's a nice balance between fat and muscle -- are fed to stray dogs by tossing them in alleys around town.  More delicate parts -- eyes, ears, lips, tongues, genitals -- are stuffed into bubble mailers and arrive in mailboxes in the nicer neighborhoods. They're marked 'Something Special Just For You'.  Finally the bones are stacked on the hoods of parked police cruisers.

It's a horrifying, gruesome mess that has pushed the entire community to near insanity.

So . . . what do you do?

I got it!

You put an ad in the local paper:  Stop killing people! We don't like it!

You get people together for marches.  They go through the business district during the busiest hour of the day carrying protest signs, chanting anti-serial killing slogans, and singing Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall.

You sell t-shirts that say:  "Serial killing is bad for humans and other living things!"

You get experts on TV talking about how the killing really should stop, how the violence and fear is tearing the community apart, what bad effects this has on the kids growing up in this type of environment.  There's unanimity on all the panels discussing this.  No one comes out in favor of serial killing.

We mount a campaign to send emails to the serial killer -- don't ask me how but somehow we got hold of his AOL email address -- and his In box is flooded to capacity with messages decrying his butchery:  'People are really upset. You're a sick man!'  'Burn in Hell, MF!'  'What is wrong with you? Don't you know killing is bad?'

We call his office -- again, don't ask me how we got his phone number but we did, he has an office somewhere in the city -- morning, noon, and night.  It's organized through the Code Blue Mothers Against Murder ad hoc committee, and 800 to 1,000 calls a day pour in to his office.  Every once in a while, we get a live person.  Boy, do we give her an earful!  But usually, we get an automatic answering device with a menu:  If you're against serial killing, please press #1.  If you're for serial killing, please press #2.  If you wish to speak personally to a member of our staff, just stay on the line and someone will be with you shortly [ bleep click ] Expected wait time to answer your call 2 hours and 15 minutes.

We set up a Town Hall Meeting.  It's attended by thousands of angry, concerned citizens and they can't all fit into the high school gymnasium where it's being held.  The serial killer appears on a video screen -- with his hockey goalie mask on, of course -- and people vent and express their outrage.  When things calm down a bit, people ask questions and plead with the serial killer.  He explains he has difficulty controlling his temper, but he says he can see people are upset, so he'll try harder.

There are no killings for a week.  Then they start up again.

So finally, we pull out the big gun.  Yes . . . a petition!

We circulate a petition both in person on the streets, and online -- it's up on MoveOn.org and Avaaz.  We get tens of thousands of signatures!  In fact everyone -- well, everyone who hasn't been murdered yet -- signs it.  Our signature drive is a complete success. 

Yessiree!  We've really got this psycho by the balls!

Now we wait.

For some reason the killing hasn't stopped.  Three more this week.

Where did we go wrong?

Hmm.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Dealing With A Serial Killer

The Peace Movement in America: Status Report

 

What's that sound I hear?

Is it the masses of America demanding? . . .

Peace!  Peace Now!  We Want Peace!

Oops!  My mistake.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news . . .

It's actually a death rattle.  The low guttural burbling of a movement on its death bed.
The sad truth is that the peace movement in America is in a coma, just a whimper away from an inglorious burial in an unmarked grave behind the county dump.

When is the last time more than a few hundred showed up at a massive rally for peace?

Is there hope?

I'd like to think there is. 

But we have to be realistic.  If we're going to have a serious national conversation about peace, ending the senseless self-sabotaging wars, and taking America off permanent war footing, we must approach everyday citizens in language they understand, in terms they can embrace, in a way that is so powerful and over-the-top they can't possibly ignore it.

The Peace Dividend concept is just that.  It's so extreme and outside-the-box -- not that that discredits or invalidates it in the least -- it can only get traction from two sources.

Either a bold and charismatic politician makes it central to his public oratory and serious political agenda.  Obama, Sanders, and (I hate to admit it) Trump would all be capable of "selling" it.  Obama and Sanders both love war.  Trump is mentally challenged.  Maybe there's another MLK out there somewhere.  We can dream!

Or we must look to the second and more likely path, which is through citizen demand.

