Freedom requires responsibility, or else!

David Von Drehle missed an essential element for protecting, promoting and sustaining human freedom anywhere in the world – responsibility (“Freedom is still worth fighting for”, Washington Post 3-25-18).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/america-still-shouldnt-mind-its-own-beeswax/2018/03/23/440cdd50-2ec8-11e8-b0b0-f706877db618_story.html?utm_term=.f27bc2b5dbf1

We (and everyone else in the world) are free to do as we please.  But no one will remain free of the consequences of their actions, and too often the actions of others.

Unless our government’s policies result in just and responsible actions here and abroad, we will never be free from the ensuing chaos and loss of our most basic freedom here at home. 

Irresponsible US actions are inevitably unjust to someone, somewhere in the world.  Lacking any effective global justice system, our lack of responsibly in the world will always come back to bite us as terrorism, climate change, trade disputes, threats of war, and or economic chaos.  

There is vast wisdom in the last three words of our Pledge of Allegiance “liberty and justice for all’. 

Samuel Adams once said, "Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt." 

"But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint:" -  Edmund Burke - Source: Reflections on the Revolution in France

"Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience." - George Washington  - 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, 1737

"We demand entire freedom of action and then expect the government in
some miraculous way to save us from the consequences of our own acts...”  Calvin Coolidge (1873-1933), 30th US President

"Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”
― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

FBI cannot protect our privacy and our security

McCane’s choice of words (Washington Post's Sunday op-ed 3-25-18) in explaining his stunningly improper dismissal from the FBI is that his colleagues would continue to “protect the American people and uphold the Constitution.”   I believe Andrew McCane is an honest and honorable man.  But the problem he (and we all have) is a system of government that he and others have sworn an oath to protect, cannot both protect us and the U.S. Constitution at the same time.   Our Constitution’s Bill of Rights cannot keep us safe if lawmakers keep enacting (and our government keeps trying to enforce) irresponsible and unjust laws both here and abroad.

This is a fundamentally unresolvable dilemma given the unprecedented access and affordability to increasingly powerful dual-use everyday technology.  Even with no easy access to guns, nearly every American (or extremist) has easy access to multiple technologies with WMD potential (via UPS delivery, Home Depot, plans on the internet,  legal cars, rental trucks, fuel oil and fertilizer… to name a few).  

If the desire to mass murder exists there is virtually no way to prevent mass carnage without violating the 4^th Amendment.  Intrusions into people’s private lives before they can act on any real or perceived grievances will be essential. 

Fueling this lethal dilemma is the fact that the Constitution that we seem to worship enforces an unjust legal system instead of a true ‘justice’ system.  ‘No justice, no security’  is a no brainer. 

But the fundamental flaw in our Constitution is the codification of a mental concept that does not exist in reality -- political Independence.  

We assume without question that our nation’s policies are independent from the rest of the world’s nations.  Yet many overt and covert policies of ours (and theirs) often have intended and unintended lethal consequences on innocent people.  Without justice and security for all, our nation’s military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies cannot protect our privacy or freedom commerce or travel.

Logic’s devolution and humanities fate

A new study strongly suggests that logical reasoning in humans is innate and appears as early as 12 months after birth - before the development of language.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/babies-think-logically-before-they-can-talk/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mind&utm_content=link&utm_term=2018-03-21_featured-this-week 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/03/17/can-a-1-year-old-reason-like-a-scientist-yes-new-research-concludes/?utm_term=.787aac851adb  

Researchers believe this ‘logic ability’ “might be continuous over development.” I don’t believe them.  There is far more evidence in the world today that the adult mind’s political and religious world views are abandoning logic.  Logic may in fact be on the edge of extinction, and us with it. To whatever degree logic survives in the unscientific regions of our brain, it is now used to defend conspiracy theories or advocate for government policies and religious behaviors that largely ignore the world as it really is.  Or, the ‘mental world vs real world’ dilemma theory of extinction’.

The first offering of evidence is the fact that more teenagers die today from texting while driving than from driving while drinking and school shootings combined.  My next offering is that adults continue to believe that an increased military budget and constructing border walls will makes us safer.  And, our ‘national sovereignty’ is more useful in maintaining our freedom and security than the “self-evident” “truths” illuminated in our Declaration of Independence.  More condemning evidence is our emotional craving to feel good instead of being good. This powerful urge makes us avoid people we disagree with, take opioids, over eat, smoke, avoid exercise, hire divorce lawyers, and sing patriotic songs that justify war and the killing of innocent people by labeling them ‘collateral damage’.

