There They Go Again!

No sooner are the primary elections over, then the two newspapers are printing the attack pieces against Linda Lingle and the Republican Party, thinking only she has the money to spend to counteract all the negative press they can generate -- so they too can keep their jobs until they die.

There’s a reason there are retirement ages implemented for most jobs -- so that organizations are kept refreshed, renewed and revitalized by fresh ideas, personalities, perspectives -- instead of the same tactics, articles, attacks run as though people have such short-term memories they’ve already forgotten what was at fever pitch only a week ago.

Just for the sake of decency and self-respect, the editors should give Hawaii a break and eliminate the “stink talk” for at least another week -- or preferably, forever. There’s a reason people all over Hawaii, all over the country, are canceling their subscriptions in droves and not buying advertising “just to protect themselves,” anymore.

People want to read the best of the ideas in their community -- and not the worst of those who debase everybody else in the community, including their own stable of writers. But the worst is allowing themselves to be used and encouraging people’s attacks against their fellow upstanding citizens -- all the way on up to the President and the Pope.

If that’s the way they want to talk in their own homes, that’s their right. But give the public and the good people of Hawaii a break. Do something good and useful with your lives -- so that when you go out in public, you can look people in the eyes and hold your heads up.

District 21 Newsletter (Waikiki-Kapahulu)

Understanding the Numbers of the Politically “Perfect Storm”

Looking over the primary numbers for the last three elections in Hawaii (Oahu), the thing that stands out, is that the percentage of the vote a candidate receives is the most telling significance -- more than just the gross number of votes, which can be very deceptive and misleading. Inversely, it turns out that the percentage of blank votes is a fairly reliable indicator of a candidates “power” (effectiveness) rating. These numbers act as a “poll” in themselves -- whatever the sample size eventually turns out to be.

In this year’s primary, the distortion caused by the Akaka-Case vote, caused one person who ran for governor in 2002 as a non-partisan candidate (Van Tanabe), to increase his vote total by 250 times (from 44 to 10,865!) -- simply by running in the Democratic primary, although his percentage was 6.6%, or a power rating of 6.6.

The Akaka-Case had a .6! blank vote for a power rating of 99.4, (which is an unprecedented universal participation that might be likened to a once in 100 year storm). At these extremes, the numbers are logarithmic -- like the Richter scale in which an earthquake of 9 is ten times more powerful than one of 8.The single greatest percentage of votes was 95.9% by Linda Lingle, followed by Cynthia Thielen’s “uncontested” 84.9%. (Actually, Mark Moses had a higher 88% -- but I’m choosing some individuals for better illustrative purposes).

Not all uncontested incumbents score that high; some uncontested incumbents barely exceed 75%, but that seems to be the golden mean which indicates a successful politician -- with a standard deviation of 5 points, in either direction representing the norm. Under 70%, one is not likely to be successful, while over 80%, one almost certainly is.

The gross numbers are much less indicative of this true “success,” or many virtual unknowns, would be more popular than Governor Lingle. The power rating seems to hold true whether one is in a contested primary or not, with the percentages of all the candidates, added to the percentage of the winning candidate. After those figures are calculated for their respective major parties, one can fairly effectively handicap the race by comparing the power rating of the two candidates -- with an above 80% having a clear advantage over one below 70%, which is a double digit difference. A differential less than that would be a fairly competitive race.

Probably the most dramatic of this apparent distortion from the recent primary and how they are adjusted using this model, is the race in Senate District 25, in which strong favorite Fred Hemmings with 84%, seems to trail a virtual unknown 1,667 to 5,197, but who has only 48.6% of the Democratic vote. That is to note, that this candidate, despite seeming to trounce a very popular incumbent, actually received less than half of the votes cast in the Democratic primary. The 84%-49% differential is more meaningful than the 5,197-1,667 -- because the general election merely expands the population sample of the previously constrained “poll.”