Yet another senseless war breaks out.  Body bags are piling up.  The national debt begins skyrocketing.  People have finally had it.  They are sick of empire building, endless wars, appalling waste.  This scenario could unfold sooner than we think.  We have a tough guy president who's just proposed a 10% increase in our already bloated military budget, we have both major parties screaming for war.  Major confrontation with Iran, China, Russia -- or all three -- is on the horizon.

Unfortunately, when that happens all chaos will be unleashed, the fog and frenzy of battle will roll over everyone like a toxic oil spill, the media will go into hyper-drive to "support our troops", the imbeciles who led us into the conflagration will be grandstanding and/or pointing fingers of blame at everyone else, and clearer heads will be lopped off in displays of fanatic super-patriotism as the media fills our eyes and ears with tales of valor, sacrifice, and super-human acts of heroism.  It will be a bullshit storm of epic proportions.

So we need to act . . . and we need to act now!

We should be sounding the alarm loud and clear:  People need to know about the "rip off" of their tax dollars and the grotesque lies being told to promote slaughter across the planet purely to stuff the coffers of the military corporations and their rich beneficiaries.

We could be doing this right now.  There already exists a phenomenal network of peace activism.  But these organizations are totally ineffective now because their message, 1) is not getting heard, 2) is not engaging, 3) is stale and boring.  I have contacted hundreds of these groups and their spokespersons.  No one is interested in new ideas.  These include a lot of very famous peace activists (you would definitely recognize most of the names).

So . . .

Either I'm crazy.

Or . . .

These peace creeps can't get their heads around the idea that for 40 years now, continuing right up to the present, they have completely failed.  The old methods and battle cries from the Vietnam War days haven't worked since the 70s.  These folks need a new paradigm.  They need new memes.  They need both a new message and better messaging.

Just look around.  We just had a Peace Prize president who dropped 26,171 bombs last year on countries we're not even at war with.  The U.S. has engaged in massive military aggression in eight countries since the peace dividend was originally promised in 1992.  We are now in an open-ended war on terror that is making us and the entire world less safe.  Our military is the scourge of the planet!

Is the current peace movement actually going to claim they're making progress?  That the demonstrations, petitions, bumper stickers are working?  [Insert Einstein's definition of insanity here.]

The Peace Dividend concept is not some impulse, some catchy phrase developed over a bowl of hashish.  It's a fully developed strategy.  I've outlined what the approach entails, how it can be effected, how it can be paid for.  This last point is the important.  The Peace Dividend refund, because of its scale and the way it's underwritten, drives a host of other progressive reforms.  It is a watershed for massive realignment of our priorities and use of financial resources.  Seems like that would be worth paying attention to.

If you know anyone working in the anti-war organizations, please tell them they absolutely must take a look at my plan.  Singing Give Peace A Chance doesn't cut it anymore.  Neither does getting a peace sign tattooed to your forehead.

The world is rushing headlong toward world war, risking nuclear annihilation and the end of the human race.  Eliminating geopolitical idiocy, imperial hubris, and monomaniacal delusions of conquest by challenging our warmongering elites with an effective plan of action should be what shapes and defines the struggle of those noble organizations attempting to abolish war and promote peace throughout the world. 

A strategy like the Peace Dividend must be the centerpiece giving focus to their efforts.

Otherwise, the next time I file an update, the response will be . . .

"What peace movement?"

---

 

The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World is now available both as an ebook and deluxe paperback at all of the usual outlets.

Amazon (Kindle) / US . . . amzn.to/2cpIRfQ
Amazon (Print) / US . . . amzn.to/2cEhnCb
Amazon (Kindle) / UK . . . amzn.to/2cKXFsV
Amazon (Kindle) / Canada . . . amzn.to/2ciZKdl
Amazon (Kindle) / Japan . . . amzn.to/2cbf3TO
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/2cWxvzd
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/2cI8cB6
Apple iTunes . . . apple.co/2cqw7an
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/2cb6Cse
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/2c3mJsl


 This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]




The Peace Movement in America: Status Report

Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part III

 

Most people don't like to talk politics. Many simply refuse to talk politics, fearing a possibly acrimonious argument, or having to endure what they would view as an assault on their dearly-held unassailable beliefs.

On the other hand, it seems to me that Americans love to complain and quite freely carry on about personal problems, things which annoy them or thwart their pursuit of a decent life.
Just as all politics are local, all politics are personal.

That is, what happens in the remote, unfathomable corridors of power affects people every day of their lives on a very personal level.

Cut Social Security and Medicare, grandma must choose between medications and buying nutritious plum pudding.

Keep the minimum wage low, both parents have to work two or three jobs and there's no one home to watch the kids.  Families disintegrate.

Keep the country at war, there's no money to fix to potholes which rattle the car when you drive to the funeral for your son or daughter who got sent back in a body bag.

You get the point.

There's no reason to "talk politics" with people. There is very good reason to talk about the problems we're all to one degree or another victims of.  These are the problems which are NOT GETTING SOLVED by our government representatives.

I promised in the previous article in this series, I would suggest what to say after "Would you like a cupcake?" or "Nice weather we're having today."

I can't dictate specific sentences.  There's no set-in-stone script for this.  I can offer general guidelines and the overall direction such conversations should take.

First off, what to avoid:  There should be no reference to ideologies or ideological leanings -- conservative, liberal, socialist, libertarian -- nor any mention of political parties.  Period!
The labels don't matter.  We live in the same community.  We're all Americans.

Second:  Stay away from generalities. "All politicians are crooks." Like Abraham Lincoln? "I believe in America and the Constitution."  So what?  "Our congressman is a good man."  He probably is, but he is still not doing his job.  "My family has always voted Democrat."  Right.  And there are people who always eat ice cream for breakfast.  That doesn't mean it's a very smart thing to do.

These broad, sweeping exhortations may be satisfying in some way, and may even be true.  The truth is, in terms of getting anything of substance accomplished they go nowhere.  They lead directly to resignation and apathy.

Stick to tangible issues, the stuff that puts people in a bad mood, everyday! This usually means bread-and-butter, life-and-death issues.  These are things which because of bad public policy cause growling stomachs, empty savings accounts, astronomical credit card debt, sickness and the difficulties of getting medical treatment, disappointment, despair, heartache, disillusion. A battered citizen is not impacted by philosophical differences or observations about the human condition.  They are feeling pain.  Neglect.  Abuse.

Third, and perhaps most important:  DO NOT TALK PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS -- unless of course the person insists on it.  Yes, the presidential race is exciting, dramatic, baffling, entertaining, frustrating, infuriating.  But just leave it alone for now.  Even if you agree with the person you're talking to, it is both a distraction and a dead end.

And if you don't agree, the potential for constructive engagement will be totally destroyed.

We need to talk about problems and solutions, not add to the deafening din of discord and division.  At the end of the day . . .

We all face the same opponents and challenges.

We all have identical, similar, or related problems.  If those problems are not solved, then we will all -- with the exception of the very rich and powerful who will move someplace else or start a colony on the moon -- suffer.  Individually and collectively we will pay a heavy price.

So what do you talk about?

Remember the percentages from the previous article:

75% of Americans want a federal minimum wage of $12.50 per hour.
63% of Americans want a federal minimum wage of $15.00 per hour.
75% of voters want fair trade agreements protecting jobs, workers, the environment.
76% of voters want a cut back on military spending.
76% of voters want the U.S. completely out of Afghanistan.
79% of voters want no reductions in Social Security, 70% support expanding it.
79% of voters want no reductions in Medicare.
80% of voters oppose the "Citizens United" U.S. Supreme Court decision.
68% of voters think taxes on the wealthy should be increased.
71% of voters support massive infrastructure renewal.
74% of American voters are for ending oil industry subsidies.
93% of voters want GMO labeling on their food.

Look at the level of agreement we share on many issues.

Frankly, we have a lot to talk about and if those percentages are correct, there are very good odds that whoever you are talking to is already negatively impacted by our elected officials not addressing at least one, but more probably several of the items listed above.

It will all come to the surface. 

Like I said, there is no script.  But just as examples, here are some openers:

"My kid is still living with me.  He's working at Walmart and can't make ends meet.  With the crash back in 2008, we can barely make ends meet."

"My mom and dad might have to move in with me.  They've been working hard all their lives but Social Security just isn't enough."

"Did you know that the high school ran out of money and can't afford to buy new text books?  Probably doesn't matter.  My son can't afford college anyway."

