Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

I am not at all disappointed with President Obama’s style, or priorities, in governing thus far.  I did not vote for candidate Obama because I thought, or more accurately felt, something disingenuous and dangerously egotistical about him.

And so I think the country bought exactly what was being sold… if not exactly what it actually wanted.
 
Now, under mounting pressure for his detachment, non-performance and delay, our President is looking to “kick ass” rather than lead.  He is unconcerned with fulfilling the job of leadership for which he was elected (and for which he campaigned) while allowing the judicial process to work as designed to determine negligence and fault, if any, and corresponding liability. The President apparently believes he is judge, jury and executioner.

The problem with his approach is that it is un-American and, more importantly, dangerous.

Our current challenges…economic, societal and global…are not akin to those of a misguided adolescent needing his or her parent to extricate them from the unintended outcome of poor choices.  We are a nation of individuals founded, and grounded, in both freedom of thought and enterprise…going through a period of transition.  What we need is leadership to mirror strength and compassion as we move through new and uncharted territory fraught with pitfalls.

What we definitely DO NOT NEED is an elitist, egotistical ideologue with a specific agenda whose personal mission is to impose the will of a few upon the many.

We are, and always have been, a nation of differences.  It is strength tempered by compassion that creates an environment that fosters the peaceful co-existence of diversity.  Its why the heart chakra (center of compassion)  is located above the solar plexus chakra (center of power).  We are meant to temper strength with compassion. 

We are not meant to “kick ass.”

Its a reasoned guess that this President and I differ on considerably more than we agree upon.  However, I would hope that we agree on this.  The most successful and enduring experiment on Earth in individuality and personal liberty is the United States of America.

The answers to its current challenges will be found in our individual and collective histories, our ingenuity and our continued reverence for personal responsibility. 

The answers will definitely not be found in the failed efforts of undemocratic nations who have repeatedly and unsuccessfully used force, combined with a diminution of personal liberty and personal responsibility, to force upon its citizens an unsustainable political and economic construct.

There’s a lot of talk these days from this Administration and its supporters about “unsustainability.”  I would  suggest that there is nothing more unsustainable, or more unproductive, than a kick ass mentality.

Strength with compassion. Now there’s a winning combo.

And a better campaign slogan.
 

This morning I not only see the silver lining I can actually feel it. 

Yesterday, the United States House of Representatives passed universal health care. Today, much of the fear that had been plaguing so many people in this country has shifted.  Against all odds, and almost in defiance of reason, the immobilization and concern that are hallmarks of fear have been replaced with a call to action and optimism.

Why?  Because Life has its own agenda.  And as the saying goes, “Man plans and God laughs.”   There’s a parable that’s instructive here:

A horse and cart were being driven down the road when the horse tried to veer off to one side against the wishes of the driver.  So, she lightly pulled on the reigns and the horse returned to the original path.  Moments later, the horse once again veered off the road and this time the driver jerked on the reigns much more aggressively.  Reluctantly, but quickly, the horse resumed the direct path. Finally, on the horse’s third attempt to stray, the driver cracked the whip. Whereby, the horse immediately, and thereafter, stayed on the straight and narrow.

We have had countless “tugs on the reigns” as we, as a nation, have strayed from the direct and intended path.  To each of those we have responded in a way that returned us to where we needed to be… but only temporarily.  We are a “stiff-necked people” with a short memory, it seems.

So, yesterday, we received a miracle! 

The House of Representatives, at least 219 of them, cracked the whip…and while that was not their intention, God was laughing.  For the miracle of passing universal health care is that it has awakened a sufficient amount of people to conscious evolution that we have reached the tipping point.  Now, enough people understand what tyranny looks and feels like.  Now we can actually begin to move in the direction of real change… toward individual freedom, personal responsibility and the kind of oneness that reveals the perversion of socialism and other political systems that purport to speak and act for the best interest of the people.

The best interest of the people is best spoken and acted by the people.  Yesterday, 219 of our elected officials ignored that Universal Law in a push to pass the law of universal health care.  They’ve declared victory.

Listen.  Can you hear that sound?

God is laughing.

    

I’ve always been a believer that Nature has a great deal to teach me.  Now I have to add that history does, too.  I’ve been following the relationship between President Obama and Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and quite frankl>y that relationship is, at best, disturbing. 

The President, Mr. Stern and SEIU have a long and entwined history that has generated a lot of mutual indebtedness.  Mr. Stern has a lot of White House access.  The Union, in the form of Mr. Stern, wants universal health care and they want it now.>  SEIU has a “chit” its calling in from the President for having donated $27 million dollars to his campaign.  Mr. Stern has not been shy about making that clear.  One need look no further to understand the White House’s push to force passage of health care legislation and impose it upon a nation where 52% of the population oppose it.

