Thursday, September 05, 2013

Dear Mr. President:

Lets recall your often stated observation that you are the President of all of the people.  Almost 130,000,000 million people voted in the last election. 70,000,000 of those were Democratic votes. It is very clear from every source we have that the vast, vast majority of those 130,000,000 people, to say nothing of the other millions who did not vote, are not in alignment with this war resolution regarding Syria.

This situation is, of course, way broader than the United States. Whatever we do will involve Humanity regardless of national borders. Do you think that we have the right to involve 7 billion other human beings in a war without their inputs? All of the data we have from the other nations of People indicates that they are very, very opposed to doing this war thing.

This is an opportunity for you to be our President and follow the wisdom of the People rather than the "intelligence" community, a community, known for its frequent withholding of truth and its outright lying, a community  that has no credibility with the People.

There is another way to deal with this situation which is not a United States problem, but a world problem. The best way would be become united with the United Nations. These kinds of situations are examples of exactly why the People of the world, in their Wisdom, established the UN. If Bashar al-Assad is responsible for the poison attack, we need to deal with him and those closest to him. We need to start discriminating between the occasional mad man who gets in control of a country and the people, most  of whom haven't got a clue about what is going on.

lots of love

-tom

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Dear Mr. President:

Regarding your position on the Syria attack issue:  "the international community and Congress's credibility are on the line if a chemical attack on civilians in Syria goes unanswered. Obama is seeking congressional and international support for military action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad."

Agreed.

However, our credibility as a rational peace loving nation will once again be highly questionable, even more so than it was after the Iraq boondoggle, if we respond with the murder of a bunch of innocent brothers and sisters, including children-- those whom the military tries to justify as "collateral damage."

We, the People, really do not have the data that you claim to have that proves "beyond the shadow of a doubt" that the Syrian President actually ordered this attack. If such data exists then we can try President Assad in the World Court and deal with him that way.

Surly this situation will not go away in a few weeks. Surly the image of our Nation would be better projected if we are seen as a People who follow International Law and do not rush to judgment simply to make a point about our macho image.

We are a better people than that.

lots of love

-tom

Dear Mr. President

Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Dear Mr. President.

I watched your Labor Day message. Great! And, as you pointed out, nobody said regenerating, not just the middle class, but the whole notion of equality and our almost disappeared Democracy, will be easy. I think that you more than anyone of us realizes what an understatement that is.

But then, when, on the long, long trail over which Humanity has moved from being the property of the few to individual freedom and dignity, when has it ever been easy? We, as a people, do not expect easy. That innate drive into the future of freedom and liberty that has brought us this far has even made us suspicious of easy. If it is easy, we have learned, there is probably some game going on.

We have encountered some rather significant setbacks over the past 30 or 40 years. However, we also have learned that,  as we always have, we will continue to strive and to bring the inalienable right of individual freedom and the opportunities to live a dignified and meaningful life in spite of one's so called  "class" or station into manifestation.

Your vision of Democracy being an Idea which grows from the center or the middle out is profound. This is the way all Ideas manifest.  From their inception in the ethers of the imagination, Ideas or "images of Truth" move into matter and manifestation through the hearts of those who strive to bring them into the world of daily living.

From its very beginning, Democracy, like any Idea conceived in the Light, has encountered the opposition of  the "Status Quo." These new Ideas, which are based in the observable organic wholeness and inclusivity of Life, expand freedom and liberty. And, as they always have, these new ideas bring change and reconstruction.

The forces of opposition seek ever to modify and limit the basic truth of the new. They foster systems of exclusivity and privilege which generate  the sad conditions of inequality which exist in our contemporary societies. These modifications are envisioned in darkness and illusion. They are based in competition and separation.

Rather than generating an inclusive and expanding circle of freedom and liberty they establish boundaries which exclude individuals from Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, or to be specific, education, housing, health care, meaningful work with living wages, dignity. Ironically, the primary objective of these program modifications is abortion. They aim to abort the birthing of the Idea of Freedom and Liberty for All, a labor, which  on the shores of this continent has been ongoing for three hundred plus years.

