Life After the Elections

I enjoyed the experience of running for an elective office; I did as well as a one-person campaign can do. It was important to do it this way -- to develop the prototype that could be replicated at some future time and purpose.

My feeling was that I could be the best candidate I could be -- but I wasn’t going to coerce, deceive, manipulate anybody else into believing so. That’s never been my style. On that score, was how I actually judged my success -- whether I wrote the best flyer I could, whether I spoke the best five, three or one-minute presentation I could, whether I had a positive interaction with those I came into contact with. What they then decide to do with their vote, was a matter I left entirely up to them.

And for that, I feel very, very good -- validated that I did it in that way. One can win many different ways in life, and one can lose many different ways in life. I defined what was a “win” to me -- as communicating to people with that regard, because that is what disturbed me most about politics -- especially losing without grace and dignity, of which the theme of my campaign was the damage Al Gore had done in undermining that regard for public figures.

I think he cared too much for winning -- at any cost, even if he had to drag down the entire electoral process with him. He, more than anybody else, should have known better -- than to undermine the credibility of all government -- because an election outcome was not to his liking. If nothing else, political leaders, should be good public examples -- if they do nothing else. If they go “OJ” on us, there is no depths which society cannot plumb.

People compete reflexively whether they are competitive or not -- lacking the insight to see themselves as everybody else does. What the Lingle contest did was blow everybody out of the water as far as that kind of campaign can be run. Probably nobody will run that kind of campaign again -- off the charts. But somebody had to do it -- to discourage everybody else from thinking they can do it better.

So now people have to do it differently -- just like when the novel or short story is perfected; the other great writers have to discover another genre if they want to excel. Somebody else has already maxed out the existing standard -- and those serious about being top performers in their field of expertise, have to discover another.

Fortunately, I’ve never seen myself as an organization man, of which the politician is its ultimate manifestation. I’ve never seen the need to hold an office to speak as though one with authority. That’s probably a severe handicap in politics.

Winning other people’s approval is not a highly cultivated skill in my universe; what I generally try to find are those few who do appreciate what I do and say -- rather than doing and saying what they approve of. In this way, I’m more like an artist than a politician. That not everybody likes me, hasn’t been a great cause of concern for me throughout my life. It was just nice for me to know those who did and those who didn’t -- and that is a truth worth knowing -- regardless of the outcome. That’s how life and the truth is discovered.

Living Richly (Thanksgiving)

The challenge of life in these times is no longer want and scarcity but abundance and excess -- when people who have enough, demand ever increasingly MORE -- which has no end and no fulfillment. What is required is for all those people brought up in another time and circumstances to be re-educated, re-conditioned, and re-created in the realities of the present times, more so than the young and unformed need to be given MORE education -- particularly in the “old" ways, which they proudly call the “traditional values.”

Beyond a common level of subsistence, the greater gain is in quality of experience and involvement -- rather than simply more of going through the motions, acquiring more toys, the rituals and trappings of life -- as though that is what living richly is all about. And so no matter how much these people have, it is never enough, and the only answer in life, is MORE, unceasingly more -- which of course creates the problems of our times -- in that many otherrs are truly and hopelessly in need because increasingly more of the numerous middle-class are led to believe it is their entitlement to live as lavishly as royalty of the past and celebrities of these times.

It is one thing for one or a few to have much, but it is something else when most demand it as their birthright -- that they too have a right to live as the richest man in America lives -- if only they work hard enough to achieve that dream. Even extremely gifted individuals in the field of their specialty, are wont to credit their hard work rather then the immense natural gifts and advantages they were blessed with -- that no amount of hard work can duplicate or create -- but they cannot claim credit for.

Does that doom the rest of us laboring in the fields in which we are not as successful? -- or is it just information telling us where our own talents and treasure may truly lie. When we discover that, it is the line of least resistance and great productivity and satisfaction that all the frustration in the world could never earn or entitle them.

The sense of gratitude (appreciation for what one already has), is very different from the sense of entitlement that always demands more no matter how much it has -- and can no longer appreciate any of it, so obsessed has it become only for that which it doesn’t already have. And of course, that which they don’t have is the infinite and insatiable.