Its made me think about some historical figures.

Pharaoh, for one.  You know, the one of Moses’ fame who liked having organized labor do his dirty work and whose sweat kept him and his cronies in total control.  Or the Pharisees, also of biblical notoriety who, along with the Sadducees, corrupted the Priesthood of ancient Israel and are those who Jesus railed against when smashing their money-changing tables for doing business in his Father’s house on the Sabbath. 

When special interests get too close to corrupt power, much perversion is done both in the name of good and the name of God.> 

I think we’re there.

History is replete with similar analogies. And Nature is replete with as many “corrections.”   Flood, famine, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption… Her list is lengthy.  Of course, there’s always that brief lull, or pause, between our awareness of the problem and Nature’s need to act on our behalf.  Its in that pause that we get the chance to self-correct… which much less overall trauma than if left to Nature.  At times we have seized that moment.  More often than not, we have not.

What will we do now?

We are in the pause.  You can feel it because things are speeding up and slowing down… all at the same time.  Its a moment… our moment… to self-correct.  We can now make some important, and at times difficult, decisions… or we can abdicate responsibility for what we know in our hearts is wrong.  Seriously wrong.

The choice belongs to each of us.  Step up or step down.  One way leads to higher ground.  The other leads to…. well let’s just say that in a difficult economy that continues to spiral out of control, ark building might soon be a very lucrative career choice.

I hope not.

While recently contemplating all the disappointment surrounding President Obama’s performance during his first year in office, I thought about the national need for change and how the promise of it resonated so strongly that it propelled him into office.  Then I thought about where we are at the moment and how we haven’t quite gotten what was promised… or what was expected.

So what went wrong?

I think the key word is “need.”  We needed change so badly we grabbed onto the first person who looked and sounded as if he understood our need.  But neediness is tricky business. When you act out of need, and strike a deal based upon it, there is always a back-end price that turns out to be more than you were willing to pay.  And like it or not… pay it you will.

Change has several characteristics.   Its natural, necessary, takes time, and requires sacrifice.  It can’t be gifted, bought, or bargained for. Its the stuff of Life.  In fact, its the paradox of Life because the only thing you can count on for sure in Life is change.

But as with anything else, when you need it too badly, you tend to overlook a lot to fill the need.  We do it all the time in personal relationships.  We overlook qualities in another that would otherwise be deal-breakers simply because they have something we need.  Thinking their presence in our life will somehow change it for the better, we proceed throwing caution to the wind. 

We do it with acquisition.  We buy things we can’t afford because we need whatever it is that thing represents to make us feel or look better… or to fill a void we’d otherwise rather not explore.

So, when in 2008, we all innately knew we were living on the edge in too many ways, we also knew it was  time to change that fact.  We were right to think it.  We were foolish to think that the necessary change would come so easily by way of bumper sticker and a charismatic speaker.  Anyone who has ever watched or studied how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly knows better.  It’s a slow, and at times, painful process.  It requires loss and letting go.  It also requires endurance and the ability to survive adversity. 

It happens one caterpillar at a time. 

There is no top down solution to what ails us.  No one is going to legislate, adjudicate or mandate us out of this one.  As Barry Manilow once wrote, “This One’s For You.”   This one is for each of us to go within, find our values, our determination and the strength to endure change…and then to live it all in every facet of our lives…each and every day.

Knowing your core values, having unwavering determination and garnering inner strength you become exempt from need.   Exempt from need you need not cut any deals for which you will later find yourself unable to pay that back-end fee.

If the man we elected President in 2008 now seems to have disappointed us, and our plight no better and perhaps worse than he took office, remember that we cut a deal.  We needed change and he promised to bring it. 

I think the lesson is to be the change you want to see in the world.  I didn’t originate that realization, it was Gandhi’s mission statement.  He lived it and so changed the future of India.  Not by promising to give change to his countrymen but by showing them, by example, how to do it themselves… one person at a time.

Mr. President, I’m still waiting.
 

I subscribe to the belief that 1) there are no accidents and 2) we are all One. 

So, allow me to connect the dots.

Around 1400 B.C.E, the Oracle at Delphi was one of the most sacred sites in ancient Greece.  It was where Priestesses, who represented the Divine Feminine aspect of God, received divine inspiration and prophesied about a variety of matters.  Leaders from all over the Mediterranean came for guidance, including political advice.  Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom was loved and revered.  Hence, the origins of the word philosopher…”philos” meaning “love” and soph(ia) meaning wisdom. Philosophers were lovers of wisdom.  It was a time of great cultural advancement. In fact, Minoan Crete is viewed as a high point in early civilization and where the Divine Feminine was last worshiped before aggressive, warlike and patriarchal leadership conquered and destroyed much of what had been achieved. 

The region was the birthplace of Democracy.

Fast forward 2500 years.

The economy of Greece is in a free fall and near collapse.  The government, over time, has run up huge deficits that have become unsustainable.  The EU is scrambling to put together some sort of package that will forestall an economic crisis that would likely be followed by similar crises in Portugal, Italy and Spain. (As an uncomfortable side note, we in the United States are economically situated not all that far from Greece’s current position and it may be a dire early warning of its own for us as well).

We are living through remarkable and transforming times.  You can feel the shifts occurring everywhere. The system is re-balancing itself… an occurrence long overdue, I might add.  It is re-balancing the masculine with the feminine, the positive with the negative if you will. Both forces are equally necessary for the growth, evolution and harmony of our world.

As I connect the dots. it makes perfect sense that the “canary in the goldmine” turns out to be Greece.  It is where the Divine Feminine was enslaved and relegated to second class citizenship 2500 years ago.  It was where we went completely out-of-balance.  And because we are all connected, the obliteration of the Divine Feminine eventually led us to the present moment where, now, 2500 years of patriarchal leadership and dominance have failed at the intended goal…peaceful co-existence.

I am an optimist and see the larger picture.  From the ashes of Delphi and the economic collapse of present day Greece, will rise the Phoenix in the form of The Divine Feminine. She will bring us back into balance where finally, an understanding of Oneness and all it implies, will be known, appreciated and lived.

I have always loved connecting the dots.

>You almost have to be asleep to miss the political upheaval taking place.  Its everywhere putting sheer terror into the hearts and minds of both Republican and Democrat incumbents as the November mid-term elections draw near. Politicians of both parties are scrambling to figure out just what the increasingly vocal and disenchanted populace wants of them.  Its on the news day and night and the story will only get more coverage as we head into the Fall.

However, I think its just symptomatic of a much larger story.

It isn’t just a change in our politics. It’s a change in our consciousness… and its impacting every aspect of our lives, not just how we think and feel about government.

While the age-old choice has been one party or the other… the elite or the governed… the rich or the poor…the winners or the losers…such hierarchical constructs are about to experience their own transition.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not talking about replacing Democracy with Socialism.  What I am talking about is revisiting the best of both systems, and any others, that guide and support us in co-creating a world less divided.

So far, no one system has done the job admirably..  although Democracy has certainly, thus far, done it with the most expansiveness and respect for personal liberty. But so far, so good… isn’t good enough.  Nor is it a reason to stop trying to improve upon what we have achieved.>

Authentic change… the change so many hungered for in the 2008 election, the change that has not as yet come but is on the horizon, is a re-balancing of female and male energies in every aspect of our lives. 

The instability we feel at this moment in time in so many area of our lives is that which results from an imbalance in the extreme.  Riane Eisler, author of  “The Chalice and The Blade”, >identifies the result of such imbalance as having created “dominator” as opposed to “partnership” societies.  The result of a world run by dominator societies is exactly where we now find ourselves.  We have almost perfected the application and use of our financial resources and technological development for extinguishing the planet and all its inhabitants.  

Simply put, we are out of balance.

In the First Five Books of Moses in Genesis, as well as in the majority of pre-history cults and religions, the “story” begins with a Being both male and female.  Where we lost our way was in subjugating, and thereby eliminating, the unique contribution that 50% of humanity can bring to bear upon our conscious evolution.

When we realize there is Only One of Us, there follows the irrefutable realization that in the race to conquer and dominate… we are all speeding to Self-annihilation.

And so, while the news media is busy with whether the Democrats or Republicans will hold the majority in the House and the Senate come November… many of us are far more focused and intent upon a bigger question.

Will we transcend differences and a dominator mindset to see the beauty and value in diversity of gender and partnership… or will we remain distracted by the small stuff and never see the edge of the cliff coming up below our feet?

Now there’s a poll worth taking.

>
It has become increasingly difficult, some might say nearly impossible, for dishonest and corrupt politicians to keep their lies and greed confined to back room deals and off-the-record conversations.  Have you noticed? 
And why is that?

