Sunday, November 09, 2008

CONTINUING A GREAT DIALOGUE ON AN OBAMA PRESIDENCY

by Michael C. Ruppert--

I am just thrilled by the quality and volume of discourse here. That's a good thing... a very good thing, and it speaks to the heart of what I wrote in INTERREGNUM. In fact, it proves the point I was trying to make that some of you heard so clearly and that others just missed entirely. Unfortunately, the ones who missed the point are some of the real veterans who have been map-building with me for so long. Let me ask this question: Is it possible that all those who have posted here since the election did so because they now felt "freer" to post? Of course it is. Those who missed my point have come to view themselves and us all as permanent outsiders and lepers -- as literally incapable of making any kind of change. They are defending a self-imposed impotence. Subconsciously they have relegated themselves and us all to the role of observers and armchair critics. In a ham and eggs breakfast the chicken is involved but the pig is committed. Some are choosing to entrench and fortify their chickenhood at a time when a few good pigs are needed.

Is it really necessary to remind all of us veteranos that we started to be worried about being locked up as enemy combatants or something like that starting with the passage of the Patriot Act? Do I honestly need to remind people of the self-imposed censorship many placed upon themselves over the last eight years. "Well, I feel that but I can't say it because the FBI or someone might surreptitiously examine my computer, ruin my credit, put me on a no-fly list or lose me my job and I just don't want that kind of spotlight." I submit that what really liberated all of these new comments was a belief that they can be posted now without fear of retribution -- as a result of Barack Obama's election.

The point is, it's true! The volume of postings is not because of my brilliant, impassioned writing - ;-). It's because you feel that the room to do that safely has been created by this election. The Obama campaign sold us an image. If we do not enforce, protect and claim the ground that has been returned to us we don't deserve it. That's exactly what Jefferson would tell us.

The Patriot Act is never going to be repealed. I told you that years ago and I have never changed that position. Nothing that the Necons took by force and intimidation is going to be surrendered. But don't miss the real question here. The real question is how stridently are those powers going to be enforced under Obama as opposed to Bush? Obviously, you guys are less fearful now. Until you change the way money works, you change nothing (my original line) is just as true as it always has been. Some posters here seem to be saying that until a new president has a cabinet and advisory team that is not part of the old paradigm and up to our standards, it will never happen. BS! That is utter nonsense. The United States government is -- to use a simplified analogy -- like the cockpit of a 777. There are dials, switches and knobs everywhere. In order to keep the aircraft flying --and to avoid killing everyone on board, there must be a crew capable of flying it. While the Obama crew is flying it, they have postured themselves as more accessible, less threatening, more open and DIFFERENT. But if you go back to Madison, Jefferson, Franklin, and especially John Adams, you see articulated a fundamental truth: politicians won't do much of anything the People don't make them do. Already, some of the best minds who suffered through eight years of anguish have given up. They have adopted a position that somehow, until someone puts a perfect cabinet in place, and runs on a "perfect" platform, nothing will change. Sorry guys, but that's just plain lazy. It's also very naive. Some of you have become so used to being "Whiners in the Wilderness" that you have forgotten how to be "Lions in the Wilderness". I ask, which noises will most impact TPTB asleep in their beds in the town? Whimpers of frightened monkeys or roars of hungry lions. These powers-that-be have adorned themselves in the rhetoric of their promised responsiveness to us.

Above all the attitude that there is no reason to support anything less than a "perfect" regime shows very little familiarity with one of the things that I do have some experience with; the actual act and art of governance.

