The art of blogging

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It’s been a few days since I’ve written here.  A main reason I hadn’t started a blog before now is I wasn’t sure I could write often enough to keep my readers’ engaged and interested.  So, I’m being tested on that now.  I’d sure like your feedback about the blog, as well as your just jumping into the discussion about how we can revive democracy and your willingness to be actively involved in a Democracy Movement.

So, you probably know that Congress voted last December to guarantee risky Wall Street ventures with taxpayers’ funds again, despite what those same bankers did in 2008 to crash America’s economy, causing millions of Americans to lose their homes and millions more to lose their jobs?

But, did you know that the $700 billion TARP bailout of Wall Street in 2008 was only the tip of the iceberg?  According to a study of all 35 Federal Reserve and Treasury Department programs, the actual bailout with our tax dollars was closer to $4.7 trillion.  Can you believe our representatives are backing Wall Street ventures again with our money?

Why would Congress support more Wall Street gambling after the crisis it caused in 2008? You know why? Because Wall Street bankers, corporate executives and K Street lobbyists give huge campaign donations to our Congressional representatives to have their legislative needs met. We have a political system where Big Money provides the bulk of the funds for our representatives’ election campaigns, and in return our representatives enact laws that favor Corporate America and Big Money at our expense. In plain language, it’s legalized bribery.

In addition, Big Money makes it so easy for Congress. Their lobbyists write the legislative sections they want and all our representatives have to do is insert those provisions into the bills. Citigroup, in conjunction with other big Wall Street banks, actually wrote the new section in the 2015 omnibus bill that restored taxpayer-backed funds for reckless Wall Street ventures like credit default swaps. While some lawmakers opposed the bill, Wall Street had its way with 162 Republicans and 57 Democrats voting for it in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, though 21 Democrats and 19 Republicans voted against the omnibus bill, the bill also passed. Even President Obama threw his weight behind the bill.

It makes me mad as hell!  How do you feel about it?  Isn’t it time we did something about it?

Soul Searching

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I feel that we each need to do some soul searching.  We know that our political system has been corrupted by Big Money.  As a result, our government serves special interests, Wall Street banks and Corporate America for the most part.  Meanwhile, Congress is so polarized that it can’t  agree to repair our failing infrastructure or fund a jobs bill.  The truth is that until we get money out of politics none of the major issues facing the country can be resolved in the public’s interest.

The big question is: Are we willing to take on Big Money?  Ask yourself, do you want your tax dollars to support bailouts for reckless Wall Street ventures, corporate welfare and government programs for millions of underpaid workers whose CEOs won’t pay a living wage? Do you want to live in a country where Congress members’ votes are bought by their Big Money sponsors in a corrupt system that disregards the public interest?

Are you willing to engage in a Democracy Movement to take control of our government away from Big Money and put it in the hands of the people?

[i] Strauss, Valerie. “New Census Data: Children Remain America’s Poorest Citizens.” Washington Post. September 17, 2013.

A New Beginning

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April 4, 2015

Hi! And welcome to my new blog.  It’s spring and time for new beginnings on all levels — as individuals, in our communities, our country and the planet.  I feel most of us have been holding back in one way or another. Things are pretty uncertain in our world.  So, we have good reason to be a bit hesitant.

But, even if you feel you haven’t, that you’re on track and moving forward, you know and I know that there is always more that we could do.  Whether it’s with your inner work, family, community or the wider world, there is so much more to do.  No matter what direction I look, I hear and see people crying out for help.

Some of us turn away.  We can’t deal with it.  It’s too much.  But if not us, who?  That’s not to say we should be martyrs and sacrifice everything. We each must find our inner balance that allows us the maximum output.  So we are living at our highest frequency, and giving our lives and the planet our best shot.

I just want to suggest that we each go within, get in touch with our highest frequency and take a step or two or three up closer to that frequency.  If not now, when?

I’m just completing writing my first book, Breaking Big Money’s Grip: The Critical Struggle To Revive Democracy in America. (It should be available online in the next couple months or so.)  In it I submit that mass movements are what creates real change in our country, from the abolitionists that helped end slavery to women’s suffrage that resulted in the Nineteenth Amendment giving women the right to vote.  And, then there’s labor, Civil Rights, Feminist, anti-Vietnam War, the Environment, Gay and Lesbian Rights and so on.  When enough of us rise up, we can buck the power of the status quo and change the world.  It’s always an up hill battle.  But, the struggle is worth it.  And, in all those causes, people were called.  They knew in their hearts what was the right thing to do and they did it.

I feel it’s time for a new people’s movement — the Democracy Movement.  It’s the right thing to do.  We, the people, are losing our right to self-government.  Big Money and Corporate America have taken over.  For the most part, they control our state and federal governments.  And, while we can look the other way and say it’s too big to deal with.  “What can I do?”  The truth is it’s up to us to stand up as a people, right, left or center; Democrat, Republican or Independent; activist or apolitical; religious, spiritual or atheist; and take back our country from the super wealthy, the big banks and the coporate elite.  We are the ones we’ve been waiting for!

What do you think?