The Capacity for Deception and Delusion
A great argument for a two-party system is that it prevents the kind of mob-think that enables crowds to be deluded into thinking they are “right” -- or that they are “thinking” at all, rather than just being swept along by the hysteria because there is nobody around to ask them, “What are we doing?” People not used to freedom, think it is just license to do anything they can get away with -- and it is "good" as long as they are not caught, or observed. There is no inner mechanism for determining what is right and good -- but only that which they can get away with. And that is now the Hawaii state legislature -- because of the absence of a counterbalance to the excesses now possible.
Revolutionary France was that way -- “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity,” were resolved by simply chopping off the heads of those who weren’t in the inner circle anymore, in the great excesses that can be confused as freedom in those who have not developed the skills in life to exercise it responsibly and effectively. These are invariably people who were just taught what to do -- under the penalty of having their faces slapped if they did not. That is the metaphor for how they view life -- as the countless humiliations they endured growing up -- and so now it is their turn to unleash their rage upon the world!
These are hardly the kind of people who make good leaders -- in the truest sense of the word. They are like the innumerable ruthless psychopaths who can justify anything they do -- "because they can get away with it." They continue in this manner -- until they are stopped.
Often though, they don’t have to be forcefully stopped. Because they are externally driven rather than internally motivated, it is often enough just to stop supporting these actions with one’s approbations. Conditioned behaviors are extinguished when they are no longer reinforced -- for being the "good boy," one thinks they must seek the approval of their "teachers" by obtaining the largest wage increases they can for them -- dutifully.
The problem with the Hawaii state legislature is that we have too many of these kinds of petty lawmakers and not enough statesmen -- or those who can serve the larger purposes of society. That is the problem with having most of the representatives being lawyers for special interest groups as their chief qualifications for serving all the people of Hawaii. You can’t get there from serving each of the narrow special interest groups -- thinking that amounts to a greater whole; it just fragments society countlessly, hopelessly, futilely -- and so the whole purpose of government then becomes to create the problems in order to create more high-paying jobs and self-important bureaucrats.
The peculiarity of self-important bureaucrats, is that when they see a long line of people behind them, they think that everybody showed up just for the privilege and pleasure of meeting them -- rather than that they need to get out of the way, so everybody else can get on with the important business for which they are there. This overwhelming need to feel important, should not be the characteristic that determines political ambitions and “success.”
posted by Mike Hu @ 8:45 AM
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The news the news media doesn't want us to know about:
http://www.newmediajournal.us/staff/williams/05152007.htm
Selling Out America
The Fifth Column JB Williams
May 15, 2007
According to liberal Democrats, their loyal press and their mindless minions across the country, none of whom care about the facts, they were “elected” by Americans in 2006 for the purpose of “saving America” from those corrupt Republicans who have been busy “selling America” to lobbyists and foreign interests.
The problem with their story is, according to official Federal Election Commission reports, it isn’t supported by the hard facts. During the study years running from 1990 through 2006, here are the real facts concerning who is selling America for political contributions…
Liberals Say Republicans Are Owned By Lobbyists?
Lawyers/Lobbyists topped the list of political investors in the United States giving a whopping $899,021,331, according to official Federal Election Commission reports. At odds with liberal lies on the subject, 69% of the nearly 1 billion dollars went to Democrats, with only 30% going to Republicans. Lawyers and lobbyists are clearly in Democrat pockets at a rate of 69% of total investment dollars.
Liberals Say That The Press Is Too Conservative?
The Newspaper, Magazine and Book industry invested $71,255,043 during the same period and again, the facts tell us that 67% of total investment dollars from this group went to Democrats, while only 31% went to Republicans. The newspaper, magazine and book industry make up much of the industry we call “the media”. Clearly, “the media”, at least this portion, invests in Democrats at a rate of 67%.
Liberals Say That “The Media” Slants Right?
We already studied Newspaper, Magazine and Book investments, which slant Democrat 67%. What about the electronic media, TV/Movies & Music? Again, we find that this is a highly politically engaged group, giving $201,603,054 during the study period and again, we find that 68% of these investment dollars went to Democrats while only 32% went to Republicans.
Liberals Never Want To Talk About Labor Union Contributions…
That’s because during the study period, Labor Unions gave $586,258,242, second only to lawyers and lobbyists in total investment dollars and to no surprise, 92% went to Democrats while only 8% went to Republicans.
Liberals Run To Hollywood When In Need Of Cash…
That’s because there is lots of cash in Hollywood and nearly every penny is invested in Democrats. During the study period, the Movie Production Industry gave $55,178,478 - 87% of which went to Democrats with only 13% going to Republicans.
The All-Time TOP TEN Political “Blue Chip Investors”…
Of the all-time biggest political investors, referred to in political circles as the “Blue Chip Investors”, 5 of the 10 are unions, giving more than 90% of their funds to Democrats. 3 of the 10 are special interest industries, giving more than 80% to Democrats and 2 of the 10 tilt towards Republicans, giving about 60% to Republicans and 40% to Democrats. Combined, Democrats pick up more than 90% of the “Blue Chip” dollars…
Liberals Say That “Single Issue” Special Interests Own Republicans…
There’s no doubt that so-called “single issue voters” are very politically active, giving $855,791,187 during the study period. But are they “partisan” slanted in their political giving? They gave 55% to Democrats and 45% to Republicans. But still, Democrats win this category too.
One “single issue group” deserves special attention. The Pro-Choice lobby, who gave
$14,528,235 – 80% to Democrats seems almost three times as committed to their agenda as the Pro-Life lobby, is to theirs, giving only $5,310,015 during the same period, 94% to Republicans.
No matter how you look at the hard facts, Democrats are the clear winners when it comes to ringing the special interest cash register. But somebody must be giving the Republicans money. Who is it?
Liberals Say That The Gun Industry Owns The Republican Party…
During the study period, the Gun Rights Lobby invested $18,670,436 – and indeed, 85% of those funds went to Republicans while only 15% went to Democrats. However, the Gun Control Lobby invested $1,735,042 during the same period, 94% going to anti-Second Amendment Democrats of course.
Liberals Say That The Oil & Gas Industry Owns Republicans…
Sure enough, Oil & Gas gave $200,938,491 during the study period, with 75% going to Republicans and 24% going to Democrats. (This could have something to do with the fact that Democrats have blocked all new exploration and refining initiatives since the mid 1970’s, crippling our oil and gas industries ability to reduce our national dependency on foreign oil and gas.)
Liberals Say That BIG BUSINESS Owns The Republicans…
This one is tough to quantify one way or the other as it depends on how you choose to define “big business”. Technically speaking, corporate contributions are limited by law, though we know that several loop-holes have been used to circumvent those laws.
The biggest loop-hole in the system today is the advent of the 527 Group. And if one takes the time to study where this huge sludge fund comes from and where it is going, again, Democrats are king of the 527…
If we focus on the BIG “multi-media” Corporations, Time-Warner, Viacom, General Electric, Disney, Vivendi and the likes, again one willing to do the research will find that all of them slant heavily, 70% or more towards investing in Democrats, with the noted exception of News Corp (FOX Group), which invests a little more than 50% in Republicans and a little less the 50% in Democrats.
So Who Are The BIG Republican Investors?
The TOP FIVE investors in the Republican Party are, in order of contribution size, Individual Candidate Committees – Retirees – Real Estate Industry – Securities & Investment Industry and Health Profession Employees.
At the end of an honest analysis of the hard facts, one must conclude that it is in fact Democrats who own the special interest funding bonanza and the special interest group who invest in American politics who own the Democrats. Together, this is who is selling America out to special interest. But why?
In short, the Republican National Cmte out-raises the Democratic National Cmte via honest above board contributions by almost a 2-1 margin… In order for the DNC to remain politically competitive, they must find the funds to do so somewhere and if individual contributors won’t do it, the special interest lobby must.
So, in the future, when you hear liberal Democrats, their press and their many mindless minion talk about how Republicans are under the influence of all that special interest money, revisit this column and join me in reality…
JB Williams is a business man, a husband, a father, and a writer. A no nonsense commentator on American politics, American history, and American philosophy. A hard hitting columnist, attacking the socialist cancer plaguing America today. He has a pragmatic “common Joe” approach to even the toughest issues facing our nation.
The Old Media hasn't suspected yet that the New Media as a manifestation of the Information Revolution is not simply more information (media) -- but an entirely different way of processing information, that validates it before it allows it into the system to corrupt all the other information.
The old "news" paradigm doesn't have the rigor of the new information paradigm because it is an accumulation of information rather than the supplanting of it. That is, in the new information processing, new information replaces and integrates all the old information -- and is not just simply added to the old, in the old acquisitive and accumulative mindset.
The new mind, looks for information that replaces all the others -- into the universal algorithm. It looks for patterns rather than keeping each memory as a separate category -- overrunning storage capacity. So people frequently comment about their memory failing because it has run out of space -- if it never lets go of everything previously experienced (learned).
This becomes a huge problem when information and experience is abundant -- in the old manner of information processing, which is simply to accumulate as much as possible. A few modern educators recognize this problem -- and teach only the processing of current information as the essential skill required to confront any problem. The memory of any answer, is irrelevant and more often than not, counterproductive -- especially in encountering the new and unprecedented.
But for the most part, most of the education still taught is done in the old, traditional manner -- because it's always been done that way. How it can be done otherwise, they have no clue, and it was their conditioning (education), not to think there could be any other.
Of course the really interesting thing is when the old mentality clashes with the new; it's mostly a problem for the old, because the new merely absorbs the old.
That's what any more successful culture does -- it assimilates and integrates the other, while the old, tries to fend off the new for as long as it can until it realizes the futility and is absorbed.
The world's largest and most successful cultures, absorbs the wisdom and intelligence of all the other cultures -- as its own, while those doomed to extinction, are reasserting their isolation and alienation from all they did not think up first. That is a very distinctive handicap -- in the battle for survival, and the survival of the fittest.
No, it's not ALL about politics.
Government is a part of society -- rather than that society is a part of government.
That's the basic difference between Democrat and Republican thinking.
The mainstream media usually adopts the latter premise simply because it is easier to report on -- since the special interest manipulators conveniently provide them copy -- along with the usual "suspects."
Hawaii has been particularly distorted by government. "Governance" is fundamentally about choices individuals make -- and not about institutions perpetuating themselves. Life is a lot more vital and dynamic than that.
If we just look at the traditional measurements, one might despair that nothing has changed and nothing can change -- but isn't it a fact that simply having these discussions, in the manner and way we do now, proof that the world has changed -- already, but that perception needs to catch up.
That is the nature of real change; that what is different -- wasn't there before, while that which was there before, may still be the same -- but the world has passed them by.
Rather than fragmenting experience and knowledge into as many incomprehensible and unrelated parts -- they need to teach basic skills that imply and integrate the rest, which is (1) operating a cell phone, (2) operating a personal computer, (3) understanding and filling out a 1040 federal income tax form, (4) having an intelligent conversation, (5) resolving a problem. If they can do those tasks, the prognosis for successful citizenship are excellent -- and they should be allowed to move on.
Most of the problems (public school) teachers complain about in their jobs is the lack of autonomy for doing their jobs -- for which collective bargaining is the primary cause. That’s why many teachers leave the public schools for the private schools where they can negotiate the terms of their contracts and terms of conduct for achieving that success individually.
A lot of these “professionals” took a huge step backward in voting for somebody else to speak for them (everybody else) about the performance standards for their job , because the thing that has always distinguished professionalism, is the freedom to do it their own way. Instead, they’ve relegated themselves to becoming just like assembly-line workers -- and why they are not treated deferentially as people have to earn on their own merits.
Education needs to refocus on the real needs of the students and not the demands of the teachers -- for the status and lifestyle they believe they are entitled to, as the self-described “most important people” in our society.
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