today's diatribe...

Yesterday, in the county of Whatcom, amongst a mass of 400 plus participants housed within an assemblage deemed a convention, Georgiann was nominated as one of sixteen from a field of 120 potentials all vying for delegate status to represent the great state of Washington in the Democratic National Convention. It is a daunting process. This accomplishment was but a segment in a series of micro elections of precinct, leading to mini elections of county, then on to higher accomplishment of region, and then the final acknowledgement of State--all ending up with a granted exposure to the national. It plays out like a giant single elimination tournament where one competes one-on-100 for the opportunity to compete one-on-200 and so on.

I've never really took the time to attach any consideration to this process. I think this is a prime opportunity to do so, not just for the amusements of curiosity concerning the human predicament (I spend most of my awake and non-awake time in that realm anyway), but a wake up call for me, any and all who are concerned about the path we are on and the historical ramifications. I'm listening to and I'm hearing of determinations pushing beyond the considered norms of operation amidst a dysfunction at all levels, one that is amplified by the overwhelming and unexpected amount of participants demanding a voice, a voice building in decibels beyond the ability of the status quo to silence with manipulative tactics to thwart and divert. The old ways of politics as usual are in a state of deconstruction. If this is the way the Democratic Party implodes upon itself, I can think of worse reasons for defeat to another Republican regime in November. I can't help but believe a shift in collective consciousness is occurring beyond the usual modes of manipulation encouraged by deceitful exclusions and postponements. There are people at ground zero uncompromisingly demanding their right to access.

We are too diverse of a culture to be channeled into to one ideology, to be governed by these priests of compliance that are incapable of comprehending the force of reason to the point of refusing access and denying mechanisms of accountability all the while spouting the virtues of "our" version of democracy. Exclusion does not work, especially when awareness is elevated by articulation. This articulation is Barack Obama's strength and quite a few people are "getting it". I am still hearing the usual hoof steps of irrational momentums and there are those proficient in the application of herding, and as usual, I am quite disturbed by the mannerisms of "the sell". The ghost of Karl Rove is alive and well on both sides of the fence. Though I can't help but think, in this instance, there is more here than the ends justifying the means.

A new global consciousness has to form a significant base and soon. We have entered dangerous stages of depletion, over-consumed extraction at such an efficient acceleration that the stripping of sustainability could possibly lead to a global chaos of unprecedented proportion, yet still in my lifetime. We no longer can allow our institutions prejudicial persecutions on peoples and nations for the sake of unimpeded access of monopolies employing the concepts of deployment and security and leverage, just because we can, without the constant threat of reciprocal or escalated retaliation. We no longer can promote an economy driven by the expectation of continual linear growth, based on irrational consumer exuberance where the culture of ego elevates personal identity by attachment to "things".

As it stands, if every human on the planet attained the material accumulations we in the US now enjoy, it would take about four Earths to provide such prosperity to all its inhabitants. The residuals from this incessant quest, in the form of exhausted waste, is manifesting into the disintegration of our atmosphere. This is our responsibility to fix as we are the greatest perpetrators and unrepentant ones at that. Somehow the attitude of "I got mine so fuck you" has got to go. Freedom of prosperity methodology will suffer. Predatory mechanisms will cause backlashes in the forms of depressions and shortages and possibly war. The old consciousness of ego will not go quietly into the night. Whether or not Obama can reach across the table to lessen these impacts is yet to be seen. At least he understands the need to try.

Our technology seems stuck because we are stuck in a tired economic and social system based on a false definition of growth. The technology we need to transcend our current predicaments is spoken in a language we have yet to discover and won't if manipulated market mechanisms continue to restrict and devour or we have to wait for the hand-me-downs of military application into the civilian sector because of national security issues. This situation of intellectual blockage beyond that of an elite core of industry proponents will not change until the political equations are recalculated into more humane and non-institutional terms. We desperately need a rational voice that can apply reason to factions that are willing to destroy all in their path for a supposedly greater glory, whether it be entrance into an afterlife or attainment of unfathomable infamy and wealth at all cost... with compounded interest. The verbiage to transcend is available to be spoken and there are plenty of recipients ready to listen. The one candidate left standing that has the potential to begin this dialogue is in my opinion, Obama. Will he be the next great communicator, the solutioner, this consciousness elevationer, the door opener? Will his attempt be his own undoing before he even gets to the convention, let alone the national election and beyond because that "ain't the way shit happens"? Who knows. It seems reasonable there needs to be a spark and for that reason I am on the Obama bandwagon.

If Georgiann makes it all the way to Spokane and then beyond, I will be there grasping her coat tail, probably bearing an "I'm only here for the beer" T-shirt, just because, and totally revelling in the beginnings of a transformation (evolution?) of human behavior, one I'll most likely never live long enough to experience the fruitions of, but oh what an exquisite journey it could be. And if it all implodes into a soon to be forgotten irrelevance, I'll still be riding the coat tails of that potential spark too, one I really don't think the powers that be can stomp out as easily as they would like.