In Dealing With Blackmailers, We Can Help You, Mr. President

He will be "alone" as long as he appears to be under the spell of the Plutonomis­ts. I voted for him not to get the best deal from the Republican­s, but to be a champion for the interests of the 98% working hard and playing by the rules.



If he had taken Mr. Brant's advice earlier and clearly drawn the lines of what was at stake and asked us to sacrifice for the heart and soul of our country, I for one would have followed him yay into the valley of shadow of death.



Now, I have come to believe that he does not understand what is at stake and that he may be too beholding to his friends at Goldman Sachs to stand and fight for the dying middle class in this country.



One example, I need a loan to grow my business. My profits are up this year and I could create jobs. But the banking world has a rule called the "3-6" -- pay 3% for deposits, lend at 6% and make money on the 3% margin. Now they are given money at 1/4 percent from the Fed, lend it back to us at 3 and 3/4 and make a 3 1/2% margin with no risk or work at all. Why on earth would they take a chance and lend money to me? They have free money secured by the full faith and credit of the US of A and don't need us peons.
About Bush Tax Cuts
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

In Dealing With Blackmailers, We Can Help You, Mr. President

Yes, Well said.



The problem is that the Democrats don't have a cohesive economic philosophy that would allow the President to stand on principal. If we are just "enlighten­ed" capitalism­, then the Republican­s will continue to get more power than they deserve, because progressiv­e social programs, green jobs, and infrastruc­ture investment are not an economic theory.



As Democrats, we need to wake up to the fact that the time has come to fire Capitalism as an ineffectua­l economic model (just as the Soviets fired Communism for being an ineffectua­l political model). I personally greatly admire Capitalism for leading us out of fascism, totalitari­anism, and monarchy and building the modern economy, and there is a lot we should keep -- like the market economy and the celebratio­n of individual creativity and hard work, but it lacks the complex design necessary for the challenges of today, much less tomorrow.



More importantl­y, advanced Capitalism is evolving into the very force of tyranny that it helped beat back in its earlier form.



We need "A New Ism" that will be capable of distributi­ng the benefits of cooperatio­n more fairly, works to decentrali­ze power and place it back in local communitie­s, has checks and balances on power, branches of governance­, common pool resource management­, and places accountabl­e leadership at the center of its philosophy­.



In the 1770's we imagined this nation as a people, not a person. Now is the time for an economy of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

12/4/10 Letter to Huffington Post Blogger Steven Brant

Thank you so much for introducin­g me to the work of Russell Lincoln Ackoff with this video. His honesty and clarity of thought jumped off YouTube at me and I went on to read your tribute to him and his Wikipedia entry. Although I never knew of him, I know that I have been deeply effected by his work. It is nice to hear a voice and see the man to go with the knowledge he shared with me before I knew who he was.

P.S. I have been having an email exchange with your sister and she thinks we might have somethings in common. Now, in reading these posted, I know we do. I am speaking on "A New Ism Project" in Nevada City in January which is an attempt to create the ideologica­l social software to apply Systems Thinking to the creation of a new ism, but also bringing in Game Theory, Complexity Theory, Coordinati­on Theory, Common Pool Resource Management­, Judgment Aggregatio­n, Reciprocal Altruism, the Evolution of Cooperatio­n, Non-Zero, Non Violence Communicat­ion, et al, into a cohesive ideology that will be ready to apply for the job when we fire Capitalism­, just as the Soviet Bloc has fired Socialism and Communism for their deficienci­es. The idea is to lead with the question of "What do you think should be in A New Ism?", not "this is The New Ism."

I look forward to having the chance to meet you.

--  Michael Rogers 

12/2/10 Letter to Joseph McCormick and Steve Bhaerman

I was given your information by a friend who said it reminded him of
me. I have read your stuff and I believe we are on the same page and
perhaps could further each others work.

I am in the early stages of formulating A New Ism Project. The concept
is that it is time to fire Capitalism because of its failure to mitigate
tyranny, its tendency to rigid hierarchy, its failure to broadly
distribute the benefits of cooperation, and its insatiable,
unsustainable need for growth.

Many youth are being attracted to Socialism and Communism without a
clear understanding of their failings -- specifically they don't have a
coherent modern economic theory (they are primarily political theories)
and they have failed, on the most part, to handle the rise of
authoritarian tendencies, and to protect and celebrate individual liberty.

