Saturday, September 25, 2004

Where do we go from here?

Being an election year, I have been very much inspired to do some research and get views from many other people through online message boards. Many claim their allegiance to one party or one train of thought. I am a Centrist. I believe it is best to keep an open mind to as many ideas and perspectives as you can find.

Conspiracy theories can be fun but, in my opinion, they have become ramped and people are starting to take stalk in them. This isn't just from one side of the spectrum. It is evident through out the spectrum. Some go to greater extremes than others but the fact is they exist everywhere. I feel that we need to get beyond this if we are to ever become a nation or world with any kind of positive future.

I have been digging through site after site looking for the things that seem to work well for civilized development and longevity. Some of the bigger things that I have noticed are simple once you take the time to see them. Education, defense, various technologies, environmental observation, energy sources, individual freedoms and self reliance.

All have hit road blocks in every corner of the world. From what I have seen, Education is the one that needs the most attention. With out education we cannot understand what needs to be done to defend ourselves. With out education we cannot maintain or develop new and better technologies. With out education we cannot see the needed step to improve our environment. With out education we cannot develop or discover new cleaner and better energy sources. With out education we will never be able to understand what it is to have freedom. And, with out education we will never know how to be self reliant and make things happen for ourselves.

Many of the governments of the world have turned to give away systems to provide for the common wealth. From what I have seen, this can work for a short while but eventually, will end up causing more harm than good. It is my belief that the only give aways that government should be obligated to give to its people is the power they need to make things happen. This can be achieved through education. I am a big believer in self knowledge but understand that we can't learn everything on our own. We need the tools and surroundings to encourage and enlighten us to what is available to learn. It is my belief that education, at all levels, should be openly and freely available to all.

The United States is in a unique position to make a strong positive impression on the world. The issue is, we have NO well known representative running for office that has presented any points that would put us in that direction. I do not want to make this blog into a political "but this guy says this" posting. The truth is none of them have shown the willingness or ideas to go the distance.

All parties’ representatives talk about making improvements in education but none of them really present a solution that is real. Sure, there are some steps that are being promoted but we are in a position to make bigger commitments. Taking steps is the fundamental aspect of traveling. Today we have the ability to strap ourselves into a jet or rocket powered vehicle to far exceed the fundamentals. This is true of education as well. We must first begin at home. Brining things home is one of the things that the Libertarian party is big on. I think, in many ways, that this might not be a bad idea but not to the extreme.

I am reminded of the quote "With great power, comes great responsibility". I first heard this as a child while watching the Spiderman cartoon and was reintroduced to it recently in the movie. Despite where the quote came from, it is true. This is why I cannot fully agree with the Libertarians on the issue of noninterference. I don't think we should interfere with military force on many occasions (Some, yes.). My ideas on interference stem from education. The U.S. has a responsibility to assist other nations in their development. I'm not talking about international welfare. I am talking about knowledge. Instead of sending billions of dollars to other nations, I feel we would better serve our international community by spending that money on higher education for our own people then encourage those people to help others around the world learn to do things for them selves.

The U.S. has spawned a number of international help groups and also supports other groups from around the world. These are wonderful directions to take but if we do not have enough educated people in these areas, it will do little good. Sending money will only make those nations dependant on us. Sending them knowledge of how to do for themselves will make them stronger and more productive to the world as a whole.

I have similar opinions of domestic welfare. I do not feel that domestic welfare should be removed totally. It is a great thing for those who need temporary assistance to get back on their feet. But, too many times, the system is abused and that is because of the way it is run. Welfare should consist of temporary assistance to pay bills while allowing for funding to educate the individuals in the field of their choosing to help them into an industry that will be best suited for them and give them more incentive and opportunity to make something for themselves and their families. Welfare should only last long enough for these people to get the education they need to start providing for themselves and then it should stop. No more draining the system for those who feel they can live off the government.

It is my opinion that education is the key to making the world a better place. There will be those that do not share my ideas on this. It is very well known by looking at history that uneducated people are more easily controlled and manipulated. Those people would seek to stop the progress of open education. That is why we need to learn how to defend ourselves. I do not feel it is necessary to attack the people that would oppose open education in their part of the world unless it is found that they are looking to attack us first. This is why we need a strong military and intelligence community. Education will drive those areas to proficiency.

Learning other cultures and how certain groups work is the stepping stones to prevent many innocent people from getting hurt. It is also the key to understanding how best to educate the people of different cultures and to learn from their ideas at the same time. AS the world moves into the future, we must learn to work more closely together. We are reaching for space and will need to have a better understanding of each other before we can truly understand and appreciate what we might find in our travels. Every culture will look at things in a different way. If we work together to incorporate those views, it could help us to see things that we other wise might have missed. None of this will be possible with out education.

