Pope Francis' latest encyclical

 

“A plan that would set great goals for the development of our entire human family nowadays sounds like madness.”  Pope Francis' in his latest encyclical "Fratelli Tutti (All Brothers and Sisters):  On Fraternity and Social Friendship."

http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html

Unfortunately… few people even know of the comprehensive 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  Goals that would bring the human family together for a stable and sustainable future – and prevent so many of the threats we face today.

 

Why is this great set of goals so ignored by people committed to making the world work?

Because they are UN goals? 

Because the goals were created by “we the people” of the world and agreed on by nearly every nation?

 Or, because people have their own favorite, or different goals and priorities?

Anyone got an answer?

cw

Armistist Day

 Nov: 11:   Veterans Day, Armistice Day, and National Education Day:

Shred the U.S. Constitution!   That was the sentiment of government experts burdened with the secret job of America’s recovery had there been a catastrophic event during the Cold War.  Mostly former U.S. government officials - these experienced individuals were driven by the possibility of a nuclear war and the hope of rebuilding our nation after it - or some other catastrophic event destroyed life as we know it.  

Astonishingly they named the Declaration of Independence as the document worthy of protection.

It housed the fundamental principles essential for creating any sustainable human system of government dedicated to human freedom, the fundamental promise of America’s future.

Abraham Lincoln recognized as our nation was close to dissolving over slavery.  The bloody civil war killed that followed killed more Americans than both world wars, North Korea, and Vietnam wars combined.   Lincoln called the Declaration of Independence our “Apple of Gold” and our Constitution it’s “Frame of Silver”.   Our pledge of “Liberty and justice for all” reflects the same.  Having persistently failed this pledge Americans have been engaged in war after war, multiple proxy wars, an endless war against a tactic (terrorism) and now a cold war against ourselves deeply divided by mental constructs that appear incapable of coexisting. The sustainably of democracy itself is as much in question as our pandemic driven debt and our consumption driven destruction of our planets life support system. 

Today, November 11^th was originally celebrated as Armistice Day.  The day that 'the War to end all Wars' abruptly ended (with 20 million dead). In light of Covid19 people should know that more US soldiers died from the so called "Spanish Flu" than from the war itself.  Some historians believe that this disease prevented the US President from attending the drafting of the Treaty of  Versailles thus setting the profoundly unjust conditions that led Hitler to power and the second World War II and approximately 50 million dead. 

It wasn't until the Korean War that Congress changed the holiday to Veterans Day to honor only American veterans.  The ideal of permanently ending war was largely lost to two prevailing but flawed passions; ‘peace through strength’ and ‘peace by disarmament’.  Neither had a chance in hell of working given the fundamentally flawed global system of unenforceable international law.  Flawed because it persisted in worshiping national sovereignty over the protection of fundamental human rights.  

National sovereignty was a useful concept 400 years ago with the Treaty of Westphalia preventing the slaughter of lives within a states border.  But it never stopped or even slowed the slaughter of millions in wars between nations.  Without just and enforceable rules and regulations to hold governments accountable for their murderous actions inside or outside their borders, chaos increasingly continues to reign supreme to this day.  And the lethal forces of poverty, economic disparities, political repression, and environmental destruction we are seeing a return of slaughter within nations between government and rebellious forces.  Conditions made worse by Covid19's exposure of both our broken national and global systems of government.  

Put simply, protecting national sovereignty remains the world’s highest priority instead of fighting Covid19 by  providing and protecting fundamental human rights...like the right to primary healthcare services, clean water, sanitation, gainful employment, safe housing, and  a basic education.  And ‘we the people’ continue to accept this believing that closing borders will solve the problem.

Even after the horrors of World War II (50+ million war dead, Nazi genocide killing 6 million innocent people , and the creation of a new bomb that could vaporize 100,000 people in seconds) we prevented a profound effort to prevent future wars from being codified.  

FDR’s wife Eleanor Roosevelt led the global effort intended to remedy the injustices that often lead to war.  She drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was was unanimity’s approved on Dec. 10^th, 1948 (exactly 72 years ago, 30 days from today). Unfortunately, the UN was never given the power to enforce it. 

