Well, we have to start somewhere....

Politics

Simplified premise: The politics of Left and Right, Liberal or Conservative both limit our choices of how we view our world and thus how We, The People, are truly able to shape OUR world.... Therefore, I believe that we need a paradigm shift in how we see both ourselves politically and socially as well as our electoral options.

In both of their self-interests, today's political machines are quite happy to offer us only a binary choice of labels ---grab one and fight the opposition. The K.I.S.S method...dumbed down for soccer moms and busy dads. Sure, you might argue that we can also choose to be Independant, Libertarian, Green or you-name-it. Uh-huh.... That's an illusion, unfortunately... you won't find many (if any) debates that include the lesser voices, many of which have creative, forward-thinking ideas and concepts. And so I reject the notion that I must be a Liberal to disagree with current administration policies, or that I must be a neoconservative because I happen to agree with any one of their policies/beliefs. This practice of simplified division is counter-productive to real progress and growth because it restricts our view of the possibilities that our community, our country or our world can attain: "You're either for me or again' me"

That's the Forrest Gump-ish world our current batch of leaders count on you seeing... the reality they frame FOR us based on the premise that the masses are indeed too stupid to understand the issues or the big-picture. So far, they are right... we have been too stupid or should I say too uninformed and too uninvolved to be able to frame the discussions that WE want to be debated and decided-- our collective image of how we want our world/countries/communities to look.

Our choices are not for or against abortion; they are not for or against war in Iraq; they are not for or against gay rights, free trade, security of our borders, separation of church and state or any of the multitude of issues we must confront as a society and country. These are the choices they offer us.... the Left or the Right; the Liberal or Conservative; the Christian or Muslim; the Proud-to-be-an-American or the weenie traitor. Good or bad. Illusions all in their limited construct. How much Evil is being done in the name of Good? How many abortion clinics must be bombed in the name of Goodness? How many innocents should die in the name of Justice?

In reality, there lies a continuum of positions, a continuum of solutions and a continuum of ideals from which to choose--- Free people should never again accept the premise that we can only choose among the divisive Left or Right, but rather we must boldy envision and consider a new direction, "Forward". (copyright 11/05 ACB)

I chose Forward as a symbol to constantly remind thinking people that the world we build for tomorrow is a direct result of the choices and decisions we make today: That Forward takes the best of the Left and the Right and leaves the worst behind; That the world we leave to Posterity should certainly be better than the one we received; To not be limited in our thinking to the simplistic, binary options of black and white, but to be involved enough and creative enough to seek out the sweet spot of acceptable consensus in the huge expanse of gray lying undiscovered, undisturbed and untapped by small minds in positions of influence and control; To shed the yolk of divisive party-first, talking-point consensus in exchange for world-first, America-first, neighborhood-first, win-win solutions to every problem we encounter.

I'm not sure if philosopher/kings are the answer, but I'm damned sure that $1 = 1 vote is not... Between those extremes, under some plain gray rock, we might find that sweet spot we seek.
So let's move Forward...

Buzz