How do we confront abuse of power and restore democracy?

 

People accuse me of being confrontational.

I say:  Absolutely! Guilty as charged.

If your neighbors are throwing garbage over the fence into your yard, what do you do?  Sit back and watch it pile up?  Or . . . lean over the fence and demand that they stop?

That demand might begin as a calm, friendly but firm request.  As your neighbors continue to dump their trash into your yard, it will become increasingly forceful and eventually take on the flavor of . . . guess what? . . . here it comes . . . a confrontation!

Our demands -- based on rights and privileges guaranteed in writing in the Constitution -- that our elected officials represent us and serve the interests of all American citizens, not just the rich and well-connected, have for decades been respectful, polite and measured.

The response we've gotten from those same elected officials has been more abuse of power and position, and the veritable destruction of representative democracy in America.

Time to get tough.

Time for confrontation!

How do we confront power?  How do we specifically confront those officials we choose at the polls and gift with cushy jobs in Washington DC, which heighten their prestige, inflate their egos, and fatten their wallets?

My strategy is so simple, so obvious, so potentially effective, I am totally baffled why often people don't get it.

Recognize . . .

We have been handed the most powerful instrument in the arsenal, the assumption being we'll never get it together to use it.  Of course, so far we haven't effectively used it.  But that doesn't mean we can't or won't.  It's right there ready and waiting.

What is this weapon of choice?

It's the illusion of democracy.

It's the illusion that our voting makes a difference.

Granted . . .

Right now it doesn't, because we've been playing by a set of rules that rigs the game.  The  fix has been in because, even though it is well within our power as citizens to do so, we haven't successfully challenged those rules.  We haven't even tried.

In the most simple terms, right now we elect individuals to positions of power based on what often turns out to be hollow promises, campaign rhetoric which is highly flattering of the candidate, believable and appealing on the surface, thus sufficiently persuasive to win the trust of voters and get him or her elected.

Once elected, these individuals basically do what they're told to do by their deep-pocketed benefactors, the rich and powerful elite who fund their campaigns, proffer tacit promises of highly lucrative rewards once they leave office -- refer here to Obama's $60 million book deal and $400,000 fee for making one speech to those he served so magnificently while in office -- and shield them from any legitimate challenges by candidates who don't faithfully dance to the beat laid down by the plutocracy -- refer here to the blatant sabotage of Bernie Sanders' primary campaign by the corporate stooges of the Democratic Party.

But . . .

This mockery of "representative democracy" still depends on us to go into the voting booth and like the brainwashed, gullible, trusting sheeple that we are, to cast our votes for these carefully groomed and coddled ruling class shills.

And that's where we can change the rules.

We must stand united and be unshakeable in our resolve . . . but here's how we do it.

We demand that any candidate running for federal office sign a legally-binding contract, listing a number of issues which must be addressed within 180 days of taking office.

Or . . .

We will not vote for them!

Rather, we will put up our own candidate, or find one from an independent or third-party, who will sign the contract!  That person will get our full support during the campaign and our vote on election day.

Case closed!

The contract will be drawn up around those items where there is at least 62% agreement among the American public.  Yes!  There is that level of public consensus on a whole host of critical issues!

While this is not written in stone and should be adapted to the unique circumstances and needs of each local voting jurisdiction, here is what such a candidate contract looks like.
This changes the game alright, decisively putting voters in charge -- at least on a number of key initiatives and policy decisions -- of what comes out of Congress.

Isn't that the way it's supposed to work?  Government of the people, by the people, for the people?  Representative democracy that truly represents the desires and priorities of the constituents?

It's a shame that our system has become so corrupted by money and power games that we must resort to a legal document to get done what's supposed to get done in the first place.

But that's the way it's worked out.  We have no other choice now.  We either take charge or suffer even more indignity and abuse at the hands of the ruling elite and their pay-for-play lackeys, the folks we send to Washington DC to do a job but who end up entirely ignoring the citizens they're supposed to be working for -- that would be you and I!

It's simple.  It's straightforward.  It's powerful.  It's decisive.

Either candidates sign on the dotted line or we don't vote for them.

Which means that we then turn to some good, decent, honest candidates who realize what their ultimate responsibility is, where their true loyalties lie, thus will sign the contract.  We give them our unqualified support, both in the campaign and in the voting booth.

Using this simple, powerful device . . .

We'll finally get a glimpse of what representative democracy really looks like.

---

 

 "Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy" was published in June of 2015 and is available worldwide from all the usual suspect:

Amazon (Kindle)  . . . amzn.to/1QJRiNZ
Amazon (Print) . . . amzn.to/1Cuq0du
Apple (iTunes) . . . apple.co/1BXnPcy
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/1GpTTLq
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/1OEI2xj
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/1B4DQCp
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1MGjDnN

" 

Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve" was published September 2015 and also is available both in every popular ebook format and as a deluxe paperback:

Amazon (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1VMf2Ft
Amazon (Print) . . . amzn.to/1L9SdIC
Apple (iTunes) . . . apple.co/1JD1YAg
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/1ZUJUpn
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/1IX6rO4
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/22PXWLf
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1i7ISFM


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




How do we confront abuse of power and restore democracy?

Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve

 

Everybody is busy. I understand that.

Finding the time to read a book is a challenge.

So I am doing my best to make is easy.

My latest effort is to condense down to 56 pages the essence of my ideas for taking our democracy back from the plutocrats, having the voice of the people heard again, and putting our country back on track toward achieving a good life for all Americans, not just the privileged few.

My proposals are not difficult. But they are different than anything else around. Believe me I know. I read hours and hours every day. What do I see? A lot of head-scratching, pining, wishing, whining, growling, blaming, grumbling, shaming, denigration, screaming, vitriolic abuse.

It's a veritable grouse-fest out there!
In spite of all of the speculating, bloviating, bellyaching and bombast, there is one thing that is conspicuously absent ...

Solutions!

Remember those? We have problems and they go away because of . . . solutions.

I'm not saying I have all the answers.

But I do have a detailed plan for replacing the do-nothing, pay-for-play clown-puppets who are now in office. You know who they are. They're the ones who smile and thank you for voting them into their cushy jobs, then go to Washington DC and ignore you.

What's the simple truth? Our democracy is broken. We don't have a democracy anymore!

And guess what? None of the other problems get solved until we fix that.

I can only do what I can do. Which is put it out there. I'm not going to beg people to give this the attention it deserves.

Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve offers a real plan.

56 pages. How long does it take to read 56 pages?

Still too long?

Be patient. I'm working on a version that fits on one side of a match box.

After that, my final dramatic attempt to trim it down will be to fit it on a grain of rice.

We eat a lot of rice here in Japan.

---

Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve was just published a couple days ago. But it is available now both as a Kindle ebook and in print.

 

Amazon US (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1VMf2Ft
Amazon CA (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1in513n
Amazon UK (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1KfjtQO
Amazon JP (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1OMslBG
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1L9SdIC
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1i7ISFM

Let's fix the mess this country is in.


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

Negotiating With A Rapist

 

I get this all of the time . . .

"You're too extreme. Too inflexible. Democracy is about compromise. It's about give and take."

Well, I hate to break it to these weak, waffling ambassadors of abdication: Wake up! There are things which are not up for negotiation. Things which we are so valued, compromise is not possible. Values we don't devalue and mark down at a discount.


An armed thug breaks into your house. He ties you up and has your wife and
13-year old daughter at gunpoint. The thug intends to rape them. You get
to watch.

So . . .

You say to him:  "Listen, I'm opposed to your plans but let's try to work something out. 
How about ..."

You talk it over and come to an agreement on some acceptable amount of rape.

Sound ridiculous? That's because it is.

What's my point?

My point is that there are some things about which we don't negotiate. There are
some situations that are too abusive to the human spirit, too sick to contemplate,
simply too offensive and just plain wrong, such that compromises __ any
adjustments of degree or intensity __ are not and should never be on
the table. There are policies, value systems, beliefs, individual acts,
priorities, tactics, strategies, world views, which are so insidious,
trying to find some 'middle ground' is not even a possibility.
What exactly is an acceptable level of child molesting? Or slavery? How
much torture is just about right? Or to bring up a current horrifying
example, how much beheading nails the sweet-spot happy-medium for public beheading?

You get the idea.

Yet a lot of heinous acts, criminality, even outright sociopathic and psychopathic
behavior, gets a pass these days, if not the implied imprimatur of our
allegedly ineluctable, shared complicity. It's a pandemic of
wink-and-a-nod fatalism, succumbing to being "practical", surrendering
to the "realities" of our difficult times, or conceding the
inevitabilities of human nature and the practical limits of politics and
social organization.

Talk about a cop-out!

Talk about intellectual laziness!

Talk about moral failure on a national scale!

Talk about failing our society, ourselves and our children!

Who decided that the best possible education for our children was no longer available?

Who decided that the best health care for American citizens was a privilege for the few, rather than a universal right __ as in the constitutional mandate to "promote the general welfare"?

Who decided that healthy drinkable water was not a basic human need, that we'd have to pay for such a "luxury"?

How did America become a nation which imprisons .5% of its population __ the highest incarceration rate in the world __ mostly the poor and people of color?

When did it become acceptable for the wealthy to be above the law and beyond being prosecuted for their crimes?

How did we become a nation which violates the Geneva Conventions, which tortures?

When did America become nation which starves hundreds of thousands of innocent children to make some incomprehensible political point?

When did it become okay for America to be run entirely by corporate oligarchs and ultra-wealthy profiteers?

When did America, allegedly a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people, decide its people should be kept in the dark about what its government is doing?

How did we become a nation which promotes chaos and fear across the globe?

How did we go from democracy to plutocracy in just a few short decades?

When did we as the citizens of the richest country in the world become unwilling to draw a non-negotiable line in the sand on these and other critical issues?

When did we decide that fighting for a decent life for ourselves and future generations was impractical or too much trouble?

The quick answer is that we made little compromises along the way __ bent a bit
here, maybe a bit more there, made some "necessary adjustments", showed
flexibility, and all too often caved in outright when we knew damn well
we shouldn't.

The point is we shouldn't have compromised at all.

Some things should not have been and still are not negotiable.

We need to learn from this pathetic record of equivocation and glib surrender . . .

Enough is enough!

We can't redo the past.

But we can redo our country for the future.

No more than you negotiate with a rapist, you don't negotiate and compromise with those who have proven to be deceptive, self-serving, sometimes malevolent fools who serve the selfish greed of the 1% at the expense of the vast majority of American people.

Most of us know what's right and what needs to be done.

We need to stand our ground.

No apologies.

No excuses.

No fear.


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

National Values 103

My previous blog was on air. So far the rich and powerful have not figured out a way to sell us the air we breathe. That's not to say it isn't coming. I can easily picture a future where the air is so foul and toxic, that we all are toting around behind us on little wheels, mobile tanks of breathable air, with plastic tubes running up to our nostrils. They'll probably have a Monsanto logo on them.

In that piece, I attacked the compromising and abuse of one of our most fundamental biological rights. Bush's comically-named CLEAR SKIES is a perfect example of the lords of industry writing the rules for their own advantage, condemning tens of thousands of us to die prematurely by cutting corners on our basic human right to breathe clean air.

In this posting, I want to focus strictly on how you and I are being systematically robbed of yet another thing, something so basic to life, something so pervasive and necessary, that lacking it our entire planet would look like the moon. We look at another one of those fundamental absolutes that is being stolen from us in the name of progress.

In his powerful speech "Where Do We Go From Here?" on August 16, 1967 in Atlanta, GA, Dr. Martin Luther King asked, "Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that's two-thirds water?"

Damn good question.

To single out this remark is not a trivialization of this great man's vision. He was talking in general about our system of ownership, where a small elite of well-to-do capitalists wield the power to exploit everyone else.

Think about it . . .

Water.

The human organism basically is protoplasmic material floating in around 42 quarts of water held in a big sack made of skin. Water is about as basic to being human as it gets. We are 60% water.