Within a few years the Cold War began and over the next four decades over 100 million innocent men, women, and mostly children died from easily preventable malnutrition and infectious diseases while hundreds of billions were spent on weapons to prevent war.  Nuclear weapons may have prevented another hot world war but on Sept 11, 2001, 19 individuals armed with razor knives used our own passenger airliners as WMD.  That crime against humanity sparked a global war that continues today costing Americans trillions, along with trillions more being spend in reaction to Covid19 which is now killing about 100 times more Americans a year than Al Quade has killed in 20 years. 

And when today’s extremists acquire tactical efficiency in biological, chemical, nuclear, cyber or robotics technology millions of Americans will likely die. We must find another way of ensuring out security without losing our freedoms.  And time is NOT on our side. 

It should now be self-evident that the most powerful military in the world cannot stop the abuse of technology or protect the most powerful man in the US, our President.  If a person, group or nation is determined to commit mass murder (some willing to die in the process) or a virus arrives accidently or intentionally...we are all at risk.   

Fact is that global US military involvement since 9-11 has created more murderous extremist than existed before 9-11 and conditions that facilitated the spread of Covid19 and other destabilizing factors.  And our most capable and honorable military force will not be able to stop a biological weapon from entering our nation or truck bombs from obliterating our public buildings.  A cyber-attack or EMP event affecting our vulnerable infrastructure could also cause mass murder.  A 2018 GAO study of our militaries most sophisticate weapons systems reported that 80 percent were hackable by relatively simple methods. 

Security is increasingly an illusion.  Even without President Trump's pre and post election antics our Constitution is incapable of protecting our freedoms, our lives, or our sustainable prosperity.  

Any serious effort to detect and preempt a domestic attack will likely violate our 4^th Amendment.  And, with domestic ‘terrorism’ now increasing, this must be painfully clear.   The freedom/security dilemma can only be resolved by looking beyond our individualistic culture.  It will requires deeper thinking beyond our primal fears. 

Educating ourselves about the evolution of weaponry and war itself would cause us to fundamentally change how we calculate the costs of war.   It should no longer be calculated in terms of lost blood and treasure.  We can now lose civilization as we know it.  In reality, this has existed for decades.   After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Albert Einstein was asked ‘which weapons would WW III be fought with?’  Einstein wisely answered that he didn’t know.   But he was certain that “WW IV would be fought with sticks and stones.” 

Exponential advances in every technology now yields unprecedented killing capacity to almost anyone with a serious grudge and enough money to buy a car, truck or computer.   The dual use nature of every technology means that any disarmament effort can easily be overcome with human creativity if the will is there to commit mass murder.  Even without the Second Amendment.   Take guns away and cars or trucks can be used to slaughter dozens.  Timothy McVeigh demonstrated this 27 years ago in Oklahoma City with a driver’s license, a rental truck, fuel oil, fertilizer, some coper wire, and a timer.

The factor of ‘dual-use technology’ alone should fundamental shift our approach to war, peace, and security.  Intentional mass murder is not the only, or even the greatest threat we face as Covid19 has demonstrated. Climate extremes, super volcanoes, asteroids, and now Artificial Intelligence are also inevitable threats to both our freedom and security.  

For possible anwers.  https://globalchallenges.org  

Most discussions today about any national security threat the word ‘resilience' is stressed.  Meaning we are unlikely to prevent them given limited government funds, the constraints of our Constitution, and the abhorrent dysfunction of our elected policy making bodies.

Those who study ‘war’ or ‘peace’ need to get schooled rapidly regarding the fundamental causes of both.  Nothing less will end the inevitable budget breaking costs and accelerating trajectory of weapons or war.   Too many “peace and justice” activist refuse to yield on their decades long ambition to cut military spending, stop arms sales, and their fetish for the ‘elimination of nuclear weapons’.  And those who champion “peace through strength” need to realize that security is not a function of more and better weapons.  Lasting security is a function of ‘Liberty and justice for all’.   This is the prerequisite to improving any and every element of our human condition.  It's common sense and even biblical in origin. 

