APRECIATIVELY TO DAWN, ALL PUNS AND AFFECTION INTENDED

9-10-05
6:57PM

First, I want to say again, thank you Dawn, for your non-tendentious, gracious, encouraging and motivating reply to my Reply, regarding your initial article in the Pac Biz Times, and your resultant excellent observations.

I have had the great enjoyment of checking out the websites you have discussed in your reply to me on 9-8-05.

Let me begin by saying, that I too am a big fan of George Lakoff, and found his book, “Moral Politics” to be quite insightful, albeit equally quite long and cumbersome, and transparently partisan, despite his personal denials of that, throughout his book.

I was given his book, by a dear and respected friend.

Never-the-less, even though one could not say he was without his biases (like all of us), I thought it was a most informative and enlightening book, and that his philosphical stands, helped me understand his political points, and did not get in my way of understanding. In great part I agree with most of what he wrote there.

I only hope that CalPoly and other educational institutions of higher learning provide equally informative books either with a different political bent, or no personal political conclusions needed to be drawn. But, if not, “Moral Politics” is indeed a landmark book.

As to his article on Katrina, I also found it to be wonderfully worded, informative and emotionally powerful. I wish I could write like that. (As you have see from my critics, I am long from that.)

One cannot arguably disagree with Lakoff’s Katrina-esk observations, nor his words, as to the apparent causative factors. Yes, I too believe, along with seemingly most others, that at this point a case could be well made for fault being laid unquestionably at the feet of almost everyone, who made no effective plans or preparations prior to the event, and those responsible for the abysmal ineffective, humanely inexplicable response during and after the hurricane.

Be cause of what we saw, which sadly fulfills what we expected, we all now live in fear, that we are all equally vulnerable, and that the old saw … “Hi, I am from government and here to help”, is indeed sadly no joke, but a telling bell, which rings warning truth for all of u s.

And One would hope that indeed its reverberation does change the political messaging, and social imperative throughout our country, and even the world from that/this day forth.

I too had hopes for the same effect after 9-11, sadly we did not see it as definitively, nor as permanently as we would want and deserve. Katrina, is a deadly testament to that, as well as to the devastating institutional poverty on whose heads we daily tread.

What greater and more lasting memorial would there be (rather than always and only granite), than if we as a society became more actively responsible to/for all of us, especially the weak, the unrepresentative and the vulnerable among us. We all deserve to feel secure and necessary, in a caring national family.

The real problem, to me seems to be, that otherwise, there is a indeed a huge quaking price to be paid for this type of social disregard, and it is always and inevitably paid more permanently and destructively by our Nation, our society and our culture.

I agree also with your conclusive implications, that we as a nation, and as a democratically caring society seem to have our expenditure priorities fully screwed up.

I do believe you are correct that it is because of bad decisions made by questionably scrupulous, morally bereft, and seeming solely self-interest oriented people, whom we call our elected representatives, not to be confused with the totality of our government.

By this I mean, we have an Executive Branch, a Legislative Branch and a Judicial Branch. But this government is not intended as a Triangle with the President’s executive branch at the top, or wherever you might put it, but rather it is to me, a square formed by 4 equally important foci, to include most importantly and prominently “We the People”. The fourth foci in any government that would hope to call itself democratically representative.

So, when we complain of the three branches, so common in all political communication, we must realize that they conveniently leave us out, as it is to their everlasting benefit to do so. We can not and must not let them do that, nor let that happen. Otherwise we get the kind of government we deserve. We deserve much more.

So much of our lives are handed off as pablum, and our rights as citizens can not be, and is in fact not pablum , but the core responsibility we have, and must daily act on, if we are to maintain ourselves, as the great representational nation we want to be,

It is the US in U.S. that we must not leave out, and in fact can not in truth ever be really left out, otherwise the words anarchist and anarchy would not be so readily on the mouths of so many frustrated souls. A no better solution, by the way, than any other injurious and destructive forms of governmental experimentation so inhuman to the human condition, such as socialism, nazism, fascism, etc..

But when representational government and the moral imperatives of we the people are not acted on, in an efficient and effective manner reflective of we the people’s mass moral imperatives, then inevitably strife results, and sadly the pendulum swings badly, and we begin spiraling uncontrollably in the slow and desperate process of humanitarian re-enlightenment, all over again. It is pain we should/must avoid, at all costs, but can not, if we do not respect our preeminent rights as citizens to be heard, not just to have a titular voice.

So for me, my answer to you, does not lie in eloquent (or in my case not so eloquent) expressions of support or denials of the efficacy of tax cut economics, or no tax cut, because the problem you address, seems to me bigger than that, and outside of a general malaise regarding government as a whole.

The problem you address isn’t only how we get the money, but importantly what we do with it? Again not speaking at this moment in economic terms, but in moral and civil representational terms.

So, putting aside, for the moment, how government’s money is gotten (…And as you can see from the comments, many have many ideas and suggestions …), I think the bigger issue is: Who decides what we spend it on, and how. That to me is of equally great concern, and perhaps greater, within the context of my understanding of your, and others’ observations.

I suggest we as a nation have a new additional TAX Day entitled: National Personal Tax Disbursement Day, where simply phrased, we go on-line, and determine where and who gets our individually taxed money. Yes, we each would get to determine who gets what, and whoever gets it has to be accountable to us, each individually specifically, as to how our individual money sent, is spent.

The technology is available, and whatever tweaks it might need are certainly achievable to make it equitable and accountable. Then with a process including secure social, environmental and defense “Safety Nets”, we have then re-included we the people in a permanent and undeniable way. Now we are fully represented in the representational square, of Legislative, Executive, Judicial and Citizen.

Then our elected representatives indeed become the permanent bureaucratic set, that they so ardently and seemingly strive to become.

With that having been done, or at least proposed, we can then actively control spending by government, and as a nation we the people can then, by being included directly, be talked with, respected, and included in the discussion of what direction this country must take, to remain morally viable, and the type of moral and economically viable leader in the world, which we wan it to be.

Now, having done that we can then look at how we take our money from us, and what is right or wrong and equitable for the workers/laborers and businesses, in this country that create the capital power that drives this country.

Because we citizens would then be sitting at the table, we now indeed would have a voice, the most powerful voice, our economic voice, individually expressed, and nationally manifested.

The implications are potentially staggering, and I believe until we do something in this manner, we will continue to see the frustration, and pain of our fellow neighbors and citizens, and wonder about the true viability of our representational government, as we move forward in this still newest millennium.

I agree with you, Dawn, it is indeed time for the dawning of a more representational process, that assures that “we the voters”, are not excluded from the process of representational democratic self government.

Then we will be secure an independent. We need to fear ourselves more than those from outside, because until we unify and fix ourselves we can not prevent, nor effectively defend ourselves from any threat internally, or externally.

It is never to late to begin. I certainly think we have seen enough tragedy and war, to finally begin asking the tough and real questions, and insisting on leadership that will get us there. The time is ripely now.