I do not for a second believe that if a true outsider were placed in a position of power that we would have a prayer of success. Why? While many of us can almost-perfectly articulate what needs to happen, we have no idea what switches, buttons, dials and levers to operate to actually MAKE it happen... without causing the aircraft to lose its airworthiness. I just finished a book called "A Presidential Energy Policy". (Five publishers are looking at it right now.) OK, so let's say that I became Secretary of Energy in January. I would fail in a heartbeat. Why? Because I know virtually nothing about how DoE functions inside. I don't know which GS16-18s do what or how. I don't know which of a million bureaucratic regulations prevent a million little cogs and gears from working together so that if I gave an order to do something noble, that some town in Louisiana would cease to function the next day. And in that position I become dependent upon the bureaucracy itself. How many comedy movies have we seen where a dilettante comes into a position of power and just starts barking orders. "OK, everybody, change the way money works!" I don't know --as Max Weber or Mario Savio might say -- all the cogs and gears of the machinery. I would not be able to say, OK, let's move or eliminate this department. Let's change this priority without understanding its downstream impacts. A wise person once said, "It's not what I don't know that kills me. It's what I don't know that I don't know that kills me."

The most important fundamental difference between the Obama and Bush camps is this: George W. Bush had a base that never really pretended to include the people and so never really needed to invest or listen there. That arrogance -- personified by Richard Cheney -- was perhaps the most insulting thing of all. The Obama base is ALL (at least superficially and hopefully more so) about the People (that would be you and me) which it advertises and claims as its base. If a base doesn't act like a base then it will wind up not being a base. What's that old line about the squeaky wheel?

All of those who have been lamenting about Obama's transition team and choices, saying that it's the same old people seem to be arguing that there's no need to have people with knowledge of aircraft design or piloting skills to redesign and rebuild an aircraft while in flight. Excuse me, but I won't let people you govern me -- ever. The old paradigm will operate just like the old paradigm because that's what it knows how to do. Still, the old paradigm knows that it's time is passing and I can guarantee that its ears and eyes are open. You see the way money works is going to change with or without us. It is already changing.

All of the people who KNOW how to keep the aircraft of government flying are -- by definition -- from that old paradigm. So what kind of pundit would demand a whole new philosophically-pure ideology up front when there's no one who knows stick, rudder, flaps, trim tabs, and ailerons from a bucket of bolts. We have a perfect historical example of how that works. It was called the Reign of Terror when the only thing a new government in France knew how to say was, "Off with their heads!" And what emerged from the Reign of Terror?... Napoleon. So we have to accept the Rahms and the Paul Volckers and the Bidens etc. just to keep ourselves in the air. But we do not have to roll over and let or expect them to continue in their old ways. I suspect that many of them do see the writing on the wall (very clearly) about energy, economics and collapse. They have positioned themselves to listen to us and risk being exposed for hypocrites if they do not. Now that all Americans have seen a black man elected President; now that newer and less-sophisticated Americans have a sense of empowerment instead of resigned acceptance; whose fault is it if positive change is not demanded and acquired in stages? Whose fault is it if the cockpit frequency which is being advertised as tuned to us, fails to issue course, altitude and speed changes to the aircrew? Whose fault would it be if the cockpit ignored us and we said nothing?

Does anybody remember that power comes from the People? That's a fact. And I'm a bit saddened to see that so many ready-and-willing commentators and critics are digging themselves deeper into their armchairs instead of emerging as leaders and merely whining more loudly.

I haven't compromised anything I believe in. Nb patton understood and heard me perfectly. He read what I wrote and not what he thought I said.

I can't tell you how many really great writers and researchers have caved in subconsciously and their recent writings show it. Over the years I have watched many give up and say (with reason), my life is in danger, or might be. I have watched them say and heard them share,"Look at what Ruppert went through." I don't fault them for what were probably right and appropriate choices at the time. Even I took a hiatus, to wait, heal and regroup. I do not have to explain how personally difficult the last eight years have been for me. I don't need to tell you that a lot was directed at me very personally. So many of you saw me and helped me through that time. If one likens what we do to fighting a war, then one must recognize that a major tool of generalship in war is picking and choosing the time and place of battle. It is about knowing when to rest, replenish and reorganize. Now, at a time when the battlefield is much more open; at a time when the "armies" we face are posturing themselves as being open and our friends; when they are drawing their mandate from us; at a time when we do have more power, I hear people criticizing me because I say, "We have an opening. Now is the time to 'attack'. It's a better shot than we have had in eight years."

One of my favorite movie scenes is from "Moonstruck" where Cher smartly -- I mean with a resounding crack -- slaps Nicholas Gage across the face and yells, "Snap Out of It!"

