The Two Sides of Political Debate

  Political battles in America have long been considered to be between two sides, liberals on one side and conservatives on the other. Substitute the word progressive for liberal and we see the eternal conflict between the need for change and the need for things to remain the same. Paradoxically they both have to happen and it is in this conundrum that we struggle to correctly create the world. Frequently both sides are right. The more things change the more they remain the same. But things must do both. But how do you change and still maintain and hold onto the eternal values? It is often not easy.
  The problem now is that politics are no longer a battle between left and right but a battle between truth and  lies. Honest political debates must always be based on truths. Competing truths but always truths. It is with wrestling with these truths that good people reach consensus on how to shape the world. But when the debates become infected with untruths, when lies and falsehoods begin to gain footholds in the battles, it becomes no longer possible to reach any kind of healthy consensus. That is what has happened. The two sides in politics are now between truth and honesty, and lies and falsehoods.
  There are now forces in the world, mostly in the form of corporations, that have gained so much power that they are able to inject their own information into politics and they are all too often corrupt. They are all too often about both gaining wealth and power, and maintaining that wealth and power. They have, like cancers, become  monsters that can effect circumstances in ways that allow them to both hold onto and increase their wealth and power irregardless of the needs of humankind. They exist solely to ensure their own existence and growth.
  In doing so they by necessity lie and distort and mislead. Because their existence has become so far out of balance and so far removed from what we all need to survive and thrive they must lie and distort in order to survive.
  Then there are the other forms of power that also seek to ensure their existence even when they often actually do harm and damage to human affairs. It is often religions that fall into his category.
 Ultimately it is about power and those with it needing to hold on to it. Because power so often corrupts, in order to hold onto it those who possess it must use lies and deception to convince us that we must allow them to maintain and increase their power. This is why political debate has become now mostly about truth vs.lies. And we are now seriously threatening our very survival as a species. This is why it is very important to constantly struggle to find and tell the truth. This can be very hard work but it is very important.

wisdom and its importance

Let's start by defining wisdom. One definition that I found is...

"the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight."
                                                                
 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wisdom?s=t

The quality of being wise. Or also... 

"having the power of discerning and judging properly as to what is true or right; possessing   discernment, judgment, or discretion."

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wise?s=t

Another definition of wisdom...

: knowledge that is gained by having many experiences in life

: the natural ability to understand things that most other people cannot understand

: knowledge of what is proper or reasonable : good sense or judgment."                                    

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wisdom

 Plenty to discuss here but I think that the parts that I find most useful for my purposes here are these... "knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action", and "knowledge of what is proper or reasonable : good sense or judgment".

 My focus here with this is this world that we have created, or to be more exact Western Civilization.  And to be even more focused, why we are in the trouble that we are in, which many knowledgeable people are saying is very very serious. I am going to maintain that we are in this trouble because of our lack of wisdom in choosing how to design and shape our society. 

I do not know a lot about Native Americans. But I have heard that when they needed to make important decisions about how to shape the world they would make them based on the Seven Generations Rule. They would take a lot of time and think very carefully about how any decisions that they were to make would affect the next seven generations to follow. In other words, how their decisions and actions would affect their descendants hundreds of years into the future.

That is wisdom.

That is the correct way to get the "knowledge of what is proper or reasonable" and to find what is "just judgment as to action". 

What have the major decisions about how America and Western civilization have been shaped been based on? Very simply they have been based on what ever makes a few people really rich. If a particular course of action will, or seems likely to make some people a lot of money then it is deemed a good idea and it is implemented. 

This is not the way that many people in our society think or act. Many people try very hard to make truly wise and careful decisions. Even some people in powerful positions want and try to act with wisdom. But it has reached the point in our world that those who are willing to act carelessly and recklessly, with no regards to what is proper or reasonable, only what makes usually themselves a lot of money, have gained the power to enact their agendas and actions, overriding those who want to be careful and reasonable. They have gained so much wealth and power that they have become all powerful and by now almost  unstoppable. Those wanting to act carefully and with wisdom are crushed.

We are suffering the results of allowing some people to gain a whole lot of wealth and power. We see these results everywhere. Imagine if those making the important decisions about how our world has been built had been using the seven generations rule. We would never have built even the first nuclear power plant and would not now be faced with Fukushima. We would likely never have split the first atom. We would not have filled the air and earth and water with poisons. We would not now be watching the earths ecosystems collapse and species disappearing

 We have been acting literally insanely. How is insanity defined? 

"extreme foolishness; folly; senselessness; foolhardiness".