Likewise, the Democratic gubernatorial ballot was 78% voted for candidates, while the Republican, was 98.3% -- 95.9% for Governor Lingle. That’s the only way to make real sense of the aberration of this year’s primary results of unprecedented proportions -- thus allaying the great trepidation of the Lingle campaign that their greatest enemy is from complacency and overconfidence. The primary, inadvertently, took care of that -- for all Republicans.

It is now the Democratic challenger, who must bear that uncertainty of unjustified confidence -- by who knows what magnitude? Meeting the challenge of failure is the first step for everyone; the next is handling the challenge of success, that many are wholly unprepared for -- when success is unexpectedly, undeservedly and illusorily thrust upon them.

That’s the kind of distortion that occurs when all the choices are not allowed -- but one is first limited and then given a “choice” -- as in a primary election. Many polls and surveys are also this kind of distortion -- that instead of really finding out what people think, they’re really telling people what to think -- as though they were exercising their own freedom of expression and choice, coming up with these ideas themselves -- instead of being carefully corralled on the correct way to think.

All our options are “managed” in this way: either we’re for “their” solution, or we’re for total chaos -- and doing nothing about it. Either we’re for “public education,” or we’re for total ignorance -- and there is nothing else, no other possibilities and solutions but “theirs.” One is even more than likely to call oneself a “liberal,” while demanding conformity and obedience to this totalitarianism. We just get used to it -- they hope.

Formerly, we had nothing to compare it with -- because this was “the most isolated spot in the world,” which hasn’t been true for quite some time now. But many seem to want to regain that isolation -- and go back in time, as though that were possible. Time only allows us to move forward; going backwards only cuts us off from living in the present moment -- until finally, one is cut off totally from the present into the darkness of only memories and knowledge of the past -- which is mainly wishful-thinking of what it was.

That is the greatest problem of life -- living in the past or in the imaginary future, while paying no attention to the present -- which is actionable reality. And that is how life passes one by -- wasting all our opportunities, despite all our efforts. We commonly see it as the grandiose great project that promises to solve all our problems -- if only we’d drink the Kool-ade. That distracts us from the everyday present -- of tending to the potholes and maintaining and optimizing what we already have -- which is nearly always, the most effective strategy one can adopt.

Bob Kessler, Chair of District 23, seems to be regaining his fighting form and spirit enough to convene the next regular meeting of Districts 21, 22, 23 on this coming fourth Wednesday, September 27, 6 pm at the Hawaii Republican Headquarters. Despite everybody’s “busy” schedules, I think it is worthwhile just to meet with others for no specific purpose but to discuss the many things we never talk about otherwise. I always learn something -- whatever it is, and I think that is the most important thing -- to just be learning about everything, and nothing in particular. Otherwise, all we ever see and hear are the various agendas special interests have for seeming totally and spontaneously the will of the people.

I know we are taught not to waste time like that -- to have an attentive, innocent, quiet, idle mind. But I think only in that state, that grace (the truth) enters -- and one sees all that was not possible to see before -- under so much coercion, pressure, intimidation, deceptions and manipulations -- that we have gotten too used to as the public dialogue and forums. I think meeting people on the campaign trail coming from many different perspectives, predisposes the mind in this way to accept come what may.

I think “running for office,” as just being exposed to life one ordinarily wouldn’t be -- as probably an experience those who can, should avail themselves of. Many will find their true calling here while many others will benefit from as much diverse experiences that allows them to develop the great perspective and insights that is universal to all activities. One never knows which it is until one actually finds out -- and surely, that is what life is really all about, finding out. In that process, life happens.

I think one of the great failures of any culture is that of people with preconceived notions of who they are -- indoctrinated into them as young experiences in life, even by well-intentioned, well-educated people because of their own biases about knowing the One Truth they were instructed never to question -- under penalty of being banished from “paradise.” Invariably, it is the commandment not to challenge authority or seniority. But those who do, discover new worlds -- and not those who merely go along to get along, fearing to think for themselves, playing a safe game, living in quiet desperation.