And, too many in our government are still clueless to our nation’s vulnerabilities and continue to pass laws that violate the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” so profoundly referenced in our Declaration of Independence.  

In this context the education of all Americans is the most vital element essential to our national security.   And unknown to most Americans this was the weighty conclusion of the last report offered by a bi-partisan Presidential Commission on National Security in the 21^st Century.  It was released just six months before the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.   It considered a lack of education in the US as the second greatest threat to our nation, behind terrorism.   The ignorance of tens of millions of our nation's voters is yet more evidence. 

When we think about honoring veterans or celebrating this anniversary of the end of WW I (and the coming 72^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights December 10^th) it would be good to remember why President Kennedy’s created the Peace Corps.  He knew the foundation of peace.  Since its creation over 220,000 Americans have served in it rising their lives in villages and hamlets around the world to bring education, health care, and farming to the poor.  They deserved to be honored as much as military veterans.  Many of which actually tried and died trying to perform such vital services while deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout Africa.   

Many rightfully debate the value of having our military do 'nation building'.  And our best military leaders say if we don’t fund more humanitarian efforts we need to “buy more bullets”.

Fundamentally, ‘we the people’ need to urgently redefine what is meant by national security.  And then invest heavily in how it will be achieved.   We must use our Constitution to address the root causes of war, disease, genocide, hunger, poverty and other global injustices.  We must put people first, not our national pride.   That is the biblical concept that helped create our great nation.  Failing it, we will fail to be great.  Or even exist as a nation given the evolution of weaponry, war and the fragility of democracy.

The foundations of peace and security were recognized and articulated 40 years ago in a bipartisan Presidential Commission on World Hunger.   “In the final analysis, unless Americans -- as citizens of an increasingly interdependent world -- place far higher priority on overcoming world hunger, its effects will no longer remain remote or unfamiliar.  Nor can we wait until we reach the brink of the precipice; the major actions required do not lend themselves to crisis planning, patchwork management, or emergency financing... The hour is late.  Age-old forces of poverty, disease, inequity, and hunger continue to challenge the world.  Our humanity demands that we act upon these challenges now...” 

The commission specifically warned that “The most potentially explosive force in the world today is the frustrated desire of poor people to attain a decent standard of living. The anger, despair and often hatred that result represent real and persistent threats to international order…  Neither the cost to national security of allowing malnutrition to spread nor the gain to be derived by a genuine effort to resolve the problem can be predicted or measured in any precise, mathematical way. Nor can monetary value be placed on avoiding the chaos that will ensue unless the United States and the rest of the world begin to develop a common institutional framework for meeting such other critical global threats as the growing scarcity of fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources, environmental hazards, pollution of the seas, and international terrorism. Calculable or not, however, this combination of problems now threatens the national security of all countries just as surely as advancing armies or nuclear arsenals.”

The commission also stated “that promoting economic development in general, and overcoming hunger in particular, are tasks far more critical to the U.S. national security than most policymakers acknowledge or even believe. Since the advent of nuclear weapons most Americans have been conditioned to equate national security with the strength of strategic military forces. The Commission considers this prevailing belief to be a simplistic illusion. Armed might represents merely the physical aspect of national security. Military force is ultimately useless in the absence of the global security that only coordinated international progress toward social justice can bring.”

Today, the only thing (other than the 2nd coming of Christ) to comprehensively address global injustices is the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  Achievable goals every nation agreed to in 2015.  Funding them can be done without increasing any debt to any government.  Doing so would actually save trillions of dollars and billions of lives.   All that is missing the political will of your elected officials to make it happen.

Even if you never voted...the most important thing to do now as a citizen is to educate those in power on what our priorities should be.   Their job is to represent you/us.   They swore to protect the Constitution.  But without putting the protection of human rights first...it cannot protect us.  We must fulfill our individual and founders promise of liberty and justice for all.   Right now, the best way of doing that is achieving the 17 SDGs.

Connect the dots (everything is connected!). 

See the web (of life).

Insist on justice for all (17 Sustainable Development Goals). 

Or prepare for the catastrophic consequences (some are already here)

Democracy sucks. Always has. Always will. There is an alternative.