So, we are in need of "A New Ism". An economic, social, and political
theory sophisticated enough to handle the complexity of modern life and
to deliver general prosperity and happiness. But, rather than tell
people what The New Ism should be, we seek to engage different
communities in a dialog about what they think A New Ism should have in it.

Now we have some specific ideas to keep the dialog moving, such as
Elinor Ostrom's Common Pool Resource Management, corporate peoplehood,
decentralized but coordinated systems, local control balanced against
common action, celebration of leadership, competency-based
representative democracy with elected accountable leaders, separation of
powers, radical resource efficiency, as well as a system designed to put
compassion, joy, and love at the center of all human interaction.

Many of these ideas are based in the study of the Native American
social, economic and political structures that you rightly point out
helped inform the American Revolution. It is now time to apply the
concepts to the economic realm as we are now in the age of the corporate
state.

In 1776 we were in the grip of national personhood, the nation was a
person not a people. England was the King, not the Country. "I fight
for England," meant "I fight for the King, who is named England". The
American Patriots had the bold idea "What if a country can be a people,
not a person?" and that simple idea has resonated across the globe ever
since and built the modern economy.

Well, now it is time to think of Corporate Peoplehood. What if
companies could be people, not a person? This I believe is the common
ground between conservatives and progressives. It is based in all of
the ideals of conservatism and progressivism. It is the only way out of
the ideological grid lock. Progressives will never support deregulation
and smaller government, as long as the Plutonomists rule their economic
empires, and conservatives will never support issues of equality that
are dictated by the government fiat.

Corporate Peoplehood is an idea that is based on people earning what
they want in the world and therefore a smaller government is possible,
however we need a new ism to provide the social software and ideological
framework to pursue our economic needs in a humanizing and sustainable
fashion.

Please contact me if you have any desire to discuss these matters
further. I am willing to come and participate in an Transpartisan
Events you have. I have a resort in the High Sierras of California and
would offer it as a venue. If not, good luck and happy hunting. You
are doing good work.
Peace,
Michael Rogers

Re: [SPAM] FW: A Transpartisan Moment: Special BeyondaNews Message

Great hearing from you.  Thanks for the connection.  Very interesting group and on the right track.  I want to create a software package called Sumpeople.org to facilitate groups like this and the attempt to aggregate judgment, wisdom, influence, and resources for the general welfare. 

I am also working on a series of conferences on "A New Ism".  The idea is that it is time to fire Capitalism because of its failure to mitigate tyranny, its failure to broadly distribute the benefits of cooperation, and its insatiable, unsustainable need for growth.  But what is "A New Ism" that will be sophisticated enough to handle the needs of people and the planet?   It is not Communism or Socialism because they don't have a coherent modern economic theory and they have failed, on the most part, to handle the rise of authoritarian tendencies and protect and celebrate individual liberty.

So, the idea is to ask people what should be in A New Ism and to stimulate a series of discussions around the topic.  I will keep you posted and it progresses.


Peace,

Michael

On 12/2/2010 12:10 AM, xxxxxxxx xxxxxx wrote:

Hi Michael,

I hope this email finds you well. The message below made me think of you.

Yours in (r)evolution,

-xxxxxx

---

To: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Fwd: A Transpartisan Moment: Special BeyondaNews Message
From: xxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.com
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 22:33:51 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: Swami Beyondananda <info@wakeuplaughing.com>
To:
Sent: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 6:17 pm
Subject: A Transpartisan Moment: Special BeyondaNews Message

