Seven Months In

                                                                                        written 24 August, 2025

                                                                                    published 31 August, 2025

            This Republican administration took office seven months ago, claiming a mandate from 49 percent of the voters, and has already made an impact.

            Despite election bluster, the war in Ukraine didn't end on day one, and gasoline doesn't cost $1.99.  Instead, grocery prices continue to increase.  Beef prices are up 80 percent, and pork up 23 percent, being driven by the racist raids on agricultural workers.

            The erratic, TACO tariff assault on the global economy, a tax on everyone, is expected to cost each American household $2400.  Auto prices are up $6,000, and General Motors and Chrysler say tariffs have lost them billions in profits in just six months.   

            The administration denies the climate crisis and is killing a renewable energy future, while expanding oil, natural gas, and nuclear.  These power sources consume finite resources, guaranteeing rising energy costs.  Natural gas is already up 25 percent, and electricity costs increased by 19 percent.  The administration pushes to keep aging, polluting coal power plants open past their retirement dates, ensuring profits for that fossil fuel industry.  

            The Big Beautiful Bill eliminates tax incentives for wind and solar projects, making it harder for Americans to access cheap and reliable energy.  One in five US counties passed laws to restrict, or ban, construction of new solar, wind farms, or battery storage facilities.  This costs customers billions of dollars per year. 

            While the rest of the world is making the renewable shift, American industry will be producing obsolete, polluting, expensive technology while China supplies the world with affordable power, batteries, and EV's.  

            The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps 6 million low-income households pay their utility bills.  Despite rising costs and a widespread need, the administration fired all the workers, and plans to eliminate funding.

            Budget cut impacts in Mendocino County defunded the Edible Food Rescue and the Willits Food Bank is at risk.  The Big Beautiful Bill will increase health care costs for 3.4 million Californians, including about half of the Mendocino County population.  Over 300 rural hospitals across the U.S. are at risk of closing, including the Adventist Hospitals in Mendocino and Lake Counites, reducing health care access.

            Progress on solutions to the AI misinformation tsunami has stalled.  NSF was directed to halt funding for research projects to combat AI misinformation, and disinformation, allegedly to protect free speech.

            On his first day, the president revoked a set of federal flood protections known as the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, and FEMA fired 2,000 full-time employees since then.  The day of the Texas flooding event, call center contracts expired, hundreds of contractors were fired, and answered service calls dropped to one sixth of previous levels.  At least 120 people died in the flash floods, with hundreds more missing.

            The 2026 budget includes slashing NASA’s budget by 25 percent, cutting another 5,000 employees on top of 2,100 who had already left, ceding American space leadership to a rising China.

            The National Park Service budget was cut by $1.2 billion, affecting recreation, preservation, resource, and cultural programs, as well 5,500 full-time positions, jeopardizing 350 of the 433 sites run by the Park Service.

            The EPA plans to shut the Office of Research and Development, which studies the threat from climate change, toxic chemicals, and air and water pollution on human health. 

            After offending most of our allies, tourism has declined.  Visitors to Las Vegas are down 11 percent.  Arrivals from the U.K. and South Korea are down nearly 15 percent, Germany down by 28 percent, and Canadian tourism is down 33 percent, with an expected loss in 2025 of $30B.  

            The president is a bully and bludgeons everyone.  Jobs are declining and inflation is increasing, so he fires the messenger.  Universities and media corporations are sued into submission.  Anyone who thwarts him is being pursued by a politicized Justice department.  Troops have invaded Democratic cities, with more in store.  Knowing his actions are vastly unpopular, the Republican led states are working to gerrymander a lasting majority in the House.  The rule of law has been abandoned by the partisan Supreme Court.

            But not everyone losses.  The Big Beautiful Bill allocated $300 million for protecting Mar-a-Lago and other properties owned by the president. The tax break for billionaires is now permanent, added another $1T to the national debt in the last 6 months alone, causing a rating downgrade on US bonds.

            Republicans hate government and democracy, and it shows!

An Alternate Perspective

                                                                                        written 17 August, 2025

                                                                                    published 24 August, 2025

   

            I was disappointed by the last national election, believing our nation had made more enduring progress.  People are experiencing deep depression about the current state of affairs in our country, as a lifetime of effort to make the world more equitable is seemingly being swept away in months.  Hatred, misogyny, racism, economic inequity, corruption, and climate denial are being touted as American values, totally opposite to what I value about this country.  

            It wasn't the first time I had to face being out of tune, having lived my life in a west coast bubble, removed from much of the harsh reality that has been here all along.  In reality, except for the growing climate crisis, nothing happening today is fundamentally new, and has popped up all over the world from time to time.  But this time it seems more extreme, deliberately cruel, incoherent, and wide spread.  

            Metaphysics suggests we are currently experiencing an evolution in consciousness, shifting from historical, low vibrational, fear-based perspectives into a higher vibrational consciousness-based perspectives, more attuned to unity reality.  Perhaps our current situation is the final burst, darkest before the dawn, where all the old wounds come to the surface to be addressed and healed after centuries of neglect and suppression.

            Increased consciousness requires better inner balance and disciplined focus to be able to manifest this higher energy of being.  Otherwise, we become exhausted, anxious, and ill at ease, trying to keep up.  What throws us out of balance from being conscious in the moment is the habitual patterning we have built up over our lifetime, laid down by family, culture, religion, physiology, and even previous lifetimes.  These old responses, learned when we were less conscious than we are today, are continually dragged along, distorting our ability to fully encounter our present experience.  

            For example, imagine being middle aged, yet dealing with a situation today using old resentments based on a bad reaction to a teacher decades ago in elementary school.  We can't respond appropriately in the moment while reacting from the past, or projecting into the future.  This type of low efficiency communication causes suffering and grief.    While nobody HAS to change, the choice NOT to change, especially in a rapidly changing reality, means increasingly chaotic consequences, with growing personal costs.  Alternately, by choosing to examine the chaotic parts of our life as guides to places where we are resisting reality, we enhance our ability to change and grow.

            Many decades ago, I had a difficult relationship with a co-worker, which grew to the point where I decided I'd rather quit than work with him.  However, I had what can be called an AHA moment.  I realized that the very behavior I found intolerable in him was an unacknowledged pattern within myself.  Once I embraced this difficult truth, my relationship to my co-worker totally transformed.  He acted the same, but my reaction was completely different, and the workplace became more harmonious.  Reality works like a mirror, reflecting back to me what I have so far refused to see within myself.

            In the current situation, rather than falling into despair, perhaps this is opportunity to examine to what extent I myself embody the very qualities currently being socially expressed. 

            Where do I tolerate hate in my life?  How do I justify it when I indulge in that emotion?  Can I see the situation from another perspective, not endorsing the behavior, but not hating the person either?  I am a man.  How do I thoughtlessly, or overtly, express patriarchal superiority or domination toward women?  I am white.  Can I find ways where my narrow life experiences separate me from all the other people in the world who aren't white?  I am an educated, relatively intelligent American, which has allowed me to live a comfortable middle class life style, mostly doing what I like in the way of employment.  How has this separated me from those who live other life paths?  Can I live honestly?  Can I practice the Golden Rule?

            The global climate is changing, demanding a coherent global reaction if we expect humanity to thrive much longer.  Nothing less will do.  Where do I ignore my climate impact?

            I can't change other people, but with focused intention, I can change myself.  While I still breath, I have opportunity every moment, no matter what anyone else does.  This is something we can each do for ourselves and the world.

 

 

 

 

Learning The Hard Way

                                                                                        written 10 August, 2025

                                                                                    published 17 August, 2025

             

            There is a spectrum for learning.  At one end, a single word can be sufficient for the wise.  The other extreme is the head through the windshield stye of learning.  One quickly leads to increased consciousness.  The other perpetuates denial, blames others, and shoots the messenger, rather than learning.  Our mad king lives by the windshield style.  

            He refuses to acknowledge the climate crisis.  Perhaps because he doesn't like the people ringing the alarms.  Perhaps he gets kickback from the polluters.  Perhaps he hears truth coming from his dental fillings.  The reason, if one exists, doesn't really matter, but the result is destructive.  

            In addition to making total climate denial the Federal policy, he is removing any data that contradicts his delusion.  He is shutting down research and monitoring systems, people are being fired, even discussion of the issue is curtailed.  Satellites are being taken out of service to avoid troublesome data.  He believes that if we don't know what is happening, it won't hurt him.  

            Funds previously allocated for emergency response have been shifted to build deportation concentration camps.  Billions of investments in renewable energy are being withdrawn, and shifted into more fossil fuel and nuclear power projects, placing US policy contrary to the global trend.  Using the power of his position, he tries forcing other countries to follow his retrograde vision.  

            But the rest of us live in the real world, where the problem isn't going away, but is growing.

            Inundation events are increasing.  In just the last few weeks, 8 inches of intense rain caused flash flooding in northern India, destroying a tourist town, washing away multistore buildings with little warning.  Weeks of rain in northern China dropped over 23 inches, about what they normally get in a year.  The resulting flooding affected more than 300,000 people, including their capital, damaged more than 24,000 homes, 242 bridges, 470 miles of roads, and untold acres of crops.  In one day, 14 inches of rain hit Hong Cong, disrupting the city.  South Africa is cleaning up after devastating flooding there.  New York City saw 6 inches of rain in one day, halting subway service, snarling the city.  As much as 8 inches of rain soaked the upper US Midwest.  Hail as large as 1.5 inches hit eastern Oregon.

            Wildfires and heat are increasing.  Almost 600 wildfires are now burning in Canada, causing air quality in the US northeast to soar 10 times greater than the level declared hazardous to humans.  In the western US, 120 fires are currently burning, and several are megafires, larger than 100,000 acres.  Another fire near Los Angeles started just last week.  Major fires are burning in Spain, Portugal, France and Turkey. 

            Europe is suffering through record breaking heat.  Tehran and Kabul are running out of drinking water.  The US southwest is getting hotter.  Phoenix had 113 days of continuous highs above 100° last year, and this year may beat that record.  Wild climate changes and extreme heat have distorted corn crops in the upper Midwest where as much as half the crop produced no corn, despite vibrant growth of the stalks.

            While the whole planet has been slow to deal with the growing crisis, in part due to long term disinformation from the fossil fuel industry, the tide is turning.  The wars now being fought over diminishing fossil fuel reserves simply add to the imperative to change.  Most countries don't have any fossil fuel reserves, providing additional incentives to develop alternative energy sources.  If the species is to survive, this is the energy system that will be required.  

            China is by far the world leader in renewables.  Last year, 80 percent of the solar panels, 70 percent of the lithium-ion batteries, and 70 percent of the EVs sold in the global market were produced in China.  

            In contrast, even though all those technologies began in the US, America under our current administration is turning its back on the future, desperately trying to recreate a vanished mythical past, where we were the only superpower.  This is the result of a delusional narcissist, supported by sycophants who believe they will be able to survive if they submit to the cult leader.  In my opinion, this will fail.  Being at war with a fact is the root of all suffering.  The fact is: reality is inclusive, and our economy and society require a habitable environment.  

  

            

 

 

Government As Business

                                                                                          written 3 August, 2025

                                                                                    published 10 August, 2025

  

            A long-standing Republican goal is to make government into a business, implying government should make a profit.  But the business ideal is about money, a concept relatively disconnected from reality, whereas the government ideal is about servicing the real needs of the larger society. 

            For example, a half century ago the stock market closed at 821, while it recently closed at 43,589, 53 times greater.  Is the economy really worth that much more, or is the value of the dollar smaller?  In contrast, a single glass of clean water was as refreshing then as it is today, without any consideration of price.  That is the contrast between concept and reality.

            The entire business model is narrowly defined.  Most corporations have limited liability by design, protecting investment capital against total collapse.  Consequently, significant business errors are not paid by those who profited from the errors, but are shifted to the larger society.  This capitalizes the profits and socializes the losses.  

            It is possible to build infrastructure, products, and systems that are relatively safe and long lasting, but it is cheaper to cut corners.  In the siloed framework of capitalist accounting, where each part is considered independently, this makes quick money for some and leaves the problems for someone else, as if the business people aren't part of the larger society. 

            Furthermore, fraud is very profitable, substituting materials and products that are not just a little less that required, but may be completely inadequate to the task.  Products with long term liabilities, such as addictive or toxic materials, can generate massive profits before the consequences are acknowledged, and may still be produced after discovery if sufficient lawyers are hired.  At the extreme, outright theft is profitable, just taking value from others without even pretending there is an equitable trade.

            The point is that by primarily considering short term, limited fiscal gain, businesses are manifesting separation, acting as if they are fundamentally disconnected from their larger consequences.  This may work temporarily for the lucky few, but it creates wide spread misery and may eventually destroy the whole society.  Capitalism is as primordial as fire, converting potential into useable form.  But like a fire storm, unrestrained capitalism will destroy everything before it stops. 

            One response to these business excesses is creation of government with sufficient perspective and power to restrain unwanted activity.  At its finest, government works for the benefit of the whole.  Reality has a socialist bent, because we really are all in this together, much as conservatives try to deny this fact.

            When some in our society are sick, impoverished, or hungry, this eventually impacts everyone.  Resources have to be applied to eradicate or control those not nourished by the system.  As the problem grows, increasing the economic burden, the society weakens from within and becomes more vulnerable to external assault.  Like illness in our bodies, it is more cost effective to maintain health and harmony in the first place, quickly treating issues as they arise, rather than trying to fix the body once decay has set in and threatens the whole system.