It is the general idea that defense is in full reference to military power to defend against or attack another military. I see this as a narrow view of what defense spending and development can be used for. Our military industrial complex can have a large number of uses. It can help to invent and develop new technologies for advancement in daily use products and space travel.

To some extent, our defense spending is used for much of what I have mentioned. Much of our defense spending is used for the Army Corp. of Engineers. The Corp. of Engineers, along with military reserve units, are used in disaster recovery for many uncontrolled events such as forest fires earth quakes and weather disasters such as tornados and hurricanes. I think that disaster recovery and prevention should be one of the strongest peace time roles of our military. Defense from Mother Nature should be a part of our defense spending. More people need to be educated about how to best deal with these events. None of will be possible with out education.

On the environment. People can pretty well govern themselves if they have the knowledge and understanding of what is going on around them. Many companies today extend beyond government guidelines in reference their ecological stance. Why, because mass consumer opinion is worth more to them than government laws and guidelines. Sure, guidelines are good to have but when it comes down to the bottom line. The consumers are the ones that pay the bills. If companies do not satisfy the wants and needs of the consumer, they will not stay in business for very long or at least, not make the profits they want. Governments should provide guidelines but it should be up to the informed consumers to regulate environmental concerns about big businesses. This cannot be done with out education.

New energy sources and better use and development of current energy sources can be one of the greatest things that we can do for our world. Much is said by many in power about these things but in truth, very little is really done. Yes, there have been things that have been done to help out in these areas. These things are just very small drops into a very large bucket. The main problem is information. There is very little information being presented to the general public. What information is released, many times, conflict with one another. Some say one thing is happening to cause environmental issues and others say that there are more pressing events that have little or nothing to do with what the first reports say.

It's difficult to come up with a solution if you haven't effectively defined the problem. I think that part of the higher education process needs to focus on a hands on approach to finding the answers needed combat many of the issues that reek havoc on our environment and get down to the truth. Are people responsible for the climate changes or is it a natural phenomenon. If it is a natural progression, is there anything that people can do to reduce the effects that we are having. If so, what? We need to pin down the correct problem(s) then work on a solution. I have run the environment and energy sources together because, at the moment, they appear to coincide with one another. Either way, none of this can be resolved with out education.

Freedom and self reliance. How can anyone be truly free if they are not educated. Being uneducated leaves a person at the will of those whom might want to manipulate them for their own gain. How can someone be self reliant if the do not have the freedom to think and do for themselves. An educated society can be so much more productive for the individuals that make up that society as well as the society as a whole.

Information on the ideas and belief structures of others will give insight on how to handle encounters with in our very diverse world. I'm not saying it will excuse everything that happens but it will give us a better understanding of why certain things do happen. In turn it will give us the power to confront bad things head on with a stronger understanding of how to best deal with them. Again, I will say, with out education none of this will be possible.

It is a little late in the game to make this an issue to pursue for the 2004 presidential elections but those who believe as I do, can continue this message for future election years. This will include mid term elections as well as presidential elections.

Thank you for your time in reading this. I hope I have sparked something in at least a few of you. No matter how corny it sounds, the old saying that knowledge is power is true. Push that idea on to our politicians. Support your local schools and help in developing positive reinforcement to your children at home. Schools can't do everything they need active parents to make it all complete.

And just for the record, no, I am not a teacher and no, I have never been a teacher.

6 comments:

Mike said...
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Mike said...
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Mike said...
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Mike said...

Posts that are deleted are not relevant to the original post. Please, let's stay on the topic. Thanks.

Mike said...

Honestly? I feel bad for Sen. Kerry. I know it must be very difficult to deal with this loss. He spent a great deal of time, effort and money to push his ideas. Maybe he can turn some of those ideas into legislation after tweaking them a bit and try to get them done that way.

Also, my heart goes out to Mr. and Mrs. Edwards. I heard about the cancer and understand that it must be one of the hardest things they will ever have to deal with. I wish them the best of luck.

Mike said...

Looks like we might be going off track again. But, I will go with this post. Please, stay on track with the original post in the future.

I don't think Kerry or Bush will fix this issue (completely). What is the average tax annual percentage in Finland?

All that tax money can go into health savings accounts. I'm not saying that this is the best way to fix the problem but it gives people the right to make their own choices.

Before the world can advance itself, we need people who are motivated. You can't develop a motivated nation or world for that matter if you give everything to people. People need to learn how to be more self sufficient. That includes their well being. I think educating people on methods of financial responsibility to provide health care and retirement capital for themselves would be much more productive.

That is something that most governments do not understand. They then educate people to think that they can't do it themselves and that they should rely on the government. The problem with that is people will then need to fund the government programs through taxation.

That might work for a while but eventually, the government will not be able to handle to amount of money needed to provide for everyone and people will end up suffering in the long run. Maybe not in your life time but down the road.

We can't rely on the government to provide us certain things. We must learn to do for ourselves.