creative vs. destructive

The Real Power of America
Some people have never considered control issues to be questionable. For them it must be made clear that control is good for science and technology-- that is, control is essential in scientific research or in piloting a car-- but control is limiting and destructive in human relations. Control limits one's options to what one already knows or can do or imagine, excluding the infinitely variable and productive input from others, as well as the power of teamwork. This applies to American foreign policy insofar as control makes America an impotent bully, instead of a powerful friend.
Military control is limited. Police-state control is hopelessly weak in the face of human ingenuity. Witness the failure of the SS and KGB to control their own societies. Humans will always evade controls like borders and customs, as well as other proscriptions, political, economic and ethical. Order cannot be imposed on us, we have to want order, to see an advantage in order, like staying between the lines on the highway enables us all to travel together.
America is now in the control of vested interests who, like buggy-whip makers, refuse to accept the demise of their antique means of existence. Oil and coal companies, giant discounters who degrade the value of their own "associates", arms manufacturers who seek ever-expanding markets for guns and ammunition, and chemical companies seeking to patent life, itself, are among the industries which are inherently destructive of human and other life.
Murder is the greatest crime in society, unless practiced by corporations or governments. Yet the "naked aggression" which the first Pres.Bush said "will not stand" has now been practiced by the second Pres. Bush. There is a reason military options are supposed to be the last resort-- they are the least effective solution, unless you're invested in munitions.
All the U.S. military interventions have come back to bite us. We deposed a democracy in Iran because the Iranians sought to control their own resources, and now we have a fundamentalist regime as a direct result of our intervention. This illustrates the limits of control.
We have the technology to end most oil imports in a few years, using vegetable oils as diesel fuel, but vested interests oppose this solution. We have the means to make friends of our current enemies, but vested interests oppose any solution that bases our security on cooperation. We have the means to halt all deforestation by employing agriculture to produce fiber for paper and construction, but vested interests oppose any solution but further destroying the national forests and even expanding oil and gas leasing on public lands. We can engineer a reduction in stop-and-go traffic and car accidents by using TV for safety messages about tailgating, etc., but the car parts industry would suffer. Liquor makers oppose the legalization of hemp. Even though all these vested interests will eventually go the way of the buggy-whip makers, we are still currently under their control.
This is precisely what the Founders sought to eliminate-- control by Kings or corporations, by establishing a balance of powers that protected our freedom to live without anyone controlling, subjugating, and exploiting us for gains that enable ever-greater control, and ever-greater limits to human progress, freedom, productivity and peaceful co-existence. They realized that military and economic control was not only destructive, but short-sighted, that once a government of free people was established, all people would never accept less than personal freedom as their unalienable right.
The current administration has allowed more mercury in the air, more pollution in the water, more military actions in foreign countries, more degradation of our national lands. They have effectively abolished the Bill of Rights. They have reduced the corporate social responsibility of major corporations, and driven the nation into debt. Either they believe they don't breathe the same air as the rest of us, or they're too obsessed with profit to see the short-term nature of their plans. It seems they won't rest until the last fish in the sea is caught and sold to the highest bidder.
Native Americans judged collective actions by their effect on the seventh generation. One can only hope these current "conservatives" grasp the fact that practices which are inimical to life, no matter how profitable, are as doomed as buggy-whips. It's time the people regained control over wealth and power.

marty weiss
mexico, mo

Gmail - SEiM Bike Tour -- Can you help?

Gmail - SEiM Bike Tour -- Can you help?

new beginnings

To all my beloveds, hi, again.


I hope to excite, please, entertain, stimulate, enlighten, and, not least, commiserate.

As we strike the sounding furrows, our purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset,
--marty


must go to visit someone who's laid up. It's Thanksgiving

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