| Be La Revolucion
by Great Orion Voyager © 2009 thorkorps IT IS TIME FOR AMERICAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY: BE A SOCIAL DEMOCRAT. Don’t wait for your nation. Revolucion in your own life. BREAK THE CHAINS OF LANDLORD AND EMPLOYER. LIVE LIFE WITH PRINCIPLES. BE LA REVOLUCION. IT IS TIME FOR AMERICAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY: Social Democracy accepts the capitalist free market yet admits capitalists cannot be trusted: Public Interest requires stewardship from public agencies. Social Democracy is strong progressive tax, strong regulation of corporations, strong stewardship of ecosystems and social infrastructure, prevention of tax shelters and prevention of campaign finance corruption. Millionaires must be placed into higher progressive tax brackets so that the more money they earn, the more society will benefit. All tax shelters must be shut down. Social Democracy brings high quality of life for everyone. Britain, Canada, Australia, Scandinavia, Europe and South America enjoy Social Democracy, even as America is stuck in a Dark Age: America must catch up with the rest of the world. STRONGER PROGRESSIVE TAX: Income of US$30-50,000/year should pay 10% combined total federal, state and local taxes. $50-100,000/year = 20%, $100-200,000/year = 30%, $200-500,000 = 40%, $500,000-1,000,000 = 50%. Annual Income over $1,000,000 should pay top tax of 60% combined total federal, state and local taxes. SHUT DOWN ALL TAX SHELTERS: Millionaires keep untaxed millions in real estate, offshore bank accounts, stock market portfolios. TAX RATES MEAN NOTHING UNTIL ALL TAX SHELTERS ARE SHUT DOWN. CAPITAL GAINS must be taxed as annual income. INHERITANCE must be taxed as annual income: Income is income, regardless how it is made. END PRIVATE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS: IT IS TIME FOR PUBLIC FINANCE OF ELECTION CAMPAIGNS: Corporations lobby and bribe Congress to such extremes that Democrats and Republicans are now just one Big Business Party Ralph Nader calls the “Demopublicans.” Progress is impossible when Congress is wholly owned by global corporations: As long as politicians are forced to raise millions for election campaigns, they will continue to be bought by corporate lobbyists. These global corporations are the worst enemies of Public Interest. Public Campaign Finance is the solution. STOP ELECTION FRAUD: Private electronic ballot machines must be replaced with paper ballots publicly designed and publicly managed. FAIR TRADE MUST REFORM FREE TRADE GLOBALIZATION: Assign every local worker a corporate tax credit; assign every outsourced job a corporate tax penalty. Assign tariffs to all imported goods, services and crops to encourage local jobs, local industry and local agriculture. END CORPORATE WELFARE: States must stop bribing corporations with tax breaks. Corporations guilty of crime, such as Enron, Arthur Andersen, Worldcom, Tyco, Global Crossing, Countrywide, Harken and Halliburton, must be shut down. IT IS TIME FOR INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: Champion every Banana Farmer and Coffee Peasant and Factory Worker across the planet. ONE WORLD: One Global Job Market. Quality of Life laws, ecology laws, labor laws, human rights, the right to refuse overtime, and a minimum wage based on regional cost of living will bring higher Quality of Life for everyone. END PRIVATIZATION: Neocon fratboys privatize the public sector to steal public resources. Neocon fratboys are trying to steal your fresh water, electricity, oil, natural gas and public resources to hold the public hostage. Enron took California hostage and caused the 2001 Energy Crisis. PRIVATIZATION IS PIRACY: Privatization is more expensive and less efficient than the public sector. Halliburton and Blackwater mercenaries are stealing billions of your tax dollars accountable to no one. Pentagon generals handed cost-effective operations to Halliburton and billions simply vanished. Neocons privatized water and energy and transit, destroying Argentina and almost destroying South America. In response South America is exiling neocons. Privatization throughout the world is causing the same backlash. Libraries are offering free Internet to the public who cannot afford private Internet fees. THE INTERNET, FRESH WATER, PUBLIC TRANSIT, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PUBLIC HOSPITALS, PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES, PUBLIC UTILITIES, PUBLIC ELECTIONS, THE ENTIRE PUBLIC SECTOR, MUST BE RETURNED TO PUBLIC OWNERSHIP AND PUBLIC STEWARDSHIP. DISRESPECT MILLIONAIRES: Should you respect a criminal for getting away with crime? Scientists, doctors, engineers, professors, scholars deserve respect. But vampires deserve only contempt. Why are you working terrible jobs just to enrich millionaires who sit in mansions and do no work? Why are you working overtime to give millionaires idle time? BREAK THE CHAINS OF LANDLORD AND EMPLOYER: NO ONE SHOULD MAKE A FORTUNE WITHOUT WORKING FOR IT. END PASSIVE INCOME: Millionaires sit back and watch millions roll into their accounts, from inherited trust funds, tenant rent, stock dividends, CEO pay. Majority of the public work very hard and are dirt poor, with no assets, no stock portfolio. Your nation polarized into a millionaire passive income minority and a majority of wretched overworked slaves. Millionaires do no work, get rich from Passive Income, and have the nerve to arrogantly boast: “I DON’T WORK! I OWN!” The American Dream was supposed to reward hard work with ownership. Today workers slave forever without saving enough to buy property, while fratboys inherit real estate. Millionaire parents hand trust funds to fratboys as graduation gifts. Millions are Trust Fund Vampires. Real estate is a huge part of these trust funds: Fratboys and sorority sisters become your landlords. BREAK THE CHAINS OF LANDLORD AND EMPLOYER: NO ONE SHOULD MAKE A FORTUNE WITHOUT WORKING FOR IT. LIVE IN COMMUNAL HOUSES: JUST SAY NO TO LANDLORDS. DON'T RENT FROM ANY LANDLORD CAPITALIST. SHARE COMMUNAL HOUSES WITH HOUSEMATES. Suburban mansions should be converted into multiple tenant rooms cheap enough for any minimum wage worker to afford. Everyone should have his own bedroom. If you can afford it, have your own bathroom. But share a kitchen with housemates. Communal houses should be owned and shared by owners and renters who share our goals for Healthy Sustainable Community and Social Democracy. LANDLORDS DEVASTATE COMMUNITY: Scientists, doctors, engineers, professors, scholars work to benefit society and deserve respect. But a landlord is an entirely different species: a Vampire Parasite. What does the landlord do to justify getting rich without working, sipping champagne by his pool growing fat on tenant rent? A LANDLORD IS A CAPITALIST WITHOUT TALENT FOR PRODUCING ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE. FOREIGN REAL ESTATE SPECULATORS ARE DESTROYING YOUR HOUSING MARKET: Carpetbagger foreigners drive up your real estate prices in an absurd bubble. Your real estate will continue to serve as raw meat in an international feeding frenzy, attracting real estate sharks from across the planet, devastating your community and your quality of life. We will soon be rendered homeless, sleeping in tents in sprawling shanty favelas surrounding every American city, like favelas surrounding Manila, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Calcutta, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Mexico City. FOREIGN REAL ESTATE SPECULATION MUST BE MADE ILLEGAL. Real estate belongs to those who live on it. Foreign Carpetbaggers must be driven into the sea. SHARE COMMUNAL HOUSES WITH HOUSEMATES. Communal houses should be owned and shared by owners and renters who share our goals for Healthy Sustainable Community and Social Democracy. AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE REVOLUTION: USE AFFORDABLE CASH-ONLY MEDICAL CLINICS: BREAK THE LINK BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND HEALTH INSURANCE. No one should be held hostage to a lousy job just to keep insurance. Uninsured poor are being destroyed by medical bills. Health insurance is a scam: Every legitimate claim gets denied. Why bother having insurance if your claim will be denied? If you cannot trust insurance, it makes no sense having it, and no sense keeping a job just to stay covered. Going to a doctor should be like going to a grocery store or auto repair shop: Pay cash in clinics with prices clearly posted. Cash works better than insurance. If everyone paid cash, prices would come way down. UNIVERSAL MEDICARE is needed for expensive procedures, surgery and drugs. Universal Medicare should cover generic drugs, basic surgery and reasonable treatment. Private insurance should supplement more expensive coverage. Use Affordable Cash-Only Clinics and Universal Medicare already successful in all other advanced nations. END THE DARK AGE: GOD IS A METAPHOR AND DOES NOT EXIST OUTSIDE OF IMAGINATION. Religion is preventing progress and lowering your quality of life. No religion should be supported by school vouchers, tax exemptions or any other funding. Science, Intellect, Morality and Justice must prevail. Churches, mosques and temples should be used as secular community centers where social and ecological nonprofit organizations can serve the Public Interest. It is time to evolve. Anyone who mistakes gods as real, anyone who mistakes mythology as history, anyone who mistakes the Bible as fact rather than metaphor, should be dismissed as neurotic: When any priest or preacher or minister or rabbi or mullah spews nonsense about gods that do not exist, they should be disrespected and ignored. RELIGION IS PATRIARCHAL TRIBALISM. ALL RELIGIONS ARE CULTS. STOP PRAYING AND START LIVING MORAL IDEALS: Atheist Golden Rule: DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE DONE UNTO YOU. We walk on the Moon. We rove on Mars and Titan. We send Voyagers and Pioneers into Deep Space to other stars. We gaze to the edge of the Universe through Hubble Space Telescope. We peer into alien planets around distant stars. We bask in Enlightenment while half the world is still chained to Dark Age fear of ghosts and demons and gods that do not exist. END THE DARK AGE: It is time to evolve. Spread the Good News! STOP AT TWO KIDS: GOOD CITIZENS STOP AT TWO KIDS. GOOD CITIZENS USE BIRTH CONTROL: Birth control pills, condoms, hormone rings and implants, vasectomy and tubal ligation sterilization, and the “Morning After” fertilization prevention pill should be free and available to everyone. Birth control prevents abortion. Sterilization should be encouraged for parents. Teenagers should use birth control. USING BIRTH CONTROL IS GOOD HYGIENE: ALL RICH, ALL POOR, ALL IMMIGRANTS, SHOULD VOLUNTARILY STOP AT TWO KIDS: Decreasing population means higher Gross Domestic Product per capita: the fewer the people, the greater their share of wealth. Two kids is Zero Population Growth. Three kids is Exponential Growth, an ecological disaster: Until 1800, world population was less than one billion. Population doubled in just 130 years to two billion by 1930. Population doubled again in just 40 years to four billion by 1970. Another two billion was added in just 30 years by 2000. AT OVER SEVEN BILLION TODAY, POPULATION CANNOT CONTINUE TO GROW ON A FINITE PLANET: Overpopulation causes freshwater shortages, cropland exhaustion, fish harvest shortages, air and water pollution, excessive wastewater and solid waste, ecosystem encroachment, species extinction, loss of biodiversity and habitat, global warming, disease epidemics, famine, economic stagnation, ecological refugees, housing shortages, sprawl, traffic gridlock and decreasing quality of life. Look at your job market, cost of living, oil and resources, price of rent and real estate: YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE IS COLLAPSING DUE TO OVERPOPULATION: GLOBALIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY ARE RENDERING BILLIONS OF PEOPLE SUPERFLUOUS. ALL RICH, ALL POOR, ALL IMMIGRANTS, SHOULD VOLUNTARILY STOP AT TWO KIDS. A TIDAL WAVE OF IMMIGRANTS LOWERS WAGES, RAISES RENT, FLOODS ECOSYSTEMS AND DECREASES YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE: It is time to limit immigration. The idea that we need millions of immigrants to “fill labor shortage” is propaganda to justify importing desesperados willing to accept slave wages. IF THERE IS LABOR SHORTAGE, PAY HIGHER WAGES: Wages are set by the market price where supply meets demand. Historically there has almost never been labor shortage. The only substantial labor shortage was in Medieval Europe after the Bubonic Plague wiped out half the population, and it was solved by paying higher wages. IT IS TIME FOR MEXICAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY: Overturn NAFTA and CAFTA and WTO: NAFTA is forcing Mexico to buy American corn at dumping prices without tariffs, destroying Mexican family farmers and forcing an ocean of penniless uneducated displaced peasants to flood America. Southern California is overpopulated: Buses are packed to overcapacity every hour stuck in intolerable traffic gridlock. What are ten million uneducated migrants doing in LA County? Can LA accommodate ten million toilet cleaners, janitors and landscapers? Can you base an economy on toilet cleaning? Stay in Mexico, overthrow corrupt neoliberal government, improve education, establish worker rights, stronger unions, a living wage, Quality of Life laws. Replace Presidente Calderon with Righteous Presidente Lopez-Obrador. Social Democracy Revolution sweeping Venezuela, Bolivia and South America must sweep northward through Mexico and America: Replace Catholicism with Atheism. ALL RICH, ALL POOR, ALL IMMIGRANTS, SHOULD VOLUNTARILY STOP AT TWO KIDS. Steward the North American Ecosystem: Montezuma’s Revenge must end. RESTORE ECOSYSTEMS: Sink old ships in coral reef parks to create manmade coral reefs. Harvest fisheries at sustainable rates. Ban driftnets. Enforce the dolphin-killing ban and the whale-killing ban, and impose sanctions on nations that violate these bans. Stop garbage dumping and raw sewage dumping at sea. All oil tankers must have double hulls. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE: Use more recycled materials to decrease the price of recycled materials. PREVENT AIR AND WATER POLLUTION: American skies are cleaner today because American manufacturing moved to China, which now has the world’s worst pollution: Chinese pollution is American pollution: Air and water pollution are global problems requiring global solutions. BAN HUNTING OF DUCKS, DEER, ELK, BEARS, ALL WILD ANIMALS: All wild animals are now essential to preserve the biodiversity of our planetary ecosystem: All forms of hunting must be against the law. Hunting rifles and traps must be banned. Handguns should remain legal for personal defense. Shooting ranges should remain legal, but paper targets should no longer be animal silhouettes, only human silhouettes. If wild animals overpopulate an enclosed ecosystem and exhaust resources to starvation, wildlife rangers can cull the herd, or shoot birth control darts, or provide food as needed. ANYONE CAUGHT HUNTING MUST BE CONVICTED OF FELONY ASSAULT, sentenced to 1-10 years in prison, fined $1,000-10,000, and given psychotherapy to cure their sadistic impulse to hurt animals. Anyone conducting dog-fighting must be convicted of felony assault, sentenced to 10 years in prison, fined $10,000, and given psychotherapy. Purpose of such laws is to drive to extinction the sadistic impulse to hurt animals. BAN LABORATORY ANIMAL TESTING since virtual testing can be done without animals: ANIMALS MUST HAVE BASIC RIGHTS AGAINST ABUSE. ADOPT A VEGETARIAN DIET: Meat is murder. Meat exhausts ecosystems. A fruit-based diet is physically healthier and ecologically healthier than any meat-based diet. BUY ORGANIC PRODUCE: Buy organic fruits, vegetables and dairy bearing the official USDA Organic label. End factory farms that rely on pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, animal holding pens, and genetically modified crops. END SUBURBAN SPRAWL: It is a crime capitalists were allowed to ruin our pristine North American Eden, paved over in concrete and tar, turned into an ugly continental strip mall. Civil Engineering, Social Engineering and Social Democracy must replace failed laissez faire development to restore the beauty of our Paradise Lost: Replace Subdivision Zoning with Mixed-Use Zoning. Redesign suburbs around Bus Rapid Transit. Develop city centers, stop paving over pristine land, preserve remaining pristine land as greenbelt parks. In a mixed-use community, kids can walk to school, workers can walk to jobs, consumers can walk to market, and everyone can ride express buses to greenbelts. GREENBELTS, zones of undeveloped nature parks and trails, are needed around every city and suburb, to preserve local real estate value, to preserve wilderness and natural beauty, to restore ecosystem health, and to serve as recreation areas. Greenbelts must be accessible by public transit. USE NATURAL LANDSCAPE DESIGN to sustain native plants, birds and wildlife: Natural landscape restores ecosystems, eliminates pollution from nitrogen fertilizers and herbicides, and requires less maintenance than lawns: Cut grass requires seeding, fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide, watering and maintenance. Natural conditions require only rain. INSTALL SOLAR PANELS ON EVERY HOUSE: Houses should be powered solely by rooftop solar panels to charge batteries for use at night, supplemented by local windmill energy. Since nuclear energy cannot be made safer, it must be phased out along with oil and coal. Wind and solar energy are the growth industries of this century. END SUV TAX BREAKS: Sport Utility Vehicles are a deadly nuisance. SUV’s get only 15 miles per gallon, a despicable waste of gas. The IRS allows drivers to write off SUV’s, a scam created so General Motors can maintain an undeserved competitive advantage over foreign fuel-efficient compact sports cars. Asia and Europe are making elegant and affordable sports cars that get 40 miles per gallon: American 15mpg SUV’s are doomed obsolete dinosaurs. COMMUTE ON TRAINS AND BUS RAPID TRANSIT: The goal of transit is to bring commuters from homes to jobs in one fast comfortable ride, from a bus stop within a ten minute walk from home. Public Transit is the safest and most effective transportation. Traffic gridlock is the greatest stressor in modern life. Cars are the biggest source of air pollution. Driving is the biggest killer of healthy adults and teens. Leave driving to professionals. We need BRT express routes for every suburb. You should not be forced to drive just to survive. You should be able to commute to work and school, go shopping, visit greenbelt parks, travel interstate, without owning a car. Envision cities with no cars and no SUV's, cities where everyone rides trains and Bus Rapid Transit. WALK EVERYWHERE, DRIVE NOWHERE: Many hideously obese Americans are so fat they can barely waddle, on thighs too large to get one past the other. What in hell is happening to this nation? Car addiction causes obesity: If you want to be slender and muscular and healthy, drive nowhere, walk everywhere. Bodybuild, lift weights, use Weider principles. Never smoke. Supplement meals with tap water. Eat two meals per day. Stay hungry. Your undernourished ancestors had rock-hard abs, biceps like steel springs, and could march thirty miles in a day. Can you? END SUPERCONSUMERISM: The American lifestyle is decadent and unsustainable…. LIVE SUSTAINABLY: Break the golf clubs and skis, sell the yacht, scrap the SUV, throw out your TV, get out and take a long walk…. Ignore advertisements…. Own nothing…. Live a Spartan minimalist lifestyle.... FREEDOM is the New American Dream…. Quality of Life is defined by the amount of freedom, time and energy you have for your community…. Demanding Quality of Life, instead of retail goods, is revolutionary.... Henry David Thoreau had the right idea: “They take pride in making their dinner cost as much as possible; I take pride in making my dinner cost as little as possible.” FREEDOM ABOVE ALL: See the world. Live in many cities. Gain Wisdom. VISION QUEST: Listen to birdsong, wind through pines, ocean waves. Watch white clouds drift in blue sky, sunlight sparkling like diamonds in surf, stars shimmering like diamonds in midnight heavens. Breathe deep. Partake. Magnificent. Praise this magnificent planet and Universe: SALAAM: Praise sunrise and sunset: SALAAM: You are still alive unchained as a FREE MAN: SALAAM. Hugo Chavez, World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil, January 2005 "When imperialism feels weak, it resorts to brute force. The attacks on Venezuela are a sign of weakness, ideological weakness. Nowadays almost nobody defends neoliberalism. Up until three years ago, just Fidel Castro and I raised these criticisms at Presidential meetings. We felt lonely, as if we infiltrated those meetings. Just look at the internal repression inside the United States, the Patriot Act, which is a repressive law against US citizens. They put into jail a group of journalists for not revealing their sources. They won't allow them to take pictures of the dead soldiers coming home from Iraq, many of them Latinos. Those are signs of Goliath's weaknesses. The south also exists. The future of the north depends on the south. If we don’t make that better world possible, if we fail, and through the rifles of the US Marines, and through Mr. Bush's murderous bombs, if there is no south to resist the offensive of neo-imperialism, and the Bush doctrine is imposed upon the world, the world shall be destroyed. Every day I become more convinced, there is no doubt in my mind: It is necessary to transcend capitalism. But capitalism cannot be transcended from itself, but only through socialism, true socialism, with equality and justice. I’m convinced it is possible to do in a democracy, but not in the type of democracy imposed from Washington. We have to re-invent socialism: It cannot be the kind of socialism we saw in the Soviet Union, but it will emerge as we develop new systems built on cooperation, not competition. Privatization is a neoliberal imperialist plan. Healthcare cannot be privatized because it is a fundamental human right, nor can education, water, electricity, other essential public services. They cannot be surrendered to private capital that denies the people of their rights!" Noam Chomsky, UNDERSTANDING POWER, 2002, pp 396-399 "There’s complete disaffection about everything: People don’t trust anyone, they think everyone’s lying. The whole civil society has completely broken down. Take these guys in militias: They’re high school graduates, mostly white males, a segment of society that has really taken a beating. I mean, real wages in the United States have dropped about 20% since 1973. Their wives now have to work just to put food on the table, their families are broken up. Their kids are running wild. I mean, a lot of people don’t even read. We should bear in mind how illiterate our society has become. So these groups certainly represent a response to worsening conditions. Or take this guy called Unabomber. When I read his manifesto, I thought if I don’t know him, I know his friends—they’re the kind of people I run into on the Left all the time: demoralized, fed up, desperate. The LA riots were not a constructive response: South Central Los Angeles was just a riot, the reaction of a completely demoralized devastated poor working-class population. All people could do was mindlessly lash out, just steal from stores. The only effect was: we’ll just build more jails. Can you marginalize a large part of the population as superfluous because they’re not helping you make those dazzling profits—can you set up a world in which production is carried out by the most oppressed people for the happiness of rich people? Could it lead to a civil war? It definitely could. There’s a streak of independence and opposition to authority in the United States. It can show up in antisocial ways, like running around with assault rifles. But it can show up in healthy ways, like opposition to illegitimate authority. My friend was listening to one of my gloomy disquisitions and said: ‘Y’know, what you are describing is an organizer’s dream.’ And I think that is true.” Martin Luther King, Memphis, April 1968 "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now, because I have been to the mountaintop, and I have seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land. And I am happy tonight. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." Malcolm X, November 1963 “The House Negroes lived in the house with master. They dressed pretty good. They ate good cuz they ate his food. If master's house caught on fire, the House Negro would fight harder to put out the fire than the master would. If master got sick, House Negro would ask, ‘Oh what's the matter, boss, we sick?’ We sick! On that same plantation there was the Field Negro: The Negro in the field caught hell. He ate leftovers. The Field Negro did not get anything; he was beaten from morning to night; he lived in a shack, in a hut. He hated his master. He was intelligent. I say he was intelligent. When massa’s house caught on fire, he didn't try to put it out; that ol’ Field Nigga he prayed for a breeze! If someone came up to that ol’ Field Nigga and said, ‘Hey man let's go, let’s separate, let's run,’ he did not ask, ‘Well where we gonna run to?’ That ol’ Field Nigga say, ‘Any place better than this place, let’s go!’… Well, I’m a Field Nigga." Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar” 1837 "Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, Locke and Bacon have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke and Bacon were only young men in libraries when they wrote these books. This time, like all times, is a good one, if we but know what to do with it: If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts and there abide, the huge world will come round to him." Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature” 1836 "Crossing a bare common in snow puddles at twilight under a clouded sky, I have enjoyed a most perfect exhilaration. Standing on the bare ground, my head uplifted into infinite space, all mean egoism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all: I see the spectacle of morning. The long slender bars of cloud float like fishes in a sea of crimson light. From the earth, as a shore, I look out into that silent sea. Not less excellent was the charm, last evening, of a January sunset. The western clouds divided and subdivided themselves into pink flakes modulated with tints of unspeakable softness, and the air had so much life and sweetness that it was a pain to come within doors. The leafless trees become spires of flame in the sunset, with the blue east for their background, and the stars of dead calices of flowers, and every withered stem and stubble rimed with frost, contribute something to the mute music." Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Divinity School Address” 1838 "In this refulgent summer, it has been a luxury to draw the breath of life. The grass grows, the buds burst, the meadow is spotted with fire and gold in the tint of flowers. The air is full of birds, and sweet with the breath of the pine, the balm-of-Gilead, and the new hay. Night brings no gloom to the heart with its welcome shade. Through the transparent darkness the stars pour their almost spiritual rays. Man under them seems a young child, and his huge globe a toy. The cool night bathes the world as with a river, and prepares his eyes again for the crimson dawn. The mystery of nature was never displayed more happily.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” 1841 "Insist on yourself; never imitate: Where is the master who could have taught Shakespeare, Franklin, Washington, Bacon or Newton? Every great man is unique…. Society never advances: It undergoes continual changes; it is barbarous, it is civilized, it is Christianized, it is scientific. For everything that is given, something is taken. Society acquires new arts, but loses old instincts. The civilized man has built himself a coach, but has lost the use of his feet. He is supported on crutches, but lacks so much support of muscle. He has a fine Geneva watch, but fails to tell the hour by the sun. The man in the street does not know a star in the sky. His notebooks impair his memory, his libraries overload his wit, the insurance office increases the number of accidents, and it may be a question whether machinery does not encumber, whether we have lost by refinement some energy, by Christianity some vigor of wild virtue.... Society is a wave: The wave moves onward; the water of which it is composed does not. The people who make up a nation today, next year die, and their experience dies with them. It is only as a man puts off all foreign support, and stands alone, that I see him to be strong. He is weaker by every recruit to his banner. Is not a man better than a town? So use all that is called Fortune. Most men gamble with her, and gain all, and lose all, as her wheel rolls. A political victory, the recovery of your sick, the return of your absent friend, or some other favorable event raises your spirit, and you think good days are preparing for you. Do not believe it. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles." Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Thoreau” 1862 "Henry David Thoreau graduated Harvard in 1837, but without any literary distinction. After leaving the University, he joined his brother in teaching private school, which he soon renounced.... Never idle nor self-indulgent, he preferred when he wanted money, earning it by some manual labor agreeable to him, such as building a boat or a fence, planting, grafting, surveying or other short work. With his hardy habits and few wants, his skill in wood-craft, and his powerful arithmetic, he was very competent to live in any part of the world. His habit of ascertaining the measures and distances of objects, and his intimate knowledge about Concord, made him drift into the profession of land-surveyor. His accuracy and skill were readily appreciated, and he soon found all the employment he wanted.... "He was bred to no profession; he never married; he lived alone; he never went to church; he never voted; he refused to pay tax to the State; he ate no meat; he drank no wine; he never knew the use of tobacco; and though a naturalist, he used neither trap nor gun. He chose, no doubt wisely for himself, to be the bachelor of thought and Nature. He had no talent for wealth, and he knew how to be poor. A fine house, fine dress, the manners and talk of highly cultivated people, were all thrown away on him. He much preferred the company of a good Indian. He declined invitations to dinner-parties. He said, ‘They take their pride in making their dinner cost much; I take my pride in making my dinner cost little.’ "He chose to be rich by making his wants few: There was somewhat military in his nature, as if he did not feel himself except in opposition.... In 1845 he built himself a small framed house on the shores of Walden Pond, and lived there two years alone…. In 1847 he refused to pay his town tax and was put in jail…. No opposition or ridicule had any weight with him: It was of no consequence if everyone present held the opposite opinion.... No truer American existed than Thoreau: He listened impatiently to news from London circles, and though he tried to be civil, these anecdotes fatigued him. What he sought was the most energetic nature, and he wished to go to Oregon, not London.... But idealist as he was, standing for the abolition of slavery, he found himself not only unrepresented, but almost equally opposed to every class of reformers: Before the first friendly word had been spoken for Captain John Brown, he sent notices to most houses in Concord that he would speak in a public hall on the character of John Brown. The Abolitionist Committee sent word that this was premature and not advisable. He replied, 'I did not send to you for advice, but to announce that I am to speak!' "The length of his walk made the length of his writing, and if shut up in the house, he did not write at all. He knew the country like a fox or a bird, and passed through it as freely by paths of his own. He knew every track in the snow or on the ground, and what creature had taken this path before him: Snakes coiled round his legs; fishes swam into his hand, and he took them out of the water; he pulled the woodchuck out of his hole by his tail, and he took foxes under his protection from hunters.... No college ever offered him a diploma.... The scale on which his studies proceeded was so large as to require longevity, and we were the less prepared for his sudden disappearance. The country knows not yet, nor in the least part, how great a son it has lost." Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” 1848 "This American government: It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished, and we would have done somewhat more if the government had not got in our way. I believe we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as respect for the right: Law never made men one whit more just.... “See a file of soldiers marching over hill and dale off to the wars, against their common sense and conscience, which makes it very steep marching indeed. They have no doubt it is a damnable business. Now what are they? Men at all? Visit the Navy Yard and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make with its black arts, a mere shadow of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, yet already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniment.... “I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave's government also. There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin and Jefferson, sit down with their hands in their pockets and say they don’t know what to do, and do nothing. At most, they give only a cheap vote. Moreover, any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one.... "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison: It is there that the fugitive slave, and the Mexican on parole, and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race should find them, on that separate but more free and honorable ground, the only house in a Slave State in which a free man can abide with honor.... "Some years ago, the State commanded me to pay a certain sum toward the support of a clergyman: 'Pay,’ it said, ‘or be locked up in jail.' I declined to pay. I condescended to make some such statement as this in writing: 'Know by all ye men present that I, Henry Thoreau, do not wish to be regarded as a member of any society that I have not joined.' This I gave to the town clerk, and he has it. The State, having thus learned that I did not wish to be regarded as a member of any church, has never made a like demand on me since.... "I have paid no poll tax for six years. I was put into jail once on this account, for one night, and as I stood there considering the walls of solid stone two or three feet thick, the door of wood and iron a foot thick, and the iron grating straining the light, I was struck by the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones to be locked up. I did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of mortar and stone. As the State could not reach me, it had resolved to punish my body, just as boys, if they cannot come against some man whom they have a spite, will abuse his dog. I saw that the State was half-witted, and lost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it.... "The authority of government must have the sanction and consent of the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it. The progress from an absolute monarchy to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is progress toward true respect for the individual. There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as the higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived. A State which bore this kind of fruit would pave the way for a still more perfect and glorious State, which I have also imagined, but not yet anywhere seen." Friedrich Nietzsche, THE DAWN, 1881 "I would not know what to say to workers of factory slavery, provided they do not consider it altogether shameful to be used up as they are, as gears of a machine. Phew! To believe that higher pay could abolish your misery, to be talked into thinking that such an increase could transform the Shame of Slavery into a Virtue! Phew! To have a price upon which you become a gear! Are you co-conspirators in the current folly of nations who want to produce as much as possible and be rich as possible? What vast sums of Inner Worth are thrown away. Better to emigrate, and in savage fresh regions seek to be Master of the World and master of myself! Keep changing locations so long as slavery beckons: Never avoid adventure. Be prepared for death. What began at home as dangerous discontent will once outside gain a wild beauty and be called Heroism." Friedrich Nietzsche, DER ANTICHRIST, 1888 "What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the Will to Power, power itself. What is bad? All that is born of weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is being overcome.... Formula of my happiness: A yes, a no, a straight line, a goal.... Out of life's school of war: What does not kill me makes me stronger." Friedrich Nietzsche, 1888 “Which calling? A higher man does not worry about any ‘calling,’ precisely because he knows himself to already be called.” General George S. Patton “Man is War.” General George S. Patton, WAR AS I KNEW IT “Formula of battle victory: Speed, Simplicity, Boldness…. Move forward always: Never dig in. Never retreat. Never surrender. Move forward until your tanks run out of gas, then fight on foot to the last bullet…. Your weapons are best in the world when firing; when not firing they are junk; see that they are firing all the time…. If weather conditions are hard for you, they are just as hard on the enemy…. A pint of sweat saves a gallon of blood…. Speed saves lives…. Do not take counsel of your fears.” General George S. Patton, THE PATTON PAPERS “Do your damdest always! O you must! Do your damdest and never stop until you take that hill or your grave!” General George S. Patton, PATTON: A GENIUS FOR WAR “I am not interested in what the enemy thinks. I only want to know how much lead or iron it takes to kill him.” General George S. Patton, PATTON: A GENIUS FOR WAR “When I think of the importance of my mission I am amazed, but who is as good as I am? I know of no one…. The more I see so-called ‘Great Men’ the less I am impressed. I am better.” General George S. Patton, PATTON: A GENIUS FOR WAR “General, you can blow the damn bridge, or you can blow the damn gun, or you can blow yer damn brains out, I don’t much care which.” General George S. Patton, WAR AS I KNEW IT “A general who had been relieved came in at his own request and tried to explain to me why he was no good. I offered him a lesser command in another division, but he told me he needed 48 hours to think about it. I did not tell him, but any man who cannot make up his own mind in less than 48 hours was not fit to command troops in battle.” General George S. Patton, WAR AS I KNEW IT “If we take the general accepted notion of bravery as a quality that knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. The courageous man forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on. Discipline, pride, self-respect, and the love of glory are attributes which will make a man courageous even when he is afraid.” General George S. Patton, Commander, Third Army, Dec 25, 1944 “Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech thee, of thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for battle. Graciously harken to us as soldiers who call upon thee that, armed with Thy Power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy Justice among men and nations. Amen…. To each soldier and officer of Third Army, I wish a Merry Christmas. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We march in our might to complete victory. May God’s blessing be upon you on this Christmas Day.” General George S. Patton, Commander, Third Army, Jan 1, 1945 “From the bloody corridor at Avranches, to Brest, across France to the Saar, into Germany and now on to Bastogne, your record has been one of continuous victory. Not only have you invariably defeated a cunning and ruthless enemy, but you have overcome by your indomitable fortitude every aspect of terrain and weather. Neither heat nor dust nor floods nor snow have stayed your progress. The speed and brilliancy of your achievements are unsurpassed in military history. My sincere New Year’s wish is that we shall continue victory upon victory, our dead comrades shall be avenged, and we shall restore peace to a war-weary world. In closing I can find no fitter expression for my feelings than to quote to you the immortal words spoken by General Scott at Chapultepec when he said, ‘Brave soldiers, veterans, you have been baptized in fire and blood, and have come out steel.” General George S. Patton, WAR AS I KNEW IT “I woke up at 0300 on the morning of November 8, 1944, and it was raining very hard. I tried to go back to sleep, but finding it impossible, got up and started to read Rommel’s book, INFANTRY ATTACKS. By chance I turned to a chapter describing a fight in the rain in September 1914. This was very reassuring because I felt if the Germans could do it, I certainly could, so I went back to sleep, and was awakened at 0515 by the artillery preparation. The rain had stopped and the stars were out. The discharge of over 700 guns sounded like the slamming of so many heavy doors in an empty house, while the whole eastern sky glowed and trembled with the flashes. I even had a slight feeling of sympathy for the Germans, who must now know that the attack they had long feared had at last arrived. I remembered that I had always demanded the impossible, that I dared extreme occasion, and that I had not taken counsel of my fears.” “Toohoolhoolzote was not impressed. He crossed his arms and shifted on his feet and muttered something angrily: ‘Who are you, that you ask us to talk, and then tell me I shan’t talk? Are you the Great Spirit? Did you make the rivers run for us to drink? Did you make the grass to grow? Did you make all these things, that you now talk to us as though we were boys?’ General Howard noticed a few heads nodding in agreement. ‘What did he say?’ the general snapped at the interpreter…. Now it was White Bird’s turn to speak. He was an old medicine man, a chief from the Salmon River gold regions, and his people had seen their share of trouble with the whites. White Bird looked at Howard sternly: ‘If I had been taught from early life to be governed by the white man, I would be governed by the white man. But the earth rules me!’ General Howard moved forward threateningly: ‘Then you do not propose to comply with the orders of the government?’ Toohoolhoolzote stopped for a moment: ‘The Indians may do what they want, but I am not going on no reservation.’” Diana Yates, CHIEF JOSEPH: THUNDER ROLLING DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAINS “Riders on the storm, riders on the storm, into this house we’re born, into this world we’re thrown, like a dog without a bone, an actor out on loan, riders on the storm…. Girl you gotta love your man, girl you gotta love your man, Take him by the hand, make him understand, The world on you depends, our life will never end… riders on the storm.” Jim Morrison, The Doors, “Riders on the Storm” “When you look into the abyss, the abyss looks into you.” Friedrich Nietzsche “ “I spoke into his eyes: I thought you died alone, a long long time ago. O no! Not me! We never lost control! You’re face to face with The Man Who Sold The World.” David Bowie, “The Man Who Sold The World” “Where do bad folks go when they die? They don’t go to heaven where the angels fly. They go to a lake of fire and fry. Don’ see ‘em again till the Fourth of July.” The Meat Puppets, “Lake of Fire” “Now I’m not looking for absolution, forgiveness for the things I do, But before you jump to any conclusions, Try walking in my shoes, try walking in my shoes. You’ll stumble in my footsteps, to keep the same appointments I kept, If you try walking in my shoes, try walking in my shoes.” Martin Gore, Depeche Mode, “Walking In My Shoes” Sieglinde: “Yes drifter, I would be glad to know thy name!” Siegmund: “No one would ever call me Peaceful, since my life is violent fighting and woe everywhere I go, therefore call me Woeful.” Hunding: “The goddess who determined your fate did not love you, since no man welcomes you in his house!” Siegmund: “Deep in my heart a smoldering fire burns.” “Throughout his life he sees, he battles constantly, this fight he cannot win, A tired man, he no longer cares, the old man then prepares to die regretfully. That old man he is me. What I’ve felt, what I’ve known, never shine through what I’ve shown. Never be, never see, won’t see what might have been. What I’ve felt, what I’ve known, never shine through what I’ve shown. Never free, never me, so I dub thee Unforgiven…. You label me, I label you, so I dub thee Unforgiven.” James Hetfield, Metallica, “Unforgiven” “All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did.” TE Lawrence, SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM, 1922 “And the road becomes my bride, I am stripped of all but pride, So in her I do confide, and she keeps me satisfied, gives me all I need, And dust in throat I crave, only knowledge will I save, to this game you stay a slave, Rover, wanderer, nomad, vagabond, call me what you will, But I take my time anywhere, free to speak my mind anywhere, redefine anywhere, Anywhere I roam, where I lay my head is home, wherever I may roam. And the earth becomes my throne, I adapt to the unknown, Under wandering stars I grow, find myself but not alone, I ask no one, And my ties are severed clean, less I have the more I gain, off the beaten path I reign, Rover, wanderer, nomad, vagabond, call me what you will, But I take my time anywhere, free to speak my mind anywhere, do my time anywhere, Anywhere I roam, where I lay my head is home, Carved upon my stone, my body lie yet still I roam, yeah, Wherever I may roam, wherever I may roam.” James Hetfield, Metallica, “Wherever I May Roam” “All the federales say they coulda had him any day, they only let him get away out of kindness I suppose.” Townes Van Zandt, “Ballad of Pancho and Lefty” performed by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard “All my life my heart has sought a thing I cannot name.” Remembered line from a long-forgotten poem, from HELL’S ANGELS by Hunter Thompson “Tell them how my life is one big adventure.” Peter Gabriel “You are flawless, absolutely flawless, and more than just some fukd up piece of ass.” George Michael “Hey! Wait! I’ve got a new complaint! Forever in debt to your priceless advice!” Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, “Heart Shaped Box” “Nothing seems to break me, no matter how hard I fall, nothing can break me at all.” Soundgarden “I’m so far from where I intended to go.... Wish I had the charm to attract the one I love, but you see, I’ve got no charm…. And you can tell I never really loved, you can tell by the way I sleep all day. And all my life no one gave me anything, no one has ever given me a thing…. My love is as sharp as a needle in your eye, you must be such a fool to pass me by.” Morrissey, “Seasick Yet Still Docked” "Our unsleepable friend gets the message on an ill wind, all your friends and your foes would rather die than to have to touch you, to say the least they are truly disappointed, truly, truly, truly.... Don't talk to me now about people who are nice, cuz I've spent my whole life in ruins because of people who are nice. This world may lack style I know, but each bud must blossom and grow.... This is the last song I will ever sing. No I've changed my mind again. Goodnight and Thank You." Morrissey, "Disappointed" “As a young child Audrey Carsons wanted to be writers because writers were rich and famous. They lounged around Singapore and Rangoon smoking opium in a yellow pongee silk suit. They sniffed cocaine in Mayfair and penetrated forbidden swamps with a faithful native boy and lived in the native quarter of Tangier smoking hashish and languidly caressing a pet gazelle.” William S. Burroughs, “The Lemon Kid,” EXTERMINATOR! 1973 “Wooden ships on the water very free and easy, easy you know the way life is supposed to be. Silver people on the shore let us be, talking about very free and easy.” David Crosby, CSN&Y, “Wooden Ships” “Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you got till it’s gone, They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” Joni Mitchell, “Big Yellow Taxi” “California Rest In Peace.” Red Hot Chili Peppers “Hi Spirit!” Timothy Treadwell “Maybe I’m crazy, maybe you’re crazy, maybe we’re crazy, probably.” Gnarls Barkley remix “Too many brothers daily heading for the pen, Niggas coming out worse off than they went in…. Tired of being trapped in this vicious cycle. If one more cop harrasses me I just might go psycho.... They got me trapped... trapped… trapped…. One day I'm gonna bust, blow up on this society. Why did ya lie to me? I couldn't find a trace of equality. Work me like a slave while they lay back, Homey don't play that… They got me trapped... trapped… trapped…. Live my life in a prison cell, I'd rather die than be trapped in a living hell. They got me trapped... trapped… trapped.” Tupac Shakur, “Trapped” “You just stood there screaming, fearing no one was listening to you, They say the empty can rattles the most, the sound of your own voice must soothe you, Hearing only what you want to hear, knowing only what you've heard, You, you're smothered in tragedy, and you're out to save the world? Misery, you insist that the weight of the world should be on your shoulders, Misery, there's much more to life than what you see, my friend of misery. You still stood there screaming, no one listening to these words you tell, My friend before your voice is gone, one man’s fun is another’s hell. These times are sent to try men’s souls, but there’s something wrong with all you see, You, you take it all on yourself, remember, misery loves company. Misery, you insist that the weight of the world should be on your shoulders, Misery, there's much more to life than what you see, my friend of misery.” James Hetfield, Metallica, “My Friend of Misery” “So close no matter how far, couldn't be much more from the heart, Forever trust in who we are, no nothing else matters. Never open myself this way, life is ours we live it our way, All these words I don’t just say, no nothing else matters. Trust I seek and I find in you, every day for us something new, Open mind for a different view, no nothing else matters…. Never cared for what they say, never cared for games they play, Never cared for what they do, never cared for what they know, and I know. So close no matter how far, couldn't be much more from the heart, Forever trust in who we are, no nothing else matters.” James Hetfield, Metallica, “Nothing Else Matters” Nelly Furtado, "All Good Things" "Honestly what will become of me, don't like reality, it's way too clear to me. But really life is dandy, we are what we don't see, miss everything daydreaming. Flames to dust, Lovers to friends, Why do all good things come to an end? Flames to dust, Lovers to friends, Why do all good things come to an end? Come to an end, come to an, Why do all good things come to an end? Come to an end, come to an, Why do all good things come to an end? Traveling I only stop at exits, wondering if I'll stay young and restless. Living this way I stress less, wanna pull away when the dream dies. Pain sets in, I don't cry, only feel gravity, and I wonder why, Flames to dust, Lovers to friends, Why do all good things come to an end? Flames to dust, Lovers to friends, Why do all good things come to an end? Come to an end, come to an, Why do all good things come to an end? Come to an end, come to an, Why do all good things come to an end? Well the dogs were whistling a new tune, barking at the new moon, Hoping it would come soon, so that they could, Dogs were whistling a new tune, barking at the new moon, Hoping it would come soon, so that they could Die die die die die die. Flames to dust, Lovers to friends, Why do all good things come to an end? Flames to dust, Lovers to friends, Why do all good things come to an end? Come to an end, come to an, Why do all good things come to an end? Come to an end, come to an, Why do all good things come to an end? Well the dogs were barking at the new moon, Whistling a new tune, hoping it would come soon, And the sun was wondering if it should stay away for all day till the feeling went away. And the sky was falling on the clouds were dropping the rain forgot to bring salvation. Dogs were barking at the new moon, whistling a new tune, hoping it would come soon, So that they could die." Eric Idle, "The Galaxy Song" "Whenever life gets you down Mrs. Brown, And things seem hard or tough, And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft, And you feel you've had quite enooooough: Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving, And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour, That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned, A sun that is the source of all our power. The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see, Are moving at a million miles a day, In an outer spiral arm at 40,000 miles an hour, Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way. Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars, It's a hundred thousand light years side to side. It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light years thick, But out by us, it's just 3,000 light years wide. We're 30,000 light years from galactic central point, We go round every 200 million years, And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions In this amazing and expanding universe. The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding, In all directions it can whizz, As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know, Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is. So remember when you're feeling very small and insecure, How amazingly unlikely is your birth, And pray there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, Cuz there's bugger all down here on Earth!" |