Another election
has come and gone. And some voters might
rightfully wonder if the election was rigged.
Add to that, the universal feeling (make that, “certainty”) that government
is dangerously out-of-touch with voters and too indebted to the fat cats. And top it off with the overwhelming feeling
that you’re powerless to change things… then, Congratulations are definitely in
order! You’ve got yourself a healthy dose
of “MALAISE”! And that ain’t no island
in the Pacific.
So how do we
snap out of it? What can we do? When faced with a challenge of this magnitude,
we need to take in the big picture and forge an all-encompassing vision for
Good Government and Personal Commitment, a “Land, Sea, and Air” approach to the
battle at hand, if you will. But keep it
simple. So here’s mine in a nutshell:
1 1. Minimize the need for government. Clearly, if government wasn’t so all-pervasive
to begin with, it wouldn’t matter as much. Local self-reliance is already a fast-growing
movement, and you can do your part to help it along. Minimize your consumption and maximize your
production. Become as self-reliant as
possible on an individual, community, and national basis. Learn how to feed, clothe, shelter, medicate,
educate, and protect your community locally.
Relying on imports and expecting others to do these vital tasks for us, has
left local communities across the global missing critical skills and becoming easy
targets for natural and manmade disasters. Besides, it’s a lot of fun knowing
what nature can do for you. I started a foraging group in Philadelphia five
years ago and have never seen such enthusiasm.
Lots of good people joined with a sincere desire to learn about nature
and how they can live cooperatively with it. See: www.WildFoodies.org
2 2. Get involved in government. That’s right.
It sounds trite and counter to the previous suggestion. But if we don’t get involved, others will
continue to mess things up “big time”. Government
is made up of all kinds of people. It is up to us to create a positive atmosphere
and produce productive results to counter the negative influences we should
expect in the halls of power. I have run for office (and lost) and worked with
my political representatives on all sorts of issues, sometimes with success and
other times not. But the strategy I have
found that works the best is to treat politians with respect, but let them know
that I’m not going away. It sounds
simple, but it’s pretty effective. All
politicians, no matter how they got into office, are vulnerable to public
pressure. That’s the way it’s supposed to work.
Of course it helps if they were fairly elected to office, which brings
me to my next suggestion.
3 3. Vote openly. You heard me.
Sign up and be counted. Let
everyone know who you voted for, as our Founding Fathers did. Voting is the lynchpin of a democracy. But the “secret ballot” is an open door for
vote fraud. It always has been. Granted, the election process has been rigged
from the dawn of time through a variety of means, but today the situation is
completely ridiculous. We are letting a
couple of corporations electronically count (using both touchscreen and scanned
paper ballots) most of the votes. Meaning, that literally one person can decide
who wins or loses most of our elections.
Certainly, individuals within our military and government agencies, like
the NSA, have long known how to reach into the backdoors of election computers
and rig elections. Open voting can help defeat their efforts to control
election results. See: www.thelandesreport.com/VotingSecurity.htm and www.counttheballots.org
I know how
exhausting civic life can be. In the
1990s I was deeply involved in environmental issues, mainly to do with waste
and landfills. And then for many years after
the 2000 Bush-Gore election, I wrote articles about the history of vote fraud,
particularly computer voting and how easy it is to rig our elections. For both environmental and voting issues, I did
considerable research, wrote articles, attended conferences, made speeches, appeared
in documentaries, contacted our elected officials, and even filed lawsuits to
sound the alarm… all to little avail it seemed, although I know that’s not
really true. Many people heard my
message and still visit my websites, as I continue to get emails and calls from
concerned citizens far and wide. See: www.LynnLandes.com
Admittedly, after
a couple of decades of that kind of intense activism I got discouraged and
changed course, for my own sanity and those around me. I entered the field of self-reliance and
nature, started some meetup groups, and learned to enjoy life again. But I could never entirely escape the need to
communicate with our political representatives in office. It’s an unavoidable fact of civic life.
So, here I am
coming full circle, but this time suggesting a more comprehensive, holistic
approach to good government that includes more personal responsibility and
self-reliant living on my part.
Suggesting to myself and others to get involved and fight the good fight
on every level. Because we can’t afford
to ignore the damage and good, governments can do.
Get Sensical and Get Involved! Because Malaise Ain’t No Island in the
Pacific!
www.LynnLandes.com