Democracy is not a fundamental principle:

Democracy is a human concept.  It is a word with many definitions.  But there is none that can ensure a sustainable set of government systems and structures within any nation - or set of nations in a world where the protection of national sovereignty remains supreme to the global protection of universal human rights.

Any governing system engineered by the majority vote of a largely ignorant population will be at best, largely dysfunctional.  And then, inevitably doomed given the evolution of technology and its increasing complexity in an irreversibly interconnected and interdependent world that most human minds are incapable of understanding or accepting.

In a book review of “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of authoritarianism” By Anne Applebaum (Wpost 7-26-20) https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-everyday-decisions-that-undermine-democracy/2020/07/23/691fb72c-c078-11ea-b178-bb7b05b94af1_story.html  Sheri Berman ( Barnard College political science professor) provides a context of the book and her review suggesting we there will always have “the long-standing struggle between democracy and dictatorship.” 

This is true if we hold democracy as our primary guild star for any government architecture.

Why?  Because democracy is inherently flawed as well as fragile in any form.   

Berman concludes “Its survival depends on choices made every day by elites and ordinary people.” The books author, Anne Applebaum writes “There is no road map to a better society…no didactic ideology, no rule book.  All we can do is choose our allies and our friends…..with great care, for only with them, together, is it possible to avoid the temptations of the different forms of authoritarianism.”

Hogwash!  Both the author and reviewer are under the mindspell of the Beltway status quo, the source of pay checks and long term employment.  This status quo persistently ignores the reality that it worships a 400 year old concept called national sovereignty in a modern, irreversibly and increasingly hyper connected and interdependent world.  And believe beyond any rational evidence national sovereignty is the best protector their freedom and security and thus their prosperity and sustainability.  

This largely unexamined illusion is killing us by the hundreds of millions each year in the form of wars, genocides, infectious diseases, terrorism, revolutions, international crimes, pollution, climate extremes, and natural disasters that national borders and independent national policies cannot prevent, fiscally respond to, or effectively prevent.  

Why?  Because ‘independent’ government systems based on the will of their majorities short term interests are incapable of dealing with an irreversible and increasingly interdependent world.    Each ‘majority’ invests endlessly in protecting the illusion that that legally authorized political borders will shield them from both natural global realities and the unprecedently powerful and globally invasive technological systems and structures that humanity has created to boost our individual economic and/or military power.  

A majority of humanity and our leaders have forgotten the fundamental principle that sovereignty resides in individuals, not nations.  And unless ‘we the people’ of this bountiful world enlighten ourselves and our leaders to the fundamental reality that ‘united we stand’ a chance…and, divided we will fall…even fail as a species.   We all share this unbelievably unique planet with one another.  We all have the same basic needs.  And the vast majority has the same desire.  To maximize our freedoms and security.  Thomas Paine projected this in his Common Sense pamphlet over 250 years ago.  Protecting human freedom and security is the only legitimate role of government. 

The great news is that there is a rational and proven alternative to the insanity in believing democracy or dictatorship is our only choices.  It is called “the Rule of Law”.  You will hear this phrase used frequently in defending many actions of our own government.  But rarely does anyone define it or insist on all three of its fundamental elements.   Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy once gave the best definition I’d ever heard.  He was speaking on C-Span to a group of international visitors and was asked “what makes the Rule of Law effective”.  He said it requires three basic elements.  First, the laws need to be made and enforce by a democratic process.  People need to know their voices and votes matter and the laws are applied.   Second, the laws need to be applied equally to everyone.  There needs to be a perception of justice.  Last.  The purpose of the laws must be protective of basic human rights.  If these are ignored, don’t expect stability.   For laws to work best all three elements are needed.   

Our founding father’s offered another fundamental principle in the Declaration of Independence.  The “Laws of Nature”  If we fail to follow these or the laws of “Nature’s God” don’t expect a government to work or to last.  The phrase “Nature’s God” may be rejected by many religion skeptics.  But any rational being will know that the fundamental tenant of every major religion is the golden rule.   There’s a reason for that.  Even lowly animals will react violently if abused. 

Pick your poison!  A democracy, republic, federation, or dictatorship…none last.  Each has and will likely continue to perpetuate injustices (preferring one group over another) or violate fundamental human rights (basic freedoms we all need to survive and thrive). 

It is up to us, we the people’, to insist that any future form of government we seek, must effectively protect ‘liberty and justice for all’.   Not just pledge it.

 

 

 

 

NOUN

1.     a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

"capitalism and democracy are ascendant in the third world"

synonyms:

representative government · elective government · constitutional government · popular government · self-government · government by the people · autonomy · republic · commonwealth

·         a state governed by a democracy.

"a multiparty democracy"

·         control of an organization or group by the majority of its members.

"the intended extension of industrial democracy"

·         the practice or principles of social equality.

"demands for greater democracy"

synonyms:

independence · self-government · self-determination · self-legislation · self rule · home rule · sovereignty · autonomy · autarky · self-sufficiency · individualism · separation · nonalignment · emancipation · enfranchisement · manumission

 

·  Democracy | Definition of Democracy by Merriam-Webster

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy

Definition of democracy. 1 a : government by the people especially : rule of the majority. b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.

·  Democracy | Definition of Democracy at Dictionary.com

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/democracy

Democracy definition, government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a …

·  Democracy - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

·         Overview

·         Types of governmental democracies

·         Characteristics

·         History

·         Theory

·         Measurement of democracy

·         Non-governmental democracy

·         Justification

Democracy has taken a number of forms, both in theory and practice. Some varieties of democracy provide better representation and more freedom for their citizens than others. However, if any democracy is not structured to prohibit the government from excluding the people from the legislative process, or any branch of government from altering the separation of powers in its favour, then a branch of the system can accumulate too much power and destroy the democracy.

Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license

·  DEMOCRACY | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/democracy

the belief in freedom and equality between people, or a system of government based on this belief, in which power is either held by elected representatives or directly by the people themselves. politics & government. A democracy is a country in which power is held by elected representatives.

·  Democracy - definition of democracy by The Free Dictionary

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/democracy

1. government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. 2. a state having such a form of government. 3. a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

 

Covid19 and Education: Connecting the dots.

(I’m only writing this because I needed a reprieve from today's heat.  I know it won’t change any minds.)

It should be self-evident that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  Any honest observer can see that Covid19 has exposing all of our weakest links.   Like an X-ray it shows every break in our human concocted systems of economics, politics, religion, food production, environmental protection, what we call ‘health care’ but is really medical care, and (you pick a system). Few of our systems comply with the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God”. 

Our nation’s education system obviously a weak link impacting multiple other systems. Economic, employment, parenting, policing, communications… (try to name one that it isn’t).

This education/safety dilemma is yet another example of the ‘freedom/security’ dilemma that we are forced to handle whenever we believe that things are separate and independent agencies/institutions can deal with them.   Things are only separated by our thinking. And believing they can be effectively addressed independently is a form of mental illness.   We cannot reopen schools without risking the lives of anyone coming in contact with the children attending including bus drivers, parents, cooks, teachers and anyone they come in contact with.  Even if the children never exhibit any ill health from the virus.  Keeping schools closed will have other harmful impacts on the economy and even the children’s health and learning.  Dah!

Covid19 is our educational lesson in science, economics, religion, and politic.  But our Pleistocene brains are not hard wired for making many issue connections.   Only with mental discipline and exertion of mental energy can we overcome the difficulty of grasping the fundamental reality of the known universe that everything is connected.  Plus, everything we currently interact with and depend on for our security and very existence is made up of systems and structures.  And these operate on fundamental principles that cannot be safely ignored.   Think gravity, sunlight, water and sanitation, food and shelter to name a few.  There is no escaping unfavorable consequences of ignoring any one of them.  Yet we do it all the time and complain that things aren’t working.

Consider our obviously broken education system.  We have long assumed that a child’s education is best measured by the time they spend sitting in a classroom managed by an educated adult.   Please recall that our pre-covid19 public, private and homeschooling education programs resulted in the government we today.  A federal government based on the illusionary concept of independence, led by a delusional, ignorant, and popular narcissist who is willing to ignore or veto any sound policy that might be passed by a Congress that insists on putting their political party and inconsistent ‘alternative’ principles before any fundamental principles. And we believe another election will change this.

