"He did it!”
Is that enough?
The economy is a mess. It’s the fault of the Wall Street bankers.
Children are joining gangs and terrorizing neighborhoods. It’s the fault of their parents.
We have thousands of troops at risk in the Middle East. It’s the fault of those terrorists.
Okay. Now that we know whom to blame are we all squared away and the problems behind us? … You’re right. We still have all these problems even though we have selected someone to take the blame. We have chosen a scapegoat and driven it from the village. We have burned the witch. We have put another party in office. We have done nothing to solve the problem. We still have the problem. So what should we do? Blame somebody else?
If you read Gather frequently you have no doubt noticed post after post that complains about a problem and suggests, tells, proclaims, or asks whom to blame for the problem. Then the comments begin and they argue over whether Bush or Obama or Wall Street or Christians or socialists or … but you get the idea. All our attention is fixed on blame.
It seems that blaming is a national sport. If you listen to commentators on TV or the radio they will tell you again and again whom to blame. They say or imply that if we just attack that person we will eliminate the problem. But I ask you, did blame ever solve our problems before? Did blaming Hoover for the Great Depression get the economy back on its feet? Did blaming bad schools teach Johnny to read? Did blaming Russia improve life in Eastern Europe? Did blaming the Mafia eliminate organized crime?
“Enough with the questions!” I hear you cry. Yes, we need to solve problems rather than just complain and blame. We need to take action to eliminate the causes of our distress rather than whining about the problem and pouting that “it’s his fault.” We need to understand what’s happening and go to the root of the issue. I think we all can agree on that because if we don’t understand a problem, if we don’t understand what is causing or allowing that problem to exist, any action we may take to solve that problem will almost certainly fail.
I don’t expect us to try to understand our problems, though. I expect us to continue to complain and blame rather than working to solve our nation’s problems. This aspect of human behavior is easily explained. We complain to get sympathy, to enjoy the feeling that others are on our side and share our distress. And we blame because we don’t want to have to do anything about solving the problem. We are lazy. We have to be lazy because those of our distant ancestors who were not lazy starved to death when food was in short supply. Only the lazy survived to raise their children. (So we can blame our ancestors.) But the fact of the matter is that we are destroying ourselves by being satisfied with blame. Blame divides, it does not solve. Blame prevents solutions. Blame is bad for us. Those who blame are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Watch those TV broadcasts and listen to those radio shows with a new perspective. Notice if they blame or provide solutions. See if they are stirring up hate against our fellow Americans or showing how we can eliminate the pain for all of us. I think you will be very disappointed in what our media are providing at such great expense because they are part of the problem.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 48
They find a position of compromise, and that has been the job description of legislation since the beginning of time. Partisans serve a purpose, but one as important as the moderates.
A good bill without their "help"?
Maybe.
A compromise?
Absolutely.
How does the problem with the media come about? What do the actions you propose in your comment have to do with ChrisJerri's problem?
Your suggestions might very well solve some problem or other but I don't see the connection to this particular problem.
Can we put together a list of problems, and take a vote as to what the top 3 might be, and then all put in suggestions as to what good solutions might be, that the participants can do, as a way to begin to address these things in our lives and in our localities?
1. Employment
2. Health(care)
3. Housing
2. I will continue, for another 10 years, my rejection of shopping at Walmart, and Dollar store type entities, and I've also decided to reduce, greatly my consumption of meat.
My place of employment, discards the amount of meat equal to 2 cows, on a daily basis. Scanned out and thrown away.
There are, I've heard, 600 of our stores who do the same thing 7 days a week, 364 days a year.
That's, from my stote alone, 728 cows, and if I've done my math correctly, it's 4,368 cows destroyed and thrown away, into the dumpster eaten by no one at all.
3. I've decided to stop any participation in this system of mass production, slaughter, and then throwing away of food. So, the only way I can do my part is to reduce my consumption of meat, and my efforts on the side of small farms that engage in organic and humane practices.
My husband and I try to live like this. We are both vegetarian, drive a Prius, (I try to do my shopping by going in with him (of course carry my own bags) one day of work just because I feel guilty about driving so much anymore), eat to a large extent organic (I've even been trying to fast one day a week), growing some of our on food (we hope to expand our garden this year plus add a greenhouse out of mostly recycled materials, and where you spend your money and on what kinds of products really talks. Mostly it all boils down to the golden rule which would solve it all.
It calls for using ones empathy capacity. But, to whatever extent it is utilized, it works to that same degree, and imrpoves something.
Gang violence, teen pregnancy, homelessness, and a host of other issues are they really a Federal issue or local?
"Blame is No Game" it never has been and the media is mostly the catalyst for its prominence in the ears and being repeated from easily aroused folk.