We know from deep experience that opposition to Humanity's destiny always calls out the best that is in Humanity. We had, for example  in the thirties and forties of the last century the brothers Roosevelt, Truman. Then in the fifties and sixties we had Eisenhower (who actually foretold the coming danger in his remarks regarding the military industrial complex), the Kennedy brothers and King. After that, the opposition began to grow, and we were pushed back or lost ground.

This opposition is at the present moment, as you probably know better than anyone, more fierce than it has ever been. I think that this is so because the stakes are so high. We are so close to removing from this planet all such opposition through the expansion of that circle of inclusive freedom and liberty for All. This is actually phase three of the World War.

Now we have you and a handful of other heart centered leaders. We also have legions of other hearts. We will, of course, triumph, "but only by our own hand, only by our own hearts, only by our own work, only by our own striving."

I also read your commentaries and plans to improve education. I wondered about the discussions behind your use of the phrase, "to make education more affordable". Given the levels of opposition I can understand that these steps are all that can probably be made at this juncture.

However, I think that it might be helpful to the greater struggle if, while making the baby steps, you were more forthright about the facts concerning education. The education of our children, indeed, of our selves, lies at the very core of an expanding, inclusive freedom and liberty. It is the understanding of the true cooperative, inclusive nature of reality that makes us ever more free. Making education totally available for everyone, and not just from "kindergarten to high school" but from birth to death, is not only an essential aspect of Liberty it is an imperative, especially  if we expect to triumph over the ignorance that drives the opposition.

Nothing, of course, is free. There never was "free" education. We, the people have paid for making a good education available for all of our children practically form the beginning of this Nation. We. the people have, in fact, paid for everything that is national in this nation including not only our public educational systems but all aspects of our infrastructure and our armies, navies and air forces. We paid gladly with the sweat of our labor and the love of our freedom.

Perhaps the exclusive few see education as a business. But education is not a business. It is not a commodity that one can, or more likely cannot, "afford." Present oppositional forces block the use of our tax money to pay the cost for decent public schools. These same forces then complain that the schools are not performing and open separative, private, and for profit schools. Other than a few charity scholarships for the some "deserving" poor kids, these private schools mainly serve the few who can "afford." The opposition then establish bank programs to  "loan" our children money at a "fair" interest rate so that they can pay to go to the schools of higher education. Thus they create a whole new group of "indentured servants."

The degeneration of our formerly envy of the world educational systems from public paid for and supported schools to huge separative profit machines is about the best example of just how much "ground we have lost" in this current phase of the ages long struggle. We need to regenerate these systems into wombs of democracy, and as we do, let us not justify or dignify the act of theft that caused this sorry state of affairs by saying that we need to make education "more affordable."

lots of love

-tom

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Dear Mr. President:

Forget for a minute that she is a woman. Measure her not by her sex but "by the content of her character." That measurement alone qualifies her for the position of Federal Reserve leader.

In addition there are those other less significant, but also important, attributes concerning her savvy re the investment/finance/economy game. Her skills in this arena are well documented in her years of survival and service. However, realizing that this whole area is a game based in a pseudo science called economics (in which she is also well versed) and rather disconnected from anything in the real world, Janet L. Yellen's character becomes even more important.

She will act for the Common Good simply because she is able to see the real world. She sees through the lens of her character.

This is not to say that others on the "short list" are bad people. For the most part, their actions, and records indicate that they are simply blind. They are not able to see beyond the dead ends of competition and the illusions of separation that divide humanity form one another and even from the planet.