Democracy is not natural.  It is one of the human concocted principles that has never and can never yield a more perfect union.  Anywhere or anytime.  Human minds are too prone to free thinking without deep thinking.   Getting any majority consistently and adequately informed to understand that their self-interest (sustainably maximizing their freedom, security and prosperity) is best achieved by adhering to the foundation of every major religion (the Gold Rule) and the fundamental principles our nation’s slave owning founders enshrined in the Declaration of Independence - principles and every US citizen has pledged to do (liberty and justice for all) but never acted on consistently.  We will continue to have  political, economic, legal, and defense systems without justice, lasting freedom or security.

I once believed knowledge was power.  It’s not.  When knowledge (and we’ve never had more of it) persistently fails to grasp the profound functionality of engineering a government system based on “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” putting law making in the hands of “we the people” is going to end badly.

We all know something significant must change.  We just can’t admit it is our own thinking and flawed beliefs that’s the source of the problem. 

“WE hold these Truths to be self-evident”: and the DARKEST day of my life. So far.

You might notice that I’ve not blogged for nearly two months.  The is the first significant gap in nearly a decade. Why? Because I had a very dark day.  This may be my last blog.  But the 4th of July and December 10th will remain the most important days we should all honor.  The shorter post before this long rant will explain why. 

It may only be a coincidence that a day before the 4^th of July (the celebration of our “Declaration of Independence”) that I had trouble sleeping.  But I awoke at 3 am with thoughts about all my ‘darkest’ days.  This was put in my head after listening to a podcast the day before.  Certain days I had pondered for decades but never really put in writing or expressed in a collective context.  Here they are.

My mother, my sister, and I were physically abused by our father.  He was actually a good man.  Ignorant as hell and tortured most of his childhood by harsh conditions and all of his adult life by the worst experience any human can have…the loss of his first son at 2yrs old.  Worse yet, he was largely responsible for the infant drowning.  But due to growing up with my far less traumatic experiences I had committed myself to seeking love, justice, and doing what I could to address the preventable suffering and death of others (including other life forms). 

Believing that knowledge and truth was power - I committed myself to learning as much as I could about people (including myself), the environment (as a child I hoped for a pandemic that could save nature), life (I became a biologist), wrestling (to someday overpower my father or protect some other women or child threatened by an abusive individual), and the universe (God, the meaning of life, and it’s inevitable end on earth when our Sun dies).

Two days ago a young Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran who had grown up in my neighborhood suggested I listen to that podcast.  And, like other things I’ve learned over the decades, it moved me.  It was a story about the dark moments in a human life (war, cancer) that we can benefit from, if we survive. And I started thinking about mine.    

The worst came about a month ago when I realized all that I had done to ‘end world hunger’ was being undone by the pandemic, and everything that I had tried to do - end hunger, promote health and human rights, prevent pandemics and terrorism, and sustain the miracle of life on this troubled planet, was all -- also being undone.  Not by the pandemic.  Not because of Trump.  But simply for the lack of political will and the unwillingness of most humans to seek the truth -- and then to take the initiative and act on it.  Simple truths that are self-event…put persistently ignored.  Truths like;

1.       A child should not die before their parent.

2.       War is not the answer.

3.       Prevention is the best medicine

4.       The value of the Golden Rule

5.       Responsibility is key to preserving everyone’s freedom and our security.

6.       Combining love and power is essential to our survival (thank you MLK!).

7.       The ultimate laws are the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” (thank you Thomas Jefferson!)

8.       Democracy is worthless without truth and justice.

9.       Our current government system and structures are dysfunctional and unsustainable.

10.   The Declaration of Independence is our “Apple of Gold” and our Constitution “the Sliver Frame” around it (thank you Abraham Lincoln!)

11.   Together we stand, divided we fall…

 So after 67 laps around the sun what was my darkest moment?

It wasn’t the untimely death of my saintly mother (who taught me so much by her actions and words)

It wasn’t placing only 3^rd in the state wrestling championship after 5 years of total devotion to that goal (because two months later I took first in the state freestyle championship).

