ToGerry Art in Responce to Comment on "Remarks by the President ...."

"Political rhetoric"
If our representatives communicate with us in any other way they are not doing there job.
Political rhetoric is effective government talk, isn't it?

It seems their talk is not effecting you as they hoped it would.

ToGerry Art in Responce to Comment on "Remarks by the President ...."

I am no longer able to respond to 'comments' to this blog!

The State of the Union has been supposed to be a political report to Congress rather than a campaign speech. Recent State of the Union reports have tended to combine a report to Congress with a  report to 'the people' along with a little campaigning.
What did you expect from this report?
What would you have liked to have had included in this report?
What sorts of things would you like to hear in future State of the Union addresses?

Old and Slow

A short couple of months before OWS two young acquaintances suggested starting a 'movement.' I started drafting a post of that experience then. I just ran across that start. Thought that it might still be worth 'finishing' and posting.

I told them that I didn't know what they meant by 'movement.' It seemed that they weren't very clear about it either. Though perhaps in their own minds they were clear enough.

I told them that I was willing to talk with them, but they wanted more than 'talk.'

They reminded me that I had mentioned 'organizing' as something useful. I told them to go organize. They asked me how. I suggested that the try 'talking.' They were tired of talk and wanted something more than talk. Also, they were not sure what I meant by 'talk.' I told them that if the wanted, I would help them learn more about effective talk. They had experience with talk and were interested in doing something other than talk.

I was perhaps I was doing more telling than was supportive of good talk. So, I told them that doing was okay with me. They said that they wanted to do organization. Organization seemed  big medicine to them and they wanted help in using that powerful magic.

I mentioned that organization was most often for an objective. They mentioned making things better; things like politics, economics, society, and like that. I said that betterment of those things seemed a grand objective, perhaps too grand.

I then called their attention to the fact that I seem pretty disorganized to some. I told them that I didn't have a family of my own (a pretty traditional organization); that I didn't belong to any organization; that I didn't have a job; that I was no longer the member of a political party.

That took them back a bit.

I told them that I intended to avoid taking part in any organization, movement, or group, that didn't include a lot of ongoing talk.

"Talk about what?" they asked.

"Everything" I answered a bit extravagantly.

Them: Be more specific.

me: Values, assumptions, dialogue skills, clarification of meanings.

Them: We want more than talk.

me: okay.

them: We want you to help.

me: I'll try to help by talking.

them: Okay we are talking.

me: What do you value?

them: Freedom, justice, fairness.

me: What's valuable about freedom?

them: This seems more like interrogation than talk.

me: I just want to understand what we are talking about.

them: A Movement. Freedom to have a movement.

me: I've had two already today, both satisfying.

them: That's a lot of shit.

me; I value shit and assume that it is important to you. Okay, I might consider doing something with you, but it must include a lot of dialogue as I have mentioned. There are other things that I would probably insist on, like no violence and no leaders.

them: can your dialogue and two 'nos' make a movement?

me: I don't think so. Think about it. It might be a start.

them; See you later, maybe.

me: Bye.

Will Rogers

 I don't know whether Will Rogers was a Republican or a Democrat, a Conservative or a Liberal. I do know that he considered himself a political man. I also know he is famed for saying, "I never met a man I didn't like."


I do know that he was so well liked that radio networks were silenced for half an hour to observe his death. More than 50,000 people walked past his open casket. His statue was placed in our capitol so that he could "Keep an eye on Congress."


He was proud of of his ties to the Cherokee Nation and knew what that people had suffered in the Civil War.


He once wrote, "You can be killed just as dead in n unjustified war as you can in one protecting your own home." I don't remember the context, but it still sounds true to me.

"Political?"

We don't need a 'party' to be politically organized. We don't need a 'union' to be politically organized.

We do need a better understanding of what 'political' means.

Kick the Rascals Out

Kick the rascals out; and then what?

Fellow Citizen,

Please help me to ask a useful question. Help me find a useful answer.

I don't feel represented. I know that there is a process through which I am assigned a representative. I know about the vote. Still I do not feel represented.

I know that I am somehow grouped with people at State, Federal, and local levels and that we are assigned as a group to be 'represented' by an 'elected official.' I don't know the people with whom I am grouped and have no personal relationship with the elected official. And, I do not feel represented.

I am not at all sure about which question to ask or to whom I might address it.

Let me try to form questions which may be useful -- or not:
~ In what sense is 'my political representtive' mine?
~ What 'political' decision making is available to me?
~ What power does political representative have to facilitate communication among citizens.
~ Where is my political power?

It seems that my most informed decision is to give up.

Political Strategy

Let's keep American blood and bullets out of Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, and as many other places as we can.

Let's begin to build a stronger and wiser foreign policy and political strategy that we all mostly understand.

Let's try to ask questions first and shoot later a bit more often.