Get On the Right Track
Posted: March 8th, 2011, 12:47 pm
Here is an article I posted on my blog. Tell me what you think:
Don't Go Along With Divide and Conquer
We’re living in strange times. It seems like the whole world is in chaos. Governments, corporations and institutions that used to be around forever are suddenly dissolving and transforming. Corruption is everywhere. It seems like the things we used to be able to count on are falling apart. Large financial institutions have lost our trust. Industries experience bubbles and busts. News outlets are caught lying to us. Politicians promise us the world, and then they cave in to big business or special interests once they get into office.
While all of this is going on we are divided into camps: liberal vs. conservative, owner vs. renter, employer vs. employee etc. These divisions prevent us from looking within ourselves for solutions. They also prevent us from looking at those who are our real enemies. There are good people out there who live principled lives who can disagree. There are bad people out there who live off of division, contention, and corruption. They feed off of others, make risky investments and then are given bailouts by the government because they are too big to fail. They plunder and use force to get their way. They piggyback on government to force us to use their products. Let’s just stop doing business with them as much as we can. Let’s just leave them alone to their own devices and build a better world without them.
What if we started supporting the good people around us locally who are making principled choices that help our country? Instead of buying products made from slave labor in China we can start purchasing items locally or online from American owned businesses. OK. We may have to be more frugal and we may not have the latest electronic device if we do that. But so what? Do we really need the latest electronic devices? Let’s get outside and plant gardens and get some exercise instead! Buy enough of those electronic devices to be able to communicate with like minded individuals and build networks. Leave the other unnecessary stuff alone.
Instead of buying processed foods made by multinational corporations that sell unhealthy processed foods we can support local farmers markets and make our own baked goods in our own kitchens. Instead of supporting politicians who vote for the Patriot Act, we find out who wants to repeal the Patriot Act and vote for him/her. Instead of voting for politicians who force us to purchase products from well connected corporations, let’s put in statesmen who stand on principle. Instead of voting for military intervention in foreign countries and bases all over the world we can decide to support bringing out troops home and supporting a strong national defense of our own country. Instead of voting for foreign oil bought with blood we can start drilling here in America, investing in solar power, and supporting ingenuity and freedom.
If our votes don’t seem to be changing things we need to vote with our dollars. Don’t support corporations and causes that you don’t agree with. Be informed about where your money goes when you buy a product or invest. Be informed about where and how that product is made. Build neighborhood networks and support Main Street. Teach your children to work hard and build up their local communities.
Yes, we do need to live. But is it a good thing that we are so reliant on China and multi national corporations for our very existence? Why not slowly work to get us on the path to being self reliant as a nation again?
It starts with each household here in America. We need to look within our households and see what principles we wish to live our lives by. Then little by little we need to go through each buying habit we have and look to see if that habit promotes a strong principled America with freedom, or if it promotes a tyrannical, imperial America and all of the special interests and multinational corporations that prey on people’s wealth and labor. We are all connected. If we are investing in a corporation do we know how that corporation treats people? Do we know what that corporation is doing in other countries? Is it displacing native peoples? Is it poisoning their lands and waters? We can feign ignorance I guess, but one day we will be held accountable for our choices. I would rather connect myself with products, peoples and principles that do good in this world. We can also build up networks with people all over the world who are against corrupt and exploitive globalization. In turn they can change things in their own nations.
I am planning on doing a major overhaul of all of my purchasing and consuming habits. I am sure that I will find some ways I can improve. I am excited to get started. Just look at it this way:
There are two tracks.
Track One (consumption, exploitation, globalization, corporatism, imperialism, force, tyranny, destruction, greed, fake foods that kill, addiction, deceit, covertness, surveillance, militarism, hate etc. )
Track Two (production, free market exchanges, localization, non interventionism, freedom, faith, liberty, construction, service to others, healthy real foods that heal, stewardship, privacy, self defense, openness, invention, ingenuity and love)
If enough of us move onto Track Two maybe we can see some good changes in this nation. It is up to each one of us to make the changes in our lives that will put us squarely on the right track!