It wasn’t losing my national championship in the NCJAA wrestling tournament (I knew I was just lucky to qualify for the national tournament  - and it was the first time I remember my father hugging me.)

It wasn’t my failure to quality for the NCAA national tournament (I was dispirited due to the broken word of a coach – but eventually it has paid for all of my college education).

It wasn’t my first fiancé dumping me after 3 months of engagement (because I’m still married to the woman I found on rebound).

It wasn’t being fired from my last teaching job because I was too involved in ending hunger (because the Hunger Project soon hired me to verify all the information in it’s first book “Ending Hunger: An Idea whose time has come”.  It gave me a wholistic perspective on issues)

It wasn’t being fired as Media Director for RESULTS after just 10 months in Washington DC (Because I was soon elected as one of the first RESULTS Grassroots Board members - and later hired by the RESULTS Board Chair to run the Alliance for Child Survival where I successfully demonstrated my capacity to create political will tweaking the traditional RESULTS format I had always wanted to do)

It wasn’t our failure to end hunger by the year 2000 - or meet all of the promised, affordable and achievable World Summit for Children goals by the turn of the century (because there was the creation of the Millennium Development Goals shortly after which were more comprehensive -- and another chance to significantly address preventable human suffering from poverty, environmental degradation, and human violence).

It was not being fired as Issues and Advocacy Director of the Global Health Council because I prioritized preventing global poverty, malnutrition and infectious diseases above international family planning and reducing global tobacco sales (soon after the International Health Section of the American Public Health Association -120,000 US member 100+ year old organization’s “Action Board” -elected me as their representative among the 13 other APHA sections).

It wasn’t breaking my back (a burst fracture to my L-2 vertebra after falling 32 ft because of a dumb mistake) and losing 100% of my mobility and nerve sensations below my waste (because after a month I started moving my toes--  and after years of rehab regained most of my mobility and control over my bodily functions – and could dance again… and even coach wrestling with only minor difficulty).

It wasn’t being fired after 3 years as Issues Director for the World Federalist Association (originally an Albert Einstein concocted organization) on the very first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks and Anthrax release…having persistently warned it’s leadership about these and other national security threats beyond war or nuclear weapons for years (because my beltway colleagues representing over 100 US based NGOs representing all three major progressive movements – peace, environment, social/economic justice with US memberships totaling over 25 million  - elected me-  without my asking - to Chair the United Nations Association Council of Organizations -where I served two terms).

It wasn’t our collective failure to meet all of the Millennium Development Goals (some progress was made).

It wasn’t learning that my wife of 32 years (we had lived together 7 years before that) really didn’t love me…but basically had settled for me… she was insecure and had more feared the discomfort of being alone (we had two wonderful healthy children who both live relatively happy and productive lives -- and with the arrival of Covid19 I’m finally feeling loved and appreciated by her).

It wasn’t after the election of Trump (because I believed we got the leader we deserved, and I was hopeful it would finally wake most of our nation up regarding our failed and dysfunctional principles, systems and structures).

It wasn’t after learning that both my children had decided NOT to have children and grasped that I would never get to be a grandfather (there are more than enough children in the world and many of them still lack food, medicine, an education, love and attention).

It wasn’t that my daughter (our first child with her birth being the brightest day of my life) decided to ignore me for the last 4 years.  No call or card on Father’s Day or my birthdays, and no conversations at family gatherings (I’ve tried everything to remedy my failings with her to no avail.  I can only hope she will find it in her heart to forgive me for whatever it is I did to earn her persistent rejection.  I accept I will have to live - and probably die with it.)

It wasn’t after the persistent decades of uncontested expert warnings (and my two Congressional testimonies more than a decade earlier that stressed many of those warnings) that were ignored  -- or Covid19 predictably threatening every aspect of our freedom, security and prosperity and undoing everything - and more - that our ‘ending hunger’ and longtime promotion of global health had achieved since 1980 (Because now I’m finally hearing some think tanks and policy makers talking about better preparing for - and maybe even preventing the next pandemic).   

