Words of Wisdom: Barack Obama; Politics of Hope

If there is a child on the South Side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription drugs and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.
It is that fundamental belief - that I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper - that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.
E pluribus unum. Out of many, One.
Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and White America and Latino America and Asian America - there's the United States of America.
The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States, and yes, we've got some gay freinds in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.
We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. In the end, that's all that matters. Do we participate in politics of cynicism, or do we participate in politics of hope?
I'm not talking about blind optimism here - the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't think about it, or that the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. I'm talking about something more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs. The hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores. The hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta. The hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds. The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.
Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty.
The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.

--Barack Obama; Democratic Senator from Illinois; Book: Dreams from My Father

Illegal Immigration

Hot topic of the week. There has always been an "illegal immigration" problem in this country since it was founded. Ever since the pilgrims landed on plymouth rock. This is such a mindless controversy and an obvious ploy to divert attention from much more serious issues at hand: namely political corruption and bad decision making at the top levels of government. Instead of that, we have a much more "important" topic to talk about. A topic that is intended to stir up controversy and media attention. America Is A Nation Of Immigrants! The house majority leader Bill Frist says we should simply deport all 11 million immigrants currently living within the U.S.... Remember a kid named Elian Gonzalez? Yea he was real easy to deport.... Now take that and multiply it by 11 million. No problem at all! Illegal immigrants are one of the main reasons our economy has survived and remained competitive in the past decade. How else would we have below-minimum wage labor? It's yet another issue of supply and demand. Sure these people are here illegally and that's the key word. But why? Because there's a demand for them here. They aren't criminals by any means; at least by how I define a criminal. They came here to work as hard if not harder than any of us and at the same time get paid crums and leftovers from exploding corporate profits. They know how easy it is to get here, and they know that the immigration laws here are a joke. So they see the opportunity and they take it. This is no fault but our own.

This is a problem that can't be solved idealogically. It's not black and white issue. There has to be a more realistic approach. Policing the border, enforcing the ban on hiring illegal aliens, denying temporary visas to those likely to remain permanently, and all the other things necessary to reduce illegal immigration will take time and cost money. However, since the cost of illegal immigration to the federal government alone is estimated at over $10 billion a year, significant resources could be devoted to enforcement efforts and still leave taxpayers with significant net savings.

Immigration laws againt employers are going completely unregulated under this presidency. If you want to fix the problem, you have to start at the top. Employers who hire and pay illegal immigrants less than minimum wage aren't benefiting society by avoiding income tax laws. Regulation wouldn't cost anymore money than it would take to round up 11 million people and kick them across the border. But since George Dubya Bush, his administration and the majority of the people in power have proven over and over again that they cater specifically to big business interests, business regulation seems to be out of the question.

As much as I disagree with the direction this country is heading in, there's no way I can deny that this is one, if not the greatest nation on earth. Every patriot would agree. Now take that same logic and put yourself in the shoes of someone born somewhere else into poverty stricken conditions. You would want to get here too. So why is it that the american dream was good enough for my great-grandparents who came here from sweden and norway, and not good enough for immigrants trying to get here today? Thats the big question.

Jay Leno: "The Good News Is That Congress Is Cracking Down On Illegal Immigration. The Bad News: A Head Of Lettuce Will Now Cost $300" ...

The Point of Blogging

I probably won't get too many hits on this website, and that doesn't bother me. But I don't think that ignoring any problem will make it go away, and I definetly don't think that "ignorance is bliss", so I choose not to ignore it. The point of this blog is to help me map out my own beliefs, and hopefully get some feedback from other people. My parents call me a "deep thinker". I hate that because I really truly believe that every single person in the world should be asking tough questions that don't have easy answers. (Were all deep thinkers and I guess I just have a hard time keeping my thoughts in my head) Everyone should know their own nation's history, everyone should know its policies. Everyone needs to know this in order for our government to work as a real democracy. If you pay any attention to the news, you already know that things are pretty screwed up.... terrorism, disease, starvation, war, corruption, fundamentalism, genocide, just to name a few. I for one feel restless just sitting back and doing nothing about it. The only way that these things can be fixed is if they're first discussed in detail. No one I know that's my age is very interested in trying to make a difference; mainly because they see our world as static and non-changing. They see history as a broken record, constantly repeating itself. "No matter what I do, or however much I talk about it, I'm never going to change the world or make any difference". (this idea is the one and only thing that undermines politics; nobody gives a damn) Or, maybe they don't want to turn into a 'spaz' like me. You can make a difference though, and it's easy. I know, I know, there's more than 6 billion people on the planet and millions of websites on the internet. How much voice can one college kid have? My answer: who cares? Probably not too much. But this is for me just as much as its for whoever's reading this right now... and thanks for caring by the way.

P.S. It's my 21st b-day today so send some money; and I'm wishing for a bottle of Cap'n Morgans and a case of Premiums... I'm lookin at you fatty, stinky and baldy :P

P.S.S. Point of Blogging, short answer: Echo Effect

Office of Shared Solutions

It's amazing that in this country, we don't have a department in government that specifically looks at success stories and useful ways of confronting challenges around the globe. Just like scientific analysis, this department would logically analyze policies around the globe that have produced successful results, and creatively come up with brilliant solutions to our most basic problems. This would help create departments at every level of government focused on the creation of peace and the dissemination of information about what works to produce the highest benefit for humankind in every area of human endeavor. To date, the concept of Shared Solutions has not received much attention from humanity's power structures.