We have a window here that didn't exist before the election. Time is very short and the collapse is occurring faster than even I had anticipated. We do not have decades for some trickle-up blogeology to penetrate elite consciousness while some of us pundits offer detached, intellectual criticism. Until you change the way money works, you change nothing. Almost everything is on the table now and it's going to be more on the table in the months ahead. If we do not speak out then who have we to blame if it doesn't get discussed? The election of Barack Obama gave us that opportunity. There is a seat at the table waiting for us; created by us. We cannot blame him if we don't take it.

MCR


P.S. -- A word about censorship. -- I have been invited into the corridors of power. I have also been locked out for really stupid reasons. One of the most consistent was that people saw some posting on the FTW Forum, when we had one, that linked to anti-Semitic or racist or other hate sites. People in power slam doors in the faces of people who have something to say over unjustified associations. Any excuse will do. Experience has taught me that anyone who links to a racist or hate-governed source on my sites is an enemy. Experience has taught me that anyone who posts such links on my site is -- more often than not -- the same person who will go to other places and say, "Look at the kind of crap that appears on Ruppert's site." If I am a general then one of my obligations is to protect my own effectiveness and credibility. I will continue to do that with all the diligence I possess. And that decision I do not have to justify to anyone.

24 comments:

Rick said...

The fact that the Democrats are reviving the Fairness Doctrine, and Obama is discussing all these public service squads, does not make me think the nation will be any freer in the future. It sounds to me like the Brownshirts will be persecuting thoughtcrime. You guys are nuts if you think things will get any better.

agape wins said...

BRAVO!

Pandabonium said...

Yes, it will be a kinder, gentler, fascism.

ie - I respectfully disagree.

NB Patton said...

MCR,
Outstanding!
In the words of my namesake; "I don’t like to pay for the same real estate twice."

Anyone would have to agree as of this hour there IS massive political change at hand. One must also acknowledge this change is manifest only in rhetoric so far. The importance of this election is the ideological and philosophical triumph for which it stands.

Put simply; we need to VERY STRICTLY hold the Obama presidency to the change he has promised us.
NOW is the time to dig down deep and defend the hopes and ideas that have been won, and at all costs!

After 8 long years of fighting, with the smoldering remnants of the constitution at our feet, are we going to retreat back to our original trenches because we see a new battlefield forming beyond this one? No! Screw the trenches! Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of mankind anyway. Advance boldy in the open for all to see! Protect the new real estate we just conquered at all costs!

(P.S. Note: I think it is important to understand the distinct difference in topics between the following and the previous paragraphs.)

Now if you want my 2 cents on whether he will make good on his promises, for many reasons I think he will not. And I am prepared to march along side you my brothers and sisters in protest if he doesn't!

OINK OINK

------------------------

Regarding the censorship comment;
I agree with you, I too would censor racism and bigotry from this site. The thing that confused me was a posting of mine was edited simply because I had a small blurb about buying ammo and the comfort it brings me knowing that even if the worst happens I can still have a chance at defending / providing for myself and my loved ones. Isn't that something most American's still hold true?

NewMatrix said...

I don't think Americans necessarily feel any freer to comment on what's on their mind since Obama's win. They've been doing it plenty of other places on the Web over these past 8 years.

Remember, BushCo is still in office for another 60+ days. There's still plenty of false flag time to engineer a dictatorship.

Don't get too carried away with an Obama win... yet.

NewMatrix said...

Mike, I'm aghast as to why you're suddenly drinking their Kool Aid. Do you really understand what Obama's recycled cast of characters from the Good Ol' Boys Club is really all about?

Who are the Architects of Economic Collapse?
by Michel Chossudovsky
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10860

Unknown said...

Mike has made it very clear.

The election result is liberating not because Obama will change things but because now WE can change things.

Armchairs have now become enemy number one.

