---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2018 17:15:51 -0800
Subject: Re: [acb-chat] The Midnight Cry: a voice in the wilderness
To: "General discussion list for ACB members and friends where a wide
range of topics from blindness to politics, issues of the day or
whatever comes to mind are welcome. This is a free form discussion
list." <acb-chat@acblists.org>
Cc: Bob Hachey <bhachey@verizon.net>
Hi Bob Hachey and List.
I guess I missed the question regarding what sort of government I
would propose, but over a period of months I thought my views were
fairly clear. My vision is one that will never happen in the life
time of anyone on this list. But being out of reach does not make it
unworthy of our efforts to reach for that beautiful brass ring. A
World where all People are united. No little warring nations. But
yet, a World where each person is able to live as they choose, so long
as it does not force others to join in. A World where we can respect
each others differences. A World where, despite our differences, we
work together to solve the needs of those who still struggle to exist.
A World where People of All Faiths, and People of No Faith can accept
one another without feeling threatened. A World in which we celebrate
the achievements of our fellow Humans by honoring their names, not by
making them financially rich, because we all will have our needs met.
A World where our values become focused on how we serve one another,
rather than upon how much material stuff we can make off with. A
World in which the well being of all Life is important to the well
being of everyone and every thing. A World free of Fear, Hunger and
Want. A World whose Leaders are those who care most for the needs of
All, and who spend their time improving Life on the entire Planet. A
World that no longer understands words like, "My Property", because we
all have the Right to Everything.
But we will not see anything approaching a One World People. Our
minds are conditioned to think of amassing material wealth as the sign
of success. Moving to different values will be a very slow and very
painful process.
Imagine, instead of dreaming of fabulous wealth and the power it
brings, think instead of the satisfaction of being part of those who
put an end to hunger, or put an end to war, or teaching little
children to respect themselves and those around them...including the
cat in the corner. We would still teach people to question, and to
create. What we would change would be how we reward one another.
I don't think of such a dream as being foolish, nor do I think it is
communism or socialism, any more than our present form of government.
Our current government has strong aspects of socialism. Our military
might is built on our collective support. Our police forces and fire
departments are put in place through our collective agreement. Think
of all the other ways we "share" together in order to have the sort of
life we now have. What is alien to this cooperative behavior is
Greed, or what we call Capitalism. Capitalism is built on
exploitation of others. You will work for me and I will take the
results of your labor and give you a small portion back. What if our
fire department worked that way? "We'll put out your fire, but in
return we will take nine tenths of your property". You say this could
not happen? We used to educate our children free, or nearly free,
believing that the more educated the next generation became, the
greater our nation would become. But now Capitalism and Greed have
moved in. Yes, your child will receive a good education, in fact, the
best education your money can buy. Capitalism encourages each of us
to plot ways of "cashing in". Not what is good for mankind, but
rather, what is good for me. We used to call them the "I'm for me
First" Party. Today they are Libertarians
We have come a long way from the days when our neighbors gathered at
our farm and together raised a new barn, knowing that you would be
there when they had a need. Where did we take a wrong turn on Life's
Road?
Carl Jarvis
On 1/5/18, Bob Hachey via acb-chat <acb-chat@acblists.org> wrote:
> Hi Bob,
> I don't see how saying that we're an oligarchy indicates support for Marxism
> or any other form of government. All forms of government are subject to the
> kind of human behavior that leads to oligarchy. That's exactly what happened
> in the Soviet Union and it appears to be happening here in the US. .
> Now I'll try to answer for myself the question that you asked of Carl. I
> favor the kind of government espoused by FDR who proposed an economic bill
> of rights that would guarantee a decent wage for all workers, affordable
> housing, unemployment insurance, and universal health insurance. I'd like a
> government that offers the best of both socialism and capitalism. I do
> believe that the profit motive helps to spur the kind of innovation that has
> brought us the internal combustion engine, the computer, the SMART Phone,
> renewable energy taken from wind and sun as well as the many medical
> advances we've made over the years. But I also believe that capitalism needs
> to be reined in to put limits on things like income inequality and poverty.
> It seems to me that a nation blessed with all the resources we have ought to
> be able to put an end to poverty, if not now than in the next 50 years. I do
> realize that human nature makes this a mighty tall mountain to climb: Things
> like greed, laziness and
> the propensity of folks to live beyond their means. But we ought to be
> striving to climb that mountain. Ideally, I'd like to see less and less
> nationalism as we move forward in time. IF we humans don't learn to do a
> much better job living and working together we will destroy each other and
> maybe even make Planet Earth unfit for human habitation.
> I guess this puts me squarely in the dreamer category. Of course I know that
> the real world is far away from my vision, but I am not willing to accept
> today's real world as something we must settle for going forward.
> Bob Hachey
>
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