Norman Macdonald's Blog
About the Author
Building networks to stableize and sustain our natural resources.
Ask any small business person around this part of Arizona if they believe we are in a depression and they will say yes.
The value of the dollar is in freefall, we create new jobs but most of them become second jobs for someone trying to survive, this gives a person a double count in the statistics, those who can't find jobs and run out of unemployment insurance are not counted, in other words the books are cook worse then the days of LBJ.
When we hear about the amount of the national debt no one tells you that a sizeable amount is to the Social Security Trust Fund. Then neocons say it is going bankrupt if so the nation must be bankrupt.
The value of the dollar is in freefall, we create new jobs but most of them become second jobs for someone trying to survive, this gives a person a double count in the statistics, those who can't find jobs and run out of unemployment insurance are not counted, in other words the books are cook worse then the days of LBJ.
When we hear about the amount of the national debt no one tells you that a sizeable amount is to the Social Security Trust Fund. Then neocons say it is going bankrupt if so the nation must be bankrupt.
Sixty five years ago today,June 4,1942 we won a battle that was in some estimates the greatist we fought in World War Two.The battle was fought in the Pacific north of Midway Island. After it was over the Japanese heavy aircraft carrier force was mortally wounded with the loss of four heavy attack carriers while we lost one of our three - the Yorktown. We recovered many of our air crews but the Japanese recovered none.
Why bring this up - it took years for the full extent of what happened to sink in.Today we aren't looking at what is happening with an historical perspectice no one seems to sense we are in a political paradigm shift that like Midway is a victory.
Why bring this up - it took years for the full extent of what happened to sink in.Today we aren't looking at what is happening with an historical perspectice no one seems to sense we are in a political paradigm shift that like Midway is a victory.
I have watched Al Gore's interviews with Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann this past week and it brought back memories of the high point of my long and checkered Federal carrer.I was the Forest Service's member of Vice Preident Gore's Reinventing Government Team. Two points were stressed that had been stressed in Reinventing Government they were transparency in government and peoples direct participation in the process of government.We were not doing this in a partisan manner but were taking new approaches that invoved nonprofits, local governments and anyone who was interested and was willing to share ideas, strenghts, experiences and hope. My main effort was helping set up Reinventing Labs that involved local entities plus other Federal agencies.It worked so well ,now that I'm retired, I still am active in a number of efforts I had worked with.
All that I've heard and read over the past six years has indicated that our infrastructure in all areas is being neglected and badly eroded.Our legal, educational, transportation,medical you name it has lost ground and is going down the tubes. We are becoming a nation with an obscene distribution of wealth that you associate with the Third World.The only bright spots are places where local networks of citizens have worked at fixing the problems in the local infrastructure.
I have followed and been part of what I consider as a major shift in the American paradigm. These shifts occur at 60 to 70 year intervals. The election of Jefferson than over 60 years later the Civil War 70 years later the New Deal.
Our present shift is tied to a number of things but the major driving force is our use of the internet as a tool to network people with common interests and causes. We can not use top down command and control organizational structure what is appearing is a flat people oriented series of networks.What I'm doing right now is a good example.
The turning point has been the Bush administration and the "W"s war. We need to focus on local issues and candidates who can see how national networks working with the appropriate enties to address wider ranged issues.It is a shift that is similar to the move from Newtonian physics to the Chaos theory.The 50 state program has all the ear marks of being part of the shift.
Our present shift is tied to a number of things but the major driving force is our use of the internet as a tool to network people with common interests and causes. We can not use top down command and control organizational structure what is appearing is a flat people oriented series of networks.What I'm doing right now is a good example.
The turning point has been the Bush administration and the "W"s war. We need to focus on local issues and candidates who can see how national networks working with the appropriate enties to address wider ranged issues.It is a shift that is similar to the move from Newtonian physics to the Chaos theory.The 50 state program has all the ear marks of being part of the shift.
This is my first attempt at a blog and I'm looking forward to exchanging questions, suggestions and comments.
Posts By Month
Posts
