Tag Archives: community

Life In Japan: I Love Japan Redux

Posted on June 12, 2017 by johnrachel

Japanese have kept alive some traditions which promote sense of community, and the shared responsibility of living in that community. They create opportunities to work together for the common good, get to know one another, and just enjoy other folks who happen to live in the same geographical setting. This is what America desperately needs to overcome the fear, divisiveness, isolation, fragmentation. Here’s a challenge to my fellow Americans: How do you think people would react if you went from house to house and said, “How about if we get together and clean up the neighborhood, plant some flowers, then have a nice barbecue?” Continue reading →

Posted in Japan, Social Commentary, Spiritual | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part V

Posted on April 7, 2016 by johnrachel

It’s all about people power. Not PACs and SuperPACS. Not big piles of money. Change still comes down to the choice each of us personally makes in the voting booth. Power resides in our aligning our individual choices, so that collectively — as in tens of millions of us united in an unstoppable juggernaut of people power — we get done what needs to get done. We must elect representatives who represent us. We will guarantee they will represent us by making candidates sign legally-binding contracts. Or we don’t vote for them. Continue reading →

Posted in Deconstruction, Democracy, Political Analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

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

National Values 103

Posted on May 28, 2013 by johnrachel

In his powerful speech “Where Do We Go From Here?” on August 16, 1967 in Atlanta, GA, Dr. Martin Luther King asked, “Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that’s two-thirds water?” Damn good question. Continue reading →

Posted in Corporatism, Philosophy, Political Analysis, Social Commentary | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

National Values 102

Posted on April 29, 2013 by johnrachel

We often get so caught up in the fighting, name calling, assigning blame, bickering, that we forget that our nation was predicated on some very solid fundamental values, drawn from the Bible, the teachings of great philosophers and legendary teachers, the wisdom of the ages, even drawn from the ministry of Jesus Christ during his short time on Earth. Continue reading →

Posted in Corporatism, Philosophy, Political Analysis, Social Commentary | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment