The Declaration vs the Constitution: What is the 4th of July really about?

The Declaration offered the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” for guiding mankind’s law making.  The other codified the laws of rich and powerful men, largely ignoring the laws offered in the Declaration of Independence.

Codifying the Declaration could maximize humanities freedom and security.  The Constitution can only accelerate local and global chaos.  (Stop blaming Trump!  He is a consequence…not the cause.)

Most people celebrating this profound day seem to believe that the Constitution is worthy of worship and a natural extension of the Declaration.  That is a monstrously unexamined assumption.

The 4^th of July should be a global holiday.  It’s first three paragraphs contain the most profound pro human words and concepts ever expressed first in the English language.  And they are needed today more than ever in our increasingly troubled era of fake news, alternative facts, and emerging deep fakes. 

The first eight words in the second paragraph “WE hold these Truths to be self-evident…” are only doubted, ridiculed, or rejected by mechanical intellectuals, ignorant supremacists, or Russian bots.

In early 1861 Abraham Lincoln spoke in Independence Hall saying “I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence…I have often inquired myself, what great principle or idea it was that kept this confederacy so long together.  It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the motherland; but something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but to the world, for all future time.  It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men.”

It would probably be an embarrassment to most Americans grilling hot-dogs and burgers on this day to really grasp what the Declaration was actually about.  It was not about ‘independence’ -- a word that has zero practical application in the real world where everything, literally every system and structure known to the human mind, is interdependent.  It was a declaration that human freedom was more important than security under the unjust laws of a powerful government.  It was intended to separate us from unjust rulers. 

"We the people" and our governments since then have never lived up to this profound ideal.

We may separate ourselves politically in our minds and with lines on paper (or walls on land) but nature (both human nature and mother nature) will inevitably shred these mental and physical barriers.   The accelerating exponential growth of technology combined with our failure to abide by the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” will not end well. 

 

Far from forming a more “Perfect Union” our nation and world is increasingly troubled and divided under the illusion of national sovereignty (the concept of political independence).  Our failure to keep our pledge of “liberty and Justice for All” will continue to wither both our freedom and our security…and thus our prosperity and leadership in a world that claims to worship ‘the Golden Rule”…the ‘law of Nature’s God”.  In one word… justice.  

Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote in Democracy in America [1835] “The Revolution of the United States was the result of a mature and reflecting preference of freedom, and not of a vague or ill-defined craving for independence. It contracted no alliance with the turbulent passions of anarchy; but its course was marked, on the contrary, by a love of order and law.”    

What has been clear since then for far too many people both here and around the world, is that ‘justice’ was not on the American menu.  Our nation’s policies have never offered justice.  Ask the indigenous Indians or imported slaves. Or, even the freed slaves.  

Our so called “Justice Department” enforces laws…not justice. It is a legal system…not a justice system. 

The US Constitution was profoundly flawed from the start.   State Sovereignty (the freedom of states to do as they please) was codified to dominate the “unalienable rights” of people.  A forced error that resulted in more American deaths in a civil war than all of the wars our nation has fought in since then…combined.

Abraham Lincoln once wrote that our “Declaration of Independence” is “our Apple of Gold”.  And, our “Constitution” is it’s “Frame of Silver”.    Our nation’s leaders, political servants, and defending soldiers swear an oath to protect the Constitution.  Not us.  Not “We the People”.  And certainly not ‘liberty and justice for all”.

Thus, the U.S. Constitution is a suicide document.  It is physically impossible to keep Americans free and secure with an unjust legal system that codifies institutions, U.S. states, and foreign nations as ‘independent’ agents of change in an entirely interdependent world.

If you are paying attention to expert solutions offered in Congressional testimony or fact based forums there are at least four terms you will hear repeatedly from experts and leaders within independent government agencies who are seeking workable solutions to the problems under their watch.  “What we need is a” 1) “comprehensive” 2) “holistic” 3) “whole of government” or 4) “whole of society” … “approach to solve” __x, y, or z___.    You name the problem…. Immigration, terrorism, climate change, debt, health care, education, housing, toxic waste, opioids deaths, gun deaths, obesity, cyber security, invasive species, extinction of species…  

Next you will hear another word, “Resilience”.  ‘We must build resilience’.    Apparently, those who know what is needed to solve a problem also knows that their solutions can never be effectively implemented using independent agencies or governments. 

The one sentence in the Declaration that should stand out with immediate and relevant concern to us all… “accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed.”

Do we really need to wait for the pain and suffering to reach a potentially irreversible crescendo before addressing the root causes of our most pressing problems - the illusion that we are separate from one another, from the environment, from the suffering of others beyond our borders, and even from the soil, air and water that nourishes our bodies and our brains? 

For a truly comprehensive solution that would remedy many of the global forces that are making our lives more chaotic look no further than the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  Whatever it costs to achieve them by the year 2030 is far more affordable than paying the consequences of ignoring them. 

Nothing short of this global approach to putting human rights above the rights of nation states will sustainably maximize both our freedom and our security for ourselves and future generations.  

We can pay now, or we will pay dearly later.

Einstein's Birthday: Ideas worth celebrating...and legislating on.

On March 14, 1879, Albert Einstein is born, the son of a Jewish electrical engineer in Ulm, Germany. Einstein's theories of special and general relativity drastically altered man's view of the universe, and his work in particle and energy theory helped make possible quantum mechanics.

But it was his application of his insights to sustaining civilization on earth that remains most vital to maximizing human freedom and security in our irreversibly interdependent world.  

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe'; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation, and a foundation for inner security."   -Albert Einstein.  As quoted in Quantum Reality, Beyond the New Physics, p. 250.

Our ‘grand illusion’ is that we are independent and separate from one another and nature.  This will be our inevitable undoing -- unless we come to a consensus that the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” as expressed by our nation’s founding fathers (in the Declaration of Independence) are codified into all laws engineered by human minds in every nation.

FYI:  The US Constitution and the UN system of international law…are both based on the fundamentally flawed concept of ‘independence’.   Do the math.  These ‘systems’ of government and governance are simply unsustainable as long as states’ rights and the rights of government and corporations are protected above the protection of human rights.

Democracy has nothing to do with it as long as a majority of people believe humanity can survive under human laws that are simply delusional, unjust, and unenforceable.  Reality is simply and ultimately impervious to majority rule or opinion.

Panama Papers: The tip of an un-melting Iceberg.

The un-melting iceberg consists of 1%ers, crime cartels, kleptocrats, oligarchs and terrorists and it threatens every ship-of-state and all passengers, rich and poor.  There are no lifeboats on spaceship earth and no rescue teams.   This killer iceberg of corruption and illicit money has been sinking capitalism, socialism, democracy, and global development efforts for decades.   The rich and criminal have rigged the global economic system to hide their wealth.   More than enough wealth to fund the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that much of their illicit resources were originally destined for good use (education, health care, vital infrastructure…).  The SDGs are the only comprehensive, globally agreed upon plan to address humankind's most fundamental needs.  Needs which are essential to prevent the growing number of threats that are now killing millions of people a year - with the growing possibility of killing hundreds of millions as well as crippling our global life support systems that we have largely taken for granted, and the others have taken for profit.

If anyone doubts these assertions or the depth and severity of their implications, encourage them to use the resources below (a report and two documentary movies) to challenge whatever cognitive dissidence their minds may be harboring.

1.    Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2018  www.2030spotlight.org  This 160-page report by civil society experts explores new policy pathways for overcoming obstacles (and contradictions) in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The main message of this report (the most comprehensive independent assessment of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda) is that “The world is off-track in terms of achieving sustainable development and fundamental policy changes are necessary to unleash the transformative potential of the SDGs.”

The report stresses the “need for more coherent fiscal and regulatory policies and a whole-of-government approach towards sustainability… [and promoting] policies that are genuinely coherent in the interest of sustainable development, human rights and gender justice.”  The 17 “SDGs must not be hidden in the niche of environment and development policies but must be declared a top priority by all heads of government.”   “The national strategies for sustainable development should… constitute the overarching framework for all policies.” 

Seen in the context of worsening global conditions - humankinds meeting of these goals should be seen by every person and every nation in the context of sustainable human and national security.

If you read nothing else in this report please read pages 22-25 (Box 0.1) “The world needs to revamp international tax cooperation”.  https://www.2030spotlight.org/sites/default/files/spot2018/Spotlight_2018_web.pdf

2.      Panama Papers (2018 on Hulu) https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-panama-papers  1hr 40 min.  Producer Alex Winter   

3.      The Panama Papers (2016) available on Amazon Prime Video: http://amzn.eu/3GKFvAE  Rent or buy on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-panama-papers/id1321018151?mt=6&ign-mpt=uo%3D4  .  Or Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/The_Panama_Papers?id=pdOHmbOC_c8 .