Solutions to our most basic problems are being created all the time, with many of them actually put into place and functioning effectively on the ground right now - but nobody knows about them. The result is that we continually have to "reinvent the wheel" from location to location, all around the world. Almost every human problem has been solved somewhere. Yet sharing solutions that have been created by our most imaginative minds is something humanity is not doing at anywhere near the level of which we are capable. The simple application of already existing technology would make it possible for the human race to map out functional strategies with which to approach virtually any challenge.

What might be the problem? Creating the best educational program possible - better than anything now being offered in almost all the places on the earth? It's already been done. Providing health care for all in an affordable and effective way? It's already been done. Eliminating starvation and deep hunger as a human experience, regardless of a person's ability to pay? It's already been done. So What Is The Challenge? Curing the most ravaging diseases of which we are aware? Done. Governing ourselves in a way that provides a high quality of life, equal opportunity, and maximum freedom of expression for all? Humanity's already done that. Reducing crime by cleaning up ghettos, and transforming the breeding grounds where criminal behaviors are born by creating new hope and real opportunity in the lives of those who would commit them? Been there, done that. We Know How To Do That. What is the challenge we think we cannot overcome, the problem we think we cannot solve?

Increasing tolerance and reducing conflict among people of differing cultures, races, beliefs, and histories? Humanity has already done that; we know how to deal with it without military intervention. The list of our ills is endless, and the list of solutions we have found is equally long. The problem is not that we have failed to find any solutions, the problem is that we have failed to share them - and in a startling number of cases we don't even know about them. Or, worse yet, we do know about a solution, but believe, for the flimsiest of reasons, that we cannot put it into place. And the reason we give? We can't afford it!

This is the economic model in most places on earth: that unless there is a financial profit to be made, we cannot bring ourselves to muster sufficient resources to solve our most difficult problems. Until most recently, people died unnecessarily all over the planet because they could not obtain certain medicines - because the prices required by drug companies placed those medications out of the reach of the poverty-stricken. Those same companies worked hard to prohibit generic drugs containing the same formulas from being introduced into the local marketplace, thus ensuring that their products would be the only curatives available. Only after being literally shamed into it did some of those companies finally begin seeking ways to work with people and governments in the world's economically depressed areas to make certain drugs available. Still, in our world, access to all the wonders and miracles of modern medicine is largely a matter of money, of how much one has to spend on such things as quality of life, and survival.

It seems to me that only when we see someone else's problems as our problems, and someone else's challenges as our challenges, will we see the benefit of establishing, in every country on earth, a National Office of Shared Solutions, and global office as well. It is remarkable that we haven't done so up to now.

--To see a good example of an effort to share solutions, go to http://www.evolve.org/

Spirituality Demonstrated Defined

Spirituality: An inner sense of something greater than oneself. Recognition of a meaning to existence that transcends one's immediate circumstances.
This in no way is suppose to represent the beliefs of any particular religion or doctrine. Spirituality is extremely personal and different from person to person. It's all what you make of it. But as a whole:

Politics is our spirituality, demonstrated
Economics is our spirituality, demonstrated
Education is our spirituality, demonstrated
Relationships are our spirituality, demonstrated
Sexuality is our spirituality, demonstrated
Your life is your spirituality, demonstrated


Our spirituality is what we say and know in our hearts to be true. It is what we think of the divine, and how we try to emulate that. It is our intent and our hope for a better world. If your intention is to get to Los Angelos and your headed east towards New York, your obviously going in the wrong direction. Most of us agree that the direction in which we want to head is a world that lives in peace, harmony, equality and happiness. If you know anything about the world we live in, thats just not the case. This isn't a matter of what is "right" or "wrong". When we say we want to get somewhere, and were headed in the opposite direction, our map is most likely upside down. The system doesn't work. War doesn't work. Government and politics do not represent the wants and needs of ordinary citizens. We've seen this time and time again. Once everyone stops and recognizes that, we can then move on and try to fix what's "broke". Awareness is the first step in change. This website is devoted to awareness. I don't have any "answers", just suggestions and ideas. This isn't self righteous... this is a BLOG, you can put in all the opinions you want by the click of your mouse.

-- scientists have predicted that in this image alone, there could be as many as 50 Million Galaxies. There are roughly 100 Billion stars in our Milky Way. If that doesn't put things into perspective, nothing will.

Welcome to Matt's Blog!

1. If you know anything about me, you already know how passionate I am about politics and spirituality. That's why I created this blog. I've been posting a lot of my opinions on AIM but never have enough room to really get across what I'm trying to say. Blogging is the new online craze and I guess I'm just jumping on the band wagon. But this is a perfect place for me to really get my message across to everyone I know and hopefully more. Straight to the point: I think that everything we do and everything we believe stem from our ideas about the most basic truths concerning God and our reality. If you think "spirituality" is a generic term, just think of it as your conscience; they are the exact same thing. The main point that I want to get across in this blog is that not only in this nation but all across the world, people have isolated themselves and distanced themselves from one another. For thousands of years we've been taught by our spiritual leaders that we are All God's Children. Go ahead, call me a "hippy" or a "bleeding heart" but there's no way you can deny that fact. If you don't believe in God, great... just use your conscience (spirituality) to lead you to the same truth: that we are All Equal. There is no running from this. I created this blog because I really want people to sit back and think about this statement. I mean really really think about it. Take a minute............. Ok now that you've thought about that, start looking at everything else in the world individually, from politics to your daily activities and then ask yourself: Does this serve all of us as a whole?