An e-mail from cranky and ANGRY

An e-mail from a friend:

I am so ANGRY about what is going on in this country
re education, unions, plutocracy, ALL of it.

#1:  WHY are all the whackos appearing now, in this
period of time?  Is it technology?  Globalization?  What? 
What are they so afraid of?  Why can they not see they
are being manipulated???

#2:  What is going to happen here?  Will our culture
implode before climate change forces it upon us?

#3:  What can an angry person DO? 

I trust you to have all the answers, you know.

Yours, cranky and ANGRY,
- - - - - - - - - - - -
My response:

For President, I voted for the only valid candidate
I could find who had repeal the Patriot Act on his
platform. He was Wisconsin Green Party.

The pendulum does seem to be reaching an extreme.

People choose not to see and unfortunately, were
not taught to think. The Patriot Act reflects that.

Money and Power are the primary motives along
with a desire for easy answers and fear of loss. It
is safer to stay behind our own lines and fire than
it is to listen with an open heart and mind.

I think cranky and angry is an appropriate state
of mind. And you are not alone.

None of this is new. It is shift away from who we
are as a people, a country, a state, a county, a city,
a town, an individual. There is no longer a unifying
concept.

We can make a list of the problems:

immigration; race relations; environment; poverty; 
the transformative power of technology; healthcare
crisis; foreign-policy; importance of educating women;
ending political corruption; and securing jobs for
unemployed Americans.

But none of these can be effectively addressed without
a concept of WHO we are and WHAT we stand for. If
we had those things, then I believe, ALL of the issues
would be addressed effectively.

I want my Country back. I want my Constitution back.
I believe it is fear that caused so many to sell them out,
and it is greed and power that we have most to fear.

Personally, I continue to write my so-called representatives on all levels.

And more important to me, I practice my spiritual work
and try to be calm and share the best of me for the greatest good  one-to-one and in the groups I belong to like Yoga, Zen, AA, My Spanish study group, County SARC and the Humane Society.

The difference between now and say the 60s is that in the
60s, we believed that we could change things for the better. We actually believed in our government.

That is no longer true.

If there was a real focus, there would be a real revolution. Though it would be difficult as, like many, I believe that our Constitution as written is one of the great documents of the world.

Have you read Thich Nhat Hanh's Being Peace?

Chris
Never trust a government that doesn't trust you!