Somos Novios
I don’t know why, but I can think better when I am outside of the U.S.A. Perhaps it’s the weight of all those stupid ideas concocted inside the Beltway of Washington D.C., crushing my creativity and channeling all my energy into shouting at the T.V.
Anyway, here it is: Let’s rule from below. Rather than rail at our elected representatives, let’s form “social networks” of like-minded individuals — around the environment, science, education, health, whatever — and begin to rebuild our societies along more sensible, sustainable lines. We can act in ways — perfectly legal, not even any “civil disobedience” involved — that reshape our world in a way that, on our deathbeds, we can say something to our children other than “I’m sorry”.
An example would be the environment. We shouldn’t waste anymore time trying to convince the Oil Companies and the Tea Party that Global Warming, if not addressed, is going to asfixiate us all. Instead, we simply form “social networks” of everyone who believes in Global Warming and ask the foremost scientists to tell us what we, on the individual level, can do to mitigate it. They will need to give us both the individual impact (assumed to be minimal) and the “roll up” (potentially astronimical), and then a regular report on the progress we are making. If nothing else, think how empowered we will feel!
I have come, reluctantly, to this solution, because what was once “The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body” (per US) has become “The World’s Most Dysfunctional Body”, incapable of collaborating even if we were under an attack from the planet Mars. Imagine Boehner: “This is great! We can blame Obama!” Imagine Obama: “Really? Can they legally do that?”
Moments before I took the picture above, I informed my daughter’s mini Daschund that her parents were engaged to be wed in November. We’re working through it.
Rupert