Blog
Ukraine: A Dangerous Matter for All of Us
At this moment the greatest danger to a potential global war is the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine with the possibility of quickly escalating into a nuclear war. This is not hyperbole.
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The Consequential Struggle to Maintain Democracy in the US
The history of the United States has been a cyclical struggle between democratic and class control. It is a history of rising democracy as stated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution United States.
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Democracy in Danger
January 6, 2021 was the official day to record the results of the presidential election. Confirmation of the Electoral College vote is normally a formality. Most people are unaware that this official counting is what confirms the results of presidential elections.
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Owning the Libs
‘Owning the libs’ is the current mantra of the Republican Party and it resonates through much of conservative thought these days. It means that anything you can do or say to anger or rattle the liberals and Democrats is an acceptable way of grabbing power and attention. It’s essentially a verbal middle finger, and they are using it to express policies and beliefs that end up hurting others, the environment, and even themselves.
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That Which Lies Beneath
Do you ever look out on the world scene and ask yourself why it is that humanity seems to always be at odds with itself? It may hearten you to know that our struggle to agree on how we should conduct and organize ourselves, indeed, how to even think about our place in the ‘order of things,’ is not a new story. Humankind has been sorting itself out since our early beginnings. Across cultures and over centuries, we have talked about the conundrum of being human in a variety of ways.
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Technology
Humans and all hominids before humans were – and are – the maker of tools. The two qualities that separate humans from all other species on this planet are our ability to create technology and to create the systems that technology requires. Technology is the catalyst for cultural change. The process of political, economic, and social adjustment to these technological changes is cultural evolution.
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The World Society Today – A Curse and an Opportunity
If we accept Einstein’s observation that problems cannot be solved at the level at which they were created, we must also accept that new structures are needed and new institutions established that are large enough to solve the problems that humans have created through our shortsightedness and greed. There is a point in any society’s development where a few control most of the power and wealth of that society and development becomes stunted; society starts its decline. That is where we are now; this is our Zeitgeist.
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The Tail Wagging the Dog
Cultural evolution can be seen clearly in the history of Judaism. The beginning of Judaism can be traced to the first civilization, the Sumerian, over 5000 years ago. Some of the Sumerian Gilgamesh tales are incorporated into the Torah and known as the book of Geneses in the Christian Old Testament. The tribes of Abraham migrated from the Tigris Euphrates to the Levant. There they built a civilization centered around Jerusalem. The Israelis developed the second monotheistic religion in the world (after Zoroastrianism). The Jewish culture was built around its religion and unified tribal loyalty in society. Israelites had been expelled from Jerusalem by conquerors several times.
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Causation and Social Forces for Cultural Change
For some – for me – history is interesting to study in itself. But I think that the greatest importance in studying history is its relevancy of the past to the present. The contours of the different events we accept as a part of our modern world are in reality the outcroppings of layers laid down in the past. In A Preface to History Gustavson said it well. He said that history provides insights on how to respond to the changing conditions that we are experiencing today. What I will be doing here is using history to illustrate the basic concepts that I think are necessary to understand the fundamental dynamics of what is currently happening. This allows you the possibility to see the larger picture rather than just the superficiality of individual non-related events. In so doing, it removes much of the fear that is associated with the monumental change that we are just beginning to experience. It also empowers you to be an agent of change as well.
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Ukraine in the Big Picture
What is Putin really doing in this struggle with Ukraine? Let’s take a moment and pan outward… let’s talk about the big picture and the clues to be found there.
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