The Political Front with Douglas Castle
Dear Readers:
Firstly, just a bit of personal philosophy from my personal blog,
DOUGLAS CASTLE. Consider this merely a preamble, not unlike an appetizer prior to The Last Supper:
When we give up our independence to dream our dreams, to think our thoughts, to take direct action, toepreneurial sub-economy, the national networker, TNNW community, TNNW membership protest and defend ourselves and, essentially, give these powers to large faceless companies, elected officials or civil servants reporting to vastly powerful govenerments, we are not gaining freedon by any measure.
We are routinely disempowering ourselves and becoming weaker and increasingly dependent upon the generosity and competence of others. Look around you -- do you really want to give the people you see, and a whole host of unseen clerks, lackeys and unmotivated "clock punchers" the power over your future? Why did we choose, as a society, to do this? Was it growing laziness? A distrust of ourselves and of many of our fellow Human Beings? A loss of incentives for innovation, originality and responsibility.
Nowadays, everything that you read, from nutritional supplement labels to emails from corporations, is laden with disclaimers of responsibility and liability. We have become a society that runs from responsibility because of our obsession with scapegoating instead of problem-solving.
Very few of today's Humans have the strength of character, the conviction, the passion, and the love of sacred priciples to risk their uneventful flatline lives for anything or anyone...especially at the cost of ridicule, prosecution and crucifixion. If the best of us are discouraged or punished or exiled, what part of us remains? A people afraid of the responsibilities of freedom must be prepared to forego all of its benefits.
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We, as Humans, and especially as members of the G-8 Group of Nations, have become encultured, and hypnotized into a a systematic handing over of our self-determination to unidentified, conflict-laden strangers. We now have become fully-institutionalized, and we work to serve the monsterous things that we have created to serve us! (sounds like irony, eh?)
We live in dependence upon them and in constant fear of them and the awesome unchecked power which we have, ourselves, given them. We have let our entrepreneurial muscles, our individual uniqueness, and our drive to be successful on our own terms atrophy. We are only ambitious within the narrowest confines of conformity, and we consistently point the finger of blame at the very system that we have allowed to perpetuate itself like a growing cancer...w3e have, in our "institutionalization," saved some money, time and effort by appointing a reckless adolescent with a blood alcohol of 20% and a set car keys waiting outside to be our chauffeur.
During the recent Bush administration, more civil, constitutional and basic Human rights were surrendered to the government that in all of the years of history which preceded it. We let our rights, our legal arsenal for remedies, defense and redress be taken from us without protest because we were so afraid of terrorism that we forgot what terrorism involves.
In a tragic irony, the American Public said (in many a poll published in many a popular magazine), "We will give away anything, any of our rights and freedoms, that it may take to be safe from terrorism." But we actually gave our lunch money to the biggest bully in the class so that he would "protect us" from other bullies. And we did it in an act of immediate and unconditional surrender...not realizing that no one can absolutely assure us safety from terrorism -- from rogue nations, from crazies within our own civilian ranks, and from power-mongering politicians and corporate leaders -- persons who view us as less than cattle to be herded and slaughtered, or as sheep to be fleeced. That chapter has come to an end, and the bully to whom we gave our lunch money turned out to be incapable of keeping us "safe" (think about Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans).
The sad reality is that the game (and it is one) of politics is about seizing power while abdicating responsibility. The game is always the same: we try to find someone to save us and to serve us, and that someone ultimately sells us out and rules over us. Big government. Big Corporations. Big Institutions. Little People. Us.
When you give away your right to choose and your right to defend your person and property, you are pandering to and sparking the basest power-hungry cannibalistic instincts in others. If you gave your money to me to manage, and you never, ever asked for an accounting of my investments, I might just be tempted to be lawless. Persons who are certain that they are not going to be watched or accountable are more likely to do us ill than persons who are subject to scrutiny, and meaningful consequences.
We, as individuals, now sit back and watch a global economy in ruins. We watch partisan politics continue to prevail over the needs of nations. When Rush Limbaugh talks about "wanting Obama to fail,", he is being more than childish and spiteful -- he is being suicidal and homicidal. He is hoping that our ship will sink because it wasn't built according to his blueprint. That is the essence of politics. Our leaders, representatives and officials would have us all be miserable in the interest of "making a point." And our civil servants, like good tin soldiers, will do whatever they are told, without question, in order to keep their jobs, even as they sit onboard a sinking ship. It's musical chairs, buck passing, bullying and stupid, blind obedience.
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When we network, we choose our circle of acquaintances, and we get to know them, and invite them to know us. We do not generally refer out or friends and clients to strangers, or give work to persons without references, track records, or some transparency. Yet despite these basic tenets of networking and business wisdom, we have stopped choosing, and have delegated all of our choices to untested, dangerous strangers in the political and governing processes. We have taken leave of our senses when it comes to politics. Very, very poor networking. Very, very poor business practice. We, a cooperative of intelligent, enterprising networkers, have ignored our own better judgment, our own preachings, teachings and coachings, when it has come to letting others run our lives.
No aspect of our lives should be exempt from reason. We should not permit ourselves to be bullied or to become weak and dependent.
Great things have been built by inventors, entrepreneurs and free-thinkers. People just like us.
Open your eyes, one and all. As individual networkers, as entrepreneurs, the time has indeed come to take back our lives. Working together, we, as networkers and innovators, are our own economy. Our own salvation. And, I believe, a sovereign nation in cyberspace as well as the perceived "real world" if we work together.
Let's stop being strangers to one another. Let's start getting together, sharing and organizing. Let's consolidate our ingenuity, our resources, our knowledge and our power. Let's exponentialize.
Entrepreneurship and networking are the engines that drive all economics. Politics is merely the waste product of inefficient human social processes.
My colleagues: THIS IS OUR TIME, IF WE CHOOSE TO SEIZE IT AND USE IT.
Faithfully, and with respect,
Douglas Castle
p.s. If you are not already a Subscriber to, or a Member of, THE NATIONAL NETWORKER, become one now. Click on: http://theTNNWomnigadget.blogspot.com. Forward this post to all of your friends and colleagues. Invite them to join us. We are a multitude. We are more than a networking community. We are a growing, necessary sub-economy. We are a nation at its beginning. Set aside politics and look at the bigger picture. We have incredible strength when we work together for ourselves and for each other.
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THE POLITICAL FRONT: Musical Chairs, Buck Passing and Paralysis
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