JJ's World Views

Tag: Government

  • What Type of Society Would You Like to Live in?

    What type of society would you like to live in?  Collectivist or Individualistic?  This is a question we were asked in Pillars of Leadership program at school this week.  This is a very hard questions to be asked and takes a lot of thought as to not give people the wrong idea.  If you say you want to live in a collectivist society people in the states think China or the former USSR.  If you say Individualistic people think of America and the corporate plutocracy that runs it.  I would chose a combination of both a more socially individualistic and economically collectivistic society.

    In America we have been traditionally a socially collectivist and economically individualistic society.  This means socially if you were different from the group you were labeled the outcast, different, freak, ect…  If you are are not white, Christian, hetrosexual you were the other and have historically been segregated against in one form or another.  Yet, if you raised have money, and power you were held in high regard even worshipped to some extent.  This paradigm has been hard for me to live in because I do not think the way I was taught to think.  I do not view wealth or power as a success factor.  I also see people as individuals and judge them on there actions not race, gender, sexual orientation, ect…  I view happiness and empathy as how successful a society is in the grand scheme of things.

    I do not think that it is up to the government or corporation should  decide what you do as a career or job.  I feel we help people to reach their potential in the field they enjoy and are good at.  Yes, this is would not be a nice and ordered society but it plays to people’s strengths and move society in a more positive direction.  This allows people to find out who they are and what they are passionate about.  This also breeds a much happier society and less conflict.  I feel that when a society reaches a certain level of development that the government can not only help it’s people militarily but making sure that the basic necessities are taken care of like food, clothing, housing, ect… They would not get to chose these thing for them, but, helps people to afford these items making sure no one is left behind or falls through the cracks.  This way the economic schizm does not grow so great that a few people control the rest of the society against their will.

    People will ask, “But, if we don’t have money to use as an incentive how can we motivate people to do the work?”  To them I answer ” There are many ways to motivate people like their passions. some people like helping others, some like to create things like art, science, or music..  Think of all the artists that have died in poverty, like Van Gogh, yet, after their deaths the pieces would have made them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.  Think of people in the scientific realm like Nicola Tesla who died in poverty not to be respected till well after his death.”  How many minds have we wasted because of the greed of our society?  How many more will not have the opportunity because others think that because they are wealthy they are the best?  How many ideas will be stolen because of greed and pride?  These are questions I asked myself when people ask me “What type of society I want to live in?”

    I feel we need a combination of both in our societies and no pure system will ever work in a world full of differences.

    Peace and Love To all who read this and even those who don’t.

  • Economics, Government and Bruce Lee

    Some people may think this strange but when I think about big issues like economics and government, one philosophy I think we should take comes from an unlikely source, Bruce Lee’s Philosophy on Martial arts.  To me Bruce was one a person who understood America better than most American did or do.  His Philosophy in the martial arts was to take what he took the most useful parts of other martial arts and add it to his own style Jeet Kune Do, the way of the intercepting fist.  This meant that the art was ever evolving.  This same philosophy can and should be when it comes to the economy and government.

    We should see what policies are working in other countries and start testing and adopting them over in the United States.   This way we can start building a better country.  The U.S. is set up like a large social lab.  Testing different policies and adjust them to accommodate the citizens of the country.

    For we are each part of a bigger organism called society.  We are all trying to find a place where we belong.  We are all atoms trying to stabilize.  With global warming happening we are being warmed up and ever volatile.  Running around bouncing into each other. Sometimes we stay attached for a while, other times we split or touch for a second and never see each other again.  During these periods we must learn from one another.   To make each other better people.   Look at what we are doing with marijuana legislation.  Each state is learning from the other to which ones work best.

    With all the changing in the economy we must do this.  Otherwise society will fall.  To much of it in one area or another will destroy the economy.  It is like a water balloon, you fill it up in a single area it will burst.  There has to be a balance to it.  the rules for the economy should be set out nice and clear so most people will understand them. There should be a cap on how much a single person or family can make.  We are always talking about a maximum amount earned.  This way we no one or few persons have too much power.  That is how we get to the economic problems that we currently have in our societies. Those at the top have to remember money is a resource not speech.  Do the tax what come out of your mouth.  No that is absurd.   Speech is pretty much unlimited.  Money is not.  The more we print the higher the prices go and stay.  Not giving society a chance to keep up if the top 1 percent has too much.

    Some of the rich say that it is class warfare and we the citizens are the aggressors.  When it is the obscenely rich have been doing class warfare on the poor for most of civilization’s existence.  This time they have an entire world to plunder and not just a country anymore.  For this reason from time to time we will need a redistribution of wealth from time to time, in order that no few people have too much power.  everything in nature has limits why should currency be any different.

     

    Peace be with you all.

  • Random Thoughts and Ideas I

    Pokemon GO! is all the craze right now.  How can this game going to help the human race? These are a question that just popped in to my head.  This Go! gets people out there walking which promotes health and good living.  People are meeting new people and immediately have something in common. This promotes community and lowers the fear of the other.

    Here is what I think they should try next.  I would like to see completely different sets of Pokemon for each country, state or continent.  This would get people to start exploring this world more.  This would promote travel.  If they set it up right they could push a cultural exchange through the game as well, with each team having their own team of developers to ensure the pokemon would have the cultural relations to the area. They could have a pokemon dedicated to each sub-culture in that area.   This I know would be a tremendous undertaking.

    This is just one of my crazy ideas to help change this world.  I know that no one Ideas will fix everything in this world.  There is no cure all.  But I feel if we as the human race combine the best of our ideas and build on them that we can make this world better than what it is today.

    While writing this I just realized something about myself. I don’t just want to be a better me, I want to be a better human.  For this is the one thing we have all in common.  This is the starting point of any talk about peace in this world.  This is the most obvious of places to start when talking about any injustice.  Then move down to civilian and authority.  It is time for #civilanlivesmatter.  Here is the thing I agree that the black community has been targeted by the police, in the past and now days.  There is another traditionally targeted group that is not talked about that that is the mentally ill.   This gives the group more people to come over and put more pressure on the our representatives in government.

    We all forget that Government is a tool.  It can be neither good nor evil.  It is all in how we use this tool.  What happens to a tool if you just leave it outside, it rusts and becomes junk.  What happens when you take care other tool and keep it out of the rain, it will last a long time.  This is like our government so many of us have left it out in the rain that it has frozen, locked up.