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/insanity?s=t

That definition unquestionably describes many of our decisions and actions over the last centuries. It will certainly be said that the world would not be what it is now if we had not acted as we did. That is obvious and goes without saying. But many people saying that will point only to the good that has come out of what we have created and ignore the bad. And there certainly has been good created. But if we acknowledge both the good and the bad we also have to admit that along with the good we have also brought humankind to the very edge of extinction. This reality obviously means that we are doing something very wrong. 

Finding the wisest courses of action is hard work. It requires time and careful thought. But it is work that is very necessary. We have to get back to doing it.

power

It has long been said that money, or more correctly love of money, is the root of all evil. I do not believe that is true. If there is a root of all evil it is in my opinion love of power. What does rape have to do with money? Money gives you power. The world is grievously plagued, possibly to our perish, with people who have gained or had handed to them staggering amounts of power. And as the well known saying goes, which I generally agree with, power corrupts. That is what Lord of the Rings is all about. Love of power and addiction to it. Power has a tremendous lure to many people and the need for it can be every bit as addicting as any drug. The huge problem of course is that many people who seek power are  not good people. That is frequently why they seek power.  And then the need for and love of power overcomes their concern for others. And the more power that a person has the more harm that they can do. There are learned and studied people who suggest, probably correctly, that a lot of very powerful people are psychopaths. And many other powerful people, while not full blown psychopaths, have some tendencies towards it. They are people without consciences or concern for their fellow human beings. This is not to say that there are no good people who have power. There are some. But they are forced to try to operate in environments that are largely controlled by people who are not good.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2011/06/14/why-some-psychopaths-make-great-ceos/
http://www.sott.net/article/244013-Psychopaths-in-business-and-politics-Beware
 There will be different opinions on which powerful figures fit into this category but I suspect that almost everybody will agree that is is a real problem. And even those powerful figures who are not clearly psychopathic often find themselves in situations in which they are required to act in ways that a psychopath would act. They may well feel bad about what they do but they have no choice if they are to hold on to their power. It is part of their job. Corporations and often governments and the military and the worlds of the rich and powerful  are ruthless places where human values are often spit upon.
  The only solution that I see to this problem is to not let anybody get tremendous wealth and power. Neither should we seek power ourselves. Human affairs and the proper running of the world do not require people who have vast power over others. The existence of very powerful people naturally causes democracy and the will of the people to be undermined.
  You may deduce from what I have said here that I do not believe that our current system of electing officials works. You would deduce correctly

My aim

My aim here with this blog is to lay out what I see as what is wrong with the world. Again maybe a bit pretentious but I see nothing wrong with speaking out if I believe that my thoughts may be helpful. I think that as long as I acknowledge that some or all of my thoughts may be no help at all to anybody then I am doing this with the right attitude. Take what you believe is useful and leave the rest. I am going to be talking a lot about power as I believe that love of power is at the root of all evil if there is a root of all evil. And I have no power and have no intention of trying to get power. Therefore there is no reason to be fearful of what I may say here. They are only words. Words alone can do no harm. But they can certainly influence people. But my only other option is to not speak and that does not feel right. Thoughts and words are important but only actions create change. Read and think about what I say here but only act when you are convinced through your own thought and analysis that your actions are the right ones and will create healthy change.. You alone are responsible for your actions. I will never accept hearing anybody say that they chose to act in a particular way or affect a particular change because of something that I said. I want to hear you say that you saw something that I said that you liked and after considerable thought about whether or not your actions were correct, chose to act. I do not want power. For you to make me responsible for your actions is to not take responsibility for them yourself.
  I will say at the start that I will almost certainly rewrite parts of this blog. Thinking is a continuous process and new thoughts and new information constantly comes along for a somebody who thinks a lot.  If I realize that something that I have said is mistaken or was not totally thought through then I reserve the right to change it. This blog is meant to represent the current state of my thinking, not necessarily what I thought months or years ago. I think that when it is important I will make changes clear and preserve what I previously thought so that my changes in thinking will be there for you to see.

saving the world

Sounds pretty pretentious doesn't it?  I suppose it is. But why not? Why not try to save the world? To borrow from Jon Lovitz from Saturday Night Live, is that so wrong? What if everybody was trying to save the world? What a wonderful world it would be.
  What if all of those people trying to profit from the world were to instead try to save it. People who are trying to save the world are unselfish. People who are trying to profit from the world are selfish. That is the fundamental difference. Are you selfish or unselfish?
  I think that just about everybody would agree that the earth and all of the creatures on it are in deep trouble. Many of my thoughts and this blog are about what is wrong with the world and what needs to change not only to save us all, but to create heaven on earth. Both can be done I have no doubt. It just takes the will and a whole lot of honesty and courage.