It wasn’t learning that the astronomical cost of meeting the totally comprehensive set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030 (trillions of dollars a year– and not the millions of achieving the Children Summit goals or the billions needed for the MDGs.  I did hit a new low and quit advocating for the SDGs believing there was not enough money for governments to appropriate for meeting them (but then in early 2017 I learned that there was over $32 trillion locked in offshore accounts put there by kleptocrats, oligarchs, criminal cartels, violent extremist groups, and filthy rich capitalists avoiding taxes.  And all that was needed was a Movement of Movements that Naomi Klein called for at the 2014 Climate March in NYC…to sufficiently mobilize action that could lead to funding each of these movement’s priorities at once).

My darkest moment came after trying for three years to convince every leader that I knew and respected from The Hunger Project (some now leading the Pachamama Alliance and the Drawdown events), the RESULTS organization (who never returned my calls), the Citizens Climate Lobby (that wanted to remain narrowly focused), the United Nations Association, the World Federalist/Citizens for Global Solutions, and dozens of other globally minded human rights organizations -- that believed nothing else was needed.   Even after Covid19 clearly exposed our broken systems and structures …yet too failed to bring these movements and organizations together to recognize and accept the fundamental truth that without a Movement of Movements -- finding a new source of funding to meet all the SDGs all together – (in the context of national security and protecting our freedoms and prosperity)…won’t work….and they continued to wage the ‘zero sum’ game that got us where we are today.   Knowing that they will ultimately fail trying to fix the root cause of interdependent problems using Independent organizations - each working on their cherished priority and competing with every other essential movement, issue, and organization - instead of working together to change the systems and structures that are persistently failing to codify and enforce the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God [think Golden Rule].  Instead they rely on making up their own independent laws that rig the economic system between elections….

Sam Harris, the founder of RESULTS, did the most to take this reality and truth seriously…but his persistence in suggesting that I lead such an effort was a no go.  I had tried and failed.  Those in power had repeatedly ignored my pleas.  They persist to this day in seek ways of doing what they have always done  -- better, more, or faster – but not in concert or common cause.

My energy and spirit for the bigger picture is now gone.  And it all now may just be too late.  With the continued growth in all the unsustainable and worsening trends – with only protests and occasional violence in response… I accept that I no longer make any difference on any obviously urgent national or global level.

I’ve resigned myself to accept our species will need far more pain and suffering – both here and abroad before we really grasp the fact that everything is interdependent -- and requires a comprehensive effort to address fundamental principles of ‘liberty and justice for all’ and ‘life, liberty and the sustainable pursuit of happiness’ globally, just as our Declaration of Independence offered.  That budgets are moral documents.  And that we lack the political will to put our values into enforceable and just laws.

I’m now resigned to the reality that we as a species will continue to ignore the wisdom of Jesus, Mohammad, Gandhi, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, MLK…and appear to be content with defending our existing beliefs till death do we part. 

My priority is now my garden, the health and sustainability of my city and county park lands, and my own health, fitness and loving relationships – things I’ve often neglected over the past 40 years.

I feel blessed to have had the life I’ve had.  Now every meal I eat, and each day I can continue to work physically to improve things around me I will thrive.

I would offer ‘good luck’ but I know luck won’t be not enough.  Harder times are ahead.

Not enough people really care for self-evident truths?  Or even believe they exist.

This 4^th of July, I urge you to read at least the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence.  And then remember the pledge you made before our flag…of “liberty and Justice for all”.  Then go and try to enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Just know, even with the best election year ever for progressive…things are going to get a lot worse…before they get better…if they ever do.   And please read these words of wisdom…

“In the final analysis, unless Americans -- as citizens of an increasingly interdependent world -- place far higher priority on overcoming world hunger, its effects will no longer remain remote or unfamiliar.  Nor can we wait until we reach the brink of the precipice; the major actions required do not lend themselves to crisis planning, patchwork management, or emergency financing... The hour is late.  Age-old forces of poverty, disease, inequity, and hunger continue to challenge the world.  Our humanity demands that we act upon these challenges now...”    Presidential Commission on World Hunger, 1980.