Also, I wanted to remind people I have my signature video Understanding Conditioning showing on Olelo Channel 52 on Thursday, September 28, 10 am -- for those who would like to be in shape without spending much time and thought on it. As one who was brought up to be one of the foremost student/teachers on these things, I thought that real successful conditioning needed to reach this level of effortlessness and inobtrusiveness to really be the unqualified benefit in one’s life -- or it becomes another problem in itself.

You Don’t Have to Vote for Akaka OR Case

Contrary to what the Democratic Party and the mass media would want us to believe, “one doesn’t need to vote ONLY in the Democratic Primary or all your votes will be invalid.” One can vote in ANY primary -- but ONLY in one primary. That deliberate confusion/deception results in 20% of the ballots being spoiled every primary election, with the likelihood that it could go even higher for this particular primary election, with the resulting frustration for voters and poll workers resulting in even lower subsequent voter turnouts.

Elections are not rocket science -- as the orientation classes for the Office of Elections makes them out to be. Even children in kindergarten can successfully determine who the leader is among them -- unless of course, that unanimity is overruled by the teacher fearing a threat to her own authority in the classroom.

Many don’t want to bother voting because they believe that they MUST vote in every contest and not just for the single best person running in ANY race, as their best vote. Like in most things in life, it doesn’t matter how much one does -- as it does how well one does it. So the voter’s obligation is not just to vote for anybody they’ve seen the name before, but to vote for the person they know best to participate in public discussions and decisions -- preferably those who might see things in a way that they could not themselves.

For many people, that would be Linda Lingle -- as the person who would make the biggest difference if one had to vote for only one person in Hawaii who will make the biggest difference. There’s only one governor of Hawaii -- while there are 100 US senators and 500 US representatives. Then after one makes that most important vote, one has to stay within the color-coded party selections -- but that doesn’t mean that one has to vote for every person within that party either.

Having worked at the polls at which some people feel that they have a right to vote in every party -- and every race as their “right,” what is unclear is that they have a right to choose to participate in ANY, but only ONE -- as their PRIMARY choice. And so from a decision standpoint, one has to first determine the ONE person who makes the biggest difference on the political scene in Hawaii.

That ONE vote is enough to make the biggest difference.

As a polling place chair, I was frequently asked, “I don’t know any of these people; how should I vote?” My best advice was not to, and let those who are best-informed make that decision, rather than arbitrarily and thoughtlessly canceling out somebody’s very intelligent choice. That is the primary reason we have bad government and thoughtless decisions.

At election time, a lot of manipulators know that some people are very vulnerable to misinformation -- and of course, hope to exploit it. Just make your best vote and walk away any time you want to after that.

A Few Words About Leadership

A real leader is somebody out ahead of the pack -- in seeing what is going on before most other people do -- and responding to them so that everybody has a model for dealing with that situation when it arises to the top of their consciousness, usually brought on by some great calamity they can no longer avoid or deny.

But in every society, as well as every species, there are those who naturally as well as through their experiences, have a heightened sense for seeing these developments and their ultimate consequences -- and deal with them so that they don’t become the entrenched problems, most people accept and have been conditioned (indoctrinated) to believe is the only way of seeing things. That is a great problem in Hawaii, as well as elsewhere -- in the past, that need not be the critical failure anymore.

And that critical failure is not the old one of tangible resources but the intangible one of information and communications. It is institutionalized as the great problem of “education,” which is a previous generation’s term for this function -- because formerly, one’s abilities were limited to what information one could access stored in their head, or memory. But now we live in an age of virtual access and memory -- to those who merely avail themselves of those unlimited resources.

So our problems now are really the challenge of dealing with an abundance of knowledge and choices -- rather than the scarcity of them, and especially when that scarcity is “created” and perpetuated, by the status quo self-interests -- including the old mass media, schools, universities, and other self-proclaimed institutions of benevolent purpose.

