I meant to write this article something like a month ago, but somehow it slipped past me. Not a surprise when blogging takes a bit of effort, at least for me. Anyway. Earlier this year I wrote an article that Ron Paul, a representative from Texas, was exploring the possibility of running for President in 2008. Well, it’s official – he’s decided to run for the biggest seat in the house. According to his recent updates, his fundraising and awareness campaigns are going well. I’m still a little frustrated that the media is still in full-blown blackout mode – but I guess that’s what I’ve come to expect from our hegemonic and complicit media.

One of the things I like most about Ron Paul is that he tells it how it is. He makes no bones about informing the people and fellow Congress about the Federal Reserve, the Internal Revenue Service, anti-freedom legislation, and the erosion of American sovereignty. His credibility, research and informed leadership is exactly what this nation needs. We must figure out a way to “fight terrorism” without further devastation to civil liberties, human rights and America’s founding document, the Constitution.

Ron Paul is also a voice against the formation of a North American Union. Despite the fact that most Americans are not familiar with the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and it’s consequence of forming a North American Union, there is very much an effort going on to erode the sovereignty of America in favor of a unionization between Canada, America and Mexico. If you’ve followed what has happend with the European Union, the individual countries are being forced to give up their own founding principles in favor of a unionized “Constitution” that effectively makes each nation subservient to the Union’s federalization. Not to mention…to oppose it, by it’s very words makes you suspect. What? Are you against prosperity and security? Who are you? This is by design and the same thing was done with the Patriot Act. Now…you’re not a patriot, are you? There’s much more going on here than fancy wordplay – right now, there is a focused push for global governance and further centralization of power. Ron Paul is not only too aware of this…but also recognizes why it’s not good for nations, especially ours.

As I don’t like to speak for people, generally speaking, I will provide some info from his website. These are the focal points of his campaign:

• Debt and Taxes

Working Americans like lower taxes. So do I. Lower taxes benefit all of us, creating jobs and allowing us to make more decisions for ourselves about our lives. (more…)

• American Independence and Sovereignty

So called free trade deals and world governmental organizations like the International Criminal Court (ICC), NAFTA, GATT, WTO, and CAFTA are a threat to our independence as a nation. (more…)

• War and Foreign Policy

The war in Iraq was sold to us with false information. The area is more dangerous now than when we entered it. We destroyed a regime hated by our direct enemies, the jihadists, and created thousands of new recruits for them. (more…)

• Border Security and Immigration Reform

The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked. This is my six point plan: (more…)

• Privacy and Personal Liberty

The biggest threat to your privacy is the government. We must drastically limit the ability of government to collect and store data regarding citizens’ personal matters. (more…)

• Property Rights and Eminent Domain

We must stop special interests from violating property rights and literally driving families from their homes, farms and ranches. (more…)

I really do believe he’s our last chance of retaining our freedom and sovereignty, the indirect casualty of the “war on terror” and the neo-con / neo-liberal agendists that have hijacked this nation. I’m trying to get the word out because our media is failing to inform the people and people should be informed in their vote. In the interest of the future of America, please step outside the box and check out Ron Paul. I hope that you will find wisdom, knowledge and understanding in his view and realize, whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, Independant or otherwise, that the future of American privacy, liberty and sovereignty is at risk and could be a story we tell to our grandchildren.

I’ve been noticing a steadily increasing rise in news and information about global warming. It seems the majority is waking up to the matrix of the world and is beginning to understand our ecological footprint. In an ever increasing trend, I’m seeing news suggesting that “people” are the cause for this ever increasing disaster. While yes, the term “people” is technically correct, we must realize that “people” also means corporations and other for-profit enterprises.The world is about to come to an epic realization that we, as a society, need to change – both significantly and rapidly. People are finally coming to realize the ultimate flaw of capitalism; the unsustainable concept of unlimited growth potential. There simply are not infinite resources for infinite growth and as more countries adopt capitalism, industrialization and world trade agreements, the smaller and smaller the resource pool becomes. We must realize that we are at the crossroad of two choices: Either we change and push hard for and achieve sustainability or we face the consequences of a worldwide mass extermination of people. I hate to be blunt, but follow the logic.

