Monday, February 22, 2016

Colby's Facebook Blog Post on Bernie Sanders and Progress

Repost below - https://berniesanders.com/?nosplash=true/


Make no mistake – Bernie Sanders and his campaign are crucial to the substance of America’s government moving forward. This post is more support than fundraising appeal – but [spoiler alert] it does go there in the middle. Regardless of Hilary Clinton being a capable and flawed (as all candidates are) mainstream Presidential candidate, and in some eyes being a better candidate for the general election.

Too much power is consolidated at the top in the U.S. As you’ve heard, and Bernie reminds us repeatedly and importantly, the top handful of billionaires and their companies are running top candidates that cater to their special interests.

This may still remain appealing in some ways to some careful and perhaps meek ‘middle-class voters’ – and perhaps one may think, “the U.S. is safe because we have big businesses and rich people that will protect our way of life.” Which is a secure and mild way of allowing the status quo, and we don’t want to be challenged with change.

But for how long can we let 158 super-rich families and mega-businesses run the budgets, priorities, and candidates in our country? (More on that below). Not much longer, unless we want a society with two classes: (1) a Mitt Romney class and, (2) the 98% rest of us, people who only get 2 weeks off vacation, 75% of whom are living paycheck to paycheck, and 62% of whom have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts. 62%!!! !!! http://www.marketwatch.com/story/most-americans-have-less-than-1000-in-savings-2015-10-06    http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pf/emergency-savings/ 
We just can’t support the Mitt Romney party politics much longer. We just can’t.

If that weren’t enough (and it really probably should be) here are a couple of other interesting examples of problems of too-centralized power: the U.S. electrical power grid, which is dominated by centralized power sources. Big coal plants and let’s say nuclear power plants. Lots of power is produced, stored and owned in one very profitable source. This is a liability – security analysts show that a terrorist attack, or a Fukushima-type event, knocks out power for hundreds of thousands of people. For an unknown amount of time. (Have lots of propane for your back-up generator for the winter, or lots of battery-powered fans for the summer? Fancy life without the internet or TV?) Decentralized power – when there are more rooftop solar panels on people’s homes, more small wind farms, more small local solar gardens – creates a more stable and resilient grid in the faces of such ‘incidents.’ Plus, importantly, the capital (money) and ownership is spread out over more people, which is good simply at face value, and also so a lot more people have a say in the way things run. Not just an elite wealthy few in the totally centralized grid case, a hogtied-by-profit wealthy few who already make too much profit, but are also forced by shareholders to always try to still increase profit – which leads to other bad things. Bad things like Halliburton using cheap well parts and resulting in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster across most of the Gulf of Mexico, and things like the San Bruno gas line explosion where PG&E sat on millions in maintenance funds from regulators, which increased profits and company bonuses – while knowing their lines were aging and had systemic weaknesses – resulting in the loss of a dozen lives, etc.

The most systemic weakness of Capitalism is that profit comes first, not people. Then it must compound and re-invest its interest in the small cell of apex predator returns, and the majority actually finds their musical-chairs behinds in the 62% group above.

Our Constitution and Democracy dictate that people come first. There is without question a most strong sense fighting the centralization of power in our Founding Father’s documents – and they were right. Look at the separation of branches of government. They were smart. They saw the ugliness and squalor of the masses in what existed in Europe and what Bernie says is pretty well happening here -- an ugly oligarchy. Gorging itself.

There are alternatives. It can be done. Canada and the United Kingdom have single payer healthcare. We can have socialized health care and education and free markets and entrepreneurial capitalism – wielded smartly.

Decentralizing power – literally, as in the electric grid sense – and more so down the line with banks, lobbyists, campaign contributions and limits as per Bernie will make the country stronger. More input points, a broader ownership of smaller banks, better incomes in the mid-range of the economy – the middle class – and less consolidation of money, power, and influence at the top.

These are all crucial moves moving forward. And again make no mistake some of this is already happening – California is one of the leaders in the country in rooftop solar installation rates. The grid will become a smart grid – with more inputs, and be more safe from singular disruptive events.