It was while working with many of these “well-intentioned” organizations, that I saw how a co-dependent relationship could be established and maintained throughout one’s lengthy lifetime -- growing into an ever-increasing drain on society which eventually consumes ten lives to sustain one. That is not a very attractive prospect for life in the future -- which we are all headed into.

The unrealized insight for most is that most people are trapped by a poor solution of the past -- when much better ones are available today that render their problems moot, if they just had the latest, best information. However, most were conditioned to their understanding while young and in school and actually discouraged from accepting any other than the “truth” taught by the schools as the “absolute” truth. And so in time, everything that might have been true at that time they were “taught,” may become untrue, for which they have no way of reconditioning themselves to the latest and greatest understanding -- on their own.

That is the saddest thing to see in people -- that many people stopped learning once they left school, so convinced were they, that learning anything new had to be difficult and take a long time -- rather than in realizing, that learning anything, is the easiest and quickest thing to do. That is what the leader does best.

As for the young, many of them start kindergarten already knowing how to operate a computer and a cell phone -- because they don't have to unburden themselves of what they "know."

Are All Politicians the Same? -- Or Do Some Change the Course of the Future?

http://starbulletin.com/2006/09/17/special/story15.html

21 KAIMUKI-WAIKIKI

Michael Y.S. Hu
Republican
Age: 56
Job: Online Investor (writer, researcher, instructor)
Past: Premier writing presence on the Internet

What qualifies you to be a state representative?
People say they want leadership and new ideas -- and not just more of the same, how it's always been done before. I pioneer new ideas on my blogsites -- http://thinkingdifferently.blogspot.com/...

What should be done to make housing more affordable?
They should explore more co-housing and the sharing of housing resources -- particularly for the many elderly living alone.

Does Hawaii spend enough on public education?
Public education is soaking up too much of the resources that should go elsewhere; it is mostly about job security for teachers in a world and time when people need to be taught to learn on their own.


Scott Y. Nishimoto
Democrat
Age: 32
Job: Attorney
Past: State representative 2002-2006; former staff assistant, U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye

What qualifies you to be a state representative?
I have been and will continue to be an effective advocate for my community because of my legal education, legislative experience, community involvement, and commitment to serving the people of Hawaii.

What should be done to make housing more affordable?
To address housing affordability and homelessness, we must keep existing affordable housing units affordable while increasing funding for the Rental Housing Trust Fund to spur public-private partnerships to stimulate the development of more affordable units.

Does Hawaii spend enough on public education?
No, particularly in the area of repairing and maintaining our school facilities. Presently, in our schools there is almost a $300 million construction backlog in renovations and repairs. We must provide a conducive learning environment for our children to succeed.

What’s the Big Idea?

The solution to many of our ills in Hawaii would be creating a light-fabric canopy over the sidewalks -- enabling people to walk or bike comfortably from one destination to another. Most unnecessary use of fossil fuel consumption is actually for the purpose of not being in the sun -- as one goes from place to place. With a canopy, an extended area is transformed into a giant mall -- not requiring transportation to prevent overexposure to heat exhaustion and sunlight.

In the old days, shade was provided by trees, and lately by buildings -- which too densely concentrated, prevent proper ventilation. The beauty of the light fabric canopy is that it can be made entirely of recycled materials (plastic bottles, old tires, aluminum cans) -- and can obviously be constructed much cheaper than creating a heavy rail infrastructure -- that they’re miscalling a light rail system.

That is the most troubling aspect of the proposed “light rail system” -- in that it a deception from the get-go, with so-called professional experts claiming the rationale for rail in Honolulu is that we’re the 5th most densely populated area in the United States -- which is obviously not the reason people flock from all over the world to “enjoy” this island environment. If they were providing valid information, I’m willing to listen -- but when it is just lies upon lies upon lies, my red flags go up.