As an American and reluctantly a consumer, I recognize that I have a fairly significant environmental impact as an individual. Even though I go out of my way to recycle, buy from “green” companies as much as possible, support organic farmers and so on…I still throw away a lot and produce a constant supply of carbon dioxide. I contribute to ecological decline, perhaps much less so than the majority of Americans – but I still have a significant impact, especially over the entire course of my lifetime.

I have a feeling, however, that this self recognition will be slammed down our throats and will justify additional taxation as well as rising prices in the years to come. It will unfairly put the burden and cost of sustainability on the consumer. I say “unfairly” because corporations have advanced beyond fulfilling the needs of society into creating needs, manipulating our desires and otherwise encouraging us to consume.

Corporations have made decisions based on the flawed theories of capitalism and complete disregard for anything other than profit and growth. These corporate entities have continually plundered the world for their benefit and purposefully, perhaps ignorantly, created unsustainable conditions. The ecological footprint of the corporation, no matter how you look at it, is far larger than that of the individual. They have made no effort to inform you of their unsustainable practices and have mislead people into believing that consumption is good. Their ultimate goal has been, and will continue to be, to have us consume more and more – that is, until we either face doom or revolutionize our concepts of capitalism, profit and growth.

The introduction of globalization, global trade and the creation of private interests that direct these concepts have insured that this system is growing increasingly larger and complex. Our government has not just paved the way for these unsustainable empires to exist and profit, but have also ignorantly perpetuated the “infinite growth”myth. Congress is just now waking up to ecological decline and they’re grasping at straws for the solutions.

My protest is not that we need “green” corporations, albeit this is of certain importance – but it’s one that I believe corporations should absorb the primary burden of ecological sustainability from their profit and gains. Corporations and their stakeholders are ultimately responsible for the continued advancement of natural deficit consumerism in America and across the globe. It is their very nature that has created the conditions we face and things are not going to really change until we make them responsible for their actions.

Forcing people to pay the tax of sustainability only allows the corporation to sustain it’s profitability and continued growth. I say we need to look at this from a much more fundamental level and that is, “Can the need be filled by sustainable technology ?” and subsequently, “Should we allow the unsustainable corporation to exist?” By creating a capitalist environment that is hostile to anti-sustainable means, we insure innovation of sustainable technology at a much more rapid pace.

I think it was the band “Korn” that revolutionized my thoughts on music and what I choose to “like” and “not like.” See, I didn’t like Korn’s first albums at all…despite their popularity and promotions. In fact, it went beyond just not liking them; I went out of my way to let people know how much I thought they sucked. Time passed and an album of theirs came along that knocked me down and had all the synergy and magic that I look for in music. It was at that point that I decided to be more careful about declaring a band “unworthy” (for a lifetime) of my ears. I don’t mean anything negative, but rather imply that I prefer not to listen to crap and readily and consistently choose to listen something that interests me. In a way, this event helped me to be even more open minded, and moreover patient, with music and the evolution of bands. It took hating something with all my being to being discovering a nugget of great music from the same source to learn…this coming from a guy that was all ready cultured in decades of music; everything from classical and jazz all the way up “hard” music like metal and industrial.

Another band, Eminem, followed the same patterns with me…worse, for me anyway, it made no bones about being “rap,” a genre that is generally not appealing to me. Nothing against it, but most of it’s ignorant, insignificant and uninteresting drivel. Having learned a better way, I chose not to pass judgment…and glad I am…because it seems Eminem has stepped up his thought & rhyme to a level where can appeal to me. In his song, “Mosh,” his words speak much truth, albeit still slightly misinformed…yet, for me, it’s not the commentary but the message of hope, the message of “the people run things around here” that I feel is critcal for Americans (especially today’s youth) to be exposed to. Eminem has risen to the podium of activist leadership and has reminded me again; there is hope because people that have a far greater voice than I are paying attention and resisting this world that is being forced down around us. I hope that his activism stays true and guides him to wisdom and knowledge.

[flv]https://old.jeffwhiteside.com/video/eminem_mosh.flv[/flv]

Mosh Lyrics:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the Republic for which it stands
One nation under God
Indivisible
It feels so good to be back..]

Scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, reenergize, and rewind
I give sight to the blind, mind sight through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel it’s time
It’s just all in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say to fight you take it as I’m gonna whip someone’s ass
If you don’t understand don’t even bother to ask
A father who has grown up with a fatherless past
Who has blown up now to rap phenomenon that has
Or at least shows no difficulty multi taskin’
And juggling both, perhaps mastered his craft slash
Entrepreneur who has held long too few more rap acts
Who has had a few obstacles thrown his way through the last half
Of his career typical manure moving past that
Mister kiss his ass crack, he’s a class act
Rubber band man, yea he just snaps back

Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark, that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength,
Come with me, and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
Till the light, at the end, of the tunnel, we gonna fight,
We gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march through the swamp
We gonna mosh through the marsh, take us right through the doors

To the people up top, on the side and the middle,
Come together, let’s all bond and swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build, from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people, some white and some black
Don’t matter what color, all that matters is we gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause, no matter the weather
If it rains let it rain, yea the wetter the better
They ain’t gonna stop us, they can’t, we’re stronger now more then ever,
They tell us no we say yea, they tell us stop we say go,
Rebel with a rebel yell, raise hell we gonna let em know
Stomp, push, shove, mush, fuck Bush, until they bring our troops home come on just . . .

Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark, that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength,
Come with me, and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
Till the light, at the end, of the tunnel, we gonna fight,
We gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march through the swamp
We gonna mosh through the marsh, take us right through the doors, come on

Imagine it pouring, it’s raining down on us,
Mosh pits outside the oval office
Someone’s trying to tell us something, maybe this is God just saying
we’re responsible for this monster, this coward, that we have empowered
This is Bin Laden, look at his head nodding,
How could we allow something like this, Without pumping our fist
Now this is our, final hour
Let me be the voice, and your strength, and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme, just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify the times it, and multiply it by six
Teen million people are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach Al Quaida through my speech
Let the President answer our high anarchy
Strap him with AK-47, let him go
Fight his own war, let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our soil
No more psychological warfare to trick us to thinkin’ we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country we’re patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes, it’s all lies, the stars and stripes
They’ve been swiped, washed out and wiped,
And Replaced with his own face, mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you’ll know why, because I told you to fight

So come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark, that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength,
Come with me, and I won’t steer you wrong
Put your faith and your trust as I guide us through the fog
Till the light, at the end, of the tunnel, we gonna fight,
We gonna charge, we gonna stomp, we gonna march through the swamp
We gonna mosh through the marsh, take us right through the doors

[Eminem speaking angrily]
And as we proceed, to mosh through this desert storm, in these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ, as we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army, to disarm this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president, for the present, and mosh for the future of our next generation, to speak and be heard, Mr. President, Mr. Senator

When people find out that I’m an activist and write Congress constantly to share my viewpoints, I am often asked, “What do you write them about?” The answer depends on what I either support or oppose – but usually it’s a combination of facts that I know and an expression of my desires.

A lot of people don’t really know how to write congress or what to say when they’re doing so. You can get contact information for Congress quite easily online – and as far as what to say – whatever’s on your mind and is important to you. You don’t really have to be super eloquent, nor lengthy and you can go through the process of writing “old fashioned” letters, or of course, email, if that’s what you prefer. I choose letters because I like to get paper letters in return…for evidence. 🙂

You might be saying to yourself, “I don’t have time to write Congress letters…but I still want to be heard. What can I do?” Well, you can still make a difference. There are many websites promoting online petitions where all you have to do is find what you’re interested in and type your name. These websites have revolutionized the way people communicate with their representatives – it allows a large number of people to get behind a single issue; carrying with it the weight of all the signatory parties.

Since I would like to see more people get active and discover their own voice, I thought it might be helpful to share a number of my favorite letters that I have written. I hope this might inspire others to write their Congress in an effort to share their opinion and perhaps affect change. Just as jury duty is a civic duty and responsibility, so is participating in government and exercising your freedom to voice concerns to that government. This is especially true now that more and more critical legislation is handled by the legislators and never sees the light of a ballot.

For those inspired or interested in the good old fashioned letter writing, this will be a four part series: The first will deal with the potential war on Iran. The second has to do with the Federal Reserve and their decision to stop publishing the M3 data, essentially disguising a large portion of our economy. The third addresses my feeling on Real ID, the new national ID card that will be forced down our throats in 2009. The fourth, and final, covers what I do when I feel like I’m paying too much at the gas pump.

I hope they will both serve to educate and inspire! Happy reading!