            Functional government regulates business activity.  For example, theft, and fraud are illegal and punishable to take the profit out of these actions.  Standards are established and enforced for product quality, supporting wide spread marketing.  Functional government takes long term goals into account against the urge for short term gain, such as building codes for durability, seismic and fire safety, and preserving open space for future generations.  Functional government invests in the future, supporting education, basic research, and universal health care.  At local levels, government invests in the basics of modern social life: potable water, safe sanitation, and adequate transportation. 

            Most of these functions can be supplied by businesses, and are in some locations, but rather than profit, government has a goal of inclusive service, providing quality necessities, accessible to all members of society, at the lowest possible cost.

            Admittedly, what I have described is an ideal, and the reality of government can fall short.  As we see in our current Federal leadership, individuals in government can be just as greedy and unprincipled as in business.  But business will never deal with the whole of society.  It isn't profitable.  To mindlessly eliminate government, pretending it is a problem rather than a necessary balance to business, will destroy society as well as businesses.  Unfortunately, we are witnessing this unfolding today.

 

 

 

A Significant Choice

                                                                                             written 27 July, 2025

                                                                                      published 3 August, 2025

  

            It is significant how we choose to answer the question: is life happening TO me, or FOR me?  One is a choice for living in separation, being a victim.  The other is a choice for inclusion in life, being a co-creator.

            For thousands of years, and hundreds of generations, human cultures have chosen the perspective of separation.  The individual self becomes the center of everything, and the infinity of reality is perceived as a threat.  A person believes they are either predator or prey, sometimes rapidly shifting between the two.  The stranger becomes an enemy, although family and tribe can expand the small circle of safety.  Violence and war are endemic.  

            Certainty and control are perceived as necessary for security, requiring armoring up against change, which is viewed as a threat.  This fear-based perspective is taught to the next generation, believed necessary for their survival.  While this isn't the totality of culture, the view dominates, and 80-90 percent of the population is traumatized, cut off from the full experience of the human potential by multiple layers of rigid, enculturated habit.  The resulting inequitable economies and dogmatic religions have ensured social compliance.   

            The alternative choice, the perspective of inclusion, has always been present.  Some form of the Golden Rule, which is fundamentally inclusive, is found in every spiritual tradition on the planet, usually within the mystics.  But this has traditionally been a minority perspective, easily dominated by fear and violence.

            Choosing inclusion means I am part of, not apart from, the reality which nourishes all life.  Therefore, everything that happens to me, is for my benefit.  Easy to embrace when life is going well, but more difficult when problems arise.  By choosing to encounter, rather than reject, even the difficult events, I remain open to learning something new about myself and life.  

            Having been raised in a fear-based culture, armored in habitual patterns rooted in childhood, culture, and my specific physiology, my experience of the outer world is interpreted through this filter of internal programming.  Consequently, my response in the moment is often out of harmony with the demands of the moment, causing me pain and suffering.  

            If I continually choose the mindless responses arising from these old patterns, nothing changes.  But if I can see that the present difficulty is highlighting one of these patterns, noticing the habitual response rather than simply responding from the habit, there is opportunity to choose differently.  

            Even if I have difficulty accepting my participation in the creation of everything that I experience, I can appreciate how my choice of response to whatever happens IS within my power.  Even if that is the extent of my free will, it can be transformative.  

            As I evolve my internal programming, my experience of the world evolves as well.  Life becomes a process of growth, shedding obsolete patterns, becoming more conscious in the moment, expressing a more authentic self to the world.  The purpose of life shifts from craving security through acquisition of money and stuff, to acquisition of diverse experiences and manifesting more of my human potential.

            Habitual response can be marginally effective in a world where change is slow.  But the world today is changing rapidly, and old habits quickly become obsolete, irrelevant, and even dangerous.  Some of the changes come from the explosion of technological capacities, some from population pressures, and some from the consequences of longstanding mismatch between human culture and nature, now building to a head.  

            Our current national leadership, a stunning expression of fear-based separation, has accelerated the rate of change, dismantling America for short term gain.  The assault on undocumented people is adversely affecting domestic food production.  The reduction of funding for the neediest and sickest, increases community stress.  Recklessly increasing the national debt to fund billionaire tax breaks has resulted in the downgrading of US bonds on the global market.  The arrogant, on again off again, tariff bullying is destabilizing traditional trading relationships, makes long term business planning difficult, constipates supply chains, and raises prices.  The total disregard for the growing climate crisis, and massive support for accelerated fossil fuel consumption, increases further climate related destruction.  This puts the US out of step with the rest of the world, and elevates China to global leadership for the future.

            But in the face of all this, I still have the personal power of how to live my life moment to moment, choosing consciousness over fear.