To Vote for Stein or Johnson and What is the Role of the Federal Government in Our Lives?

Hello,

So I've been thinking...

I have a question I want to ask you. What should the role of the Federal Government be in our lives?  I'm thinking about who I want to vote for President. So far I'm leaning towards Gary Johnson, although I still might vote for Jill Stein as I greatly respect her and her ideas. (And for the record, out of the candidates who are likely to win, I would much rather have Obama than Romney. I loathe Romney and his one percenter fat cat big banker backers.)

Johnson represent libertarian philosophy which minimizes the place of the federal government in our lives. It says that people can take care of themselves better than the government and that the flow of the free market is best when it comes to managing our economy. Here is a link to his website to learn more about him and his ideas: http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/

Stein on the other hand, wants a 'green new deal' sort of a FDR approach which says the federal government is 'of, by, and for the people." With a Stein approach we can think of the government as our helper, our protector, and most importantly, 'we the people' make up the government. We are all part of the government. Here is a link to her website to learn more about her and her ideas: http://www.jillstein.org/

So we have two distinct directions, and I'm not sure which way I want to go. In ways, I feel like this debate is playing out on national level, as Obama and Romney both represent more mainstream and muddy watered down versions of the same ideas that Jill Stein and Gary Johnson represent.

I'm reminded by the words of Martin Luther King Jr who said,

"Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social, and the Kingdom of Brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of Communism nor the antithesis of capitalism but in a higher synthesis."

But unfortunately, no candidate running represents this type of synthesis between two idealogically opposed directions for our country. And when it comes to voting, I can only cast one vote for one candidate.

What do you think?

An Experiment in Fundraising

Hello Y'all,


It is nice to reconnect with y'all via this blog. Thank you for reading this. So, what have I been up to lately? Getting ready to MC the Community Alliance of Lane County Cornocopia Celebration. Also I will be performing at Occupy Eugene's One Year Anniversary! Progress is being made on my album. I met with a friend last week who is designing the album cover. Also stayed up til 3 on Friday night and 1 am last night mixing songs and working on beats.

But what I want to tell you about now, is my experiment in grant writing. As some of you might now, I have been collaborating in the creation of the Eugene Philanthropy Network. Our idea is this: we as the people need to take care of each other. In an era of budget cuts and social deterioration, we hope to build a framework within Eugene that creates a resilient community.

Our first action is one October 15th as we have organized a project to fix some potholes in sidewalks of the Whiteaker District, and if time and energy are permitting, we will also do some guerilla gardening on this day. Why fix potholes? Well we have been told that the Whiteaker neighborhood council has applied for a grant three times to try to get money to fix some potholes. Every time they have been denied, so we as concerned citizens are choosing to take matters into our own hands...

Also, we are building a bicycle generator and that is the topic of this blog. Below is a document that I wrote last week and sent off for a 500 dollar grant to help build this bicycle, I wrote the document in MS Publisher which doesn't convert to this blog easily so I have saved the file as a JPG which makes it black and white instead of color :(  Nonetheless, I'm excited for this opportunity to build a mobile media machine. Please contact me if you have any questions, thoughts, or if you would like to contribute. We also will be launching an indie go go campaign so stay tuned.

Peace, Love, Joy, Wisdom...
-Plaedo