That’s why we need people more representative of the general population making laws in Hawaii -- rather than only lawyers, who are used to saying and doing whatever somebody will pay them to.

"You Ought To Be Famous"

Following is the cover letter to a mailing I made yesterday; actually, rather than being a cover letter, it is sandwiched between two of my world-famous flyers. Reprinted with permission from myself:

On Olelo Channel 52, my landmark video, Understanding Conditioning, will be shown on Thursday. September 14 at 1:30 PM, and on Thursday, September 28 at 10:00 AM. It is a 60-minute video that revolutionizes the thinking about exercise -- to make it easier as well as more productive -- because of the greater understanding of the physiology, psychology and physics involved -- breaking from the tradition in thinking of progress through brute force, which hasn’t worked for most but is forced upon people nevertheless.

The unfortunate consequence is that those who could benefit the most from these productive activities -- are actually discouraged, if not endangered and injured by them -- under the guise that they are well-intentioned. So I broke from that tradition in which even I was conditioned all my life, to wonder if there could be another path -- that removed all the barriers and obstacles to productive movements (exercise). I was aided by knowing many of the great champions, researchers and thinkers I knew as friends.

That is what I built my confidence and expertise -- as the foremost authority on. Few people have that advantage of creating a whole new paradigm in the understanding of an age-old tradition, and so I know what it is like to go against the whole entrenched establishment in bringing about revolutionary changes in the thinking and doing.

That is also what is required in elected officials who really want to bring about change in government -- and are not just content to change the nameplate on the door. They have to have the ability to stand alone -- and see things freshly, so there can be authentically new ways of doing things -- and not just calling more of the same old thing by a new name, and thinking that is all that is required to make a difference.

I am enclosing two flyers in this envelope so that you can share the information of this broadcast with somebody who would also value and benefit from this insight -- which has been presented to countless forums and audiences from the most critical and discriminating, as well as to some of the youngest classes of schoolchildren. Universal principles work for the weakest and most disabled -- and therefore work for the strongest as well; it is not the case that what works for the strongest, works for the most infirm, which is the critical error in traditional thinking on exercise -- and why it fails.

This video was made in 1994, and I have since made some further refinements in the thinking -- to make it even more an effortless flow, which I teach in groups or individually, whenever people are open and receptive to this powerful understanding. Such conditioning is also about education -- in a new way of being, which is the constant topic of quandary in a society transitioning to the new -- that we hear with increasing frequency in Hawaii. We need people who can function in that challenge.

On a more traditional note, I taped a more “political” speech for the Olelo Channel 49, Candidates in Focus, scheduled to begin around Friday, September 15 at 8:30 PM and Sunday, September 17 at 1:00 PM. There might be additional showings at other times -- of both this program and my other, which has historically been one of the most popularly requested repeat showings in public television broadcasting -- here and elsewhere.

Are We Safer (Better Off) Now Than We Were Five Years Ago?

Despite the constant fear-mongering by the media/Democrats that this country is no safer than before 9/11/01, the undeniable, remarkable fact of the matter, is that there has been no further attacks on United States soil in five years -- when it was promised to be imminent and unrelenting. Anybody working with the criminal and psychopathic, realizes that only a firm response and resolve, will deter further abuses and attacks. If the liberal/Democrat/media wish to disavow any credit in that outcome so far, they can opt out -- as they have been, they say now, all along.

I think the current ABC showing of “The Path to 9/11,” shows that appeasement, denial, overlooking increasing abuses, only encourages them -- to an ultimate final result --whereupon those with the proper firm response and resolve, have to step in and put an end to such encouragements and denials of reality.

Terrorists don’t have equal rights to “express” their rage and hatred -- as much as the innocent and peace-loving have a right to live. That’s one of the occupational hazards of working in the mass media industry of constant exposure to propaganda, manipulation, and deception. They become numb to real sensitivities and sensibilities -- which are apparent in their editorials and selections of submissions for publication.
They mouth the words they think will invoke credibility -- but nothing is heartfelt and genuine anymore. That tells us all we need to know.