November 30, 2010

The Transpartisan Moment: Join the Upwising! "It's time to face the elephant - and donkey - in the living room, and activate the uncommon wisdom of common folks to weave a web of mass-construction." -- Swami Beyondananda Dear Friends and Colleagues: We are living in what Tom Paine would have called "soul-trying" times. In the face of multiplying crises - economic, ecologic, political and spiritual - it's becoming more apparent that fundamental change is required. The good news is, what is needed isn't revolution, but evolution. The other news is, this evolutionary alternative must be clearly expressed, carefully developed, and made tangible to the millions and millions of Americans who see that something is profoundly wrong, but don't know what to do about it. Many of us have spent time and resources over the years supporting causes we believe will create a better world. Until now, the vast majority of well-meaning organizations have either worked within the system, or worked around it. It is now time to confront the elephant - and the donkey - in the living room. The bipolar insanity of a fiercely divided body politic has largely paralyzed us in the face of huge problems, as we have devolved into an orgy of impotent blame and dogmatic positioning. There is now a unique opportunity to seize the time, and take advantage of what we are playfully - yet seriously - calling "an evolutionary upwising." All across America and all across the political spectrum, people are waking up and wising up to recognize that neither political party truly represents them. And as people are awakening from the partisan trance, there is a growing Transpartisan movement, not to be confused with "bipartisanism." Transpartisan and bipartisan are two different things. The corporatist elitist element at the "center" of both parties - Brad Blanton calls them "Dempublicrats" - are now scrambling to channel the discontent with partisanship into a "bipartisan" rule that will further narrow the scope of conversation and increasingly enforce top down rules "for our own good." Or, as conservative activist Grover Norquist puts it: "Bipartisan means the Democrats and Republicans getting together to screw the American people." We the people of America - and indeed the world - are at a crossroads now. There is disheartenment in the heartland. In the past, a discontented populace would rise up to overthrow its government in a revolution. Today we are called upon to wise up and overgrow the corporate-state in an evolution. And there is very good news in this regard. Thanks to the work of pioneers like Tom Atlee and Jim Rough, and the very recent work done in Seattle through the Transpartisan Alliance, we now have the tools to use the existent polarities to activate the collective intelligence and wisdom in any community. In other words, We, the people, are finding that we have access to something "the system" lacks, wisdom. For the past eight months, we have been convening a bi-weekly prototype Transpartisan meet-up in Seattle that began with 4 people and now has 71 from all "tribes." This meet-up has served as a focus group to refine a meeting format that will keep people from all political stripes engaged on a sustained basis (allowing the group to move, month by month, through stages of empowerment from problem identification to "choice creating"). Over the course of the months, we have expressed our differences loudly and clearly - on everything from guns to health care to the role of government - but inside the container of a mutual desire to have a happier, healthier community. In Native American circles, they say, "we just speak until there is nothing left but the obvious truth." And so it has been in our circle. After exhausting ideological positions, having expressed every emotion, and having soberly recognized that we all agree the current system is unworkable, one question emerged: "So what? So what can we do about it?" With this key question came the spark of evolution. Political "children" and "adolescents" (relying on "parental corporate-government" to take care of them, rebelling when it doesn't) began to evolve into political adults. Together we came to the same realization: "It's up to us." We are at a pivotal moment now, at the beginning of a movement to reunite America - but not around worn out clichés masking the same old same old. We have the opportunity to reunite America around its true heart and soul - the "heart virtues" and values that the vast majority of us, regardless of political affiliation, agree on.

As an example of the kind of wisdom that can be generated using the energy of opposing polarities, here are some of the things that ordinary citizens - right, left and center - have agreed upon: We don't support corporate or government structures that encourage predatory behavior The democratic system is no longer representing us We don't want taxation without equal, full representation We agree that a local response is most empowering We need to balance rights with responsibility to appeal to left and right We all want to build a sense of neighborhood, tribe We all have common needs: love, autonomy, fairness, safety, basic services During the next two years these conversations will extend to every part of the country in the form of Chautauquas - a revival of the famous 19th Century community meetings of citizen policy makers - where people step away from the TV and internet, and come together on the "outernet." In coming face to face with one another outside of the bipolar, bipartisan divide-and-conquer game, the long lost moral authority of "we the people" will come to the fore. This is the only thing that can counterbalance the weight of money, and the power of money that seems to make all the decisions in this society. The first prototype Transpartisan Chautauqua will take place in Seattle on Dec. 4. It is co-hosted by three political parties and groups as diverse at Campaign for Liberty and Transition Seattle. We are also planning another in the series of Reuniting America transpartisan national leadership retreats (eight between 2004 and 2007...see alumnae.) The purpose this next retreat, planned for May 2011, is to engage leaders of national networks in seeking practical, safe, creative ways to engage their local members in self-organized meet-ups and Chautauquas in search of bottom up solutions (i.e. citizen created policy options that become attractive to officials because 80% plus can say "Yes!" to them.) We are also in the process of writing a series of e-books (that will become print books) that will serve as a manifesto to move the "up-wising" forward. Reuniting America: A Call to Evolution is designed to weave together the narratives of both left and right to enable us to come front and center to "face the music and dance together." Addressing the questions, "what's so, so what and now what," this book offers the practical experience and toolkit for transpartisan organizing. A second book, Heartland Security: From Ideal to Real Deal, is a practical guide intended to inspire deeper cross-pollinization and weaving of the various green/progressive and libertarian/conservative economic re-localization efforts. We are asking you to financially support this movement at a moment when it can make all the difference in the world. Will our children and their children grow up in a world that is healthier and more free than the one we have now? What happens in the next two or three years may very well determine whether civilization evolves to greater heart intelligence and wisdom, or whether we dissolve into neo-feudalism. If you are in a position to make a tax deductible year end gift it will fuel our writing and organizing efforts (please make checks payable to our 501c3 fiscal sponsor, Empowerment Works, Memo: Transpartisan Upwising, 1801 Lincoln Blvd., #138, Venice, CA 90291.) Alternatively, Chip-in whatever amount works for you via PayPal. NOTE: All contributors will receive a free download of our first e-book when published in early 2011. In supporting this endeavor to bring awakening, awareness, courage and functionality to our body politic, you are playing a significant role in the history of our species and civilization. We hope you will join the "upwising!" With faith in us all, Joseph McCormick and Steve Bhaerman The Transpartisan Upwising http://transpartisan.us/

