[dar-list] living in the USA

[Deana]

Since the U.S. has been the big empire of late, Ellen's husband is right that
we are influencing the world so much that we should take our responsibility of
voting seriously. I wish we had better voter turn out as well. If we would
make information more accessible to voters (i.e. write measures and
propositions in easy to understand language), and allow equal television time
to all candidates, and eliminate some of the advertising kind of air
time....we might move forward in this. Politics is often the art of deception
and broken promises. I know I have had my times when I didn't really know what
the water board candidates really stood for, or even closer to home, didn't
really know what the school board candidates really stood for etc. that I only
voted partially on a ballot, or just made my little informed best choice. How
do we get better information without relying on the one who has the most money
being the one to put out the most information? More and more we should
recognize that we live in a global community, and that our policies will
affect everyone. Although I don't think I would go so far as to think that a
non-American should vote for the American government, I understand the fears
and frustrations of non-Americans regarding our elections and policies since
we are such a big influence on the planet. When we realign our values (away
from material wealth and corporate greed) to be model global citizens (promote
ecology, art and innovation, humanity and living things) we will all be able
to respect ourselves as a nation of Americans. I think that it's true that a
big part of it is apathy, but I also think much of it is ignorance. Many
Americans aren't living on easy street either....it's just that we're still
gobbling up all the global resources (much more so than other countries) and
we're not yet being world leaders. A leader is someone who helps people make
decisions. It's not about making decisions for us, but helping us make good
decisions together--guiding the people. (OR so I was teaching my second
graders this week.) So.....get informed as best you can while you work full
time and care for your families and do your housework etc. We will all be
living with the outcome. (A little preachy, but truth I think.)
Deana
"To see the Earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal
silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the Earth together,
brothers* on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold--brothers who know now
that they are truly brothers. "
--Arichibald MacLeish (1968 after the photo "Earth Rise" was taken aboard
Apollo 8 by Bill Anders)
*now we know to include our sisters:  brothers and sisters together.

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