This would be true for the economy as well. So supporting Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and similar efforts to rein in Wall Street and keep banks from getting too big is smart. The biggest banks should be ‘broken up’ – not like closed, but diversified into separate affiliates so public money is not used in the greediest speculation hedge fund schemes that risk the entire bank. And therefore major repeats of 2008 recession / contraction-type events become much less likely.

Decentralization of assets has a heavy ring to it. Many people, even me, probably think there is something wonky and regressive and don’t want to think about decentralization a lot. Well I’m thinking it’s easier and more accurate to say ‘more widely dispersed and widely shared.’ ‘More widely dispersed and widely shared’ energy sources, and assets. That as a concept sounds more straightforward, and is easier to grasp and support.

I just sent Bernie Sanders $27. The New York Times reports the average donation to his campaign https://berniesanders.com/?nosplash=true/  is about $27. More than 1.3 million supporters have contributed so far.

And this “in an election cycle when just 158 families provided half of the early money for the presidential campaign.”

It sucks that we as ordinary citizens have – with our pocketbooks - to fight the Super Pac / Citizens’ United Super-Slush Funds supporting candidates. But that’s where we’re at. For the record, I have donated to Hillary also.

It bears repeating: for how long is it smart to let 158 super-rich families and mega-businesses run the budgets, priorities, and candidates in our country? Not much longer I’m thinking.

The higher and more strongly Sanders runs, the more Hillary and the Democratic Party will see people want more from their government – and will have to adopt more of his ideas to their platforms. No matter the results next November.

No matter the results next November – we’ll always remember Bernie and his message. Did we buy in, did we help?

And it’s February. This is today. There is definitely time for - if not a revolution as Sanders says (although maybe there is time?) - more significant developments, attention and progress on these fronts. Be aware, be involved. If you already are liking, or are thinking you like him, tell someone you like Bernie Sanders, and his ideas. Each of us should post just a little something to feel good about feeling, even if - yechh! - it’s about politics, something you are hopeful about and would like to see. Even brevity, like ‘Bernie is right!’ or “Bernie is good!’ is fantastic. Haha, brevity finally, after a post like this. I’m going to do that with a first post.

But make no mistake - this is change and this is progress. I like Bernie, a lot.


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Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012

Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012
I've been thinking some about the Winter Solstice, the Mayan end of the 30,000-year-cycle on 12/21/12.

What if in fact the world did end? Even though this probably will not happen, to live consciously it is honest for us to take a bit of an inventory.

Am I happy with how I've lived my life? (Yesterday, I thought mostly yes, with some areas for improvement, as below.) Are there changes I would make?
Would I have tried to forgive those that were hostile or disappointing to me?
Would I spend more time with those I loved the most, telling them that, feeling that more?
Would I be happier, grateful for what I have, what I've experienced, the joy, the beauty in this world?

Maybe the answer is yes to all of the above.
So this time can serve as a point of rebirth for all of us. If we think about it.

Because somewhere along the line I realized I think maybe mankind deserves it. !
The way we are killing each other, killing the planet.
How selfish we are, and snotty to those around us. Petty, competitive. Why is this? Do we have to behave this way? (I say no, it greatly detracts and misdirects energy from the full-time celebration in which we could engage, the great multi-cultural, multi-rhythmic dance we can sustain here.)

Maybe God or the Great Universe is fed up, and will pull the rug out from under us.
Don't think I can say we could blame Him/Her/It.

But it probably won't happen. (Probably not! This time.)

Still we are finite on this ride.

It is a time to think, am I happy with how I've lived my life?
Hopefully most of us can say yes.

For the part of us that have a little worry, a little sadness....
This is the time to be present.
This is the time to be the person you want to be, that can die at peace, that can hope to every day be able to look yourself and the Universe in the eye and say, how beautiful, smiling, and thank you. Let's do that.

Antidotes to Violence, a.k.a., Take Charge of Where Your Head's At - here

Tell Congress to Strengthen Gun Control Laws NOW - here

Good News & Brain Food News -
Christians & Muslims Gather, for Peace here
Good News - Top RIO+20 Summit Posts here
The 'Busy' Trap - NYTimes.com
here