My hypothesis is that pure logic in the mind only exists until adolescence.  It then gets muddied rapidly as hormones and our culture of hypocrisy sadly infects the mind and increasingly interferes with its original function and extraordinary capacity for ‘real world’ problem solving.  As this mental infection progresses the mind increasingly relies on emotions to dictate its perceived reality.  This gradually betrays the mind’s original function of protecting the body’s health, life, close relatives, greater tribe, and the environment upon which all these lives depend.

The final symptom of this contagion is the mind’s full devotion to defending its own beliefs, values, and principles. Literally, defending them to the death, and sometimes justifying murder. These lethal values, beliefs, and principles are often invented by other minds or learned from another so called ‘free’, irresponsible and priority-distracted culture. The minds can even be validated with million dollar contracts. Some CEO’s, star athletes or winning coaches might come to mind.   These priority delusional cultural environments can have few real world consequences -- until it is too late. 

The predicament is that the mind’s power is virtually supreme.  It cannot be reasoned with.  Its reality is dictated by its existing beliefs which it defends at all costs. This ‘hard headedness’ then determines the body’s emotions and reactions to perceived threats or opportunities -- creating a perpetually harmful positive feedback loop.  If the mind comes in contact with a belief it dislikes, it feels threatened and reacts accordingly. If another mind agrees with it then both minds are validated, leading to an emotionally rewarding feedback loop -- and a society at great risk.  

Our only salvation (a reliable defense against this self-inflicted cultural insanity) is recognizing who we really are.  First, we are NOT our mind. That’s just a voice we have in our head that won’t shut up. We may believe we are special being an American - yet draw an unconscious division between being a north, south or central American.  Or, being a U.S. citizen makes you more valuable than someone only possessing a Green card.

In reality we are human. We might be white, black, male, female, or somewhere in between but we have forgotten that our mind likes grouping things. And, we may never have learned (or intentionally forgot) the profound survival value of genetic diversity.  In reality the greatest threat throughout most of human history was not another tribe or sabretooth tigers. It was infectious diseases. These remain a primary threat today. Our biosecurity is increasingly at risk due to our mind’s capacity to create biological weapons capable of targeting specific genetic profiles, and then thinking they need to be eliminated. This is a monstrous abuse of the human mind’s capacity and its original function of protecting human life. If you wrestle enough with this concept the solution becomes self-evident.  Re-purpose the mind. Use it to look for solutions that unite instead of divide. Use it, instead of it using you.

Last year a young Marylander won an Olympic Gold medal in wrestling. He was the world’s first ever 19 year old heavy weight champion. And he was smaller than most he wrestled. He soundly defeated the best that Iran, Russia and all other nations had to offer.  It wasn’t because he was American, white, or genetically blessed. I’m convinced it was his father’s coaching advice to become “the landlord of your mind”. Kyle Snyder committed himself to using his mind to become the best, regardless of what his mind and body was telling him during intense training.

Until we commit ourselves to being the best humans we can be and devote ourselves to managing a world where the protection of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – and “justice for all” – are our highest priorities, we will continue a downward spiral of emotionally driven reactions that fail any logical analysis. The logic of abiding by the “Self-evident” “Truths” offered in our Declaration of Independence continues to hold profound promise. Why? They are based on the “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” (it’s okay to feel emotional about these).  Our survival depends on codifying these collectively into our mental constitution, our U.S. Constitution, and the U.N. Charter.

Our minds are free to believe anything.  Literally, anything! But our bodies, brains, spirit, and our life preserving environment will never be free of the lethal consequences of actions or indecisions determined by flawed mental beliefs.

The infant logic study referred to initially involved 144 babies between 12 and 19 months.  They were healthy babies. While some people may frown on experimenting with babies, where is the logic in ignoring/allowing well over 10,000 babies dying every DAY from easily preventable malnutrition and infectious diseases?  And, at the same time ignoring/allowing kleptocrats, drug cartels, and wealthy capitalists who have stashed over $32 trillion in offshore accounts to avoid taxes.

Wise adults surviving the chaos and mass casualties of World War II, atomic vaporization, and a government-led genocide used their logic to write a declaration to prevent repeats of these unthinkable horrors.  Unfortunately, those in political power driven by emotional reasoning gave the new global institution (the UN) zero power to enforce the declaration of human rights. The comprehensive logic of this Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains today (exactly 70 years later) in the form of 17 Sustainable Development Goals for the year 2030.  Freezing and seizing some of the trillions stashed in offshore accounts could virtually enforce these unalienable rights if devoted to them. And no new taxes would be needed on anyone.  

Better late than never such an effort could provide a comprehensive approach to preventing the destructive global forces we increasingly face today.  Things change. Emotions change. Minds should too.  Logic now dictates that if we don’t change our minds, we may yet go the way of the dinosaur. Think about it.

Technological change unchecked by government or justice won't end well.