So the lesson in Thanksgiving is the appreciation of what one already has -- and seeing the infiinte in them. Very few people really need more -- not that their unions and other associations won’t try to convince them of how much more they are entitled to and have less than everybody else. That seems to be the great disease of the last few decades, that Vance Packard already began warning about in his studies of The Status Seekers and The Hidden Persuaders -- 50 years ago. It hasn’t gotten as much attention lately, nor has George Orwell's observations of the corruption of well-intentioned people.

Initially, as naive young people, they tell us they do what they do, because they love mankind. Later, as more experienced “workers,” they feel that no matter how much society has enriched them -- it can never be enough until they have more than everybody else -- as their “fair” share.

Election Results

The big picture election result is whether individuals achieve greater credibility, power and influence -- or if they suffered less -- which is quite possible to do despite winning the actual election. Because Election Day is only one day in a campaign -- for a greater purpose, and I think we all need to have a greater purpose than simply winning an election.

I think that is precisely the problem of elections -- that they are only about winning an election and not about anything else beyond that. And real leadership is what is beyond that.

Politics now is mostly about following, or conformity -- and not about leading, and why it has little appeal. People have lots of “opportunities” to follow, to comply, to acquiesce -- but very few to actually lead. The worst are the traditional leadership positions -- in which such leaders are open to abuse by anybody who wants to. The worst offenders are the people in the media -- who think by deriding more celebrated people, that gives them equal status.

So the worst nobodies are allowed to abuse those in the highest offices -- as an indication of a fair and free society. In addition to freedom, what is important is that it is freedom to do that which is meaningful -- and not just a display of freedom signifying nothing. Choice means something, when there are meaningful choices -- and not one arbitrary one presented alongside another.

It’s like asking someone, “Do you want to die by the electric chair or by hanging?,” and not questioning whether one should die at all. Those are the choices under the worst tyrannies and oppression -- while maintaining that there is freedom of choice, to vote for the present ruler, or to choose to die or otherwise be ostracized.

We see that in the rail discussion. Rail or more cars, more traffic? -- implying that with rail, there will be less traffic and less cars, when all that is likely to happen is that bus riders, now become rail riders -- and both are underutilized. But the planners will point out, “Both run perfectly,” because there are no passengers.

I see the big construction rigs parked outside City Hall, all the union members in a menacing show of strength, the signs -- everything but a really good and compelling reason that isn’t a manipulation and deception. I don’t think they believe they can win without lying, cheating and stealing anymore. They don’t know how to win straight up -- which is really the pity of it all. They themselves do not believe they are legitimate -- and why they have such low esteem.

A good reason is a compelling reason -- and not just a trick to get one to do one’s will, against their will. That’s bad human relationships and bad society, and bad government. Government is a contract between people to provide for the common good -- and not just to promote the various narrow self-interests.

Increasingly, even the narrow self-interests, don’t want to go that route, if they can avoid it.

Leadership is a Quality

After the recent elections, the Republicans have asked themselves why it is that their numbers have dwindled, and what it takes to recapture the leadership they thought the country wanted.

If numbers were all there was to it, then this week's showing of strength wouldn't have been so embarrassed at City Hall, with the voicing of opposition to the rail development hoping to be squelched once and for all. Instead, the few voices of opposition spoke the best -- and carried that moment.

True leadership has always been of the few -- and not just might making right, the tyranny of the many over the few. The few have always known that oppression of the mob, the conformist mind -- that now passes for the "educated" mind, when it is merely the "indoctrinated" mind that serves the status quo. That's what today's intellectuals have to recognize and understand -- how they have been co-opted to serve the oppressors.

That's what happened to the liberalism (idealism) of the '60s -- they sold out at the first chance they had -- to obtain lifetime security, just like the generation before them they accused of being too occupied with these things. So all they talk about now is whether they've secured their own ticket to a comfortable retirement -- which now is a fantasy of having second homes all around the world, and being able to travel to them, every year.

