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Mon 11 Feb, 2008 05:49 pm
I'm really chagrined by "our" national politics which focuses almost entirely on "inside the beltway" when I believe almost every one other than wing nuts realize that life is local. What do I really worry about? I worry about having corrupt police departments that get worse as crime continues to soar; I worried about safe neighborhoods where living is a pleasant experience; I'm worried about an environment that continues to become more toxic to all forms of life on a daily basis; I'm worried about children and young adults not getting the education they need to live productive lives. What I am interested in is the awarding of honest caring society rather than the punishment of nasty people. I want to see zoning/urban-community planning based on ideas greater than Levittown, I want to see, the sooner the better, a DMV employee who actually works to serve my needs, an election commission devoted to making sure all eligible citizens have the right to vote and no one in our nation is ever denied compassion and fair play due to skin colour, religion, ethnicity, age or gender (or any other trite manifestation).
I want to see our society become local again, my street, my neighborhood, my town my city, my state and least of all my nation because it all starts at the bottom and works upward. Every human being deserves adequate health care because we as a society can afford to provide it providing we consider it a value just as we do having adequate fire-departments, road construction, water and sewage treatment.
I want to see Americans give a **** about the society they live in rather than O'bama/Hillary/McCain/Huckabee etc etc etc. I don't care about your flag, your bible, the colour of your skin, your political party or the sq feet of your house.
Want to change the world? Start by changing yourself and expanding your horizons.
I'm with ya, dys. I don't see these positive notions even on the radar, for main, and I'm very worried we will never have that society for real.
As I've mentioned to Dys, when I was involved fairly heavily on my local level back in my old home town, we would try to get some neighbors to come to get togethers to talk about the pros and cons on some pretty substantive issues. More than a few said, we're don't deal with local, we're looking to change things globally.
Perhaps they were, or there was a ballgame on.
Well, that's a cheapshot from me, as knowing the people, they did get involved with non-local issues.
Still, I take Dys' point, though I am interested in both the local and the global. (I haven't worked up any steam here re my new locality.)
hey , guys !
are canajuns allowed to join your illustrious club ?
for starters we'd like someone - anyone - to pick up the pieces in afghanistan .
money would also be welcome - will even take american dollars !
btw. how long are we wiling "to hang around" for "the miracle" :wink: to occur ?
not wanting to discourage anyone ... ... but i lived through the
"THOUSAND YEAR REICH" - which didn't even last twelve years .
hbg
Well, I believe that if on the local level a society is stable and successful, the wider application will follow, and be just as stable and successful.
here in Albuquerque we have a re-cycling program rum by the city that doesn't take much of anything and shows up rarely (maybe once a month) there are NO re-cycling bins and you must use approved clear plastic bags for your re-cycling materials, which you must buy from approved sellers. I now try to avoid any products sold in glass containers because the city does not take glass. How frickin' stupid, the city SHOULD take and re-cycle anything that works (they charge a fee for the re-cycling pick-up which I am glad to pay) the city also does not take any garden/lawn refuse (leaves etc) and does not allow burning) figure that one. I will attend any and all meetings re this issue and at least be heard. But, as usual, the conservatives that I know here never attend to these local issues and prefer to devote their energies to national issues of no consequence such as "liberals are evil while conservatives are god sent." "I demand to pray at football games but I really don't give a **** about my environment as long as I can have my blue-grass lawn there ain't no water shortages there's only tree huggers."
The recycling here, such a joke.
You could of course drive to the dump and toss your stuff hither and yon - I guess, though I haven't been there yet.
I was involved with the major improvements on the dump in my last home town.
Well, first of all, recycler truck was observant of the need to pick up the three boxes they gave out to customers. (LA is at another step, I guess they put all recycling from large customer bins on a conveyor belt and have pickers... last I read).
But the dump my business was involved in the re-design of was almost fun to go to. I'll save you all the boredom of my explanation except to say we used dumpsters for planters and there was a junk art fence and good building colors. Not that I or we take credit for all of that, just that the whole thing was not abysmal as a place to go to, but also not yuppied up.
I near went mad when I tried to recycle cardboard here. Has to be twined and within certain size parameters, get out your mat knife and yardstick, and after all that, you need to make sure it doesn't blow down the street in the wind. This city is retrograde in many aspects and recycling and how to make it work locally is just one of them.
(Uh oh, does this mean I'll engage?)
All politics is LOCAL.
Only your LOCAL POLITICIANS can have a direct impact on our daily lives.
What bothers me is even local news channels ignore local politics and spend way too much time on National issues.
Could not agree with you more Dys.
I'm also worried about safe neighborhoods where living is a pleasant experience. They're a drag..
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