Swami's Quick Links ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Swami's Ompage Wake Up Laughing E-book Spontaneous Evolution Swami Products Bruce Lipton's Website Steve Bhaerman's Notes From the Trail Blog The Transpartisan Upwising Blog

Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email: info@wakeuplaughing.com web: http://www.wakeuplaughing.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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--  With Hope, Determination, and Love, Pilgrim   pilgrim@uese.org 

I am jumping mouse

Dear Mr. Storm,

I am writing you to thank you for teaching me the story of Jumping Mouse.  It has been the template for my life and has guided me thru hard and scary times and has allowed me to reach out and try to heal great beings that it would have been so easy to hate and fear.

My "sacred mountains" and "medicine lake" are a vision given to me by the creator, by our wounded mother, to bring healing to the people on a scale that humbles me to contemplate.

But, I know that, I, a wet and shaking mouse, can be a great being, if I only allow myself to trust and be brave, to crouch as low as I can, and to jump as high as I can.

This vision centers around the rebirth of the tribes.  Hunting in old ways, using new tools.  I too am a breed.  My Aniyunwiya Great Grandmother's father was forced to give up his native ways by accepting the deed to 160 acres of land as part of the Dawes Act and turning his back on the common way of living that his people had successfully used for generations.  And, my English blood goes back to 13 signers of the Magna Carta that forced the King to submit to a rule of law -- a King to whom I am also related.   

We desperately need to hunt again as a people.  Only now we hunt money and not deer, or Bison.  But the opportunity of this time is that the new dominant power in the world is the corporation, no longer the Nation State.  2007 was the first year in human history that of the 100 largest economies in the world, the majority are corporations not governments.  The Kings have returned in Corporate form.  We must return to the pre-columbian democratic principals born of this land that inspired the American Revolution and apply them to business.

I see a New Ism being born out of the ashes of Capitalism.  Deeply informed by indigenous wisdom and the concept of sacred capital where we hunt money as a people, with the help of wise and noble chiefs, and where the benefits are shared among those who work to make them happen. 

Here is why I am writing you.   I believe that Artists can be Providers and Protectors for a people, and not just teachers.  I received my Master's Degree in Arts Management from the Yale School of Drama and wrote my thesis on harnessing the economic engine of popular media to drive the empowerment of community.

I see the return of matriarchal wisdom.  I see the guardians of the Sacred Capital taking the form of a Grandmother's Council.  We are working with Grandmother Agnes, and Grandmother Rita from the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers and see the harvest of our efforts helping to fund the work they are doing for our Mother Earth.

I believe the work you have done could be the basis of a Bison Jump.  A common hunt to not only provide you and your family with the sustenance you need to survive and thrive, but to provide the basis of the creation of an artistic clan that can show to the world what abundance, joy, prosperity, and nurturing is possible using ancient wisdom.

Peace,
Alisgia Uwohali

Michael Rogers

530-587-5160

www.shinneyboocreek.com

www.sumpeople.com

Organizational DNA for our new Metropolis

Thank you for allowing me to contact you regarding "corporate
peoplehood" -- or, to speak of it another way, "indigenous economics".

I introduce myself to you after the recent SPUR event and you gave me
your email address. I hope that I did not unduly monopolize your time
at the event and I hope that my aggressiveness in reaching out to you
was not offensive.