Don't Go Along With Divide and Conquer
We’re living in strange times. It seems like the whole world is in chaos. Governments, corporations and institutions that used to be around forever are suddenly dissolving and transforming. Corruption is everywhere. It seems like the things we used to be able to count on are falling apart. Large financial institutions have lost our trust. Industries experience bubbles and busts. News outlets are caught lying to us. Politicians promise us the world, and then they cave in to big business or special interests once they get into office.
While all of this is going on we are divided into camps: liberal vs. conservative, owner vs. renter, employer vs. employee etc. These divisions prevent us from looking within ourselves for solutions. They also prevent us from looking at those who are our real enemies. There are good people out there who live principled lives who can disagree. There are bad people out there who live off of division, contention, and corruption. They feed off of others, make risky investments and then are given bailouts by the government because they are too big to fail. They plunder and use force to get their way. They piggyback on government to force us to use their products. Let’s just stop doing business with them as much as we can. Let’s just leave them alone to their own devices and build a better world without them.
What if we started supporting the good people around us locally who are making principled choices that help our country? Instead of buying products made from slave labor in China we can start purchasing items locally or online from American owned businesses. OK. We may have to be more frugal and we may not have the latest electronic device if we do that. But so what? Do we really need the latest electronic devices? Let’s get outside and plant gardens and get some exercise instead! Buy enough of those electronic devices to be able to communicate with like minded individuals and build networks. Leave the other unnecessary stuff alone.
Instead of buying processed foods made by multinational corporations that sell unhealthy processed foods we can support local farmers markets and make our own baked goods in our own kitchens. Instead of supporting politicians who vote for the Patriot Act, we find out who wants to repeal the Patriot Act and vote for him/her. Instead of voting for politicians who force us to purchase products from well connected corporations, let’s put in statesmen who stand on principle. Instead of voting for military intervention in foreign countries and bases all over the world we can decide to support bringing out troops home and supporting a strong national defense of our own country. Instead of voting for foreign oil bought with blood we can start drilling here in America, investing in solar power, and supporting ingenuity and freedom.
If our votes don’t seem to be changing things we need to vote with our dollars. Don’t support corporations and causes that you don’t agree with. Be informed about where your money goes when you buy a product or invest. Be informed about where and how that product is made. Build neighborhood networks and support Main Street. Teach your children to work hard and build up their local communities.
Yes, we do need to live. But is it a good thing that we are so reliant on China and multi national corporations for our very existence? Why not slowly work to get us on the path to being self reliant as a nation again?
It starts with each household here in America. We need to look within our households and see what principles we wish to live our lives by. Then little by little we need to go through each buying habit we have and look to see if that habit promotes a strong principled America with freedom, or if it promotes a tyrannical, imperial America and all of the special interests and multinational corporations that prey on people’s wealth and labor. We are all connected. If we are investing in a corporation do we know how that corporation treats people? Do we know what that corporation is doing in other countries? Is it displacing native peoples? Is it poisoning their lands and waters? We can feign ignorance I guess, but one day we will be held accountable for our choices. I would rather connect myself with products, peoples and principles that do good in this world. We can also build up networks with people all over the world who are against corrupt and exploitive globalization. In turn they can change things in their own nations.
I am planning on doing a major overhaul of all of my purchasing and consuming habits. I am sure that I will find some ways I can improve. I am excited to get started. Just look at it this way:
There are two tracks.
Track One (consumption, exploitation, globalization, corporatism, imperialism, force, tyranny, destruction, greed, fake foods that kill, addiction, deceit, covertness, surveillance, militarism, hate etc. )
Track Two (production, free market exchanges, localization, non interventionism, freedom, faith, liberty, construction, service to others, healthy real foods that heal, stewardship, privacy, self defense, openness, invention, ingenuity and love)
If enough of us move onto Track Two maybe we can see some good changes in this nation. It is up to each one of us to make the changes in our lives that will put us squarely on the right track!
