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July 07, 2002

From many voices and many hands is democracy woven.

Out of many, ONE

The central premise of this writing is that “collective security” is fundamental in procuring and promoting a peaceful world.

Collective security is built on a foundation of democratic and meritocratic institutions. The institutions function primarily in the Four Estates. Business (profit), Religion and Education(non-profit), Politics, and Communication Media..... Networks all, that form an interconnected web of minds and souls the world over.

We cannot be secure as a people as a result of politics alone. Politics, in the extreme, will establish the covert and overt ethics of the Police State which is detrimental to the concept of privacy. Privacy is built of solitude and secrecy. The right of privacy begins in the realm of thought. I think, therefor...........I am private. It is enhanced by Education, and becomes the currency of Business and Information Media. Intellectual Rights and the Right of Privacy are intertwined and inseparable.

The four estates are considered joined in Democratic Republics. Democratic institutions, (here I’m using the broader term) are not all equal. Some are represented by elected officials, some by self-appointed or proprietary individuals or collectives and some by Boards. The producers and editors of the fourth estate are not elected, for example, there are enough of them so all voices have an opportunity to be heard. The estates are representative even as they serve other masters. Boards of Directors, evaluating bottom or top lines. The only estate that exists by the sword is the Political Estate. Should they relinquish the sword, the badge, the gun, their estate is vulnerable. The other estates, in Democratic Republics, have as their first moral imperative to restrain the sword, the badge and the gun of the Political Estate.

Therein lies security.

The Political Estate is given great latitude to pursue public policy for the benefit of all. We look to them to establish the Rule of Law and Contract, to promote the general welfare and to protect the full functioning of the other estates. We look to them to entreat other Political Estates and to promote the values that we collectively agree are the most important.....life, liberty, fraternity, health,....the basics of making our time on this small planet as meaningful as we can for ourselves, for others and the future generations.

We shall pass judgement on ourselves and each other on how well we can regulate and control the exercise of Power to promote and protect the values we hold dear. To do less is to abrogate all the rights our predecessors struggled so hard to establish.

If you want to feel secure, promote understanding. If you want to feel safe, lock the guns.

Bob

July 06, 2002

Turning Off the Violence

The World is OUR Coliseum

We all have the best seat in the house. Our personal living rooms. E-Z Boy, you could be in for a ride.

The Killing Machine makes it ritual pass over the buried Christians in the inner sanctuary while at the perimeter, the barbarians watch in horror as their misguided attempt at a reckoning passes without incident. What when wrong? Allah ex Machina? Must we now suffer through another act? Is there no final resolution to the story when the whole world’s a stage?

Slobodan does a slow burn as he realizes that the worst fate he can imagine is coming to pass. His name will be expunged from every Serbian’s mind forever. To mention his name should be the worst insult you could ever utter until the end of time. That would be an apt punishment. A firing squad is for Generals, he was commander in chief. His reward is not the guillotine or the gallows. That promotes killing. It glorifies the Timothy McVeigh Invictus statement. His punishment should be worse. To watch his Serbia thrive as he breaks rocks with hand tools. Forgotten by a whole generations of Serbs that were born after he went away. Insignificant by any measure. Blisters, blood and tears. Forgotten, expunged.

We don’t need Dubyuh the Impaler to parade Saddam’s head on a burning screen 24/7, a technologically modern ritual sacrifice to the now fashionable God of War. What’s his name anyway, your God of War? Is it that George the Younger has to have his War to show the old man that he’s got the goods? So o.k. you’ve had great success with bombs in the mountains (except for the collateral damage of course). Can we get back to Diplomacy?

Hard choices to stand down a bully. The BIG MAN CHIEF comes from a long tradition of eliminating the weak warrior to hold the TROPHY weapon. “I hold this black satchel aloft so you can see that I’m the ONE! And don’t think for a minute that I wouldn’t use it on BOTH OF US!”

Who can afford to blink...........

Bob