Monthly Archives: March 2016

Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part IV

Posted on March 29, 2016 by johnrachel

People must unite at a local level, not under party banners, but as a voting bloc around issues that are important to them. Party labels — also very much the case with ideological labels — muddy the waters, get people unfocused on what’s truly consequential. ‘Democrat’, ‘Republican’, ‘liberal’, ‘conservative’, ‘libertarian’ — even more so with ‘socialist’, ‘Tea Party’, and ‘Green Party’ — have recently become so emotionally charged, clear thinking becomes difficult, constructive dialogue impossible. Continue reading →

Posted in Deconstruction, Democracy, Political Analysis, Social Commentary, War and Peace | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part III

Posted on March 25, 2016 by johnrachel

Maybe people won’t talk politics. But once the floodgate is open, people will talk about what’s hurting them, what’s holding them back, how they are getting screwed by the system and those who run things, how they had wonderful dreams and hopes for their children which are being destroyed. So talk to them. And listen. Please! The future of our country depends on it. Continue reading →

Posted in Corporatism, Democracy, Economics, Health Care, Political Analysis, Social Commentary, War and Peace | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part II

Posted on March 18, 2016 by johnrachel

Americans actually agree on a lot of important things. Most things! But the astonishing and powerful consensuses get lost in the trivialization, marginalization, and other weapons of mass distraction and sheer propaganda we all endure just trying to find out and understand what’s going on. We are teased, taunted, cajoled, manipulated, titillated, dazzled, and generally overwhelmed by the main stream media. Thus we lose focus. We can’t keep our eye on the prize, because by watching television we have no idea what the prize even is.

Turn off your TVs. Hide your smart phones under the mattress. Let the screensaver on your computer do whatever it does — swimming fish, go-go dancers, shooting stars — and don’t disturb it to watch the latest Trump riots or primary predictions. Go talk to someone. Your neighbor, your cousin, your kid’s teacher, that lady down the street who is always working in her garden, the guy who polishes his car three times a week. Bring cupcakes. Get to know them . . . and talk. Continue reading →

Posted in Deconstruction, Democracy, Political Analysis, Political Rant | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part I

Posted on March 9, 2016 by johnrachel

A president is a lightning rod. But a president is not the lightning. We the people are the lightning. We the people are the energy, the force, the real movers-and-shakers behind fundamental change. We the people and only we the people can shape the future we want. Continue reading →

Posted in Corporatism, Deconstruction, Democracy, Political Rant | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

How to Become a Target for State Assassination

Posted on March 4, 2016 by johnrachel

The absence of war is not peace. More accurately, in our times the absence of war is a truce. A truce is the abatement of conflict with no guarantee that war will not break out again. Peace is a state where no conflict is ongoing or possible. Continue reading →

Posted in Deconstruction, Philosophy, Political Analysis, War and Peace | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment