1938
As I waited for Justin at the elections office, my eyes wandered around the room. Hanging on the wall was a ballot from Ottawa Country dated 1938. There were 7-9 different parties listed on the ballot. It told a story in and of itself. Back in 1938 many different ideologies were circulating in peoples minds. Today we seem to have been reduced to one, hierarchical top trickle down capitalist, two party system. What happen to the discussions? Where did they go and why did they leave? This was 10 years before I was born. It is a discussion that I have never engaged in anywhere in my social circles. It seems back in 1938, people in Ottawa County had diverse ideas and diverse ideologies. The place where intellectually I participated in this discussion was at Rutgers University Graduate Studies. The discussions circulated in three classes. One was an epistemology class, another a survey course on economic, both were a discussion on the last 100 years of knowing and the economy. The third course was on Women and Politics, an intensive survey course on feminist thought form Italy, France, England, India and the United States. This discussion is not happening on the streets, or is it?
As I think about it, the discussion is not happening in the Media. It is not happening in Government. It is not happening in places of worship. I have found the desire for discussion on the streets, which has limited leadership in a thorough historical perspective. The capitalist wealth system seems to be our sacred cow, which is not to be discussed, analyzed, or reformed. When something becomes so sacred that it cannot be transformed into something more wholistic, it becomes an anchor which rather than steadying the ship, may sink us in this stormy world. At what cost do we hang on to this anchor? I believe we are experiencing the cost at all levels of life and we need to reopen the discussion on how we should practice our economy. Old paradigms are not working. We need to be opens to new models of blending our economy, our governance and the sacred. I believe women are embodying and articulating new ways of organizing that are wholistic, interconnected, historically grounded and emotionally sound. They are bringing a new dimension to an old discussion which needs to be raised form the ashes. We have forgotten that an educated population is the sound basis of Democracy. If we have been trained to be loyal to a particular line of thought without understanding its connection to the whole we become like trained monkeys (sorry to insult the monkeys) rather than thinking, feeling human beings who are able to continue to re-envision a "more perfect union".
Were the founding fathers interested only in the economy, or were they truly interested in liberty and justice for all? If the United States of Amereica is only invested in the former, we have failed to be the model of Governance which we sought to be. It is time to address this failing. If I am elected Governor, my motto is and will always be liberty and justice for all.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
May 13, 2010
First, I picked up my Declaration of Intent from the Ottawa Elections Office. Papers will be mailed in on Monday, May 17, 2010. Today, the 15th of May, I attended an Integral Seminar on the integration of our spiritual/material world and what's love got to do with it. Now you might be asking what does that have to do with a campaign for Governor of Michigan. I believe an integrated understanding of our world is an understanding that we need to bring our political governance.
Second: The main "job" of the Governor is to oversee the State budget and oversee the legislative process and approve legislation. For a governor to do an excellent "job", he or she needs to have a broad understanding of where we have been as people and where we want to go. It takes some real wisdom to be able to integrate the many understandings and ideologies so that they can work together for the good of all. To gain that wisdom takes a real listening. Through out of my life I have believed in the process of life, listened and have learned how our many "parts" fit together. I see my role as a leader who can bring this experience to our State to move us forward together in a direction that will be good for all of us.
Third: In order to do this we need to engage in open dialogue with a open mind and use that open mind to rethink our goals that we would want to achieve.
Fourth: I hope to open an dialogue where we can look at our Republican beliefs, our Democratic goals, our Liberatiran desires and our Green necessitites that I think each of us can recognise as important parts of our governance of ourselves and our state. We need to have clear beliefs, real human goals, the freedom to live those beliefs and goals while remembering that we depend on mother earth for our very sustainability to have these lives. No longer can we depend on the views of one party or another. We need to embrace the important parts of each. We need to develop a much more wholistic way of working together.
Fifth: Instead of an adversarial stance, we need to take a serious stance towards working together. We need not take a warring stance but one of truly peaceful engagement with the courage to talk face to face to achieve the future we want for our children and grandchidren. There are so many good resources to help us move toward an effective governance, a truly efficient governance. We study and practive war. We now need to seriously study peace. Peace will not automatically happen. It needs to be studied and learned and practiced. When we can work together in a peaceful way, we can bring that peace to our home life, our work life, into ourselves. War or peace are actually attitudes which we can change within and practice without. Those attitudes are an individual choice. We choose.
Sixth: On July 25th, 2010 I will be having a Dream Peace Dance Party Potluck, hopefully in the Gun Lake Recreational Area. More details later. I will be going around the state to visit people at our many farmers markets and I am available to talk to groups and individuals who want to hear more and learn more about my views of the world.
Seventh: Peace to you for now.
Linda
Second: The main "job" of the Governor is to oversee the State budget and oversee the legislative process and approve legislation. For a governor to do an excellent "job", he or she needs to have a broad understanding of where we have been as people and where we want to go. It takes some real wisdom to be able to integrate the many understandings and ideologies so that they can work together for the good of all. To gain that wisdom takes a real listening. Through out of my life I have believed in the process of life, listened and have learned how our many "parts" fit together. I see my role as a leader who can bring this experience to our State to move us forward together in a direction that will be good for all of us.
Third: In order to do this we need to engage in open dialogue with a open mind and use that open mind to rethink our goals that we would want to achieve.
Fourth: I hope to open an dialogue where we can look at our Republican beliefs, our Democratic goals, our Liberatiran desires and our Green necessitites that I think each of us can recognise as important parts of our governance of ourselves and our state. We need to have clear beliefs, real human goals, the freedom to live those beliefs and goals while remembering that we depend on mother earth for our very sustainability to have these lives. No longer can we depend on the views of one party or another. We need to embrace the important parts of each. We need to develop a much more wholistic way of working together.
Fifth: Instead of an adversarial stance, we need to take a serious stance towards working together. We need not take a warring stance but one of truly peaceful engagement with the courage to talk face to face to achieve the future we want for our children and grandchidren. There are so many good resources to help us move toward an effective governance, a truly efficient governance. We study and practive war. We now need to seriously study peace. Peace will not automatically happen. It needs to be studied and learned and practiced. When we can work together in a peaceful way, we can bring that peace to our home life, our work life, into ourselves. War or peace are actually attitudes which we can change within and practice without. Those attitudes are an individual choice. We choose.
Sixth: On July 25th, 2010 I will be having a Dream Peace Dance Party Potluck, hopefully in the Gun Lake Recreational Area. More details later. I will be going around the state to visit people at our many farmers markets and I am available to talk to groups and individuals who want to hear more and learn more about my views of the world.
Seventh: Peace to you for now.
Linda
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)