If an alternative source of funding for the SDGs is not found it is not a gamble to say the goals will not be achieved -- and that the consequences to humankind and the environment will be staggering.  We are gambling with our children’s future if we don’t.  Governments can no longer afford waiting for and then responding to pandemics, climate change, refugees, extinction of species, loss of our antibiotic arsenal, cyberthreats to our democracy, growing global economic inequality leading to instability, MWD proliferation, genocides, terrorism and other human rights violations (see 1980 Presidential Commission warnings below).   New and adequate investments in human capital and environmental protection are required for achieving the SDG’s.  We can pay now to prevent problems or pay dearly for the consequences in lives and dollars later.  As responsible citizens we can no longer accept the burdening of future generations with unsustainable debts (economic and environmental).  We must come together soon.

The Opportunity:  If one piece of federal legislation is created in the US to fund the SDGs (freezing and seizing illicit offshore funding and blocking more tax avoidance schemes) it has the potential to bring most progressive organizations together into an unprecedented ‘Movement of Movements’ (MoM).  Working together, instead of competing over federal funding for their favorite issue or movement) it should be possible to create sufficient political will to roll over any “America First” resistance.

Prevention must be a priority.  April 7, World Health Day is the perfect day make the case that it is ‘health for all (people, environment, democracy, economy…) or there will be security consequences for all. 

For more in formation on how to mobilize leaders in your community to begin building a MoM go to:  https://mobilized.news/worldhealthday/ 

 *“Health for all by the year 2000” was coined at the United Nations Alma Ata conference in 1978.  They intended for hunger and most diseases to be defeated by then.  In 1980 a US bipartisan Presidential Commission on World Hunger warned humanity about the potentially catastrophic costs to our national security in the form of terrorism, infectious diseases, refugee flows, environment problems, more wars and revolutions, if we failed to succeed on this fundamental task.  In the Commission’s words:

“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 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 … critical global threats ... Calculable or not, [that] 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.”   Presidential Commission on World Hunger, 1980.

Other UN, US, think tank, NGO reports and commissions since then have echoed similar warnings.   They can no longer be ignored.  Let me know if you would wish see the list of only the reports that I’ve found and studied over the last 4 decades.  

Pandemic transmissions and CO2 emissions: Investing in real human security.

Dear editor (to the Washington Post but not printed),

Pandemic “transmission enhancing experiments” (“Dangerous experiments, veiled in secrecy” 2-28-19) and Charlie Jane Anders’ fear of nuclear weapons (“Pop Culture needs to go nuclear again” printed beside the other) have two important things in common.  First, they both identify profoundly monstrous human technological threats needing urgent attention. Second, they both need a another perspective offering the reasons why scientists secretly invest in both potentially beneficial advances.  But the real question both opinions left out is what is the root cause driving the evolution of these (and other) mass murder technologies.

Marc Leptsitch and Tom Inglesby clearly describe the potential catastrophic risk of enhancing existing plague viruses. But they failed to mention the likely, even greater catastrophic risk of not doing so.   Only after steadfast scientists who are committed to protecting human security have successfully tweaked the Bird Flu for maximum killing capacity -- can they then develop the vaccine to prevent it -- or the antidote to protect those infected by it – that our steadfast enemy scientists are probably already working on. 

  

And, with the risks of nuclear war increasing (see escalating violence between India and Pakistan, or Israel and Iran, not to mention other superpower tensions) with no way of immunizing humanity against a nuclear blast or it’s down wind consequences, there is only one reason to make technological advances.  The strategy of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) has kept these horrific weapons quiet for 70 years.   Looking past the crazy idea of using a few nuclear detonations to stir up enough dust to cool the planet before its flooded, we should be advocating for more nuclear powered electric generating plants to reduce carbon emissions.  And, perfecting a few nuclear bombs for planetary defense against asteroid and other heavenly uses may also be warranted.

But, the most important question not raised?  Why are mass murder technologies in such unyielding demand?  Is it possible that the existing planetary priority of protecting the national sovereignty of nation states instead of universal human rights is driving us toward such profound risks?   

