The wealthy in this country have been working with your legislator to keep you poor, no matter what you do.
Every single inequality can be defined with money. Money is the great equalizer.
We’ve been placated for a long time and each time, we the American people, gave to peace, we lost our dignity. Now we must take it all back.
You have a role and you have power in the coming Revolution, but it’s not the role you may think.
We gave our power away. It is our time to simply take it back.
Without Violence — we take our power back, in the same way that our power was taken from us. We change our legislators. We change our laws. We commit ourselves to economic equality.
Banning together is a number one priority: equality, in every way, for every human.
Shared Values:
Economic Equality — human beings must share all resources with each other.
How do we get to it without violence, hatred and anger?
1. Ban Together
2. Organize, agree on specific measurable goals.
a. spend 5–50 days working on campaigns to ensure the November elections of Progressives.
b. all workers strike from McDonald’s for 2 days, until the minimum wage is increased to 17.00 per hour
3. Communicate with each other and support each other’s efforts.
4. Scream power to the elite.
5. We are not here to fight, we are here to make right.
For you who work for the government: every chance you get, every request that is made for the good of another, use all of your power to give to the good of others.
1. Give food stamps, give support and give aid.
2. Every wounded person in your care, will not fear you because they see and feel your compassion.
3. Interrupt when others are injuring humans. Call out when behavior injures others.
4. Make grants to all that it is possible to do so.
5. No blame necessary, only change.
For you in poverty-stricken communities, power is in numbers, striking is very effective, coming together in numbers is powerful. We have to change the story.
Make everything you do count for the Revolution:
1. Vote for the progressive candidate and then keep that candidate accountable.
2. Workers’ Unions have been effective for keeping workers safe and paid well.
Unknown Source
3. Whatever you do, stay strong: No is not an answer.
14.7 unemployment rate 10 times the worst month ever (CBS News)
Watching TV, America looks normal. “Advent health” talks about storybook healthcare, personalized for everyone…people are singing.
And yet, America has hit the crazy number of 33 million unemployment claims.
It’s a surreal world. One in which the TV goes on as if nothing is happening outside. The commercials talk endlessly about “we are in this together”. And yet, nothing can be further from the truth. This is simply a tag line that businesses are using to continue the business of making money. The businesses have no intention and no plan to help the unemployed, the sick or the hungry. The businesses use the tag line to keep customers immersed in this idea of togetherness.
Eclipse JB Collection
We live in a world where one man has more power than anyone else, one man, who represents no one except himself. Mitch McConnell. The Democrats can and do put legislation on his desk, legislation that is good for Americans, an expansion of food stamps — for example — and there it sits, on Mitch McConnell’s desk, never coming to fruition. When confronted about his in-action, McConnell will say that the President won’t consider it, so why should he bother?
How is that possible? We were so careful in the crafting of our country, and yet, look where we are now. Powerless and more needy than ever. We have 33 million unemployed human beings with no chance of getting what they need. The latest unemployment statistics are 10 times worse than any other time in history.
Our governing body will do nothing for the unemployed human beings, nothing. We received our $1,200.00 stimulus check and that is the end of that. If more is even considered for us human beings, the idea will be shot down by Mitch McConnell and the republican senate. It’s as easy as that. Wall Street received a two trillion and a half dollar stimulus, but no such stimulus is being considered for human beings.
This is my Alice in Wonderland feeling right here, in America. Advent Health singing their own praises with the hymn of “we are in this together” and yet I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Advent Health will do NOTHING for the homeless human being who is uninsured, NOTHING. The point of Advent Health is the CEO’s salary and the shareholders’ dividend ONLY. No humans are considered. I know this. The world is not how it presents itself to be. The world is some other nameless and selfish monster consuming everything and everyone in the name of capitalism. Predatory capitalism has run amuck and is eating human beings now.
Marcus Spiske — Unsplash
Professor Scott Galloway asks
“What is our trillion-dollar bet — where are we spending the trillion our kids will be saddled with? Simple: rich people. Lower tax rates on the wealthy and corporations (84% owned by the top 10% income earning households) were supposed to inspire growth and investment. They haven’t.”
“The tax cut will pay for itself.” — Steve Mnuchin
1/31/20 Galloway blog
“Allowing companies to fail is the first regulatory principal of capitalism” Matt Taibbi states. Why aren’t we allowing the stock market to self stabilize? According to Taibbi “the Greatest wealth transfer ever, S&P are partying.”
The Federal Reserve keeps throwing money at the stock market — to the tune of 2.5 trillion dollars (in the name of the pandemic) and the press is saying nothing. Why, how is that even possible? The Fed = Rich people giving rich people money = Jerome Powell
Austin Distel — Unsplash
The stock market is worth more now even though 20 million people have lost their job (in April). There is no connection between wall street and main street USA. No one can see it?
I’ve just watched the news and nothing is being stated about this thievery. It’s as if nothing has happened. We are all satisfied that although the average American has received very little recompense and the wealthy have received a huge transfer from our tax money, nothing is being said on the news. Am I in an alternate reality? Is this the Twilight Zone?
There is no way that 33 million unemployed people are going to be okay without help. The taxpayer bail out of $1,200.00 is gone. What will all of those families do without an income? Why hasn’t any investigative reporter pursued this story? What do we think is going to happen when all of these human beings become homeless and hungry?
And yet we keep thinking that America is the best. The bread lines are miles and miles long. American food lines.
People received stimulus checks into overdrawn accounts.
I see all of the charities and I think “please don’t donate there, the only thing American charity does is make their CEOs rich, they don’t do enough for those who are suffering.” Why do we need so much charity in America?
With all of the welfare organizations going on in America, why aren’t we doing better on behalf of the poor and poverty stricken? Why aren’t we doing better for the compromised middle class?
With the current Covid stimulus package, can we really say that we have helped? Today, on TV, I watched an “old white man” talk about how the new stimulus package had to be about supporting businesses so that people could be tied to their jobs. (Trickle down economics for everyone?) That’s the problem, jobs in America do not support Americans. We don’t have a livable wage in America, we don’t have affordable healthcare, we don’t have corporations making sure that workers benefit from employment.
Do you want a billion dollars? “Of course, but only if you own an airplane, cruise ship, bank or mega-business. You are only a human being in America? Oh, well, hmmm, I don’t know if we have anything for you. Okay, how about $1,200.00? What will that buy you? I don’t know, one month of rent?”
Trump and his cronies have, literally, pumped billions into the stock market. This is money that should have gone into healthcare, human beings and the welfare of those who are waiting in food lines with starving kids.
We aren’t paying people enough; they are not earning a livable wage. These folks cannot withstand what is happening in this country now. If people aren’t earning a living wage, how could they possibly have savings?
To my shame and mortification Motherjones.com writes: “Was anyone aware of this? “More than 80 percent of the benefits of a tax change tucked into the Coronavirus relief package Congress passed last month will go to those who earn more than $1 million annually” The middle-class picks up the bill! “
No America, it’s not enough for the everyday earner. When will we learn to give to people instead of organizations? When will we stop the corporations from owning America?
No one wants to admit that they are in poverty; and that’s at least part of the problem. The 75% of Americans who are working paycheck to paycheck do not want to admit that they cannot handle a $1,000.00 crisis. All of us want to believe that we have it made and that we can manage any challenge. That’s why Amscot, “The Money Superstore” is so successful. And they rape us for our hard earned dollars.
I am not sure how or when it started, but greed has a very rich and a very long history. Sociologists’ will tell you that greed and jealousy over property did not evolve until the concept of property ownership became a human law.
A History of Greed
Once the laws of property ownership came into being, everything about humanity changed. Suddenly, men are concerned that their offspring by their very own and only their very own. Marriage evolved into a much stronger social institution once property ownership was established. Men only wanted to leave their hard won properties to their very own offspring.
The history doesn’t quite matter when the concept under discussion is social greed. Social greed is a term for two reasons, often people think of greed in terms of the effect it has on their neighbors. They want neighbors to know that they can be “better”. The other reason for the term social greed is that, at least in this country, social greed has an effect on others and our society. Our society suffers as a result of this combined sense of righteousness to attain wealth over any other human value, including our neighbor’s health.
The Coronavirus Demonstrates
The coronavirus shows us irrevocably the current tragedy that is the United States of America.
It is the mirror held up to the ugly witch’s face showing her that her once remarkable beauty is lost.
It all seems impossible. Covid-19 is a pause, an interruption, a change in everything and everyone, a change in life as we knew it.
The virus comes at us like a tornado, with a deadly wind ripping and tearing through the lives of all humans on Earth. This novel coronavirus has no bias.
What America Needs to Fix
1. Healthcare – America is the only first world country in the world that doesn’t have universal healthcare. We need it and we should have it. It’s been more than forty years since economist’ showed that healthcare doesn’t respond to the principles of economics. Healthcare doesn’t respond to supply and demand.
Violet Johnson
Uwe Reinhardt, Princeton economist, conducted massive studies decades ago and demonstrated that economics does not work with healthcare. When you put two physicians across the street from each other, prices go up, they do not go down because of “competition”. These are known facts and yet, the ignorant senators and representatives insist on letting the “market” regulate healthcare. How can they dare be so ignorant when 330million people depend on them?
2. Jobs with a living wage – it’s a fact that lawmakers allow themselves to gain wealth from their position. This allowance has given them the motivation to keep minimum wages at a minimum. Our capitalist society has convinced Americans that having wealth is a matter of merit. We merit wealth by working hard and making money. We use the principles of supply and demand to demonstrate the making of a better mouse-trap as a means to wealth. The belief is, if you aren’t wealthy, it’s because you haven’t worked hard enough or long enough. Or perhaps you are not creative enough to have built the best mousetrap.
America promotes this myth about meritocracy, that says something to the effect of “if you are a janitor, you don’t deserve to make a living, only people who go to school and earn degrees deserve a living wage.” When read like this, the concept seems absurd and that is because the concept is absurd.
Everyone; deserves to make a living wage, Everyone.
3. Lawmakers who belong to the wealthy class simply manipulate their own positions to gain more wealth. In the meantime, because they are out of touch with anyone who lives in America, they continue to make laws that will benefit themselves, as in only, me, myself and I. The wealthy want Americans to believe that they have gained wealth through their own merit and hard work. But can you say that it is hard work, when the wealthy have been bribing Senators and Representatives to keep the minimum wage, minimum. Scott Galloway commented in his blog (2/7/20) “It’s difficult for our elected leaders not to shape public policy around the concerns and priorities of the super wealthy when they have more access to their senators.” How is that meritocracy?
We can and do, what we want to gain wealth. As history tells us, this is rarely legally or morally correct. Americans have used the philosophy “the ends justify the means”. What we are missing, right now, today, is the tyranny of what Capitalism has done to us. It is dire.
The recent wealth tax breaks are clear proof of this. In what country, besides America, could someone like Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, pay zero in taxes?
Ben White on Unsplash
4. Student loans: who can believe that in America, the Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos, is also an owner of a student loan collection agency? For comparison, I don’t mean the corrupt countries that we are all familiar with, I mean in the Western democracies.
What’s Next for America
Americans have no reason to remember the French Revolution, which they call Bastille Day. Bastille Day is the day that the French stormed the Bastille (a military base and a prison) thus starting the French Revolution. The French were very tired of being poor. The story has it that when Marie Antoinette heard that the French peasants were asking for bread and that there was no bread anywhere, she said “Let them eat cake!” According to Wikipedia, such a statement: “in context would thus reflect either the princess’s disregard for the peasants or her poor understanding of their situation if not both.”
Which is the point of this writing. Washington D.C. no longer serves the people, nor do they understand the people. Indeed, we are back to “taxation without representation” as no one in Washington represents the poor and middle class.
We are in a deep crisis in America and we are headed for a future that no one wants. Grieving families, and a majority of Americans that are starving, that is all it will take to create the American Bastille Day. The beginning of a Revolution that will end the tyranny of the wealthy in America.
Yet, I am a child of God also. And if you read the words of Jesus, you know that he considers himself and all humans as children of God. Jesus does not see himself as special or magic. Instead, he lifts everyone up proclaiming that we are all capable of any duty or chore that Jesus himself accomplishes.
Trust me, if Jesus were alive today, he would be as angry with Christians as he was with Jews (in the time of Romans). There is no question that Religion has failed us in every way. Jesus would be the first to tell us that we have failed him and his message.
Religion…
Religion was never to be the touchstone of belief. Belief was to be measured in our acts: our acts of love and redemption. Never were our beliefs to be measured by our fealty to a church and a religion. Giving money to a church has never been a means into God’s heart and home.
So, to my understanding, humans built an entire religion around another human (Jesus), who stated emphatically for us not to do so.
For this religion, around the world, which has caused so many wars and so much pain, now, in this century, is the richest of all the richest. Matthew 19:23 “Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew19:24 “and again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
Against all teachings of Jesus Christ, the religions rose up and began gathering money. They gathered so much money that they hardly knew what to do with all of it. The Vatican is one such example of this ridiculous wealth. Ridiculous because it is against the founder’s words, ridiculous because its function does not benefit humans.
Where are we? What’s next? Church attendance is low. More importantly, the role of the church is now being scrutinized by all of those abused by the leaders of the church. Scrutiny is appropriate, as we need to dig out the dirty and sick underbelly of organized religion. Preachers, priests, pastors and rabbis used their authority to take advantage of the young.
The Road Ahead…
Not only have the great religions been abandoned by the young, all see that they have become evil – a place where bad things happen, and greed abounds.
While Jesus has always been my hero; Christianity has failed and more so, religion has failed and that is all religions, including Judaism. Childhood sexual abuse is so common in both religions: Christianity and Judaism. The acquisition of ridiculous amounts of wealth has run rampant for both religions. What now? Old white men expressing their sexual needs and their greed, have led us all into damnation.
We can see individual kindness, but it isn’t good enough to overlook the sins of the religions. What do we do? Where do we go now?
There is no question that humanity needs a moral compass. The ten commandments have served us well – yet only insofar as EVERYONE feels governed by them. This is not the case. Men often feel that these commandments do not apply to their own journeys. Even while Moses promulgated “do not commit adultery”, Moses committed adultery.
It’s time for us to rise up to the occasion and promulgate a new ten commandments that is inclusive and that everyone will believe applies singularly to themselves. It is time to create a broad and new moral compass for all of humankind.
Instead of a “white man” bringing “down” commandments from the mountaintop, how about if human beings all agreed on a few rules that apply to everyone without regard to race, gender and wealth?
Un-Religion
What if we can all agree about what is right and proper behavior? Save those agreements for big things that apply to all, not for the small and petty rules of the social classes.
We could all agree on non-violence.
We can all agree on not murdering one another.
We can all agree that honesty serves our highest good.
We can all agree that wholeness and integrity are important human principles.
Lastly, we can all agree that we must change our awareness of Earth to one of abundance.
We cannot continue living the lie of scarcity. Scarcity encourages greed.
We humans need each other, and in that need, we must come to terms with our interdependence. The Earth is one whole and the lives upon the Earth are only part of that one. By understanding the oneness in our lives, we can finally see the price we have paid for acting as if we are separate beings. Hurting others is only possible if you believe that you are separate from the other.
Jesus told us most of these things. We need to listen to those words and then we need to move on. It’s time to form a new reality for our future.
Your soul is the collection of all of the things that make you, you. They are collected together to make you from the life force of DNA and all of your ancestors who walked before you. This collection is no accident and no mistake. The collective unconscious brings everything to life in this place called Earth.
Unknown Source
To make you, you, a collection of characteristics describes and define you. All characteristics occur on a scale. You have all, we all have all: love, hate, generosity, greed, good and evil. You may be like Mother Teresa, one who has 95% love and only 0.1% of hate. You may be like Jeffrey Dahmer, 95% hate and 0.1% love. All other characteristics squeezed into the middle.