David von Drehle (Searching for a certain something, Washington Post 3-21-18) hits on several profound concepts that have actually been known for decades, some for millennia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-live-in-a-world-of-uncertainty-tech-is-making-it-worse/2018/03/20/7d269cc2-2c64-11e8-8ad6-fbc50284fce8_story.html?utm_term=.8dc9ba016a0f

But pundits, policy makers, and the general public persistently ignore them in favor of retaining long held unexamined assumptions – even when they kill millions.

The exponential pace of technological change was self-evident at least 25 years ago. Our human mind’s resistance to change is Neolithic.  Resistance to changing government is American. It was written into our Constitution and will likely be our undoing as China’s government now changes on a dime.

Mr. Von Drehle glossed over another ‘self-evident’ concept in his description of Ford’s production line evolution. Going from the one car choice (a black model T) to the countless variations of “the F-150 pickup truck” that “The factory’s computers brought…together in perfect sequence” was significant. But the ignored concept that enabled that mass perfection in variety was their engineer’s expertise in designing systems and structures.  They stuck firmly to fundamental principles.  The recent “950-ton bridge span” that pancaked cars in Florida was not an act of God.  Someone in the manufacturing or construction process failed in adhering to one or more fundamental principles.

 

To understand the craziness in politics and the world today we need look no further than the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence which offered us all fundamental principles as “Self-evident” “truths” based on the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God”.   Tragically, the champions of the Declaration then ignored these in engineering the U.S. Constitution. They created and followed ‘alternative’ principles instead. That failure to codify self-evident fundamental principles into our nation’s new governing system and structures resulted in more American deaths than all the wars we have fought in since then -- combined. 

Insanely since then politicians have invented and codified other alternative principles (peace through strength, unenforceable international law, supremacy of national sovereignty over human rights) to achieve their own unique political agendas.  These alternative principles have given us the increasingly chaotic and lethal world we have today.

Almost every American has pledged “liberty and justice for all” yet our Justice ‘system’ is profoundly unjust.  Even more unjust is our war policy.  It continues to kill countless innocent men, women and children without trail and then believe terrorists “hate our freedoms”.  Ignoring fundamental principles never ends well.  The exponential growth of technology cannot be controlled.  It fuels the evolution of weaponry which will not stop while our vulnerabilities grow.    

Reality dictates that we all “depend” on many things for our life, liberty and our pursuit of happiness. Yet our government is based on the mental construct of independence.  Something that exists no where in nature.  Freedom is real.  We are all free to do anything we want. And, the only thing we can be “certain” of is that we will never be free of the lethal consequences if we as individuals or a nation make irresponsible choices. Things change.  Can we?

National Security Redefined. Documenting local costs of global injustices.

An action coalition for redefining national security? 

"No one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interests of everyone hang on the result." --Ludwig von Mises

National Security is NOT what it used to be. 

Even before Trump’s election a survey of national security experts claimed that the second greatest threat our national security was our own “government dysfunction”. 

Each day another politician, military general, CEO, or prestigious commission cites yet another non-military issue related to “National Security” then followed by the phrase “one of the greatest”.    From cyber hacks on our democracy, unsustainable US debt, inevitable pandemics, increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather conditions, Artificial Intelligence, nation state failures, evolution of weapons, terrorism and WMD proliferation… to name a few.

There’s a fundamental reason for this.  Every system and structure in the world is interconnected and interdependent on a variety of resources and actions.  But our global system of governance is not.  It operates on an alternative principle invented in the human mind and found nowhere in nature – independence.  In political jargon this means national sovereignty – a political concept invented over 400 years ago at the treaty if Westphalia.  Since then, things have changed tremendously.  The exponential advances in technology now demand that we change accordingly, or face catastrophic consequences in virtually every aspect of civilization as we know it.

Accelerating advances in dual-use technology and the irreversible globalization of our economy, health, and environment has locked everyone’s freedom and security together due to the increasing availability of anyone’s affordable access to multiple dual-use technologies, each with unprecedented capacity for mass murder, destruction, disruption, or disinformation.  

Traditional military means of defending nations and their citizens may still work against invading armies but they are virtually useless against a host of other national security threats. 

Few people understand that biological (natural or human engineered) threats could kill as many Americans as a limited nuclear exchange; cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure could kill millions;  social media destroying our democratic essentials (truth, trust in government, and elections) erodes our unity from within; the global proliferation of various dual-use technologies capable of yielding unprecedentedly powerful, anonymous and autonomous WMD weapons will increase risks to privacy and freedom of movement;  and the budget busting evolution of new military weaponry for which there is no immediate effective defense represents an entirely new generation of warfare that could derail our vital economy on which our traditional national security elements depend.