"Your garden looks great!  You're very smart.  Who knows what they put in our food these days.  Did you know one out of every three Americans now gets cancer?"

"My nephew got killed in Afghanistan.  He was only 20 years-old.  Why are we fighting in Afghanistan?  Will these wars ever end?"

It's just a matter of looking at who you're talking to, sensing what is important, finding some common ground, then both sharing the frustration and acknowledging the need to do something about solving the problems.

Listening . . . common sense . . . and basic intuition go a long ways.

Anyone reading this is intelligent and caring.  Otherwise, why would you be reading this?  Why would you have made it this far in this article?  You could be watching TV, a movie from Netflix, or updating your Facebook page.

I know you care.  I also know that -- again if the percentages above are anywhere close to accurate -- you personally have been slapped around and brutalized by the insensitivity and inaction of our elected representatives.

Everyone wants the mess to be cleaned up. Everyone wants life to start looking up again for the vast majority of Americans who have been marginalized and ignored for too long.

So just talk.  Talk and listen. 

Maybe people won't talk politics.  But once the floodgate is open, people will talk about what's hurting them, what's now holding them back, how they are getting screwed by the system and those who have looted the country and run America into the ground, how they had wonderful dreams and hopes for their children which have been betrayed, how the American Dream is being destroyed.

They will talk.  You will listen.  Then you will propose something very simple.

That something will be introduced in Part IV of this series.



[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]


Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part III

Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part I

 

Is the Bernie Sanders revolution real?

Let's be optimistic here and say for argument's sake that it is.

Meaning that Bernie Sanders -- and ironically even Donald Trump -- has awakened a new populism in America.  U.S. citizens are demanding fundamental change in the way government does business.
This uprising, this surge of awareness, is not complex or theoretical.  It is simple and pragmatic.  

From both camps, the enlightening Sanders campaign and the frightening Trump campaign, we see frustration and outrage.  The battle cry is the same.

People are saying . . .

"We're getting screwed and we're not going to take it anymore!"

This could be an incredibly powerful vehicle for serious reform, regardless of how the presidential election is decided.  In spite of how the presidential election turns out!

But there's only one way that can happen.  And it doesn't depend in the least on who ends up in the White House.

Remember . . .

A president is a lightning rod.

But a president is not the lightning.

We the people are the lightning.

And that "lightning" does not find its effective expression in one person.

We the people are the energy, the force, the real movers-and-shakers behind fundamental change.  We the people and only we the people can shape the future we want.

The Bernie Sanders revolution, which many are hailing as a truly historic populist revolt, can only be real if we the people individually and collectively -- starting from the very bottom and working our way up -- make it real.

It starts with each individual.

Each individual makes his or her unshakable commitment to what it important.

To what is non-negotiable.  To what is absolute.

That commitment spreads outward from there.  Family members, friends, neighbors.

It all starts at a personal level with each person and then diffuses through the network of individuals each individual regularly and not so regularly comes in contact with.  One by one each person engages those who are to varying degrees part of his or her life.

One by one, they individually and collectively come to terms with what is important.

To what is non-negotiable.  To what is absolute.

This is how to build a revolution.

It's not about cheering for one man and expecting that one politician, regardless of how eloquent and charismatic, to do the work for us.  Especially since that man may not even get elected.  Especially since that man might end up being a truly horrifying demagogue, whose own otherwise despicable party even rejects him -- Donald Trump.  Or might not be a man at all but a war mongering corporate toady and unapologetic lapdog for Wall Street who happens to have a vagina -- Hillary Clinton.

There is still time to harness the energy of the Bernie Sanders revolution.

There is still just enough time to make it happen if we want it.

Specific advice starts with Part II of this series.

While you're waiting, you might take your Birkenstocks to your local cobbler and make sure they have plenty of tread.



[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part I

“Buddy, can you spare some change?”

 

We're on our own. You and I __ the vast majority of Americans __ have no one else to turn to.

Not our leaders, not our pundits, not our spokespersons, not so-called "job creators", not our teachers or ministers. Not the Clintons or Bushes, not the Trumps or Romneys. Certainly not the Kochs or the Murdochs or Bloombergs, Adelsons or Gates. Not the Dimons or the Blankfeins.

Most of them are on the other team, or at very least play for the other team. That other team is one that you and I will never get to join. It is an isolated, insular, impudent, incomprehensibly wealthy club __ a very tiny slice of our 300+ million __ who have so much, want even more, and will never be satisfied until they have it all. We are just more items on their shopping list. Welcome to capitalism run amok! Welcome to a country where everything has a price and there are some who are so possessed by greed, they see human beings as servants, chattel, minions, serfs, and __ if they can get us for free __ slaves.

What's this got to do with us? History has shown that in every society there is always an elite which sees itself as superior to the swarming mob, a cut above the unwashed masses, members of an aristocratic class, living in its own exclusive world of privilege. It's just an unpleasant side of human nature. There's nothing new about snobbery.

Why should we be concerned?

If it's not obvious, it's this . . .

They now own and control our elected representatives, including whoever holds the office of President. You doubt this? Look at Obama's aggressively embracing and promoting the worst, most onerous trade bills in the history of the world, TPP and TPIP. This one master stroke by the ruling oligarchs will enslave nearly half of the world's population. National borders will mean nothing. Corporations and the oligarchs who own them will exercise absolute imperial rule over wealth, resources __ our lives, and those of our children.

This whole TPP/TPIP issue should be a warning! There's a message in this treachery we need to remind ourselves of every waking minute:  Even some of those who claim to be "one of us" or "on our side" are owned by that tiny .1% of America who truly have the power __ the ones who are actually running things.

So . . . it's just us. It's you and me against them.

My strategy for radical electoral reform, as described in my book Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy, is not elitist. Nor does it pander to the elite. It does not crawl to the rich and powerful and beg them to show us some mercy.

As a matter of fact, my plan is the essence of populist activism. For it to be successfully implemented requires participation by average citizens, across the political spectrum.

I will admit, I did send the book gratis to hundreds of thinkers in academia, think tanks, pundit pools, a host of well-known and not so well-known spokespersons for the "liberal establishment". While many of these prominent individuals are part of __ often lead __ the national conversation on all things germane to the running of our country, most of them are very much a part of the system. But their endorsement of my ideas might give them credibility, or at least draw some attention to a plan which regular citizens need to know about and actively support.

I'm not sure what to expect of these thinker types.

Frankly, I'm not expecting much.

Most of them are busy, and more inimically, tightly locked into their own methodologies for what they peddle as activism. They often neglect to notice that despite their best and allegedly noble efforts, things continue to deteriorate. The only change is that as each day passes, things deteriorate more quickly.

I must say, there sure are an abundance of people commenting on the problems.

But not many solving the problems.

It's a fundamental distinction, which is often missed.

What if you had a horrible flesh-eating disease?

Medical experts come in and declare: "We have analyzed all of the data and come to the conclusion that you are in big trouble, clearly in horrible pain, the victim of a terrible disease. It is very tragic! Have a nice day."

Do we need to bring in several more teams of experts to tell you the same thing?

I assume this is more what you'd hope for: "We have analyzed the data on your condition. While your situation is serious, we have come up with a detailed plan involving a host of drugs, some surgical procedures, and a program for rehabilitation. We can cure this and once we are done, you should be able to live a long and fulfilling life."

The difference should be apparent.

My book is not more whining. It offers a step-by-step, highly detailed plan for challenging the corruption of our current politicos, and for reversing the destruction of representative democracy in America.

Let me just mention this in closing . . .

There are a few highly visible figures who are on our side, demonstrated by their own writings and activism for our team, by their dedication to making a better life for every American. Once the printed books are out, I will be sending copies to Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, Robert Reich, Michael Moore, and several others who are to varying degrees in the national spotlight, and whose support would be valuable.

We'll see what comes of that.

I can't force anyone to pay attention. I can only put my ideas out there.

Change doesn't just magically happen.

People need to believe it's possible.

Then they need to make room in their hearts and time in their day to make it happen.

__________________________________________________________


"Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy" is now available . . .

Amazon (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1QJRiNZ
Apple (iBook) . . . apple.co/1BXnPcy
Amazon (Paperback) . . . [ TBA ]
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/1GpTTLq
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/1B4DQCp
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1MGjDnN



[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]