Your characteristics are a unique combination that is you. Your DNA helped to bring your combination to you. Our DNA is the way that our ancestors bring the characteristics to us. Even our intelligence and critical thinking skills come to us in this way.
These characteristics can shrink, or increase based on our nurturing and yet these characteristics do not go away. Who can say why the child grows into a drug addict, a doctor, a cheater, or a lover? The DNA can bring the very strongest selfishness into being and the child, while capable of love, will always default to this selfishness. The parent will have difficulty with this child and even the most loving parent can falter in the face of such selfishness. The most loving of children can be brutalized and beaten beyond recognition and then become brutes themselves. Their loving nature can be buried under the pain and anguish that is their life.
Those who are self-aware can use the knowledge to see through the perfect veil of people who live in society.
Eclipse JB Collection
There is every possibility of characteristic combination alive today. There is a schizophrenic man who is also hateful and mean. There is a Down’s syndrome woman who is loving and kind and yet also greedy and obese. Every combination of characteristics can exist and each characteristic lives on a scale. The scale can be overwhelming as in the case of a serial killer or negligible as in the case of selfishness that is negligible to nonexistent.
So, how does this relate to our spiritual selves? This collection of energies that you are, this life force that defines you in your physical self, can dissipate once you pass away. Your energies do not keep the form that you had as a physical body. Your energies are free to form again, perhaps into something else, perhaps into another human with a different set of characteristics. Your physical self never exists again.
The Soul Touches JB Collection
Your soul is the combined life energies of your characteristics and your life experiences as a human. Your soul is an energy life force that is housed in your physical body. When your physical body leaves your soul life force, your life force can dissipate and become many energies. Your love does not die, the energy of your lovingness moves on.
I don’t know what happened, my writing left me. My writing comes at me, sometimes forcefully. I must write and I must write often. Somehow, it was gone last month, only shortly, but there it was, not there.
I didn’t want to write. Sometimes concepts would come, yet there they would go. In the background of my brain, I feel a coalescence of concepts growing. It goes forward on it’s own. It is as if I already know what I will write, yet it does not come to me.
February has always been a powerful month for me. Life changing. Maybe those thoughts are what was crowding my brain. I don’t know. But…
It’s the New Year and we are all ready to change our lives! I’m making 2020 the easiest year to change your life by giving you 20 Ways to make it happen.
To change your life, say yes to Love.
Love centers every interaction with calmness. When you love everyone, it changes how you think of them. It changes how you think of yourself.
To change your life, say yes to Abundance.
The world is full of abundance and anything you can wish for is available. Believing in abundance gives you abundance. Commit to challenging and changing beliefs that limit you by being about scarcity.
To change your life, say yes to Honesty.
Lies are obvious, you must be in denial to believe them. It is hectic and stressful to sustain lies, even if you are the receiving party. Honesty is easier and healthier. I dive deeper into honesty in this article, or refer to this book on the justification of lies.
To change your life, say yes to Responsibility.
Responsibility will bring you security. When you decide on responsibility, you give yourself a home and something to build upon. Do your part for those you love. If that means doing dishes, or picking up your dirty socks, do it!
Mermaid Walking
To change your life, say yes to Action.
Procrastination stops you from accomplishment, why indulge in procrastination? Step out of your own traps and complete your chores. Adopt the mantra “20 ways to change your life in 2020” to combat procrastination.
To change your life, say yes to Boundaries.
When you work, work.
When you play, play.
Circumscribe your activities with purpose.
Consciously choose what you absorb.
Focus on the moment, in the moment.
To change your life, say yes to Relaxation with a purpose.
Find your relaxation response, explore meditation, or yoga, or massage and acupuncture. Whatever your relaxation response is, use it.
To change your life, say yes to Yourself.
If you need to rest and recuperate, “No” is a complete sentence, say it.
Darkness is for Resting
Say yes to getting rid of your mad.
One event deserves only one mad: spend it wisely.
Don’t regurgitate your mad over and over and over again.
Once you have completed your mad, move on and don’t dwell. What you pay attention to absorbs your energy. You don’t want anger to be your calling card.
Where your attention goes, energy flows.