I grew up in the Tahoe/Truckee area but I went to Burning Man last year
for the first time because the theme of Evolution spoke so directly to
my passions (I was also getting divorced, so I was finally "allowed" to
go, but that is another story). Black Rock City was the first place in
the world that I felt that I was accepted as my genuine self -- a man
with a vision of renewal. I have always been the boring guy at the BBQ
that can't seem to focus on the latest advancement in mountain biking
technology, or the political intrigues of local Little League Baseball
draft. On the playa, I offered footbaths to the community with my
clear, clean Shinneyboo water. The baths came with or without a vision
of evolution. Only one person took it without the vision, and I
appreciated her candor and enjoyed giving her a footbath just as much as
all the others. I learned to offer my vision as a gift, without
expectation of anything in return, and that has profoundly changed my
life. Thank you for your part in providing me with that opportunity.

The theme of Metropolis is again deeply aligned with my life's work.

I believe that you cannot understand the form of any Metropolis without
looking at its organizational DNA. The large skyscrapers of San
Francisco sprang from the organizational DNA of Wells Fargo and Bank of
America just as castles and moats sprung from the organizational DNA of
medieval monarchies, just as the mighty oak springs from the
organizational DNA held within the diminutive acorn, or Black Rock City
springs each year from the organizational DNA held within the surveyor's
flags that inform the annual unfolding of the Burning Man mandala
metropolis.

An intrepid band in the High Sierra seeks to evolve the organizational
DNA of the dominant structure in society (corporations) and we believe
that the evolution will be manifested in the new metropolises we build
-- but without changing the current corporate organizational DNA then
visions of new metropolises will not be possible. We seek to create
this radical change by looking back to our indigenous roots and fusing
the best of that knowledge with new zero cost, mass coordination tools
-- tools that allow for decentralized but coordinated incorporations of
community never before possible in human history. We call it
"corporate peoplehood" and it is nothing less than the rebirth of the
indigenous tribes based on the economic models of the rabbit runs of the
Shoshone and the buffalo runs of the prairie peoples. In fact, we are
in talks with the The International Council of 13 Indigenous
Grandmothers <http://www.grandmotherscouncil.com/> to host a healing
ceremony where indigenous people forgive the wandering ones for the pain
of the past and ask them to become indigenous again and to enter into a
great economic alliance to nurture the Earth and each other with radical
love and inclusiveness.

In the 1770s in America a handful of people, inspired by the great
Iroquois Confederacy, began to dream of national peoplehood and those
dreams changed the world. In the Western European world up until that
point it was national personhood that prevailed. Europeans even went so
far as to call the monarch by the name of the state, so France and
England meant the Kings of France and England, not the people. But that
was the age of the Nation State, and now we are entering the Age of the
Corporate State and corporate personhood is dominant. 2007 was the
first year in human history that the majority of the 100 largest
economies in the world are now corporations, not governments. We
believe that now is the time for us to imagine corporations that are the
embodiment of a people -- strong, powerful, profitable corporations that
are of the people, by the people, and for the people. We believe that
an incorporation of community of this kind (Us Inc., if you will) has
the potential to become the largest economy in the world, based on the
emerging power of decentralized, coordinated economic structures (e.g.
Burning Man, Wikipedia, Linux, etc).

So enough theory, now to practical matters. We are caretaking 160 acres
of the most spectacular High Sierra county around
<http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=shinneyboo> on the Western Slope of
Donner Summit near Cisco Grove now called Shinneyboo Creek Cabins
<http://www.shinneyboocreek.com/> . We are building an economic tribe,
a democratic corporate nation on this land. We plan to build an ARC
(aggressively resource-efficient community) Ecosphere that will be a
live, shop, work, play village without cars. We will seek radical
efficiencies in the use of natural resources (and the full use of the
creativity and potential of our human resources) to liberate ourselves
from fossil fuel tyranny and to build a just, abundant, and sustainable
economy. But this is just the beginning. We are working on a regional
vision to apply these ideas to the entire Northern High Sierra.

What I ask of you, if you have made it this far, is any time you might
have to advise us. Burning Man in so many ways embodies the indigenous
economics that we are attempting to animate in our lives. Your insight
and experience would be greatly appreciated. Shinneyboo is a great
place to enjoy the High Sierra, and we would be honored to have you come
and stay in a cabin if that works for you, I travel to SF often if that
works better for you, or if you have time on the phone then that would
be appreciated (although I greatly prefer face to face communications).

Thank you for your time and consideration.

With Hope, Determination, and Love
Michael Rogers (Pilgrim)
530-587-5160