Two Americas

Last week's mid-term elections in the US deserves a few comments... largely because it coincides with my reading of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" written John Perkins. He talks about how the US has, over the last several decades, cheated poor countries out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could ever pay back... and how a handful of very large consulting companies collaborate with the government to do so. Read the transcript of an interview with John Perkins at http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/09/1526251

I also seem to be coming across more and more articles like this one: http://www.hnn.us/articles/1244.html that discuss the ultra-conservative collaboration of a few people that are working to influence public opinion in the US, which as we've seen over the last several years, can widely influence the world.

These things are important because the information that the American public receives is being hijacked. How many people believe that the US is sincerely trying to make the world a better place by 'giving' aid to 'developing' countries? Sadly, most believe this... and dismiss the instances during the 1950's - 1980's in Guatemala, Panama, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and so on - as situations in which the US rode in on the white horse.

Unfortunately, the white horse was actually a black horse (maybe it walked through some chemical hastily approved by the EPA that turned it white??) that brought little positive benefit to these countries... while they may have an infrastructure for power now, any and all income they have goes to pay debt occurred to finance the installation of that infrastructure.

This is a problem to America because -- well, basically "what goes around comes around." Somewhere along the way, America quit following the golden rule. While the majority of Americans may (or may not) still live by this basic rule -- the country itself does not. America's greed is eroding the world from the inside out. Our founding fathers fought against the very tyranny that we now impose upon the world… oh, how short our memories. Are we so stuck upon ourselves? So limited in our perspective? So incapable of taking a step back to see the world in its entirety?

I titled this entry "Two Americas" because I believe that is what we have. We have one America that is driven by corporate profit -- greed -- that lives under the premise that more is better. This America is blinded by power and money -- and never has enough of either. This America is ignorant of the rest of the world's power and influence; this world sits at the pinnacle of an empire.

The other America is slowly growing in number. Comprising curious people who take time to learn about all that is done in the name of freedom and goodwill, this America understands the longer-term effects of current actions -- both lifestyle and political action. This America cares deeply about everyone's future -- certainly themselves and their offspring, but also that people around the world are given an equitable opportunity to live a joy-filled life. This America is reaching a tipping point... and I look forward to the day when this America rises up, collectively, to lead the world forward.

Which America do you support?

I'm cautiously optimistic that the tipping point is soon coming -- certainly last week's elections support that. I hope it's the case. And I hope the democrats will lead over the next two years... something they haven't known how to do in recent history.

So that's the political commentary for the week. On the home front... our class visited Volvo Group headquarters last week. Volvo group makes basically everything Volvo except cars -- they sold the car piece to Ford several years ago. It's quite a fascinating facility, as is their plan to have a CO2 neutral plant in the next few years. We rode through the 90,000 square meter (nearly 1 million square feet) facility in Gothanburg on a little train... it was the only way to see so much of a facility that is so large. The technology that allows so much to happen -- electric carts that haul pallets of parts to self-operated forklifts... quite amazing, really.

I'm working on a project with the Madison Children's Museum (Madison, Wisconsin) -- a truly fascinating organization that is working to ensure that all of their operations, including exhibits, are fully sustainable.

I continue to tinker with the garden... I think I'm going to try and start some more seeds in a mini-greenhouse that I picked up over the weekend in hopes that leaving seeds in the greenhouse a little longer than I left them in their germinating box last time will make them stronger... most of the carrots, lettuce, dill, and spinach didn't make it to their new home.

Now - it's time for class.