But they are still the "poor in spirit" as they argue for higher wages at Walmart -- not seeming to realize that low, everyday prices is the best chance the poor have of being viable in today's status conscious consumption. That is the problem causing all the others. While some have no home, others have two or ten, doesn't seem to register any connection. People driving gas-guzzling vehicles, demand that the government guarantee their right for unlimited supplies with no profit to suppliers.

In that kind of an environment, the lone voice in the wilderness of confusion, distortion and manipulation, is the only leader. So how many does it take? Just one -- the best one. That's always been what true leadership has been.

Obviously, when everybody is a "leader," or calls themselves such, without necessitating this actual demonstration of any of these qualities of distinguishing themselves from the crowd, such numbers are meaningless. That's also what genius is: a million mediocre talents cannot equal the one of genius -- no matter how much they try, no matter how long they try.

The task of any society is to choose their single best leader -- and not just simply call everybody "leaders," thinking that is enough to make them so.

When Losing Is Winning

To those who have won before, another victory means very little -- when individual (societal) growth and improvement is the larger objective -- and a lot of people lose sight of that, thinking that every battle is the war, or at least the final battle.

Sometimes one loses a few battles to win the larger objective, and for most people, that should be persistent growth and improvement throughout life. Without losing, it is seldom possible to jump on up to the next level -- because it requires that kind of extraordinary challenge and input of energy to make that quantum leap.

So it is said by masters of the art of anything, that “in order to lose one’s fears (limits), one has to risk them -- and in risking them, all one loses are those fears.” And then one can go beyond.

The greatest curse, is to be rewarded for all the wrong things -- because that keeps one trapped doing all those things that aren’t important, but which everybody else rewards them for. The greatest reward is what one can only give themselves.

That is the dilemma of the artist -- that nobody can appreciate their art any more than they themselves do -- but also, they may be the only person who can, at first. Then once the artist manifests that reality, others can come around to appreciating it in time -- but that never happens just with the vague wishful thinking of something different, which is just the opposite, the anti-, which is the same thing in a modified form.

Something different, is something wholly different -- and not just more of the same. The mantra of a previous age was, “More is Better.” In this age, we recognize that “Better is Different,” and not just “More.”

That’s the difference between the New Mind and the Old Mind -- no matter how much they try to convince us they are the “leaders” in the community. They now have to manifest that function -- and not just assume the roles, and then nobody will pay them any mind until the next election.

Most importantly, every individual will judge for themselves whether they are successful or not -- and nobody will do that for them, at least nobody, who has better things to do than live through other people’s lives. That is the fundamental change Old Media still doesn’t get, and probably cannot -- because it was the world of the mass, generalized experience, rather than the highly individuated ones that is the new reality, not of everyone yet, but of those pioneering those possibilities that eventually become the dominant paradigm of life in every society.

So the new gets beaten back until finally, people wonder why they hadn’t thought of it sooner, and those who were the fiercest defenders of the old status quo, then claim that they invented the idea.

How Change Happens (Leadership)

Many people think that in order to have change, we all vote on a new idea, and if it wins, everybody changes -- instantly, overnight, by government fiat and edict -- which is really no change at all but merely calling the same old things by new names.

Because fundamental and critical to change is a wholly new understanding of everything -- which at first, only a few are open to and will embrace, while most, are conditioned to regard anything new and different, as wrong -- because it violates their previous understanding of everything, which they think is right and true for all time. So in that worldview, change is not possible -- consciously, willingly, voluntarily -- but can only be thrust upon them, forced upon them by government fiat and edict, and other such coercions, deceptions, manipulations -- or a cataclysmic event.

So those expecting change in that manner, quickly become disillusioned that instantly, all at once, the world is not changed, even though many people have promised would happen, if everyone simply believed in it enough -- and did whatever they were told to do.

But real change is a lot less decisive -- because it evolves over many years of living, experiencing and experimenting -- and not just voting on whether new ideas are acceptable or not.

The value of a democracy is not that the majority is always right -- or even mostly right, but that it allows a deviation from the norm -- which political correctness or any demand for consensus and conformity does not, no matter what they call themselves -- and usually, it is a “liberal, progressive, open-minded” person, which doesn’t necessarily make it so. That is simply what they would like to believe about themselves -- or at least have others believe about them, rather than being the “nasty, petty, narrow-minded” people they in fact are.

Some may even run public service announcements proclaiming that fact -- that they are the most “honest, caring, compassionate” person in their community.

My experience has been that the statistically significant number is 5%. That 5% and where it is going -- is the ultimate direction of society and developments. That is the most important 5% to recognize -- as the significant deviation from the norm. That’s where we’ll all be twenty years from now -- often beginning with just the one. That one, of course, is the biggest difference in the world of change.

A hundred times one, is one hundred -- but a hundred times zero, is still zero. So the biggest difference, is being The One -- which means being able to stand and act alone, creating a model for the many who will follow. But it doesn’t happen overnight, or in one term, or any other expected length of time and path.

It is the quantum leap that occurs after many predictable orbits on the same path. Then all at once, everything is changed, and we are on a new path.

It usually doesn’t happen in the expected time frame, according to the best laid plans, but are the ever increasing individual conscious decisions -- that create a culture and environment of higher consciousness. That is the only way it happens.

Winning Is Everything

Friends have said to me, “You won everything but the election.”

Since “my major involvement and reason for running to represent District 21, was to support Governor Linda Lingle’s transition to a 21st century government for the challenge of these times,” they pronounced, “Mission accomplished; she won.”

“But you didn’t do so badly yourself,” they continued, “you produced some outstanding blogs in support of your campaign that confirms your presence as the premier writer of original content on the Web. You were the star speaker of the candidates forums, and produced a good piece for the Candidates in Focus for public television, as a model for public speaking on political matters.”

Others liked the signing by bike and electric scooters -- as the most creative presentations they’ve seen. So I broke some new ground -- even by taking a whole day to move through one block, talking to people.

I’ve never been a mass media, random activity, conformist -- because being that way doesn’t allow being on the creative, cutting edge of thought -- where I like to be. So I had reservations about running for an elective office but relented and accepted as an experience I think everyone ought to do -- at some point in their life.

I can now say I’ve done my turn -- and move on to whatever else life brings. Politics and me never seemed like the ideal fit -- but I could recognize somebody else that seemed to be the genius in that field, operating in their natural element, and maybe help them out a little bit in my own way.

That’s what everybody needs to do in life -- to find their true calling, whatever it is. They shouldn’t talk about sacrificing their lives holding one job they hate and resent all their lives -- and then expect to be compensated royally for doing so, by convincing everybody else they have the "worst" job ever created (by themselves and their unions).

The greatest reward and compensation is finding out who one is and what one loves to do in life -- and not making up one’s mind with finality before one has had a chance to explore many of the options. That’s how people die all their lives -- rather than live it.

You can’t learn all these things academically, hypothetically, speculatively -- but have to learn it actually. That is the difference between some people’s “knowledge’ and other people’s knowledge, or insight -- that is readily apparent to people who have gone through the experience, rather than just learned the words and generalizations.

Because the generalized experience is not the individual -- which is the actual reality, a totally different universe for every individual -- as determined by their unique makeup and choices in life. That is the greater movement of life into the 21st century that I’ll be continuing to participate in as a representative of cutting edge thinking in Hawaii.

That is the kind of education we should be preparing people for -- and not just preserving and defending the status quo of life as we've always known it before -- and there can be no other way.

When the Rubber Hits the Road

Many people will argue long and hard about everything that is wrong with society -- and what everybody else could do differently, and then when given the opportunity to do something, think that it is enough that they’ve convinced everybody else to do it -- and so they don’t have to do anything themselves.

That is the essential problem of society, culture and government -- that everybody thinks their only recourse is to convince somebody else to do something -- and they themselves cannot, or it does not matter what they do because everything they do is futile. The unions and other coercive forces would have one believe that one is nothing and powerless without them -- and so the individual expressing his own thoughts is invalidated, in the thinking that only the union president or the official spokesperson of an agency can speak for all of them.

One sees that same mentality in the newspapers, and especially in the letters to the editors, reaffirming their belief that only the governor or any elected official has the power to do anything -- which is the problem, and therefore, every human problem becomes a government one, rather than an individual one.