Its because the pendulum can swing only so far before it swings back again.
>
The Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal was the real turning point, or in the pendulum analogy, the point beyond which the corruption could go no further and had to necessarily reverse itself.  I call the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal “corruption” because it’s occurrence was a corruption of decency, dignity, and integrity. The “outing” of that descent into moral depravity and betrayal of trust on so many levels was significant not for the act itself but for the outing of it.  For in the outing, the pendulum finally reached that critical point where it changes direction.

The directional change we took was away from alienation and apathy for all things ethical and spiritual towards a remembering and rekindling of those same values.

So what does the Obama Administration and secrets have to do with all of this.  In particular not much. In general quite a bit.

This Administration is no more corrupt, greedy or lacking in conscience than those that preceded it.  However, because it is as corrupt as its predecessors, and because the pendulum has changed direction the corruption, greed and lack of conscience will no longer remain undetected or unaccounted for.

And so, no more secrets.

Every day there’s another breaking story about a new back room deal, a quid pro quo in order to get a vote, legislation that’s intended pay back the few at the expense of the many and much, much more.  While its  easy to chalk it up to dogged investigative reporters or the ease with which the technology makes it difficult to keep such things hidden, I think not. 

May I suggest another reason?

Yesterday on television, Glenn Beck interviewed Governor Sarah Palin.  When asked about the soulless behavior of the politicians in Washington, and how it may be impossible to serve in government without losing one’s soul, she replied (and I paraphrase)  “We live in a fallen world and other than our spouse we are not supposed to put our trust in another person, especially not politicians.”

I take issue with Governor Palin’s observation.  By her reply she is obviously religious.  If you read my blog you know I am obviously spiritual.

They are not the same thing.

I do not see the world as “fallen.”  I do not believe there is original sin. Nor an avenging God.  I do believe like the Universe in which we live, We are part of an expanding Consciousness moving towards evermore enlightenment and understanding.  And as you move towards en-Light-enment, things that do not support the expansion, and cannot withstand the Light, are exposed and seen for what they truly are.
 
Hence, no more secrets. That which has been hidden from us is now emerging into the Light of day.  It is no longer possible to keep such behavior obscured among the shadows. 

This is not a bad thing. However, it makes for a difficult transition.  We have lived in the shadows for quite some time now and so the light of day presents us with challenges.  For one, our “eyes”… how we see things…have to adjust to a clarity and brightness we are unaccustomed to. 

It would be wise for those with apparent power in positions of authority to realize what is happening.  For unless they do, and change their values and behavior accordingly, they will go the way of the dinosaurs.  

We are spiritually going through the equivalent of a cataclysmic change. A new environment is the natural result of such profound change.  It isn’t the strong who will survive.

Its those who understand Oneness.

  

I’m a firm believer that Nature has a way of correcting imbalances and moderating excess.  Because of that, I often look to Nature for answers to very human problems.  It seems all the international support and opposition to the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez has been less effective in bringing pressures to bear on the political situation in that country than that which Mother Nature has now engaged.

It seems Venezuela is in the midst of a dangerous and prolonged drought that is taxing the country’s main hydroelectric source, Guri Dam.  With the dam’s water already 33 feet below acceptable levels and months yet to go in drought season, the prospect looms large that a crisis is potentially in the making.  Shortages and fines are already a reality with more to come.  Should the dam dry up, the country could come to a standstill. Literally.

Such an occurrence and its effect would seem almost biblical.  Sort of like locusts or darkness.  Then again, that’s exactly how a dictator who defied human rights and imposed upon his People corrupt and self-aggrandizing measures finally got the message that you can only defy Natural Law so long.  Then, when all else fails, Natural Law implements Its own remedies. 

Historically, these tend to be much less desirable than man-made solutions.

Now I’m not equating Chavez to Pharaoh.  How could I?  Pharaoh ruled an empire. Chavez rules a country in South America.  But here’s the point.

The world was very far adrift during Pharaoh’s reign.  Values were skewed.  Respect for human dignity was a non-sequitur.  A few were prospering at the expense, and on the backs, of the many.  And while Chavez and his ilk worldwide bemoan the plight of the “workers of the world”, they are busy lining their own pockets, and the pockets of their cronies, with the wealth created by the workers they profess to be helping. 

So one could say the world is once again very far adrift.

When humankind seems out of viable options for a course correction, Nature has a way of filling the vacuum.  She (yes, I said she) has at Her disposal resources that makes ours pale in comparison. 

Turning off the water is just one of them.
 
Today there was a byline on Fox.com’s home page that hinted at the perfect storm set up by a continued recession and the prospect of another terror strike.  Of course, such a coming together of economic woes and the threat of terrorism is real and potentially devastating.  Californians have severe economic and cultural problems of their own but today there was also a 6.5 earthquake in Northern California.