It would be helpful if the Washington Post or any other respected news agency would document the profound human and national security benefits of funding the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  And the possibility of freezing and seizing illicit offshore accounts to fund them. 

The U.S. is funding dangerous experiments it doesn’t want you to know about.  By Marc Lipsitch and Tom Inglesby  February 27 at 6:50 PM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-us-is-funding-dangerous-experiments-it-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about/2019/02/27/5f60e934-38ae-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html?utm_term=.3c5402a95953

Pop culture is no longer full of apocalyptic nuclear visions. That’s too bad. By Charlie Jane Anders.   February 27 at 6:37 PM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/pop-culture-is-no-longer-full-of-apocalyptic-nuclear-visions-thats-too-bad/2019/02/27/3365f526-3ad0-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html?utm_term=.36ef4f079840

Democratization of everything: inspired by Kalashnikov

The Kalashnikov assault rifle changed the world. Now there’s a Kalashnikov kamikaze drone.  By Liz Sly  Washington Post,  February 23. 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/02/23/kalashnikov-assault-rifle-changed-world-now-theres-kalashnikov-kamikaze-drone/?utm_term=.be7e45a00170

Kalashnikov’s new low-cost drone intended for sale globally can carry a 6 lb. explosive up to 30 miles at 80 mph and deliver its payload with pinpoint accuracy.  Like the AK-47 its affordability and ease of use makes it the perfect weapon for revolutionaries, insurgents, extremists, and any disgruntled citizen motivated by a corrupt or abusive government or unethical private institution.

Nicholas Grossman, University of Ill., International Relations professor and author of “Drones and Terrorism said “I think of it as a democratizing smart bombs” essentially shrinking “the gap between the most advanced militaries” and the rest.

Advances in information technology were originally recognized as a ‘game changer’ for bringing people of the world together and possibly empowering a global democratization to achieve peace.   But technology alone won’t bring peace without humankind first changing our hearts and our unjust government operating systems. 

Lethal divisions between countries, ideologies, and individuals have been exacerbated by communications technology.  Merged with other dual-use technologies like drones we will not see an absence of violence anytime soon.   We must sooner than later engineer governments to resolve, prevent, or mitigate problems…not just react to them while ignoring root causes.  Government as is, is simply unaffordable and thus unsustainable, not to mention the environmental damage being ignored as GDP and military spending seems to be the only measure of government progress.

As the evolution and merging of various technologies progress most nations will increasingly use these tools to spy on, and control its own subjects, and target them or others that the government considers a potential threat.  More and more, people will acquire increasingly lethal technology.  

The US was the first nation to efficiently and effectively weaponized drones for precise targeting.  Other nations, and some extremist groups have followed.  But no nation and no technological invention will be able to control the spread of increasingly powerful, affordable, and lethal technologies.  Even if Kalashnikov halts its production of affordable killer drones.   It is a fundamental principle that it is easier to destroy than to build. Easier to kill than to heal.  

It is also a self-evident truth (fundamental principle) that Information is power.   Fortunately, power does not always corrupt as we’ve presumed.   Power only amplifies the capacity to achieve whatever a nation, ideology or human being desires (eradicating small pox or landing on the moon).  And every new technology essentially amplifies power even more.  Our species is master at inventing tools to accomplish miracles.  What we haven’t mastered is our desires and our engineering of governments to ensure ‘liberty and justice for all’.   Here’s the problem in a nut shell (I’ve been called a nut for suggesting it’s so simple… but please hear me out). 

Most people have two fundamental desires.  To maximize their freedoms and their security.  But many people also proudly desire independence.  American’s celebrate the concept every 4^th of July. 

 Tragically, the word is only a mental construct, not capable of existing anywhere in the real world that our bodies inhabit and depend on for our sustenance, prosperity, and actual survival.  Everything in our world is entirely and irreversibly interdependent.   And, imagining that we, our policies and/or our governments are independent threatens everything we hold dear (our freedoms and our lives).  In fewer words, we are free to do whatever we want. But we can never be free of the consequences.  Our founding fathers were explicitly clear.  If we were irresponsible with our freedom we would lose it.

This news report on suicide drones should convince any rational person that we need a transformational change in how we deal with human relations from the personal to the global level. 

Economic, trade, communication, and environmental systems are all global.  Only the last category of systems is legally enforced.  Violating “the Laws of Nature” will not end well.    You should recognize that phrase from the Declaration of Independence. 

What’s needed now is for us to recognize and codify the second part of that phrase in our nation’s most important founding document “and Nature’s God”.   Atheists and believer can argue over that phrase but any rational American understands the profoundly wise summation underlying every major religion ‘the Golden Rule”.     And wise Christians understand the Bible’s fundamental message to humankind as “justice”.   Nearly every American at one point in their lives has stood before our flag and  said “I pledge…liberty and justice for all”.  But our government system (of, for, and by the people) has never achieved that since its creation.  The injustices allowed by our Constitution have been criminal since it’s creation.  And our use of drones, and other weapons of war, that result in collateral damage is criminal with or without our recognizing it. 

If you believe our military and better walls will keep us safe you don’t fully understand the evolution of weaponry or human nature.  (See Blog Post: Dec 4 “Evolution of weapons” for 22 other factors concerning our growing insecurity.

If this doesn't convince people that 'liberty and justice for all' is the only sustainable path to peace (maximizing humankind's freedom and security) nothing short of Armageddon will do it.   Put simply, security is not a function of armament or disarmament...it is a function of justice.  Our government has  very little commitment to justice.  Short term interests...yes.  Long term interests...rarely.   

Knowing we will not rapidly transform our existing national and international systems of governance to ensure liberty and justice for all, we should seriously consider funding the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  This comprehensive and globally agreed upon plan to prevent unnecessary human death and suffering would deliver the most justice that can diminish most human desires to acquire mass lethality.  Funding these vital goals by freezing and seizing some of the $32 trillion stashed in offshore accounts by kleptocrats, cartel kingpins, rich capitalists avoiding taxes, and violent extremists group avoiding detection...would mean governments could avoid more debt while striking at the roots of suffering, crime, and corruption that increasingly undermine humankind's trust in government. 

Time is not on our side.  The democratization of weaponry will only be diminished by the globalization of freedom and justice for all.

My Generation has failed...but it's not too late...

Re: generation.  Why older people must stand in solidarity with the youth climate strikes.  By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 15^th February 2019.   https://www.monbiot.com/2019/02/18/re-generation/

George Monbiot says my generation has failed but "we can build a movement big enough to overthrow the life-denying system that has brought us to the brink of disaster…" 

We can but, but he and we need deeper thinking and action. And we need it fast.  

Mr. Monbiot makes some painful but accurate points about my generation's denial and lack of action to protecting future generations.  But he may be to quick on the draw claiming it's too late to do anything about climate change and other aspects of environmental instability.  

He obviously hasn't read the book "Drawdown" which documents 100 things that can be affordability done, that will actually save us money as well as protect our environment.   https://www.drawdown.org/the-book

If he was really concerned about our children's future and generations beyond, he would have promoted funding the 17 Sustainable Development Goals which address the root causes of environmental destruction AND two other catastrophic trends that will keep us from meeting environmental goals.  Global poverty that kills more than 15,000 children every day even if climate change wasn't an issues, and equally important, the evolution of weaponry and war increasingly capable of destroying ourselves and our ecosystem. 

His singular focus on protecting nature without addressing the injustices of poverty, genocide, war, terrorism, and preventable infectious diseases misses the key element in ensuring our children's future...recognizing our irreversible interdependence and abiding by both the "Laws of Nature and Nature's God" that were so wisely mentioned in our Declaration of Independence.    The "self-evident" "truths" referenced in that profound document still need to be codified or funded globally.

It’s self-evident we are not going to codify those truths anytime soon, but they could be largely achieved with sufficient funding.  Government debts are so great we cannot expect any more from them, but we can demand that they pass a law to tap some of the $32 trillion in illicit funds stashed in off shore accounts, some US banks and real-estate properties --  by kleptocrats, oligarchs, criminal cartels, filthy rich capitalists avoiding taxes, and extremist groups funding acts of terror.

Invitation for action:  April 7^th is World Health Day.  If you are interested in building a movement large enough to actually prevent unimaginable costs and horrific consequences to future generations please visit (https://mobilized.news/  or email me at chuck@igc.org for support in hosting an event in your own Congressional District to bring leaders of each of the three major movements (environment, peace, and economic/social justice) together to do what’s needed to start turning things around.

President's Day reflects what "we the people" have done with the power we have.

“If you're not making someone else's life better, then you're wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.”  ― Will Smith

Last year the US Surgeon General said the greatest public health problem in America is loneliness.   The suicide, obesity, opioid, and mass shooter statistics may be reliable indicators.   It says mountains about our individualistic culture that anyone in our nation could feel lonely.  It doesn’t have to be that way.

We all want our lives to matter.  Many people need help.  But our individualistic culture leads more people to be devoted to comfort, feeling good, and looking good – rather than doing good or being good.

The burdensome news is that everything we do (and don’t do) does makes a difference.  Sometimes the differences are good.  Sometimes not so good.  And other times, downright harmful.  Most of the time we get very little feedback as to either kind of difference we make.  But most of us honestly want to make a positive difference in other people’s lives.  And if someone don’t want to, it’s a warning sign that something is off balance in their life.  And that imbalance likely has an overall negative effect on others around them. 

  

It’s not always easy to see how our lives matter.   If they matter for good or for worse, but there are some fundamental self-evident truths (as well as miss conceptions) that if we know them, it would enable us to make bigger differences with lesser amounts of efforts.

You’ve probably heard that it takes fewer face muscles and less energy to smile, than frown.  And if someone has ever sincerely smiled at you, you know how it makes you feel.  Better than if they were frowning.

But this blog is NOT about feeling good.  It’s about politics.  And if you believe you are not involved in politics you are delusional.  Your decision to remove yourself from politics is actually an affirmative vote for the status quo.  And if you haven’t noticed, the status quo is unsustainable in multiple ways. And almost each failure will affect you and nearly every aspect of life for those you love.   

The problem is, we tend to believe everything we think.  It’s killing us.  Literally.   What follows is about saving us and the world we depend on for all of our basic needs and comforts.  It’s about making the biggest difference you can in this democratic republic, without voting, donating money to a campaign, or getting dozens of others to vote.  In a nutshell, the greatest difference you can make is building a working relationship with your elected U.S. Representative and/or Senators, regardless of their political party, by using loving persistence, reliable information, and the partnership of as many friends, neighbors, coworkers, or family members you can muster, who live in your same Congressional District.  

Doing the math confirms a gut level feeling you may have had the impotence of your one vote every two years.  Standing in a voting booth and casting a ballet, full well knowing it won’t make any difference in getting my favorite candidate into office, still brings tears to my eyes and a sense of pride in my chest like hearing someone playing bagpipes.  Neither can I fully explain.  But I can explain why voting doesn’t make a whit of difference in making human life on this troubled planet any better.  Even if it makes us feel good and gives us legitimate rights to complain about the dysfunctional political system that is failing us, our environment and our children’s future.

The math:  There are approximately 700,000 voters in each Congressional District.  It does double the weight to your one vote when roughly 350,000 eligible voters won’t even show up to cast a ballot.  But the chance of your one vote making a difference in winning an election isn’t as good as you being struck by lightning.  Unlike lighting, voting only happens every two years.   You can up your election time impact by getting others to vote or raising money to fund outreach campaigns but even if you get your ‘guy/gal’ elected there is no guarantee they will do as you hope once they are in office. 

Fortunately, they will be in office for approximately 600 working days in which they will be in their actual office working about 3 days a week (135/year) or 270 days before the next election.  According to our Constitution’s First Amendment, we have the inalienable right to ‘petition’ our representatives every day of the year.   To be effective you don’t want to be a pest, but it IS their job to represent you and others in your Congressional District with every vote they take. 

Most Americans make the mistake of thinking that once elected members are in office they will faithfully look out for the self-interests of ‘we the people.  Fact is, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  And those doing the most squeaking are the NRA, the tobacco lobby, the real-estate industry, the banking industry, weapons makers, Wall Street, and AIPAC (just to name a few).   There is no equivalent well organized and well-funded lobby for renter’s, students, endangered species, or clean air.   Amazingly, there has been miracle successes by small groups of citizens who are well informed, disciplined, lovingly persistent, and resilient – who have organized and won legislative battles that has saved tens of thousands if not millions of lives.  MADD, Nader’s Raders, RESULTS…

Unfortunately, many of these groups, as good as they are at striking at the branches of injustice, rarely focus on striking at the roots of the injustices.   That would require systemic or structural changes in the government policy/law making establishment.  And the value system of most Americans.  Not an easy task.  Especially when nearly half of the voting population is disillusioned with voting, unhappy or discussed and disheartened with politics (as if it were a incurable disease).  Its not.  We have a government, of, for, and by “We the people” and we have the power to change it if so desired.  

And that bring us to some profound barriers to having the government we want that invests in human and sustainable environmental capital to prevent problems…instead of a budget busting reactionary Congress that traditionally relies on a tragedy or sheer embarrassment, before taking preventive action.  

And here’s the very bad and catastrophically harmful reality.  There are at least two structural flaws in our political system that prevent it from working quickly and effectively on some of the most powerful forces now impacting every aspect of our lives.   First, our government system was originally designed not to work quickly.  But the exponential advances in increasingly powerful technology that is globally available and affordable is changing things at hyper speed.  Meanwhile a basically ignorant and easily distracted public, relies on a divided, virtually dysfunctional government to change things, if it is not virtually shut down by an executive order. 

Second, and here is the real challenge.  Our government system is based on a myth and increasingly refuses to change it regardless of how many indicators and experts recommend sweeping transformation change.  Listen to any C-span hearing on important and urgent issues that appear intransigent, and you will hear the words “comprehensive”, “holistic”, “whole of government approach” by experts offering solutions.  The one other word they will offer is our need but build (invest in) “resilience” … knowing the changes they are calling for will NOT be done.  

The myth is that our government can remain ‘independent’ of other governments and use ‘independent’ agencies within our own government, to effectively address globally interdependent problems and existential global threats.  Independence is a purely mental human construct that exists nowhere in the known universe.  Believing and codifying it into law, forces us into a dilemma of losing our freedom, our security, or both.

Civilization as we know it now depends on no nuclear war, no bioweapons attacks, no EMP events, no pandemic, no international economic collapse, and no environmental changes that over heats our planet, destroys our capacity grow food, or ends the effectiveness of our antibiotic arsenal.  Each of which requires nearly unprecedented global cooperation and preventive measures.

 I use the word “nearly” because there was two times when the world did come together as one.   The first was the eradication of smallpox.  A virus that killed more humans over 70 years of the last century than all the wars and genocides combined over the 100 years of that same century.  It required every nation, county, village and family to participate in the global vaccination campaign and succeeded in just ten years.  It cost American tax payers only $30 million a year for that global campaign.  Shockingly, that one time investment has since saved US taxpayers over $30 Billion (a thousand to one repayment) in expenses that were no longer required to vaccinate and treat US children against that one disease.

The second time was the elimination of fluorocarbons to protect our world’s natural ozone shield against the deadly UV rays that would kill all life on the surface of the earth.

We are unlikely to change our national or international governance systems any time soon.  But we can make other vital life saving and dollar saving investments in prevention of other infectious diseases, hunger, illiteracy, pollution, and violence that each ends up costing us more at our border or in our Congressional Districts than we know or ever tally.    There are 17 globally agreed upon goals intended to address the root causes of so many global threats that we see (or feel) today knocking on our borders, our sense of security, and our cherished freedoms.  These “17 Sustainable Development Goals” will cost trillions of dollars that our governments cannot afford.  The profound news is that ‘we the people’ have the capacity to generate sufficient political will to fund them without raising taxes.  We would need to convince our US Representatives to pass a bill that could freeze and seize some of the $32 trillion that is stashed in offshore accounts, some US banks, and very expensive real-estate here in our own cities.  Much of this bounty is illicit money hidden in these places by kleptocrats, criminal cartels, wealthy capitalists avoiding taxes, and terrorists. 

It’s a dirty job, but it can be done.  But it will require citizens of this great nation, giving up on a few myths. 

1.  That our vote makes enough of a difference.

2. That you can’t make a difference with your elected officials.

3. Military power and walls will protect us, our health, democracy, and prosperity -- from pandemics, WMD proliferation, climate change, the evolution of weaponry, and global corruption.

Love is certainly a profoundly powerful force. But the force of law is needed too. 

“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

‘We the people’ have the power in our citizenship to make just laws happen, if that is our priority.  And, if we love our families, our nation, our freedoms and our children’s future as much as we say we do, we will come together and use our political power to make the biggest difference we can by being a truly united states and using our greatest powers to form a more perfect union. 

It’s that…or more of the same.   And that, will NOT end well.  Everything we do and don’t do makes a difference.  What are we going to do?