If nothing changes till we make changes to the way money works the first place to start is the fed.

nosuchthingasshould said...

here's an idea, but i'm not from usa, so it's up to you:
organise a group, get yourselves obama t-shirts (even if you do think he's a fraud, force his hand like mike says) get some posters with' i.e.
'CHANGE WE WERE PROMISED'
or something simillar, and go do a sit in to stop a forclousure. there's gona be a lot of people still energised by the election, black and kids, who would never otherwise get involved, but by hijacking the obama-mania marketing you could hope to get a crowd. and possibly some immunity

Anonymous said...

Rick I agree, I do not now, nor have I ever, believed Obama would do anything but increase our pain ten-fold. I have, from the minute that I found out he was running, known he would be elected.

I am an ultra skeptic and a die-hard Christian and the fact that people have clamored around him and used titles such as "the one", "the messiah", "Mosses", and "the world president"... have unnerved me to say the least. Indeed it has to be the highest level of brainwashing I have ever seen.

Obama supporters typically know nothing about him or his policies but back him with threats of violence. People I used to consider rational now fight me with great fervor when I tell them the change they will see will not be for the good.

The trend seems more Orwellian than ever and people are rejoicing? That frightens me more than ever.

Colin’s Powell’s remark about “a crisis that’ll come along on the 21st/22nd of January… that we don’t even know about yet,” (others have made similar remarks) that just solidifies my fears that another false flag operation will occur and that the regime may have a different face… but that it is the same.

rabbit hunter said...

Thanks for that Mike. The point you make about those not seeing the opportunity reminds me a lot of the point Obama made about Racism in America in the speech he gave back in March. He said the terrible thing about Jeremiah Wright

This excerpt captures it all:

" The profound mistake of Rev. Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country -- a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black, Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past.

But what we know -- what we have seen -- is that America can change. That is the true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope -- the audacity to hope -- for what we can and must achieve"

Mike, I'm just as glad to have you back in the middle of this fight as I am to have Obama the President Elect.

gaelicgirl said...

"If we do not enforce, protect and claim the ground that has been returned to us, we don't deserve it."

And double Bravo!! This post is a real 'tour de force'. Hurrah for your clear sight.

Peter J. Nickitas said...

Mike:

Superbly stated, sir!

Sanders now appears to broadcast the arrival Peak Oil.

See http://www.sandersresearch.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1378.

Very truly yours,

Peter of Minneapolis

djmagic said...

No one said things *will* get better. What's being highlighted (and celebrated, for good reason) is an opportunity; specifically, the opportunity for *us to help make things better*.
Often we've used the terms 'fast crash' and 'slow controlled burn' when discussing the manipulated destruction of our economy. Now we need a fast, controlled burn of the old way of doing things. The American public has been silenced for most of the last 8 years, and finally cleared its throat on Tuesday night. Now let's put our heads together and see if, collectively, we can deliver some meaningful, valuable, life-saving messages.

In a recent email discussion regarding the pressure-cooker situation President-Elect Obama is entering, I likened it to him stepping to the foul line for a pair of free throws at the Final Four.
All I can think is, "Be the ball, Pres, Be the ball."

optimistic1 said...

Many people have been discussing the election as being transformative ie from a racial perspective and although that is true, I think it is larger than that. I think President elect Obama has the chance to realign the political landscape and to create a governing ideology for the West.

While it seems like a "grand ambition" It is not only ambition, but a result of the times. Conservatives have dominated Western politics for the last three decades because they proposed solutions to the problems of the 1970s -- slow growth, social unrest, and Soviet adventurism. But those solutions don't work anymore. They don't address the problems of today, an out-of-control financial system, rising inequality, unaffordable healthcare, poor infrastructure, a broken energy policy. The world has moved on from the 1960s. Few believe that the government should own the commanding heights of the economy, that central planners should allocate resources and that protectionism will save jobs in the long run. Look at the left in power, from Britain to Australia, and you see pro-market, pro-trade policies aimed at promoting growth. The difference is that they also encourage government efforts in certain areas where the private sector isn't sufficient.

I think the greatest problem most Americans have with Washington is they see their government as predatory and corrupt. They look at the tax code and worry less that it "spreads the wealth" than that it institutionalizes corruption through loopholes and special deals.