To change your life, say yes to Forgiveness
It has been said that unforgiveness is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die. Science tells us that unforgiveness leads to bitterness and that bitterness kills. Emmett Fox is the spiritual thought leader with extensive writing on forgiveness. If you want to explore the idea of forgiveness more, check out his book on Amazon.
To change your life, say yes to Self Love.
Be loving to yourself in thoughts, words and deeds.
Do whatever it takes to remind yourself that you matter and deserve love just for being you.
Don’t deny your true worth.
Do what you know is best for you.
To change your life, say yes to Self Care.
Stay on top of your stress, be aware of consequences of stress and take measures to ameliorate your stress! The 20 ways to change your life in 2020 is all about self care, you can incorporate any one of the ways into your self care routing.
Self Care
To change your life, say yes to Respect for yourself and others.
All interactions become positive with the addition of respect.
To change your life, say yes to Oneness.
Allow yourself to see that your spirit is a part of the whole; when you see this, your place in the universe becomes infinite and purposeful.
To change your life, say yes to Non-Violence.
Violence can be verbal, physical, mental or emotional. Leave violence behind to live longer and to keep your loved ones close. Violence separates humans from each other.
To change your life, say yes to Integrity.
The definition of integrity is the state of being whole and undivided. How wonderful it is to be clear and purposeful about your decisions in life?
To change your life, say yes to Imperfection.
Perfection will cost you your peace of mind. Allowing yourself to embrace the ups and downs of life will give you freedom.
Accept that you are perfectly imperfect.
To change your life, say yes to Communication.
Don’t leave relationship pain hanging. Pain leads to bitterness and we already know what bitterness does to us.
Unknown source
To change your life, say yes to Present.
Say good-by to the past. Science tells us that our memories are unreliable; it just doesn’t pay to look back and second-guess yesterday.
To change your life, say yes to Sleep.
Put your phone in the kitchen every night. The only exceptions are family member hospitalization, stock market in Japan or teenager out at a party. These exceptions are singular in nature, you can still place your phone in the kitchen at all other times.
For personal
goal setting it pays to have a bit of practicality. For example, if you are not
an athlete, you don’t want to try to run a marathon in 4 weeks or less, it just
won’t work. Most athletes will plan for a marathon for 3 to 5 months.
It should be
a “stretch”. It should be something special, something you have wanted to do
and have just not been able to do, for whatever reason.
Because it is a special goal, something that you want, you should be able to apply AbC: All by Commitment, you really want it, so you make a promise to yourself to get it done (broken promises eat away at your self-worth). If you can’t bring yourself to commitment, then give it up. Your internal voice will let you know if your goal is viable or not. Caveat: don’t overthink this!
The reason for commitment is simple; it’s to get you through
the times when you “don’t want to”. You don’t need commitment when life is
joyful and easy, you need commitment when you are tired, or lazy.
One other
thing you will need for effective goal setting is a feedback loop. You must
have a way to measure your progress. That’s easy if what you want to do is lose
weight, not so much if your goal is to “get in shape”. To be effective,
you need goals, and objectives that you can measure.
What’s the difference between a goal and an objective? A goal
is your overall want and your objective is a piece of that want. Back to
dieting: the goal is to lose 5 pounds; the objective might be to cut sugar out
of your diet. Cutting sugar out of your diet is a step towards the goal of
losing 5 pounds. See how that works?
Be aware of
your challenges and make sure that you don’t “bite off more than you can chew”.
Use the feedback loop to let you know if the goal is too difficult to
accomplish. Don’t give up! Moderate your goal and don’t let it become too
difficult to accomplish.
Tips to
Accomplish Your Goals in the Next 365 Days
Make your goal workable and reachable.
Make your goal special and make it a s-t-r-e-t-c-h, it should be a little difficult. Understand that goals should challenge you. Pushing through challenge is when growth happens.
Make a clear commitment and listen to your inner guide.
Make sure you can measure progress towards your goal i.e.:
Words written per day
Number of jobs applied for
Miles run
Classes attended
Envision yourself attaining your goals. Feel the feeling of successful goal accomplishment. Get after it!