An election is not a test of whether one makes the “politically correct” choice, but that they express their choice to the best of their ability. So now that the politicians have done their work, it is up to the voters to do their work.

It is not the work of the politician to do one’s thinking for everybody else; that’s a big mistake that leads to tyranny -- which is always that kind of a slide into not being able to tell the difference -- between the real and the phony. That is the simple choice -- deciding between the real and the phony, because essentially, it is a matter of trust in one's own judgment, and not who is “politically correct” by the measures somebody else tells one.

The most important task is to determine the general quality of thinking of the individual who will be representing one -- in most of the matters one doesn’t want to have to attend to personally. But when one is the leading authority on the matter, one must rise to that challenge and responsibility. And when everyone does just that, the world works remarkably well -- better than one person making all the decisions for everybody else.

And that’s why from time to time, we have elections -- so we never forget that powerful lesson. But it should not be co-opted by the powers that be who wish to permanently entrench themselves at the top of the hierarchy.

Don’t just vote because you’ve seen the name and think you therefore “know” the person because of all the propaganda techniques they’ve employed. Ask yourself, is this a thinking person -- and how do I know that?

Well-Known for What?

There are many people who think that being widely known is as good as being well-known -- and especially, well-known for noteworthy achievements; those are the kind of people who will never be well-known for anything noteworthy -- but think just being well-known for anything is good enough, and it doesn’t make any difference, how that is achieved.

The easiest way to be widely-known, is to criticize somebody important -- as though somehow that made them superior to the person they are calling “Stupid.” Intelligent people don’t go around calling everyone else “stupid;” that’s what stupid people think intelligent people do.

That is particularly easy to do if one works for the newspapers -- and can suppress opposing viewpoints. In that world, pretentious and numerous awards for their own humanitarian efforts are well-reported, and everybody else’s motivations is ignored, scrutinized, and suspect.

It really becomes quite tiresome -- to hear newspaper columnists and editors, touting themselves as the land’s highest judges of character and human motivation -- as their public service. I think it would be very enlightening if these “long time political experts,” should actually offer their expertise to the verdict of the public at large in the elective process, rather than in the totalitarianism by which they proclaim themselves as true “democrats.”

Volunteer campaigners and advisors are amused that I think the prototype interaction should be perfected before it is replicated -- and in fact, that is the whole purpose of each attempt -- the perfecting of that task, rather than just doing something poorly, repeatedly, without the purpose of improving.

I think that is the major difference between people -- those who are constantly improving, and those who are merely repeating themselves without that intent and purpose. Thus, everything becomes a ritualized behavior -- a repetition of only what has gone on every day before. That is how the status quo is reaffirmed -- and change is not possible.

In many traditional societies, that is the culture of unvarying and unimproving permanence -- unquestioningly defending the status quo, because that is their education and indoctrination. Of course that kind of education and orientation fails one famously in a dynamically changing world -- which should not be surprising that society and culture should have so many problems responding to.

By not making those constant fine adjustments, finally in exasperation, they become vulnerable to the panacea as the solution to all their problems -- whether gas caps, rail transit, or sending “Aloha” to Saddam as their program for world peace.

Demagoguery and Propaganda

The leading sources of hate, bigotry, ignorance and misinformation now -- are the very institutions once formed to combat hate, bigotry, ignorance and misinformation -- because they’ve learned, if nothing else, how to do the opposite. No, not ridding the world of hate, bigotry, ignorance and misinformation -- but creating anti-hate, anti-bigotry, anti-ignorance and anti-misinformation techniques and propaganda, which is the original problem in a modified form.

That is the misguided efforts of the mainstream (mass) media -- in thinking if they just provided as much conservative demagoguery as they do liberal demagoguery -- that somehow, they have brought truth to the people, rather than multiplied the confusion. What is needed is simply the straightforward truth of the matter -- without having to muddle through all the lies, distortions and manipulations beforehand -- but that would be a rather short story, and they are paying them by the word, and are mesmerized with their own words, as though anybody else were.