True reform will mean attacking predatory policies and corruption, from the left and the right. President-elect Obama must recast the traditional divide in American politics. Rather than the usual left-right split over the size and role of government, make it a bipartisan effort to combat corruption

Andrew_The_Fox said...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27635885/


more and more and more

wxdude714 said...

Mike,
I can share your frustrations with those "Whiners in the Wilderness." After the Democratic Congressional take over in 2006 because of the Bush's Administrations failure for Katrina and the energy price spike post Katrina, I heard a lot of the same comments that you have cited in your article. "It's one in the same, both parties represent the same thing,etc." What I've found is that some of these people have been subliminally brainwashed by propaganda that says "A leader makes policy and sticks to it no matter what.". The reality is the greatest leaders in history come up with policy and leave the details to perception rather than judgement. There has been nothing stopping the Federal Government since Katrina to developing initiatives that would help to reduce daily oil consumption of the US Federal Government by 10%. Although this would do nothing(as a person you interviewed multiple times said on CNBC) to reduce the price of oil on the open market, it would strengthen the US Dollar somewhat through a reduced trade deficit and reduced expenditures. Instead we received an energy rebate marked as a "stimulus package" that did nothing to curb demand, but to spike oil demand in March which helped drive the $147 oil in July. The biggest thing we could do is to reorganize the public educational system. Maybe from a classroom system to a nationwide Internet classroom setting,saving millions of gallons of diesel fuel a year. It would also put the burden of learning on the parents versus the teachers and take the disruptions out of the classroom from students that are there to learn. This is why I completely disagree with you that the president that will fix the system will not come from the inside the beltway, but outside the beltway that has a strong knowledge of what is really happening and understands how to effectively communicate to the average person what these complex issues mean to them. Not only during the debates or campaigning, but would require a daily radio show with guests from different special interest groups to explain what these issues are and how the government helps solve these problems and how they positively influence the average person's wallet. As long as the President is truthful it will not matter what the pundits say who only have their interests at heart, not the American People's. I remember in my Atmospheric Physics class in the Fall '01 at UMBC a professor grilling me for attempting to explain complex physics into layman's terms. She said that the only thing needed to get things done by the American people were "fear and a PhD." The point I'm trying to connect here is that Washington is run by a "Make your own Reality". What the truth is doesn't matter. It's all about what you think the truth is, how you can exploit this truth to your own benefit, and it doesn't matter who you step on to get there. The costs of Katrina for example are 5 to 7 times greater in my estimation than the official total being declared by the National Weather Service and the Dept of Commerce. These totals of $160 Billion only included (direct) property damage, lost jobs,tax revenues,etc. They didn't include the inflation from the increased costs of energy and the increased price structure for oil during the Summer's of '06-'08 as traders bet on the possibility of another Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico. This speculation showed up in the gasoline price, yet it wasn't accounted for by the "official" statistics. This is a great on going example of a "make your own reality." One could also parallel this with the environmental disaster associated with the 9/11 aftermath, which is still an on going "make your own reality." Thanks for the general kick in the butt, it's what has been needed to be said since November 2006.
Paul

businessman said...

I completely understand where you're coming from on the subject of censorship, Mike. And I trust both you and Jenna to do what's best for the Blog, and what's best for continuing to make an impact on others' lives.

With you mentioning the importance of all of this, we all need to make sure to do our homework on our resources before posting them as references on this site.

Unknown said...

Mike,

I really dig ya but I also really disagree. What we are getting is more of the same. Big government with big promises soon to disappoint. This would have been the result even if McCain won.

Obama (and all the other contenders save for Ron Paul and Bob Barr) think they have the solutions for everything and then go about implementing more government programs that will eventually fail.

I'm not interested in keeping this 777 in flight. We gotta bring this thing down. Not all revolutions end with the guillotine. Ours (in the U.S.) ended quite well.

The fact is, Obama will end up disappointing because instead of liberating the people (that is, ending the Income Tax, ending the Drug War, etc), he'll tinker and toy and add more programs that will not work. I don't doubt his sincerity. I just already know he won't get done what he wants because it's the nature of the beast.

