Active Citizen Two

Citizenship and Governance: A Brand New Political Organization.

        Many in the U.S. are considering brand new political organizations for many reasons: a new national party, a coalition, an ad hoc effort to promote a special bill or effort, for social betterment, and on and on. They want organizations capable of working with large numbers of active citizens. They are expecting wider participation in self-governance. They want to do that which effectively furthers their aims right now.

            There is much which needs to be done and many of us to do it. However, just now I will offer a list of hints which may prove helpful to an organizer. 

The hints for civic organization:

~ Be inclusive. Help anyone who wants to be a member, be a member.

~ Keep in mind that teaching one another is important. Outside help can be useful, but that which we do for ourselves is more important. Each a learner, each a teacher.

~ Clarify aims and goals. Restate them often. Better them when you can.

~ Arrange to have each member have opportunities to help in achieving those goals. How will that be done?

~ Arrange to take care of all business promptly. How will it be done.Arrange for the ongoing education of all members. That's education in the skills and understandings necessary to the organization and organizational aims.

~ Make each member an educator. You do not have to use any of these hints; but anyone of them can be very useful.

~ Demonstrate abundant and appropriate trust in each member.

~ The fewer secrets the better and "no secrets" is the best policy.

~ Let each member know that he or she is participating in the creation and nourishing of the organization, its philosophy, and its doings.

~ Lay out clear steps for accomplishing the important doable goals of your organization. 

~ Remember you are not alone. You are part of an organization. laying out, demonstrating, making, and doing are group affairs and  doings. Members want to be active. Let them be active. 

~ It is best that a goal members undertake not only be important and doable, but also ought to be attractive, challenging, and a big deal.

~ Set out a goal or two to be completed today. That is you as in you all set out a goal. You all want your orgainzation to be where the "doings" are.

~ Each member deserves a worthy job he or she can work right now. What a power house an organization can be! Your organization is a big powerful group.

~ Make clarifying the "grand vision" of your organization an ongoing activity. A grand vision for me might be the ongoing practice of active self-governance. or the ongoing practice of participatory democracy.

~ Ends, goals, objectives, aims can all be good. However, to be well done is important and the way it is done can be the most important.  

~ Aim to govern yourselves by practicing active self-governance of the whole. Begin with "how to do" teach-ins.

            May these hints/suggestions help you in your action plans.

We have a lot to learn and a lot to do. Its great that there are a lot of us to help with that learning and doing. 

As That Active Citizen and As a participant in a meeting it is fair and useful to:

~ Show up.

~ Speak up.

~ Name the problem.

~ Team up.

~ Find a partner.

~ Frame the discussion.

            That is: be there; address the group; Clarify the topic; Identify those of like mind; make a friend; listen and learn; sum up what the meeting has been about.

            It all starts with showing up and being there.

            Thank you for reading.

 

 

                                                                  RCS

 

 

Your Vocabulary and the Irish Land Wars

Mago Bill: History, Ireland, and word.The Irish Land Wars are the source of the introduction of a powerfully useful word into the English language.  

            

            The Irish Land Wars are the source of the introduction of a powerfully useful word into the English language. In 1850 Irish persons formed the Tenant Right League in Ireland to demand reform to the land law of Ireland. It was a law not of democratic origin. This organization and demand was followed by about 40 years of unrest in Ireland as well as to some learning and reform. 

            The word in question is the surname of a landlord so disliked by his tenants that he was refused labor to harvest his crops, as well as refusal to service shops, laundries, and other facilities. The social excommunication of Mr. Boycott led to his name being used to describe it. Boycotts have worked well as nonvirulent protest measures. 

            Check out the the Home Rule League of Ireland online. Doing so could contribute to your political education. Then go on to check the Irish Land League. Doing so could add to your understanding of political organization. Check out Gandhi  on the use of resistance and organization to achieve social ends. Well reasoned and presented protests have been a powerful social power. The Irish National League may be interesting to check out, but may prove complicated by the source of your information. 

            Due to my background as an educator I feel the need to add, is that one thing you need to learn is that you are responsible for ruling yourself. In Ireland that has been called Home Rule. It does seem best to begin at home. You can blame your father, wife, mayor, or President, but that, I have found a waste of energy. Where you are concerned you are the authority and the boss, and the doing is yours to do. You will have your results.

            We have a lot to learn about politics and our own history. History is how we learn what works and and what doesn't. Its mostly the experience of others, but we each have our own history. Politics can be called how we cooperate to get doings done.

            There are extended meanings of the word "boycott" to be found online. They can be very instructive.

RCS

Our Wars

   Mago Bill: Our wars. The U. S. has a lot of wars in its history, even in our very recent history as well as from 1776.        

                We do a lot of warring. I intended to write little essays about a few of the more obscure wars of the U.S.A., but have lost some of my motivation; still I may yet do so                

          

               The following is an introduction to my intention to write about some of our less known wars.

                 

                 As I write our union has lasted about 244 years. I find that of those years only six have been free of war. I also find that in a great many of those years we have fought more than one war year. I our 238 years of warring many of us have been killed and we have killed many. If we do not hold the record for average number of wars per year, we may soon do so.

 

                The years we have not warred are 1935 through 1940 and 1897. It may well be worth while to learn more about these years.

