Day 1 - Introducing the Politician's Journey to Life

NOAM CHOMSKY

"... I think the idea that you're supposed to have special qualifications to talk about world affairs is just another scam - it's kind of like Leninism - it's just another technique for making the population feel that they don't know anything, and they'd better just stay out of it and let us smart guys run it. In order to do that, what you pretend is that there's some esoteric discipline, and you've got to have some letters after your name before you can say anything about it. The fact is, that's a joke.

...You should decide whether something makes sense by its content, not by the letters after the name of the person who says it. And the idea that you're supposed to have special qualifications to talk about things that are common sense, that's just another scam -- it's another way to try to marginalize people, and you shouldn't fall for it."

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Let me set the tone with this blog, as well as speak a little about who I am and what I am doing here.
 
ABOUT ME:

I am NOT a "professional" politician in the conventional sense of the word.

I am NOT affiliated with any major political or public policy think tanks - nor am I supported in any way by funding from special interest groups or lobbies.  

I do NOT have special certification or training that qualifies me to speak on issues of worldly affairs, foreign policy, economic concerns, or social issues.  

I AM aware that our modern day political and financial leaders do not serve us, nor are they held accountable to ensure that those who are MOST AFFECTED by their actions are taken into consideration in their decisions, wherein policy decisions that affect the everyday lives of people in significant ways are NOT made an issue of public attention and participatory awareness, but rather politicized for the benefit of career politicians, the moneyed interests they are beholden to, and the institutions that have betrayed their mandate of public service in favor of self-interest and profit.

I AM, however, directly and adversely affected, each and every single day of my life, by the decisions of policy makers, financial experts, political consultants, and a myriad of other "specialists". These individuals and faceless entities proclaim to be working in my best interest, when it is evident to anyone willing to take a moment to honestly reflect is able to clearly see that the world and its state of affairs, that those who have been placed into positions of authority and influence, have abused their office and have NOT been held accountable for criminal negligence – because criminal negligence and unaccountability are the only ways such a global system can be sustained to begin with.

I AM tied to, bound to, and inescapably obliged to the consequences of political decisions made WITHOUT my consent or insight - WITHOUT consideration of how such decisions will affect me, my family, my peers, my community, and my posterity, let alone how such decisions have far-reaching consequences for our planet and the very ecosystems that support our ability to sustain life. 

I AM a person who has come to accept that political responsibility and an awareness and consideration for the global political and financial system is not, and cannot be, something decided by a select few on behalf of the majority.

I am not here to become a politician so that I can be well paid by private interests whose only driving motive is profit at the expense of common sense. I have no interest in developing a following or a political movement inspired by a cult of personality. 

I am here to show and prove that each and every one of us ARE politicians - that we not only have the right and qualification, but also the responsibility to be engaged in the affairs of our world and the consequences that are being carried out IN OUR NAME - that each and every single day we are ALREADY shaping the political landscape and the policy decisions made on our behalf by those who believe and claim to know what is best for us, while their actions show a starkly contrasting result. 

ABOUT THE "POLITICS" OF THIS BLOG:



Let me be clear about one very important thing - this is NOT about blaming the system, blaming the politicians we have today, blaming the banks and the financial institutions - they are operating in the way they are SUPPOSED TO OPERATE in the context of a humanity that has become so unaware and/or apathetic to its own destruction that it had become NECESSARY to control and contain a population that exploded beyond reasonable equilibrium; in a world saturated with fear, separation, and competition for survival, all set upon a backdrop of an endless need for perpetual growth, more profit, MORE of everything at the cost of everything. Therefore, putting all the "bad people" who were placed into unnatural positions of power and influence in prison, or blaming them for succumbing to corruption in an inherently unbalanced system will NOT bring us closer to a solution or global stability. 

Neither is the solution about who comes up with the best idea to save humanity, or which politician has the best plan to solve the world's problems. The solution is to remind humanity that life is a cooperative and participatory event - and our actions and decisions affect in tremendous and far reaching ways the quality of life for all. We can no longer accept or condone "experts" and career politicians far removed from the actual reality and daily living conditions of the majority of human beings on earth to make decisions for us, speak on our behalf, wage wars in our name, spoil and plunder the natural resources to which we ALL have an equal inheritance to, or impose economic austerity, sanctions, or monetary regimes that benefit an ever more cloistered, irrational, and put bluntly, insane ruling elite at the expense of humanity. 

The political, economic, environmental, social, mental, and financial crises we will all be facing in the generations to come are unlike any that we have seen or encountered before in all of human history - no single government is equipped to mitigate this - no singular organization is suitable to understand, let alone address, the multiple dimensions of our global problems.
We are facing a global crisis in leadership - a global failure to recognize and understand that our challenges are not singular and cannot be solved singularly. Our crisis in political leadership and the lack of political courage demands that a new kind of politician be born from, of, and AS the very unspoken, unsupported, marginalized, fed up peoples of the world who most directly see, understand, and actually LIVE the consequences of inaction, of apathy, and disregard for the dignity and ACTUAL value of life. 

Thus - this is a Politician's Journey to Life. It is my journey. It is your journey. It is our journey to taking responsibility for ourselves, for each other, for this world, in realizing that the politicians we need most now, are the ones we - you and I - must become – understanding that we have a long way to go to educate ourselves and engage the political and economic systems of our world that has become so unfamiliar and exotic to us in our ignorance – but as we walk together in this journey we cooperatively overcome the limitations of our separations and fears – and PROVE to ourselves and this world that we can in fact change how things are going – we can in fact change this world as politicians of ONE political agenda – to establish a world that ensures all have a home, and are free from worry, from fear, from exploitation, where life is protected, honored, and dignified. 
 
I commit myself to, within and as this blog series, share my journey of education and taking responsibility for this world as a politician – from where I am, with what I’ve got – to show and PROVE that this can be done – and I ask that you, my fellow humans, my fellow politicians, walk with me in this Politician’s Journey to Life.