Government is never the solution. And when I tuck my kids into bed every night I whisper those three little words in their ears just before turning out the lights.

"Government Doesn't Work"

RayLeeUS said...

Beautiful. Inspirational. Not too sure how people can read it and not get it. The hope is not that the magical government fairy is going to descend, wave her wand, and utopia (or at minimum Reagan/Clinton era corruption levels) will suddenly appear. The hope is that you and I and millions of others with various differing views will take a more pro-active approach to civic and social affairs. I wish I could remember the exact quote, but even Bush Sr. acknowledged that much of the power in Washington could easily be swept away [implicitly replaced with more "Joe-six-pack-friendly" representation] if enough people simply united for that purpose.

Psyschology of fear is one of the most important weapons used by people who abuse power over others. I have direct personal experience of its use within so-called spiritual groups whose leaders make people fear that exercising free will and the power of discriminating judgment will lead to catastrophe now and even horrible consequences in an afterlife. Following the "leader" is the only way to save oneself from this terrible fate, according to them. Their esoteric threats are backed up with scriptural references from the world's most respecteced religious texts and pressure from peers and the group's hierarchical leadership. Eventually they don't even need to exert influence because they have set the conscious and subconscious psychological wheels in motion to do the oppression for them. The fundamental principles of social control through government-directed fear tactics are, in my opinion, essentially the same. The problem is, that even when a person breaks from them in his/her mind ("I reject that group and will no longer unqestioningly follow its leaders") the underlying structure of fear (at least on a subconscious level) often remains very strong and continues to influence that person's actions (or inactions). It must be actively rooted out - difficult work that a person must do largely on their own.

Psychological warfare can take on many different forms, but at its root is an intention to control people (who ordinarily cannot be controlled) by making them voluntarily control themselves out of a feeling of helplessness. Some researchers have even speculated or tried to demonstrate that this hopeless feeling ("What can I possibly accomplish? It's out of my control.") has been specifically hammered into our consciousness by submlinal and other sinister and aggressive means. "Yes we can," is an affirmation that yes we can do something, we can not only think for ourselves, but we can act for ourselves. Again, no ruby slippers to click three times, but like Charlie's grandfather in the Willie Wonka story, we can certainly all walk and need not give into the delusion that we are bed-bound for the rest of our lives.

To take a step back and comment on what I was reading in the comments regarding the taking of "sides" - I'm sure more than a few of us noticed that some of the bigger lines being drawn were between those who believe in God or the power of religious community and those who don't. I would like to point out that clearly our human tendency to follow various religious paths has been a powerful source of manipulation for unscrupulous or just plain stupid people to achieve aims that are: a) at their worst counter to human dignity and their own God-proclaimed laws; and b) at best misguided attempts to achieve results that have debatable benefit for fellow humans (especially fellow non-believing humans). Everyone should be able to see that in the world around us without the need for any direct personal experience such as I described above. However, I think it's important to also understand that just as Plato's teachings have been "corrected", expanded upon, used as a starting point, used as a place not to start from, etc., in the history and evolution of philosophy, so have our many religions provided much of the same. In fact, many anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists are likely to tell you (or be forced to admit when pressed) that it would be hard to conceive of humans evolving as social beings to the level we are now without religion. Sure, human sacrifices were created under the guise of religious ritual, but they were also actively dismantled by other religious groups that (we can probably all agree?) had evolved to a higher level than their human sacrifice counterparts. Perhaps if we think of religion as more of an embodiment and reflection of the social and psychological evolution of humankind we can begin to see it more as a result of the advancement of our present consciousness as opposed to merely an external force that must be reckoned with.

Same holds true for the anti-Obama vs. anti-McCain groups. Come on. Do people really believe a Messiah has come to save us? Do we really believe the country is going to hell because he was elected? Do we have to get riled up when we hear others react to these extremes, and thus go off the deep end ourselves? Do we have to project our fears on others who objectively have done nothing to warrant it? How strange that the rhetoric on the political extremes echoes the religious rhetoric - and that many people prefer to read what they want to read and hear what they want to hear instead of what's actually being said.