Increasing military expenditures for more or even new weapons systems will be wasted money at best.  At worse, these expenditures and new weapon systems will be used to continue an endless war against terrorism, a tactic that can never be defeated by military means.  Let me repeat …NEVER be defeated by military means. Yet US budget deficits continue to fatten our already unsustainable debt burden. This then provides more reason to further slash the vital funds needed for preventing war and reducing other non-military related threats.   General Mattis’ gets it.  In his budget request he asked Congress to “buy me more bullets” ‘if you continue cut funding for the State Department and USAID’.

Why will Congress not listen?  The Military Industrial Complex has their army of lobbyists.  But the bigger reason is that peace activists don’t, and most Americans and their Members of Congress continue to assume that our nation’s security is a function of military spending.  Some in office may be afraid to declare their opposition to such a myth but this could not be sustained if American’s really understood the local costs of US military interventions abroad and lack of investments in improving the lives others beyond our shores.  In other words, global justice for all.

This must change!  As more US citizens and policy makers are now willing to speak out against virtually unrestricted access to firearms domestically … we cannot wait until there is a mass casualty terrorist attack in the US before offering clear warning that it is our US military interventions ‘over there’ that is the primary recruiting tool for terrorists attacks ‘over here’.

This and other lethal domestic consequences of violent US military involvement abroad (returning soldiers with PTSD…) and our lack of humanitarian investments in nation building or diplomacy abroad  can no longer be ignored.  The local cost of infectious diseases like Polio, Measles, TB, HIV/AIDs, Ebola and other new and re-emerging infectious diseases that cannot be stopped by a border wall when most infectious diseases are delivered here by US tourists, troops, and business travelers returning to their families and friends  via airports, water ports, and legal border crossings.

Draughts, floods, hurricanes, wild fires and tornadoes are increasing in frequency and intensity. These local extreme weather conditions will accelerate and continue to rack up tens of billions of dollar in damage and thousands of US deaths as global temperatures and oceans continue to rise.  

No wall or military weapons can stop Cyber-criminal hackers and low cost- lethal Opioid doses breaching our borders.  Investments in local prevention would protect more dollars and lives than any new class of nuclear weapon or hypersonic torpedoes.

There are multiple other sources of domestic benefit from addressing global issues at their source.  From job losses to the loss of our Antibiotic arsenal the quality of our lives is irreversibly linked to the quality of lives of everyone we share this world with.  

Americans must document the local costs of global injustices.  Add up they are shocking.  We must reverse the obscene amount of US tax dollars being poured into weapons and wars that in the long run only exacerbate global injustices when they are used… and do as much damage even if they are not used because of the lost financing for investing in preventive measures.

If you would like to assist in gathering information on local costs of global injustices consider working with us to document specific costs in your own Congressional District.  We will assist you each step of the way to create a local event in your community at no cost to you, other than your valuable time. And, we will never ask you for anything but that time.

We cannot think of a better use of anyone’s time, than gathering information that can persuade policy makers to stop the madness of violence, poverty and other global injustices that are linked to our local communities.

The Action Network:    https://actionnetwork.org/contact   Conf Call March 29, 2018  7 pm EST.

At least two action options exist using the local costs once they are documented.  

1.        Freeze and Seize Offshore accounts:    There is at least $32 trillion stashed in private offshore accounts by kleptocrats, drug cartels, and capitalists avoiding taxes.    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-kleptocracy/2017/01/04/42b30d72-c78f-11e6-8bee-54e800ef2a63_story.html  

2.      The Robin Hood Tax:  www.RobinHoodTax.org     The Robin Hood Tax is a tiny tax of less than half of 1% on Wall Street transactions that could generate $300 Billion annually. 
The Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street will kick start the economy and get America back on its feet by funding College For All, creating jobs and strengthening public services like healthcare, education and infrastructure at home while tackling AIDS, global health, poverty and climate challenges around the world.

The SDGs are the only comprehensive plan available that can effectively address the root causes of war, pandemics, genocide, environmental destruction, hunger, starvation, refugees…

It would take a movement of movements (peace, environment, and social/economic justice movements coming together) within the US to create sufficient political will to make it happen.

SUMMARY:  An immediate plan is needed to redefine national security.   More military funding, nuclear weapons, or walls will not protect us against climate change, pandemics, terrorism, job losses, cyber-attacks, WMD proliferation, the evolution of new weapons for which there is no defense, or an endless arms race we cannot afford.  Before the November elections we must document the local health, economic, and environmental costs within each of the 435 US Congressional Districts that result from the endless wars we are engaged in and the poverty related consequences of other injustices that our foreign policy avoids or inadvertently causes.  Either weekend around the 4^th of July Independence Day celebrations would an ideal time to clearly document our global interdependence -- and our need for a comprehensive global approach to prevent most of the threats our military cannot protect us from.

If not this, what?  If not now, when?  If not a movement of movements…what?