Testing Education:
An Open Conversation, Part 3
The following continues the exchange between The Unknown Candidate and myself, begun yesterday. Parts 1 and 2 were posted then. As always, please feel free to join in the discussion.
The Unknown Candidate said...
I was about to doze off when a thought struck which grew out of this dialogue:
"WHAT IS TO BE DONE? How, as TC put it so well, can WE develop a form of people power to save us from the false choices we are offered?"
We outnumber them. We have power in numbers. We need a party that represents our point of view: The People's Party. We articulate a vision, simply and straightforwardly, one that answers the REAL NEEDS of the majority of people as opposed to the SUPPOSED WANTS of the people currently being articulated by Dems and Republicans. (First rule of successful marketing: identify a real need and find a product that meets that need).
Utilize the internet to start the ball rolling.
More after I get some sleep. Hope this makes even an iota of sense come morning.
TUC
Sean M. Madden said...
It does make sense, TUC, and I thank you for your continuing to think about what needs to be done. Let's keep the discussion alive.
About a year ago, I was thinking along similar lines as what you have put forth, above. However, with another year's worth of observations of, and considerations concerning, the situation at hand, I am now convinced that the system is beyond repair from within, that the structures of power have become so rotten with corruption as to require rebuilding afresh. To play by the rules of the criminally corrupt is to cede the game to bandits whose power lacks legitimacy.
Additionally, political parties have prolonged as they have exacerbated the deterioration of our democracy. They are yet one more in a cache of tools of appropriation which serve to divide and conquer us, one from another and within our own selves, in a battle which serves not the embattled pawns below—us—but the ruling powers gaming from on high. Political parties are a sham. I, therefore, cannot advocate participation in a group-thought politics played along party lines, no matter how old or new the party.
Indeed, we have the numbers. This the corporate-political elite know, and have done well to fortify themselves against.
Consider, with regard to the US (note, however, that my purview is democracies wherever they may lie—active, dormant or nonexistent—for I am by nature a citizen of the world of humanity before I am a citizen by convention of, or birth within, a particular nation-state), the willingness of the Democratic Party to close ranks with the Republicans despite two presidential elections having been stolen from under their noses.
Consider this same willingness to close bipartisan ranks with regard to the deceitful response to 9/11, the thoroughly (and typically) un-American censoring of public thought and speech, the widespread corporate-media collusion for purposes of propagating psychological warfare (or domestic psy-ops) on their fellow citizens, the PATRIOT Act, the perpetual War on Terror, the hiding of truth from the citizenry behind an ominous National Security blanket, and, indeed, the turning inside out of all that the United States is meant to embody.
Our government tortures, disappears and assassinates human beings at will, and imprisons even American citizens without due process of law. In short, our government operates outside of the rule of its own and international law, and does so, by and large, with bipartisan support.
These are undeniable indications that the Democrats, as a so-called opposition party, care far more for holding onto their puny share of power (no matter how relative little its worth outside of personal financial and ego considerations) than they do respecting their constituents or the law of the land, to say nothing of higher considerations for humanity or the world in which we all coexist.
Our forebears instilled within us a near religious regard for the "founding fathers" of our nation. Yet, more than two hundred years down the road of national maturation, it is high time we revisit the unspoken axioms and postulates which lie embedded within the Constitution of the United States. This document was created not by gods nor God but by men, enlightened only insofar as their mortal eyes could then see. See far they did, but not with the near-divine eyesight which we have for too long attributed to them.
With hindsight, we can see their vision, even then, was clouded by considerations concerning slavery, by a paternal attitude which trusted not the people, generally, nor the female half of the population. The Electoral College is a remnant, an historical relic, of their legacy, a legacy of distrust of the people and a documented propensity to rig the game in their own perpetual favor.
As with the days of monarchies past, the days of democracy as designed more than two hundred years ago -- during an age which has been called the Age of Enlightenment, the Age of Reason and the Age of Revolution -- are due to expire, to be replaced in our own time by a collective vision which, while still mortal, will empower individuals to take their rightful participating place in their own governance, as is the inalienable right of all citizens of a democracy, a government not of politicians and their corporate patrons, but one of, for and by the people of a nation.
Indeed, this inalienable right exists not as a bestowal or grant, whether within or without a democratic polity, but by its very inalienability, within us all, worldwide.
Sean (iNoodle.com)
The Unknown Candidate said...
I was about to doze off when a thought struck which grew out of this dialogue:
"WHAT IS TO BE DONE? How, as TC put it so well, can WE develop a form of people power to save us from the false choices we are offered?"
We outnumber them. We have power in numbers. We need a party that represents our point of view: The People's Party. We articulate a vision, simply and straightforwardly, one that answers the REAL NEEDS of the majority of people as opposed to the SUPPOSED WANTS of the people currently being articulated by Dems and Republicans. (First rule of successful marketing: identify a real need and find a product that meets that need).
Utilize the internet to start the ball rolling.
More after I get some sleep. Hope this makes even an iota of sense come morning.
TUC
Sean M. Madden said...
It does make sense, TUC, and I thank you for your continuing to think about what needs to be done. Let's keep the discussion alive.
About a year ago, I was thinking along similar lines as what you have put forth, above. However, with another year's worth of observations of, and considerations concerning, the situation at hand, I am now convinced that the system is beyond repair from within, that the structures of power have become so rotten with corruption as to require rebuilding afresh. To play by the rules of the criminally corrupt is to cede the game to bandits whose power lacks legitimacy.
Additionally, political parties have prolonged as they have exacerbated the deterioration of our democracy. They are yet one more in a cache of tools of appropriation which serve to divide and conquer us, one from another and within our own selves, in a battle which serves not the embattled pawns below—us—but the ruling powers gaming from on high. Political parties are a sham. I, therefore, cannot advocate participation in a group-thought politics played along party lines, no matter how old or new the party.