I believe a certain humility and respect for others should be held by all. As far as I know, no one yet has definitively solved the great mysteries of life: Where does consciousness come from? How did time begin (and if it began what was before it - and if anything was before it, isn't that also time)? Why is there existence? Is there anything beyond space, and if so isn't it also space? Why did life begin (of what need do atoms have to form molecules, cells, and living organisms)? What am I, and do I exist beyond the functioning of my physical brain? I know there are many who would dismiss these basic philosophical questions as irrelevant and others who would foolishly claim science has answered (or will answer) them all. Aren't such assertions derived from the same simple type of belief system for which people so harshly criticize those in the pro-God camp? And regarding others who would claim that these are all answered in such and such book or by such and such prophet, etc., wasn't there some type of accomodating tolerance for them when they were in their "pre-belief" stage that they should be extending to those who currently don't believe? By all means, make your arguments, state your views, proclaim from your soap box/pulpit/armchair, but don't forget it's the shared experience of the above-stated unexplainable, unprovable aspects of our existence that unite us. We are all forced to have faith in something, even if it is merely the negated faith of believing that it's not required or beneficial to have faith in anything.

So take heart because the take-away from this one, I believe, is that huge numbers of people in this country have evolved, even if ever-so-slightly, to a more "can do" mentality, taking ownership. Just look at the record-breaking voter turnout. Everyone got off their ass to do something they believed in - even the McCain/Palin supporters. There is at least some sense of history and pride in our American heritage, which is indisputably rebellious. We are generally more discriminating and skeptical about our leaders than we were even just recently. The curtain has been pulled back on the financial wizards, and worldwide people are beginning to undergo the change that comes from seeing the smoke, mirrors, and lever-pulling that had been previously obscured from their view.

To those who say "don't expect anything to be different - they will be the same or worse", I say "you're absolutely right - don't expect anything, but do what you can (and be glad that others are doing what they can)." A perfect world is not going to be handed to us. But there is nothing that will be handed to us that we can't make better somehow.

Rice Farmer said...

Certainly when the reins change hands there's going to be a window of opportunity, big or small, to influence the new leadership. I'm all for trying that.

But I'm not getting my hopes up. There are powerful entrenched interests pushing Obama with a million times more horsepower than anything we can muster. The government will do everything it can to keep enriching elites. Because that is now the primary mission of the US government.

We should be putting most of our efforts into rebuilding local communities and economies. Changing the way money works for ourselves and our communities. When the bottom falls out and the system crashes, our communities will be the safety net and lifeline for ourselves and many others. And in fact, a crash will give us a far better opportunity to pick up the pieces and remake them into something better.

So yea. Let's write to Obama. But just remember that it's our own efforts, right where we are, that are going to put food on our families, as Dubya would say. We're all free to invest our time and resources however we like. I'm putting at most 1% in trying to influence elites, and the rest in community-building.

I've just been asked by another local citizens' group to give a talk on peak oil. I can already see the shocked faces. Nobody here in Japan knows about peak oil. When you tell them what it's all about, it hits them like a ton of bricks.

And my recommended Rx is going to be just what I said above. Sure, call your representatives in Parliament, but put 99% of your effort into community-building.

dcravens said...

Excellent post Mike.

rayleeus, read Robert Anton Wilson's "Prometheus Rising" when you get a chance. Excellent dissertation on the nature of consciousness and the evolution of humans as free thinking individuals.

businessman said...

Rice Farmer...Once again you are right on in your assessment and in your actions. You're cutting through all the political B.S. and are working to inform and prepare people at the local and community levels for Peak Oil. I can't think of anything that's more important at this time.

NB Patton said...

Hey Rice Farmer,
Whereabouts in Japan are you?
I lived in Yokosuka for a year.
I think its awesome you are getting the word out en masse!

thistlebud said...

Welcome back Mike! It is a real pleasure to be reading your insights again.

I agree that we must do what we can to take advantage of this opportunity ASAP! I am unsubtly recommending "Crossing the Rubicon" and "The Creature from Jekyl Island to all who will listen. Then suggesting a few newsletters such as Carolyn Baker's.