This person, Janet L. Yellen, will make a vastly superior Federal Reserve Chair Person because she was apparently raised to see and understand the real world of unity and cooperation.

lots of love

-tom

Thursday, August 08, 2013

Dear Mr. President:

I really think it would be wise for all concerned: We the People, the banking system, the Democratic Party, the next president of the U.S. all of those who are and who will be running for the 2014 Congress and Senate slots in the Democratic and Independent parties, and of course, you, if you would support  Federal Reserve vice-chair Janet Yellen to replace  Ben Bernanke as Chairperson of the Federal Reserve.

I do not have millions of dollars to donate to anything; however, I am happy to  make my common sense available for your consideration. I could list 15 or 20 reasons for why supporting Janet Yellen would be good for the above named groups and yourself. And, good politics to boot.

Your political advisers who are frequently confused by bubble vision, are probably aware of some of them. However, I, who am virtually nobody, am aware of all of them, and if someone as non-existing in the "group of politically savvy people" as I am, know them, you can bet that I have lots and lots of company.

I will just mention two of the longish list. These two alone should be enlightening enough for you to see the sanity of the suggestion:

1. In the myriad eyes of those not confused by bubble vision, Larry Summers is seen as being a petty--although the sums in question are huge--crook. Stealing at any level is pretty demeaning of one's humanity.

2. Senator Elizabeth Warren thinks that Janet Yellen would be terrific in the role. There are many sound policy type arguments for this. I am certain that, as you probably already know, Senator Warren would be happy to help you out  on this. This Senator has demonstrated common sense on any number of occasions. Her vision is probably pretty clear on this issue.

You have, Mr. President, you have the myriad eyes and hearts of the people behind you. Nothing, really, can stop the engine of the people's will from being implemented.

You can do this!

lots of love

-tom     

Dear Mr. President

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Dear Mr. President:

I am very concerned about the direction in which your Administration seems to be taking our educational systems.

I appreciate the concern for preparing our children for employment in a technology driven world, and thus the focus on building up the math, science and computer related aspects of the curriculum. However, I wonder if any of your advisors have connected the dots between the dysfunctional and destructive aspects of our governmental, political, and financial systems and the assault that was launched on the concept of liberalism and the idea of liberal arts in an educational curriculum.

This assault probably began earlier, but I first noticed it with the attacks on Adlai Stevenson. The assault really gained momentum with the first term of President Reagan and eventually made the concept of liberal and government into  dirty words. It has gone on to all but destroy the liberal arts curriculum in many, many of our primary and secondary schools.

Yes. We do need to focus the vocational aspects of our educational systems more on the fact that technology, in all of its many aspects, has replaced many, many of the "jobs" that needed doing in our society. This trend will undoubtedly continue to replace many more areas of employment that were the core of the industrial revolution. There are, however, other issues that need addressing which are core to our society: How are equality, freedom, liberty, and justice for all going to fare under this technological paradigm? These issues can only be addressed by individuals who have some inkling of what they mean.

The toll that the assault on a liberal education has already taken is causal to the dysfunctional and destructive aspects of our present situation. We need educated citizens at least as desperately as we need well-trained citizens. However, under the relentless assault on the ideals which make up the purpose and goals of a liberal education, what has happened over the years is that the notion of the purpose of education has shifted.

The purpose of education has shifted from the study of what makes a human being human—what it takes to make a government of the people for the people and by the people. The goals of education have shifted from teaching children or drawing forth from the children the understanding of their own wonderful, unique, innate value and goodness, their shared equality with the rest of humanity, and equipping them with the knowledge, wisdom and will to strive, to climb the ladder of compassion and brotherhood with all people, to bring forth that human being that exists in everyone.

The purpose of education now is not to teach or draw forth but to indoctrinate children with values of competition and exclusivity. We teach the skills and provide information necessary to climb the ladder of income, of exclusive personal power and prestige. The ladder of character is mentioned, if at all, as a quaint pass time, an elective if available. Our public schools need to be seen as the first line of our progress as a people, enabling individuals to be able to do what they discover they want to do not training factories for workers.