Nature knows how to get our attention.

Have you noticed that most of the fear-based predictions and cautions that we are daily inundated with by the media don’t pan out they way they’re “supposed to.”  Yes, the DOW went from 14,000 to 6500…but it also went back up to 10,500.  Yes, terror attempts have been made, but they’ve failed. 

This isn’t to say the economy can’t collapse or a terrorist won’t succeed.  But until such time, I’m more concerned that we understand that Mother Nature has had enough of our shennanigans and our inability to live in harmony with one another, respecting the dignity of every human being and Her body, Earth, as well.

The consequences of Her having reached Her limit are certainly more catastrophic than the war games and political intrigue politicians play. 

A lot of world leaders would like to see an end to the Chavez government and others like it. To that end they have pursued their goal overtly and covertly.  They have tried diplomacy and aggression.  Yet oppressive regimes still stand.

Chavez is finally in trouble. It may not be hot water but it’s water non-the-less.  Internal unrest is escalating as the populace blames his government’s corruption and incompetence for the lack of preparedness and creation of viable alternatives to Guri Dam as an energy source for the country.

We would all be wise to sit up and take notice, and an accounting as well, of where and how we might self-correct.  The alternative will be very unpleasant.  I did say “She” above, didn’t I?

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

The big news today is the surprising decision by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) and several other sitting members of the Senate not to seek re-election in 2010.  Both the political Left and Right have quickly gone on record to put their interpretations on why… and what this means for their parties’ respective political outcomes come the midterm elections.  Of course, each believes it will work to their partisan advantage.

In the midst of so much economic uncertainty and recent resurrection of the potential threat of another terrorist attack upon Americans or U.S. soil, let me posit an alternative outcome.

There will likely be more such announcements by sitting members of Congress in coming weeks and months.  Its political hunting season.  House and Senate members with skeletons in their closet, or guilt on their conscience, know the American public is armed and looking for game.

But let me turn from such a violent metaphor and say that I think its all good.  What it signifies is that, no matter what has personally or politically precipitated these decisions to walk, they open the door for a change in the character and focus of the individuals who will fill these seats and, therefore, truly represent We The People. 

Things are never as they seem.  While the Democrats appear to be scrambling and shaking things up within to effect damage control… and the Republicans are scrambling to strategize how to seize those seats now in play, I think there is a “higher ground” scenario at work here. 

I believe that individuals with a more Universal view and expanded consciousness will emerge to become frontline spiritual warriors in the transformation of the Consciousness of this nation… not in the sense that Progressives view that transformation as occurring, but rather in the sense of a renewed dedication to freedom, individuality, responsibility, integrity, creativity and compassion.

Yes, these are challenging times.  But they are exhilarating times as well… filled with the potential for greatness and expansion.  Not territorial expansion as has always been the case.  But expansion of mankind’s understanding of, and contribution to, a Plan that is infinitely grander, profoundly wiser and irresistibly more loving than anything we have participated in thus far.

I watched CBS’s “This Week” on Sunday morning when Director of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, was interviewed and asked how the terrorist who tried to blow up a Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit managed to get a multiple visit U.S. visa and board the plane when he was a known security risk.  But for the quick response of a passenger who jumped the terrorist and disarmed him, the ending might have been tragic. The Director’s reply was that the system had, in fact, worked and the passengers and everything necessary came together to thwart the attempt. 

My 16 year-old-daughter was walking through our living room at the time the Director spoke those words and, without missing a step, my daughter said out loud “It wasn’t the passenger’s job. It was yours.”  It seems my 16-year-old gets it….even if the Director of Homeland Security doesn’t.

Now, one day later, it seems Director Napolitano has had a change of heart.  Within 24 hours of that  comment she has, apparently, made a startling realization. The system, it now appears, failed.
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No kidding, Janet.

I pride myself on being able to find the higher meaning in every story.  I have found it here.

Either 1) the Director changed her mind due to the outrage that followed her comments, making it a political change of mind not necessarily an enlightened one; or 2) she really is that dense and believed the system worked as intended, or 3) absent political fallout, she will defend this Administration regardless of the correctness, truthfulness, or even logic of her assertions. 

Whichever is the case, the incident has given us insight into the necessity of replacing her as Head of Homeland Security.

It is hardly in the interest of this nation, or its citizens, to have an individual so unqualified, political and/or clueless, as Janet Napolitano in charge of our individual and collective safety.

So, let us be grateful to the Nigerian terrorist who failed at his intended purpose… but succeeded, brilliantly, at an unintended one.

We now know Napolitano must go. 

Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?