Information and communication has evolved to a permanently higher level -- in which seeing beyond the words is most of the message -- and not simply diagramming the sentence for the necessary components.

That evolution occurred because of the exposure to a much greater range of communications -- as the Internet made possible. Everything is no longer Associated Press or the academic style -- written for a few, to translate to a few more, etc. , undoubtedly providing job opportunities and security for those intermediaries who performed that function.

What the new information technologies made possible, was the direct contact of original source to ultimate audience -- without the interference of the (inter)media(ry), which the experience of 9/11, speeded up. Under dire urgencies, there is no luxury of waiting for a self-chosen few to determine the “correct” response for everyone -- the role the media and academicians had grown used to filling. In the case of the academics, they became virtually useless, if not counterproductive in saying nothing -- but taking an eternity to arrive at that conclusion. Even the media abandoned them as a source of primary responses and analysis.

Meanwhile, the Internet forums revealed that there were very perceptive people ordinarily not heard from (often suppressed) with an extraordinarily high degree of insight as well as remarkable clarity and simplicity of expression -- that were now beginning to lead the course of communications and information.

That is a large part of what has made us safer -- producing a quantum leap in communications and information capabilities, whether we choose to fully use/acknowledge them or not.

The Rest of the Story, Read by the Rest of the World

Since our shameful, self-loathing local newspapers will be spinning this event as an "unprovoked US attack on innocent, law-abiding terrorists, exercising their First Amendment Rights," here is what truth-loving people all over the world are beginning to reflect on:

From the Daily Telegraph of Australia:

Remembering when our world changed
September 11, 2006 12:00

IT IS impossible to avoid the observation: today is the anniversary of a moment when the world was irretrievably altered.

September 11 is more than a date, more than a mere mark on a calendar. It is a bitter brand, a disfiguring scar, a blight. A date which – as US wartime President Franklin Roosevelt said of December 7, 1941 – "will go down in infamy".For on this day five years ago, a monstrous attack was launched and, as a consequence, a new worldwide campaign in the war between good and evil was necessitated.

There have been other days when history sustained a convulsive jolt – December 7, 1941, as mentioned, when the Japanese launched their unprovoked attack against the US naval base at Pearl Harbour; perhaps June 6, 1944, D Day; August 6, 1945, the day the first atomic bomb was dropped. And days such as November 11, Remembrance Day; the Fourth of July, Independence Day; Bastille Day – also etched in universal consciousness – signal days in the never-ending struggle between right and wrong.

But September 11 is unique. And everyone who was at the age of consciousness on that day in 2001 will remember exactly what they were doing when news of the murderous attacks on New York's famous World Trade Centre towers was first reported. They will remember also exactly how they felt in the aftermath.

And this morning, as news reports remind us of that terrifying day, the same hollow feeling will rise again. It was a sense of raging uncertainty, as if the very fabric of the world itself was in danger of falling into atoms, as if every known thing had been uprooted. That morning, there was a certainty war was inevitable – in fact, that war had been declared. We wondered in this column at the time "whether the structures of the civilised world had been fatally flawed", whether we were headed for "a new dark age of social and economic chaos".

AND those frightening sentiments were echoed around the world – not without good reason. For by striking such a callous and brutal blow against the heart of the United States, the architects of the attack – a gang of Islamic extremists – had roused an enemy capable of mighty revenge.

The most powerful nation on earth, the most powerful of all time, the United States was moved to righteous fury by the September 11 outrage and it vowed to crush the serpent of terrorism, no matter where it raised its poisonous head, no matter where it sought to hide. In the days immediately after the attack, the hellish prospect of the world in flames seemed close.

