Where do we go from here?

I believe that many of those who voted Republicans into office did not necessarily do so because they think that they will "save the country". Many did so simply because they are pissed off at those who are currently serving. GW and the Republican Party did whatever they wanted to do for the entire eight years of GW's reign... even when they lost the majorities!

In 2008, when Democrats swept congress and the White House (due in large part to that "pissed off" feeling) they were as inept and impotent as ever! I REALLY don't get that.

My only conclusion is that they are owned by the same nameless, faceless entities that own the Republican Party. We are bamboozled into the myth that our political process can only accommodate two parties. When both parties suck it's a no win situation. We, as a people, left, right, black, brown, white, ALL need to band together to oust these special interests who's best interest lies in keeping us divided and unorganized.

Everyone is tired of capitalism, whether they realize that this is what they are actually tired of or not. We are tired of mounting bills and escallating costs. We are tired of job insecurity, unemployment, lack of health care, vulnerability in our retirement, rising education costs for our kids who can't find a job even after years of college. We are tired of the faceless, nameless entities who get the lions share of our labor and force us to live off their table scraps.

There are alternatives to our present governance. Many have just been mislead about their implimentations and how they would actually affect their lives. But doing the same thing over and over is just plain insanity. It is time to give the government back to the people. I think that we are bright enough to govern ourselves in spite of what "they" tell us.

Idealistic, I know. But that's my two cents.

Guidelines for current and future endeavors

In order to move toward a more meaningful and just society, we need to have target goals and a strategy to get there. Here is a list of guidelines given by  Father Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, a priest who had fought Franco After World War 2 in Spains Basque country, ended up in prison, but managed to get released instead of executed. Father Arizmendi, as he is popularly called, was assigned by the church to the valley in the Basque containing the small town of Arrasete-Mondragon. He set to work trying to solve the massive war-created problems at hand. He began building a small technical school, and then a credit union where the region's peasants and workers pooled meager funds. After a few years, with just five of the best students of the school, he started a small factory making one product: a small paraffin-burning stove so people could cook and heat water. It was a good stove, and sold well.

Most important, he gave the project a set of ten carefully thought-out principles to serve as guidelines for the current and any future endeavors:

1. Open Admission, meaning no worker is to discriminated against because of nationality, gender, political party or religion and such.
2. Democratic organization, meaning one worker, one vote.
3. Sovereignty of labor
4. Instrumental and subordinate nature of capital
5. Participatory Management
6. Wage Solidarity
7. Cooperation between Coops
8. Social Transformation
9. Universality
10. Education

We could all learn something from these simple guidelines. The goal of all of us remains to create a more just, peaceful, and prosperous society in which we can all live with some security. And it will take all of us to make this happen.