Indeed, we have the numbers. This the corporate-political elite know, and have done well to fortify themselves against.
Consider, with regard to the US (note, however, that my purview is democracies wherever they may lie—active, dormant or nonexistent—for I am by nature a citizen of the world of humanity before I am a citizen by convention of, or birth within, a particular nation-state), the willingness of the Democratic Party to close ranks with the Republicans despite two presidential elections having been stolen from under their noses.
Consider this same willingness to close bipartisan ranks with regard to the deceitful response to 9/11, the thoroughly (and typically) un-American censoring of public thought and speech, the widespread corporate-media collusion for purposes of propagating psychological warfare (or domestic psy-ops) on their fellow citizens, the PATRIOT Act, the perpetual War on Terror, the hiding of truth from the citizenry behind an ominous National Security blanket, and, indeed, the turning inside out of all that the United States is meant to embody.
Our government tortures, disappears and assassinates human beings at will, and imprisons even American citizens without due process of law. In short, our government operates outside of the rule of its own and international law, and does so, by and large, with bipartisan support.
These are undeniable indications that the Democrats, as a so-called opposition party, care far more for holding onto their puny share of power (no matter how relative little its worth outside of personal financial and ego considerations) than they do respecting their constituents or the law of the land, to say nothing of higher considerations for humanity or the world in which we all coexist.
Our forebears instilled within us a near religious regard for the "founding fathers" of our nation. Yet, more than two hundred years down the road of national maturation, it is high time we revisit the unspoken axioms and postulates which lie embedded within the Constitution of the United States. This document was created not by gods nor God but by men, enlightened only insofar as their mortal eyes could then see. See far they did, but not with the near-divine eyesight which we have for too long attributed to them.
With hindsight, we can see their vision, even then, was clouded by considerations concerning slavery, by a paternal attitude which trusted not the people, generally, nor the female half of the population. The Electoral College is a remnant, an historical relic, of their legacy, a legacy of distrust of the people and a documented propensity to rig the game in their own perpetual favor.
As with the days of monarchies past, the days of democracy as designed more than two hundred years ago -- during an age which has been called the Age of Enlightenment, the Age of Reason and the Age of Revolution -- are due to expire, to be replaced in our own time by a collective vision which, while still mortal, will empower individuals to take their rightful participating place in their own governance, as is the inalienable right of all citizens of a democracy, a government not of politicians and their corporate patrons, but one of, for and by the people of a nation.
Indeed, this inalienable right exists not as a bestowal or grant, whether within or without a democratic polity, but by its very inalienability, within us all, worldwide.
Sean (iNoodle.com)
posted by Sean M. Madden at
4:32 PM
2 Comments:
Because the current political party system is corrupt does not preclude the emergence of another party which is not. Perhaps the word "party" is the problem. It connotes all the negativities to which you referred. However, think of it this way: A group forumulated to restore individual rights to the people (of the WORLD). The world is shrinking rapidly, our problems are converging, and nations are ever more interdependent in their quest for survival and prosperity. The problems of human rights, war, genocide, poverty, the environment, energy, corruption, etc. are world problems. The "Peoples Party" would aspire to unite all peoples of the world in peace and cooperation for their mutual well-being.
More to come...
TUC
PS. One cannot solve the problem you present without leadership and organization or some sort-- especially given most of the world populace is ignorant, poor, and isolated. What I am struggling with is how do we ever affect change without those two things (leadership & organization). Even if we were to resort to revolution -- which I am not advocating -- we would need leadership and organization.
My brain hurts. Later....
Given that the major reason, (apart from cheating at the polls), that we have had to suffer two terms of arguably the most bubble-headed incompetent lightweight who ever trod the world stage, is the RNC PR machine, there are some essentials that must be emplaced, before there is any chance of overcoming the budding "Bush dynasty".
These are well recognized by the leaders of the Republican corporate cabal, which is one of the major reasons that control and censorship on the Internet is already a fact of life, and will rapidly extend even further.
Communication is the central factor in controlling a large populace, and it may well be too late to achieve even a modicum of access to the general public, unless some new medium can be found.
Without national exposure of ideas and concepts, the chances of defeating the now entrenched cabal 'spin machine', is almost zero. It would appear that a new technology is needed to achieve this goal, and that suggests a very long term project.
Even subliminal political ideology embedded in free MP3 downloads, would take an extraordinarily long time to overcome the effects of the 'pap' now on the airways.
The chances of creating a different climate in the educational systems of our country are minimal, given that the 'cabal' is already trying to modify the scientific approach in classrooms.
The problem is really that about the only chance that I can see to significantly modify the political structure of the USA, is to concentrate on two things, first, abolish the Electoral College, and the practice of electing the President and the VP as a team.
Second, approach one state at a time, with a view to changing the political climate there, by a concentrated assault upon the current system, from the Governor down to the local dog catcher. Corruption starts within local politics, where favoritism and nepotism are common. The political party in power is the only entity that can make changes from the top down. For everybody else, we have to start from the bottom up.
Get rid of political appointees on the bench, abolish local School Boards and elected Law Enforcement Officers. Clean out all the sources of nepotism and favoritism at the county and state levels, one state at a time.
Reemphasize the Federal System, where States are semi-autonomous, and the National Government is responsible ONLY for external defence, and cedes authority over the Internet to an International body that will have too many interests in different aspects to allow too much control to any one nation.
This is a very long term project, but then the Republican Party spent almost forty years positioning themself to take over the whole Government, and initiate the current assault upon out rights and liberties.
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