But that has not happened. Terrorism is not defeated – far from it – but neither has the determination of decent nations to battle it to extinction been reduced. Those who feared war were right – we have been engaged in a great war for the past five years and the battlefield is truly global. But good men and women go on, believing in the worth of the cause, determined not to be defeated.

In Britain last month, security forces thwarted a vile plan to blow up ten passenger aircraft – but we were not crippled by fear as a result.

While we may lament the need for tighter security arrangements, we have not been frightened out of flying. In Bali, where terrorist bombers deliberately targeted Australians, the local hospitality industry refuses to be cowed into submission. And in Iraq, a democratic government is committed to the construction of a new regime committed to peace and freedom.

And that work is not finished – again, far from it – but no one is shrinking from the task.

Yet this is certain...

THERE is much yet left to achieve. In the Middle East, in Afghanistan, in Asia, in Africa and even on our own soil, our terrorist enemies are still active, still planning and plotting against us.

Motivated not by ideology but by a demented hatred of the values we prize – peace, freedom, equality, tolerance – they are the agents evil and they must be opposed for as long as ever it takes to destroy their structures, root and branch. On this day of all days, let us not forget that duty.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/opinion/story/0,22049,20386468-5001031,00.html

The First Task of Government

Way beyond the tangibles, the first task of government is providing reliable information so citizens can make the best decisions -- to govern their own lives, and not to become more dependent on government to do all those things for them. Then, government and society, cannot function very well because people have less choices than the full-range of human resourcefulness than is available from the government designated monopolist -- who demands that everyone must conform to their way of doing things, and seeing reality.

When government becomes too restrictive and demanding in this way, the most intelligent and creative are forced out of the system -- and create a new. They don’t simply rebel against the old and flaunt their violations -- but go on to do something entirely new and different. That is a revolution -- rather than simply reform or modification of the old, reaffirming the old, in childish and often criminal rebellions.

The most obvious of this, is the way people and organizations think that the use of new technologies is simply to do the old ways faster and better -- than doing things that were never even imagined possible before. The real ramifications and implications of the communications and information revolution is that it is now possible for everyone to have access to all the information -- and no longer just the information self-serving interests want us to know.

That shift, changes the world entirely, drastically, profoundly -- and that’s why the old status quo doesn’t want one to have that information -- that is tremendously empowering and liberating. What will happen to them -- who have been the traditional leaders, entrenched in their positions because of this lack of knowledge? So one is reminded of the perils and dangers of making those choices one has never “exercised” before. And that is how the familiar problems of our government and society become “institutionalized” as the way it’s always been and always will be -- and no other alternatives are allowed to be seen.

Just acknowledging that, is the first task of any representative worthy of the name. The newspapers, the schools, the universities, the unions, the political parties -- all present a vision of society with themselves at the top -- as though that were paradise, and the only sane arrangement conceivable. The greater American vision of freedom and choice is dismissed as unworthy -- and that the peace of blind obedience is preferable to everybody else, as long as we have ours.

The mantra promoted by their organization is that one should never stick one’s neck out and take any risks that might upset the apple cart, rock the boat, anger the kind and benevolent patriarch. After all, it was for our benefit that they rose to the top -- and now should remain there until they die, as were the divine rights of kings of old, and that whole feudal system by which some were entitled and more equal to others. They were the “nobles,” while others were less worthy. And that is the American dream of a more perfect society -- the “status quo” never wants us to know about. But if one knows nothing else, that would be information that makes a great difference in the outcome of one’s life -- beginning with one's attitute about life.

The Demise of “Old” (Mass) Media

There used to be a fabled time in the distant past in which newspapers (mass media) was a source combating misinformation, disinformation, ignorance, bias and prejudice -- but has now become our greatest source of them, selling out their own credibility and usefulness.

It’s been pointed out to them pretty nearly constantly now but they’ve gone way past the point of “no return,” which is the major reason for the explosive growth of the alternatives. Information just grew too fast for any organization to control it anymore. The whole management structure of media organizations was based on uniformity, standardization and control -- which is certain death in the new world of information.