The reader on the other hand, wants as much information as possible with the least expenditure of time and effort -- rather than having to enroll for a 15-year course or sign up for a lifetime subscription -- to get the information he wants right now for the urgency they are confronting. In 15 years, or a lifetime, they will have forgotten what the question they asked was, before having embarked on their tortuous journey through life -- with bad teachers, guides and informants all waiting to exploit them for their own benefit.

So the whole trick in life, is to find that which is truth -- in the haystack of falsehoods. That would be a meaningful and valuable education -- deliberately not taught in schools, because knowing that would free one from the reliance on teachers, gurus, all the self-proclaimed and self-appointed experts who think it is their job to do the thinking for everyone else. That is the training ground for demagoguery and propaganda -- the belief that there are these self-chosen few who know the truth, and whose authority are never to be questioned.

These demagogues are positioned everywhere in society -- exploiting gullibility and trust, demanding that you believe whatever they say, at face value. They expect us to believe that sharp criticism of opposing authority figures while high praise for themselves sent by anonymous “objective“ people, is not written by themselves using the multiple aliases they have created to deceive people of their influence and popularity.
Every article they write though, is this long-winded, muddled, tortuous journey of one implausibility after another -- having little to do with any reality. They just want you to BELIEVE. No facts, no clarity, no appeal to intelligence -- but just one insult to intelligence after another, hoping to find the ripe audience.

People sometimes ask me what is my fixed position on any matter -- as though I should have made up my mind before hearing the facts -- or even understanding the meaning of the question, which is usually prejudicial to the answer they wish to hear. The first task of a decision-maker is to find out what the facts are, and the prejudices implied, rather than already having their minds made up -- which is a closed and biased mind. Those are not the kind of people you should choose as leaders; they will alway be followers and conformists no matter how padded their resumes to make them seem impressive.

Government For the Rest of Us

The peculiarity of government in Hawaii is that it has become government of government workers, by government workers and for government workers -- represented by their friends and relatives, as a public service to the rest of us -- which they are tireless at self-promoting.

Unfortunately, the people of the press see nothing wrong with it because they are overwhelmed with the same kind of corrupting nepotism -- that seems to run rampant through all the “venerable” institutions, in which the main qualification for job openings and advancement, is to have the same last name of people already employed there, “who know how to play the game.” It is known locally as well as around the world, as the “Pay to Play,” system of government, that usually exists only in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where ALL the members of the ruling government are also relatives of Saddam or the Sheik.

At the Hawaii state legislature, such a form of totalitarian government would receive a high approval rating, as a model of admiration and emulation, worthy of sending kudos and Aloha, for such unquestionable dominance and control, as well as unquestioning loyalty and obedience.

Government and its leaders are a reflection of who the people are and how they regard themselves.

Early on in my campaign, a very cynical longtime legislative aide who aspires to be a political pundit instead, expressed a desire to see me elected just so they could see me corrupted by the system -- as they felt confident everybody in their circles were, which is a sad statement of the regard for themselves and those they are surrounded by. (That to them, was being politically sophisticated.)

They probably belong to, and are going to the wrong parties -- in which everybody of repute, seems to spend the entire evening avoiding every other person of repute. It’s really interesting to see a lot of these principals -- that one will not encounter anywhere in life, under normal conditions.

Most of the people one will encounter out in public are fairly normal-looking; being out in public makes them look that way -- as they interact with others giving and receiving cues that make them responsive to others.

Occasionally one sees people one has never seen before -- as kind of an anomaly that is fairly shocking. One is the person whose face seems to be being pulled in a thousand different directions simultaneously -- and one wonders, what are the thoughts and experiences tugging on that person’s soul and visage to so grotesquely distort them in that way.

So I do think one should read the body language -- as well as hear the words, which these days, are just triggers for preconditioned knee-jerk responses. For unfortunately too many, the leading symbol of this country has been taught by many who should know better (or perhaps they do), to evoke great self-loathing as a citizen. Such self-hatred becomes a fertile ground for self-contempt that leads to undermining one’s better judgment.

Changing Hawaii

The collapse of the mainstream media in Hawaii, as well as nationally, on the eve of this year’s elections, is a healthy sign that society is ready to take a leap forward -- into uncharted territory, rather than being limited by only the traditions of the past.

Those with a vested interested in the way things are, will obviously be defenders of the status quo -- hoping to keep things as they are for as long as it is profitable for themselves. The unions rode to strength on the message that individuals were nothing and powerless, and only the collective (conformity) had power.

But that manner of thinking disempowers individuals -- and the step beyond, is the empowering of individuals, and not simply group identities and blind loyalties, the self-designated leaders like to exploit. That’s why a lot of the personal attacks usually the staple of the mainstream media around election time, are failing to wield the power and effectiveness they have in the past, causing a mass hysteria that all union workers will lose their jobs if a certain person or party wins, etc.

When people are allowed and actually seek many sources of information, they just naturally become better consumers of “information,” and more readily recognize when and how they are being manipulated to think what the demagogues want them to think.

Most of these changes take place without people being consciously aware of them -- as a program for social change -- as in a Great Leap Forward or Five-Year Plan.

Unlike the old days, most of one’s learning takes place after one graduates from school -- and so the proper function of education is to prepare one for that independence, and not make them more and perpetually dependent on the education system to learn anything and everything. That was the old model -- controlled by the self-serving “education professionals,” who demanded that one seek only “certified” instructors before attempting the perilous task of learning anything new, or further.

Furthermore, only these duly certified instructors would ensure that the education one got, was politically and certifiably “correct” -- which invariably was, that learning could only be done under the supervision of professionally and duly certified “teachers.”

That manner of control and exploitation has already passed into the history books except in the few isolated places on earth like Hawaii where the mainstream media, schools and universities still insist that they are the only sources of truth, information and communications -- and one should distrust and reject all others, and especially one’s own confidence in thinking for oneself.

That is what your local Demagogic Party captains are for -- to enforce the party line, maintain the discipline, teach one the “approved” chants and messages. It’s good to see the changes.

All the Best Votes

Campaign advisors are always amused, if not impressed, when I tell them that my objective is not to get all the votes but all the best votes -- in the realization that if one simplemindedly tries to get all the votes, ensures that he will not get the best votes. The best are the best because they are selective and discriminating -- and not those who are easily manipulated, fooled, deceived.

Occasionally I run into an abusive person who thinks that because I am running for an elected office, I must pander and grovel for their approval and am justifiable targets for their manipulations and abuse -- and they are instead shocked by my desire not to have their approval or vote, and I do not tolerate their abusiveness, which they believe they are entitled to unleash on all those who are convenient and vulnerable.

Businesses, as well as any human interaction, is a two-way street -- with both providing information for the subsequent appropriate actions. Abusive people recognize that the acceptance, tolerance and even denial of their behaviors, is their encouragement for further violations and violence -- rather than being sated and satisfied.

This is particularly and especially true of dealing with the criminal and deviant mind and personalities -- who have never experienced the firm response that would have provided them the necessary information (guidance) to act and develop appropriately. We witness these abuses all the time -- and become desensitized to them, because these patterns of behavior are usually nurtured in the isolation of contact with the mass media almost exclusively -- rather than healthful real interchanges.

It becomes one’s private fantasy world, in which they rule the universe, by calling everybody else, “Stupid,” as the supreme intelligence in their universe. They especially demand on the letters to the editor pages of the newspapers, that they should be considered smarter than the President of the United States -- which resonates with the editor’s own sentiments and self-assessment exactly.

How they were overlooked in the frequent elections to acclaim the wisest citizens of the world, is the great mystery and injustice of the universe for which they believe they should justifiably harbor ill will eternally towards every other, and particularly those promoting goodwill. Such feelings got even Satan banished from Heaven.

So it is a real fantasy that if one just leaves brutal and ruthless tyrants to do "their own thing," peace will reign in the world, and what is needed is not Departments of Defense (War), but Departments of Peace, and everybody can live in peace, smoking whatever they want to smoke -- untroubled and blissfully unaware.

You might not want to have such people holding public offices of responsibility and accountability -- and especially in charge of decisions regarding the national defense and security -- making the tough choices they have to.