Power of The People

1. 82

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 months ago

   There are so many of us . . . surely, we have the power!
   
   After all, we have the power of lawyers and fair judges, common sense, intelligence and the ability to use technology, computers and money to our benefit. Surely, in time, we can "peaceably" right whatever is wrong in governmental affairs.
   
   Right?

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   1. 76

      Castlepalomaposted 8 months agoin reply to this

      Grass root people have been the main source of positive change in our society, not politicaican.  Government should only take care of the small stuff, no run our lives. It always has been the collective consciousness and the power of the people  have been the true leaders throughout human history.

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2. 72

   Kathleen Cochranposted 8 months ago

   Every two, four, or six years we have the power to overthrow our government without a shot being fired. That is, if you happen to agree with the majority of your fellow voters - except in presidential elections when the majority does not always rule.
   
   Vote - that is where what power you have resides.

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   1. 70

      Ken Burgessposted 8 months agoin reply to this

      Change can come from revolution or revolutionary conditions.
      
      1960s Civil Rights Movement is example 1.
      
      The Civil War is example 2.
      
      The Revolutionary War is example 3.
      
      The French Revolution is another.
      
      When government no longer responds to the needs and wants of the many and too many are suffering, there will eventually be an uprising that forces those in power to make those changes... or removes the government all together and creates one anew.

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3. 75

   wildernessposted 8 months ago

   No, we do not have the power, not really.  The problem is that the large majority of people are interested only in what they can get out of the government, not in what is good for the country. Can I get more welfare?  More aid for my small business?  Pay less taxes, or maybe force others to pay more so I don't have to participate so in funding the needs of the country?  Can I get a subsidy for what I want to buy?  The list is very nearly endless of what the government can (and does) do for the individual, and people want it.  The needs of the country are a distant second in the priority stack.  Or tenth or hundredth.
   
   The immortal words of JFK are long forgotten, I think.  "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

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   1. 76

      Castlepalomaposted 8 months agoin reply to this

      It's a delusion that the 80% can't take down the 1% or the government puppets.
      
      For example for 90 years, more people in Canada were locked up for cannabis more than any other crime. That change when 85% of the people  approved  medical cannabis for example.
      
      Right now the Public trust of government is near its all-time low according to the Pew Research Center, which finds a perfect storm of factors -- including a deep recession, high unemployment and polarized Congress -- are driving distrust near an all-time high of 80%.
      
      What accounts for this outpouring of discontent? After all, the recession is over, the economy is growing, and job losses have slowed dramatically in the last year. But overall distrust has been permanently scared since the early 1970s, and periods of recession and high unemployment depress public trust in government.
      
      About 80% is the turning point of collective consciousness abuse, is the mark of power to the people, not we the government.

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      1. 75

         wildernessposted 8 months agoin reply to this

         Unfortunately you are ignoring that 70% of your 80% of the people are quite happy with what the government is giving them personally, and will do little to nothing to change that. Although they WILL change their minds if they think they can get more.  Nobody wants to get rid of the Senator that gets the city new free libraries, a new sewer treatment plant so residents don't have to pay for it, a new bridge so residents don't have to pay for it.  People getting food stamps, perhaps the "expanded" medicaid or other such freebies don't want to lose them and will elect whoever they think will give them more - the heck with what it does to the nation, I WANT MY FREE GOODIES!  They've even convinced themselves that they are "owed" such things because they are "victimized".  By parents, by the city, by white people, by the state, by anyone and anything they see.

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         1. 76

            Castlepalomaposted 8 months agoin reply to this

            I think of happiness is how one solves their own problems. These bribes, and watering down the quality in our foods, medicine,being more poisonous than good stuff. Causing US ranked 48th in life exspancy. A shame since US is the wealthiest country in the world.
            
            The collective unconscious is much more important then the personal unconscious because it is the seat of power, wholeness, and internal transformation. The collective unconscious holds dreams, visions, spiritual experiences, and myths.
            
            It's start with grass root people and the tipping point is 80% of the consciousness of the people to make positive change of ethical proportion.  My theory it massively changes every 80 years. Like the French and American revolution,  where individualism came to being. Then civil war, the world war and the  new apocalypse happening right now.   It's when ever the people get sick and tired of the extreme abuse. About 30% of the public was once treating me like I was a terrorist or murder because I was unvaxxed.  A grass root canadain people  wiped  that on its head. The abuses are coming faster, so are the push backs.

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4. 82

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 months ago

   Actions we can take to flex our collective will:
   
   Flood Congress with our opinions
   Email our representatives
   March before their offices
   Vote against the ones who don't represent you and tell them why
   Twitter them
   Flood their Facebook inboxes
   Start petitions
   
   Silence is costly.

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5. 82

   Kathryn L Hillposted 8 months ago

   "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions indeed generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them."
   
   Thomas Jefferson
   
   also
   https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/105.html

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6. 72

   Kathleen Cochranposted 8 months ago

   "But overall distrust has been permanently scared since the early 1970s,"
   
   There was a lot not to trust:
   
   The 70s were the last years of the Vietnam War: 55,000 Americans dead. Draftees - not volunteers for the most part. Everyone knew someone who'd been drafted.
   
   Followed by Watergate. A president elected twice resigned.
   
   52 American hostages taken in Iran. Held 444 days. Released on inauguration day. Yes, we wondered what was up with that.

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   1. 76

      Castlepalomaposted 8 months agoin reply to this

      The US draft is a good example.  More Americans soldiers committed suicide than we're killed in action in Vietnam.  Of course,  that kind of thing is under reported. Sometimes dies inside a person's soul when killing another person. About 70% of the worlds countries agree and enforce a ban on the death penalty. 
      
      No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

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