In all likelihood, the old media organizations cannot evolve to be viable in the new age of communications and information because its very life is rooted in the DNA of an extinct culture and society of the 20th century -- which was undoubtedly their heyday. It was the age of mass media -- which allowed the rise of demagogues like Hitler, which the new media precludes -- because one at best, is still one voice among many -- much to the disappointment of those who would still relish being the “voice of God,” on CBS or whatever. There are still a few people like that out there -- wondering each day what their “legacy” to humanity will be.

The rest of us, realize that we do well to do the best we can each day -- and in that manner, create a meaningful and effective life -- delusions not necessary to make any life greater. Such lives are properly focused fully in the moment -- rather than in the past, or the future, which was largely the creation of the mass media propaganda.

That was what they were most effective at shaping -- the past and the future -- while each person is master of his own present, because it is real and not just a fabrication of thought. So it was very necessary for mass media to get one living in either the past or the future -- because it has no control over the present, in which each individual can see for themselves what is real.

Arguments are always about the past or the future -- and seldom about the present, because that is verifiable reality -- and not simply a belief about some theoretical time in the past in which we presume to have perfect knowledge -- when we are not even that sure about what we see in the present moment. Obviously, we can not have more perfect information about the past or the future than we have of the present -- yet many believe their understanding of the past, or future is perfect, while they have no idea what is going on in that instant.

That is the fallacy of “knowledge” -- which is information of the past -- and not the more useful information, of what is actually happening right now -- which of course, is reality. The mass media (including schools and universities), instructs us to believe that their knowledge is more useful than real-time information -- because the present, they claim, is only a repetition of the past, because history only repeats itself -- rather than evolving to new possibilities and realities.

No Case For Akaka

Ed Case should stop while he’s ahead -- way ahead. You can’t showcase the differences any more than that one “debate” last night did. Yet Ed Case could get better -- while Akaka doesn't look like he can. That’s the choice of the Democrats this election cycle.

Can they revive the sentimentalities for one more time, one last hurrah -- or do they move into the 21st century before it is too late? Clearly, Ed Case is the future of the Democratic Party in Hawaii -- or they have no future and only a past they hope to revive every two years, for one more time -- before nobody shows up.

Akaka was the standard bearer and voice of all the liberal causes -- and those arguments seemed real tired and clichéd. What hadn’t been heard from the Democrat quarters for a long time, was the voice of moderation and reconciliation with the greater global movement; the Hawaii Democrat Party had become isolationist and out of touch -- to a very extreme degree.

Case brought out the fact that as a congressional representative, it was his responsibility to represent all the people of the country -- and not just the provincial interests of the Hawaii Democratic Party. What a mind-blowing concept!

If they reject their best, what are they saying about the Democratic Party so emphatically? It’s already happened in Connecticut -- where the leftist fringe has tried to hijack the Democratic Party, only to realize that the Party is not the final word on their election.

But there’s no one who tuned into last night’s debate who cannot have been clearly impressed that Ed Case has a vision for the future of the Democratic Party in the world -- while Dan Akaka only has a vision for the past of the Democratic Party in Hawaii, they hope can be repeated interminably.

As a partisan Republican, one almost has to hope for an Akaka victory -- knowing it means the end of the Democratic Party in Hawaii -- because they have already committed themselves to that outcome. Ed Case definitely takes that party and probably the whole political culture a step forward -- just as Linda Lingle did for the Republicans.

I think most Republicans in Hawaii would like Ed Case more than they would Dan Akaka -- but really, I think, Democrats have to decide for themselves on the future of their party -- not only here in Hawaii but all over the country. There are lots of Democratic leaders willing to lead us back to the 1960s -- but few with a vision of leadership into the 21st century.

I could be mistaken about this, but I think that’s where the greater future lies for everyone. Such people are known as “leaders.”