From 1899 to1934 we had mostly just "Banana Wars;" mostly not only. People of our neighboring countries of Central America may object to my word "just." Those Banana Wars were among the most traumatic happenings in their entire history. In those wars we stepped on their labor movement hard. The people of those republics have found it difficult to laugh about what we have called our Good Neighbor Policy. 

When taking a close look at historic near the U.S. it seems we have hated the people of Haiti the most for the longest time. That we have invaded Mexico only 13 times since 1837 makes it look like we love Mexicans more than we have hated the people of Haiti; but I digress. These doings mostly count as wars.

 

                There are doings related to our wars that are curious and peak my interest. For it is curious why we insist on killing one another when we could be arranging to protect ourselves from comet and asteroid rains, various virus, plagues, solar flares, rising sea levels, and the like. When I have said "we' here, I not only refer to you and I, our fellow citizens, and our fore bearers, but also those who find it convenient to war with us. 

My curiosity extends to wanting to know why part of our Civil War occurred at Gibraltar and why Mysore played a part in that same war. I'd even like to know why Sweden was our allie in our first Barbary War. What about the German Coast Uprising in the Territory of Orleans? Just why did we invade Canada? And like that. And you may agree, that our recent wars of say the last 20 or 30 years, have had their interesting points.

 

                I do not enjoy writing about the killing we do or about the deaths of many of our fine young men. In fact it causes me some very unpleasant feelings. I would like to act in an honorable and legal way to minimize early deaths and killings. Not an easy thing to do since so many of us have abdicated responsibility for the war machine we sponsor.

     

                I have a lot to learn but I do intend to be honest and factual as I write. I hope that you will correct any and all mistakes that you find on this blog. You are welcome to do so in the "comment" section just below.

 

                More to come, slowly.

 

RCS      

Auto de Fe at Mani

Mago Bill history: Auto de Fe at Mani

The auto de fe at Mani may be the first great political/economic scandal effecting both the New World and the Old World.

It frightened the Aristocracy, the Church, the military, and the great merchants and traders in Mexico City, Madrid, Rome, and beyond.

At first it may seem a case of business as usual. A churchman caused a few Indians to be punished and a relatively small amount of their religious and cultural items to be destroyed. A common occurrence between Old Word "conquers" and New world "conquered."

However in this case.....   

Should I continue the story?

Do you want to?

Should we both?

by Richard Sheehan

for Mago Bill and you

Republican: a bit of history

 Mago Bill history. Napoleon Bonaparte, a leading republican of his day, was willing to become Emperor of France. 

    

                France welcomed him as Emperor. There may be a lesson to be learned from this bit of history.

                Napoleon did bring reforms to France and the world in the fields of science, education, and a variety of cultural areas. These works could be called republican.

                The legal system called the Napoleonic Code, influenced much of the West and part of the East. Napoleonic Law is important in the U.S. state of Louisiana. 

                Napoleon was a warrior, a leader of armies. Some say he won a war against Russia. To attack Russia, he left home with a half million men. He returned home with twenty thousand men and the "shirt on his back."  

                He met his "Waterloo" against Prussia and Great Britain, in which Prussia "saved Britain's bacon."  

                After the battle of Waterloo, Britain, Spain, Prussia, Austrian, Russia, and others joined one another in suppression of liberal movements throughout Europe.

 

This is a test:

~ Why do the histories of many revolutions seem revolting?

~ Why might a republican be willing to become an emperor?

~ Why ought the citizens of a republic be responsible?

~ Where is your revolution headed?

~ What is a "loo?" 

 

 

                                                            RCS

Woman and Girl

Mago Bill: EsoExo: Understanding, knowledge, meaning, wisdom,  experience, and learning.

 

             She was young, about my age then. She was speaking with an older woman whom she obviously cared for, but she was saying with some vehemence, "You just don't care."

            The older woman seemed truly fond of the girl. She may have felt some hurt at the girl's words, still, she responded in kindly tones. I remember what she said. She had said, "I have come to see that many things do not matter much and that most things don't matter at all."

            The girl answered, still with some feeling, "You don't care about anything."

            The woman answered, a bit as though she were speaking to herself as much as to the girl, "Once knew a wise old gentleman who didn't believe in "things."

            After a few seconds the woman continued, "Your feelings matter to me very much, but I am not responsible for them."

RCS

For Successful Dialogue Practice

Try the following:

~ Address the group as a whole. Avoid addressing your words to one or two persons.

~ Remember that it is most useful to listen, hear, and understand.

~ Avoid giving advice.

~ Remember that a speaker is probably doing her or his best to be honest.

~ Avoid interrupting another. Your group has a way of dealing with those who would damage your practice.

~ Keep expenses to a minimum. Everyone helps to take care of necessary expenses. Do your part.

~ Really listen to to what another is saying. Improved understanding is a major aim of your group.

~ Learn to listen well and gain greater listening skills.

~ Encourage everyone to speak at each opportunity. The words of each are gifts for us all.

~ Limiting each speaking time to 1 or 2 minutes. It's great to have time to speak more than once at a meeting.

~ Remember that focusing dialogue on personal experience is good practice.

~ In the beginning get 8 or 9 interested persons to commit to 4 or 5 consecutive meetings.

Practice perfects.

More to Come.

 

 

 

RCS