Why should we have to pay for water?

Does asking this making me some raving pinko commie socialist?

Water has gradually become commodified. We used to just go down to the well in the center of the village. Then cities and counties provided water treatment facilities, publicly owned then later very tightly regulated by municipal governments. This held the price for access to high quality water at a bare minimum. Now it's slowly being privatized. And the quality of municipally available water is being gradually degraded so that it's no longer safe to drink. We end up going to the supermarket to buy water in large plastic jugs.

What happened to being able to turn on your tap and drink some H2O?

When did our community decide it was no longer its fundamental responsibility to provide something so basic to life as water?

And I don't mean water laced with cyanide, mercury and other heavy metals, containing sludge and industrial waste, stinking of human urine and feces, tainted with every widely distributed hormone, prescription drug, anti-depressant, steroid, antibiotic.

I mean the kind of water that our bodies have always required and contained.

The kind of water which is as basic to human survival as . . . well, water.

This attrition of the public domain __ those things which constitute the fundaments of a organized and humane society and a healthful nurturing community __ is always a very gradual step-wise process. The privatization and commodification of the basic elements due to members of a community creeps up in very small increments. Tiny decisions are made one by one, each seeming like a rational or at least more convenient way to do things. Then somewhere down the line, we look back and say, "What happened?"

When things as basic as breathable air and drinkable water are commodified, it doesn't bode well.

Many political scientists and international experts have been predicting for some time now that wars in the foreseeable future will be fought over water.

There's a method to this madness. Corporations and capitalists can sniff out opportunity anywhere and everywhere. This is what they do. It is what they are designed to do, driving the engines of the economy, revving them higher and higher, sucking in what they need and blowing $$$s out the back end.

Think about it. If corporations can completely control and charge for basic necessities, what a perfect plan! It's not like lipstick or adding cruise control to the options on a new car. You don't have to convince people of the value to drink water. If they don't they die.

There is no doubt capitalism has energized much of the world and been the major force behind development across the globe. But economic growth has never been nor is it now the only measure of progress. Not everything of worth has a bar code.

Look into the eyes of your child, your spouse, members of your family and community. Can you tell me how much a moment with someone you love is worth in dollars? What should we charge for a sunset? How much for a walk in the park?

As Oscar Wilde's character replied in Lord Darlington when asked what a cynic was: "A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."

So where do we draw the line?

Maybe the better question is: Since we failed decades ago to draw sensible lines which safeguard our individual participation in a society which respects each and every citizen and assures basic decency for everyone equally, what do we do now?

I'm not here to lecture you on the basics of government and citizen responsibility. Actually, if anything I'm here to lecture myself, to remind myself of some things that have been long buried by the shit storm of nonsense, diversions and distractions that is the news media today. I'm here to try to cut through the tsunami of irrelevance and ignorance that has swamped our national dialogue __ the one you and I should be having about the America we want to have and pass along to future generations __ and try to focus my own thinking.

I'm here to remind myself, and hopefully a critical mass of other concerned individuals, that many things we should be able to take for granted __ breathable air, clean drinking water, safe nutritious food (that'll be the topic of National Values 104), and some others down the line __ are rightfully ours and they have been stolen.

It's time to get them back.

It's time to put aside right, left, liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, Libertarian,
Socialist, gay, straight, black, white, yellow, brown, red and blue. Because there's a lot we agree on.

We just need to clear our minds and talk about those things.

We need to talk.


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

 

National Values 102

We breathe air.

Unlike abortion and gay marriage, there seems to be a lot of agreement on this. We all accept that breathing is not a luxury, not a hobby, not a pastime, not entertainment.

Breathe in, breathe out __ it's something as constant as our heartbeat and only stops when our heart stops.

Isn't breathing an absolute? Isn't air __ or more accurately the oxygen in the air __ one of the fundamental building blocks of life for us human beings? Is there anything contentious or controversial about our need and our basic natural biological right to breathe air?

In National Values 101 I stated, however, we're not talking any old air. We're not talking about air that's full of industrial smoke, automotive particulates, carbon monoxide, or invisible toxic gases. We're not talking about air that burns the eyes, irritates our nasal passages, makes it painful to breathe, turns our lungs black, and consigns us to living on a respirator. We're not talking about air that is carcinogenic and will lead to tumors and kill us before our time is due.

Can we all agree on this?

Yet too often we are given false choices:

If you want a job, then you'll have to put up with "acceptable" levels of pollution.

Either you want the economy to grow or you want the government regulating everything. You can't have it both ways.

This is not only nonsense. It is propaganda __  the polite term for boldface lies  __ and is irresponsibility at its worst. It is abandoning our public duty and a priori commitment to live in a country where concern for its citizens __ concern for one another __ is central and paramount. It is ignoring our constitutional mandate as citizens in a democracy to promote the general welfare.
I know there are libertarians and other minimalist ideologues out there who dispute this.

If anyone out there has a coherent justification for saying . . .

"I have no problem having my children breathe air which makes them sick, will cause them cancer or emphysema, compromise the quality of their lives, and resulting in them dying younger than they should."

. . . please send it to me. I'd love to see what your craven mind has conjured up.

Does this sound melodramatic?

It's not.

Sometimes things are that simple.

To poison or not poison. That's the question.

The issue is not where we draw the line __ what constitutes acceptable levels of poison in our atmosphere __ but how we hold the line that respects human life and good health.

The general welfare.

Of course, where it gets dicey and muddled by a lot of self-serving propaganda, ideological dogma and outright deception, is what role government has in protecting the quality of air.

Let's cut to the chase.

Can each individual household afford to have its own fire brigade available in case of fire? Can each individual household hire someone to drive an envelope over to the bank to pay the mortgage payment? Can each individual household raise an army, equip an air force, deploy a flotilla of battle ships and nuclear submarines to protect itself from invasion by hostile foreign militaries? Can each individual household afford to pave the road between home and school, home and work, home and the grocery store?

Can each individual household muster the necessary legal team and cash to stop a factory down the road from spewing toxic gas into the air?

Government, especially one which consists of the citizens of the country, is by definition __ as delineated in our constitution __ the way we collectively do those things which we cannot individually do. And it is the strength of our system, certainly not a weakness, that government performs services on behalf of all of us for the betterment of all of our lives.

We've forgotten this.

I'm not pointing fingers. I'm just as much a victim of the tsunami of sheer nonsense that fills the media and the overwhelming cyclone of bullshit that passes for discussion of the "important issues of our times." It's all but impossible to keep a clear head and the needed focus to make sense out of our relationship to the institutional machinery in place to do our bidding, often to assure some of the most basic items to a healthful, productive life.

Like clean air!

This is the point of what some may perceive as very facile, simpleminded blog posts. But I sincerely believe that we need to get back to the fundamentals again. What are the basics? What are those things which we not only should treasure and hold dear but are areas of universal agreement?

We often get so caught up in the fighting, name calling, assigning blame, bickering, that we forget that our nation was predicated on some very solid fundamental values, drawn from the Bible, the teachings of great philosophers and legendary teachers, the wisdom of the ages, even drawn from the ministry of Jesus Christ during his short time on Earth.

National values.

Somehow we've lost sight of them. We've lost sight of the obvious.

I'm reminded of a story __ and I have no idea whether it's true or not but it's a great story __ I heard when I was a teenager.

There was a large tractor-and-trailer rig which got stuck under an overpass. This was right in town, on a single lane road, so it was creating havoc and causing a bad traffic jam. They had hooked up giant powerful tow trucks and diesel-powered winches. The truck wouldn't budge. They were now going to resort to huge metal cutting wheels and blow torches to carve off the top of the trailer.

A 10-year-old boy was walking home from school and happened on the unfolding drama. As he passed a burly man wearing a safety helmet, at that moment in the heat of directing the team to start cutting the truck up, the boy tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir. But I was wondering. Why don't you just let the air out of the tires?"

Sometimes the answer is staring you right in the face.

You just have to look.



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