That is too true these days and the reason the blame game works in government, academia and big business and the general population thrives on it. It shows the complete failure of our entire system of government and we are all to blame for that because we have become complacent in allowing this to happen. The courts have become the tool of oppression and injustice. If the courts worked properly so would congress and in turn the executive branch and many of the social and economic issues would almost disappear. So would many of the people we decorate and consider heros and saviors.
When those elected or appointed to enforce and uphold the law, which is the constitution, fail to do so they are just as guilty as those who broke it and are committing crimes of a more egregious nature. It is really what the first amendment is all about. Not all the mindless chatter in the streets or the internet or what-have-you.
Every "issue" that everyone has with the government these days come down to the failure of the courts. The economy, healthcare, "terrorism", education.. you name it for every law intended to prevent such failures there are a hundred unconstitutional rules of law preventing the problems from being corrected or even holding those responsible for the problems accountable for their actions or even their inaction.
Your wrongs would be righted in short order when lawyers, judges et al. realize that they won't be paid, or that their pay won't amount to much, if their actions do not result in net benefit to someone.
In other words, since net benefit is derived by taking overall benefit and subtracting negative consequences, those whose sentences or defenses result in more harm than good will not get paid and may jeopardize future income if the resulting harm is egregious enough.
That is because it doesn't prosecute them and systematically denies the rights of the people to bring proper action. As I noted complacency gets us nowhere. That was the intended solution for correcting the problems in this country. They don't do their jobs and that's okay so we need another, different solution? Another quasi government agency? Women's rights, black right, gay rights, children's rights and on and on is all nothing but a bunch of BS and do nothing but further the problems because the courts are broken. Instead of going after the criminals with identifiable victims we are worrying about who is smoking what or having sex with who. Paternalism is big part of the problem.
Our economic problems stem from government corruption and abuse. I don't see any judges getting laid off or getting reduction in pay. Demand for attorneys is up and crime is down? How does that work? You want to fix the economy coin and value the money according to law, don't borrow it. This really is an easy fix. Unfortunately any president who tried or candidate who was going to ended up dead. Electronic money is no solution, that's all a good portion of "our" money has been for years. It doesn't even exist. The robber in the suit with a briefcase steals a lot more than the one with a mask and a gun and today we are seeing billions disappear in the flash of a drive and do nothing so it keeps happening. Solution? Fix the courts.
You want to fix healthcare and bring costs under control? First you need to get rid of those who aren't doing the job we pay them to do. The AMA, FDA and USDA. There are two congressional reports that find that the healthcare providers are the problem and have been for quite a number of years and not the insurance companies. The reason for one of the congressional studies was because of a court case when our government couldn't get insurance because of their incompetency... especially in the courts. If we can't hold people responsible for dereliction of their duty in a civil way what do we do? Do we just keep promoting them as we have been and giving them even more money and control? More useless legislation?
In order to arrive at a viable solution one has to identify the problem. In identifying that problem and getting to the solution somewhere along the line it will involve some sort of "blame". It should be able to go further into an indictment. It is actually everyone's right. Just as it is a right to not be maliciously or illegally prosecuted. Solutions begin with the first amendment. Fix the courts.
So the solution to many issues is to fix the courts.
"If the courts worked properly so would congress and in turn the executive branch and many of the social and economic issues would almost disappear."
No act of congress, executive order, committee, rule, policy or whatever is worth the paper it's written on if there is no way to enforce it.
The only other solution is in the constitution.
Why does this human institution not accomplish what it is, in theory and ideally, supposed to accomplish? Establish that and we can understand what to change to bring about good courts.
Why does this human institution not accomplish what it is, in theory and ideally, supposed to accomplish?
Inequality, ignorance, power, greed and complacency are just a few. Traits of humanity. In America things can begin to be fixed simply by following the laws already written. The constitution. It comes back to those humans and complacency though. Worse than those who feel they are superior to others are those who believe them. It most often takes generations to destroy governments and societies of people but technologies have sped up that process exponentially. They can also be used to help to repair it, but they are not in the hands of the people. People need to genuinely care though and for the most part we don't. "It's not my problem." If and when they find themselves in the same situation they wonder why no one cares.
We need to get beyond providing an education and provide knowledge. Just because someone got elected or has a degree doesn't mean they're qualified for the job.
1. Remove the BAR association. While they have a right to exist they do not have a right or legal authority to control our courts. They do not do the job they were intended to do.
2. Put the governing of those governing back on the hands of the people. While giving the courts the ability to determine how to proceed with the misconstruction of justice and criminal activities on the bench and by those "practicing" law it did not give them the authority to give immunity to those violating the law or to deny justice to those effected especially when those effected often represent classes of people and not just individuals although our constitution was intended to protect individuals not classes or factions of people. i.e. Women's rights, gay rights etc. anyone who believes these are solutions are complacent with the misconstruction of justice and are saying it is okay to systematically violate and deny justice and the rights of people as long as it isn't toward this particular group of people.
3. The Supreme Court has become all but useless. The number of cases that actually make it there is a minute fraction of those they turn away and an even smaller fraction of those who actually deserve to be there. The SC should have one purpose and that is to try the legislation against the constitution before it destroys the lives or robs people of their property and livelihood.
4. Reinstate the first amendment. The constitution allowed for the fair compensation of those overseeing the judicial process. It wasn't intended to be a multi billon dollar a year for profit industry. Any individual has a right to present their case and be heard for the redress of grievance toward any government, business or individual. Any judge who denies that right is committing a crime. On the same note many fees need to be eliminated so this can happen and others need to be determined in the end. An attorney has no rights and cannot exercise yours for you or on your behalf and no judge has the legal authority to require you to hire one or appoint one for you. The number of laws violated during the trials of false and malicious law suits are numerous. Prosecuting those committing such crimes would greatly reduce their occurrence freeing up the courts for legitimate business.
5. Put the press back in the courts. Where are they? The police log tells me nothing. Many people have police records and they aren't even aware of it. It is more common than people think. Often times they amount to nothing but slander. The constitution included the freedom of the press so that people could watch our official forums and report on the conduct of all involved. We no longer have a free press and there is even legislation proposed to restrict it further. Even supposed "open courts" restrict journalist access in various ways. Our presidents and congress pick and choose what the public can witness and who can ask what and when. Even if we maintained a free press without the knowledge of the concept of justice what is being reported it would be for naught.
This list could go on forever. Unfortunately it is nothing more than theory. Just like our constitution. Our constitution has no constitution. It was actually abandoned years ago. Everyday we see on the news and read here on Gather and other such forums all the solutions that involve legislation. Usually legislation that violates the rights of numerous people and accomplishes nothing but but giving someone the warm fuzzies because they believe that the objective, which may seem noble on it's face, will be met however it cannot be met if their are no people willing to support justice or courts willing to do their jobs and properly try the facts and legislation against the constitution.
I will send you a separate message with my implementation of your recommendations above.
It is like a rope pulling contest....one side pulls in one direction, while the other pulls in the other and meanwhile a rut develops from the constant back and forth. Each side blames the other in their struggle to "win" . Meanwhile the people who started the contest sit back and see their plan is working. The contest was to make the rut, never to declare a winner.
In this case, the prize is not "fixing" things, like eliminating terrorism... it is the product of the quest to make a safer world...which is the people yielding their freedoms to more government control and restrictions and not even realizing. The now decision of the government to desire each state to require a passport in order to get a drivers license is one of them. More documentation...reminds me of Germany and the need for "paperwork" on each person. I have never gotten a passport because I never needed one where ever I went. Now I will need one to drive. It makes no sense to me, but here we are, submitting to this governments quest to document it's citizens.
You appear to understand the situation. That is a great help in finding a solution. But do you know the underlying factors that make the problem possible or that cause the problem? Not knowing what the problem is I will accept your judgment on the matter.
Capital markets are unstable. In the past there was no way to make them stable. But today we have computer power that can be used to make them stable.
By using the greater computer power of today we can have a much higher turn over of capital in the capital market. This higher turnover will make the market harder to game or control and the market will no longer have the unstable run ups or declines. Who can change or control the market when say 20% of the capital is trading each day?
So now that we have the compute power to provide for all these transactions that will smooth out the market how do we force people to turn over at a rate of 20% a day? Easy, put a cap gains tax of 0% (zero) on all gains of 7 days or less and put a cap gains tax of 90% of all gains of more than 7 days.
The likes of Yahoo, Micosoft and/or Sun Micro Systems will give us the systems that will provide automated software agents to support turning over one's investments every 7 days (based on the specs you give the agent).
A system like this will make the financial markets work as smoothly as the local fruit market.
What is a "capital market"? Is it the same thing as the stock market? If so, do you have any idea how much this scheme would favor the wealthy and hurt the middle class? What would it cost the investor to trade all his stock every week? What proportion of his profits would go to brokers' fees? So the only stocks he would keep would be those that lost money or were steady for the week. That will rapidly result in a weak portfolio of stocks. Second, by keeping track of when people bought, the brokers could tell when to buy the stocks of those who have to sell. Third, the taxes would pretty much wipe out the retirement accounts. Investment for retirement of for college would be destroyed.
So only the wealthy investor (bank?) could trade so often without paying those fees.
The taxes on stocks would, then, mostly come from the poorer investors who cannot afford to switch stocks so often.
The local fruit market is very close to a free market. The stock market is not.