While some form of a liberal arts curriculum still exists in most secondary schools, the focus has changed from teaching us to be human beings to training us to be employable beings whose goal is to be able to climb the ladder of income, rather than to be a participating thinking member of the people, the true Common Wealth.

Rather than preparing our children to be inclusive of others, to be conscious of the interdependence of the world, to be thinking and self-reliant, the schools are rapidly becoming centers where human beings are viewed as raw material for Employers or Owners to meet their production, manufacturing, data processing or whatever, needs. These employers, small and large, are really not interested in having employees who think, who know who they are, who have opinions about the equality of the relationship between the Owners and the workers. They really want robots, and the educational system that your administration is proposing is tending very strongly in that direction.

These same employers are generally aligned against programs which serve the common good and general welfare, specifically educational  programs like head start or "pre-school" programs. These programs foster an enlightened people and work from the center of a democratic people out and actually include everyone. The recent "adjustments" to the student loan program are a glaring example of the retrogressive direction in which our educational systems have become steadily more exclusive and turned from schools for the benefit of the people to businesses which profit and serve the few.

It is true that the sectors of our society that concern the common good and general welfare— the environment, transportation, communication—can provide many "jobs" in the immediate future; however, most of these jobs will eventually be done by machines. The education and health care sectors right now would provide many millions of wonderful human jobs, jobs that machines, no matter how sophisticated, will never be able to do.

We need millions of teachers to teach millions of ourselves to do this work. These are service functions. This labor carries rewards to the individuals who are engaged in it, far beyond the ladder of income. It benefits others, is totally self-sustaining, does not damage the environment, and generates understanding and appreciation of our planet and each other. We are allocating Public money. Surly wisdom indicates that we make this sector the priority receiver of our common wealth.

Lots of love

-Tom

Dear Mr. President

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Dear Mr. President:

Watched your presentation to the press the other day. It was a powerful and moving message. The low key straight forward truth of it carried compassion and understanding. It was the kind of message to which people can relate. It probably did not go over that well with the politicians and gamesters, and from the responses I saw and heard, many of them did  not even register what  you were saying but rather heard a political attempt to make points.

The usual kind of talks that I hear coming from you and your White House co-workers do not speak to the people. They seem "crafted" for other politicians, lobbyists, press operatives, billionaire funders, and random apparatchiks. The speeches/talks resemble data processing roll outs of the unending 5 or 15 point plans that accountants and bankers like to see for fixing or doing stuff that nobody who is not in that group even knows about.

The people, if by some accident they were even listening to begin with, tune out of those presentations in seconds.

These kinds of presentations carry a frequency that is deadly to the people. The numbers and details of policy say nothing to them. They cannot relate to this stuff which, basically, is heartless, and being heartless, it has no attractive power. It speaks to those who are clawing their way up the ladder of income or success and are very minimally concerned with the Common Good, if at all. These folks listen to see if they are going to benefit or not.

I think that it is actually amazing that 57% of the eligible voters bothered to vote in the last election. It says a lot about the effort that was made to get out the vote. The numbers of people voting for "change that matters" in the general election were encouraging, and the ongoing effort is also encouraging.

But, the 57% figure begs the question. Where were the 91,000,000 people who did not "bother" to vote? There lots of nuances to the answer to that question, but one obvious fact is that we are not reaching them.

Your talk to the Press regarding the Trayvon Martin tragedy carried the kind of energy that will, that does speak to people regardless of where they are on the ladder of income. It addressed the people at the level of their heart. You were speaking to the content of their character rather than the content of their wallets.

It, of course, takes character to understand the content of another's character. It is not by policy presentations, but by speaking from the heart to the hearts of the people, those 91,000,000 especially, that you and all those from the White House that speak for you can ignite the little flames of character that are slowly growing cold in those 91,000,000 chests.

I am hoping that you and you co-workers will make many more opportunities to speak directly to us, the people, about the things that matter, like character, compassion, and appreciation for the beautiful diversity that is the United States of America.

lots of love

-tom