Word Economic Changes

Changes in private capitalism and state capitalism which are affecting us all, including our children and youth. Changes in India, China, Russia, and countries around the world are important for us now. We can benefit greatly by developing a larger more realistic view of our world economy.

RCS

To Readers of Governance With RCS.

Readers and Viewers of This Site

I am glad that you are here!

Following are some "house keeping" notes.

These days I am adding only about four posts a year, but as you read this there are already over 120 posts to read or view. Most are essays and there are several good videos.

I like your comments on the content here, including your: suggestions, additions, questions. I especially like your specific comments on specified comments. Even so you could tell me of a post which needs updating or removal. However, you probably have noted that my posts are for the ages.

You may need to make your comments on the content of this blog at our Mago Bill blog for awhile. Our "comments" app here has disappeared. Check the "comments" post just before this post.

Thank you for reading.

Keep coming back!

Richard

"Comments" App For This Governance Site

Hello Valued Readers!

I want to hear from you, but I find I am providing you with a way to communicate on this blogsite! I will begin to try to reestablish the "comments" app, but I have found that reestablishment can be a slow process. So, In the meantime you can make comments on the content here on one of our associated sites. I suggest Mago Bill. Click on Mago Bill here. You can copy the URL when you get there if yo so wish.

Remember I appreciate any remarks about content. You can make suggestions, ask questions, tell me your related interests, or make a comment. I find that many readers enjoy your comments as much as I do. A few commenters find "comments" a useful tool.

When you use "comments" at Mago Bill for Governance With RCS please do the following. Clearly indicate that you comment refers to this governance site.

I can prove useful to give a name, your name is good. Or, you could use a "nam de plum." It is useful to continue using the same name. No, name can work. But, if you do not indicate Governance With RCS your comment could be lost.

Thank you for your interest.

Keep coming back!

Showing up can be a useful practice.

Richard.

Two Steps to Better Citizenship and to Better Government

This is an introduction to a two step way to better governance

Taking one step beyond the step beyond takes one far:

Try this method on one of the questions below. Say something about the method in "comments" below this post. Or, better yet, say something specific about one of the questions.

Try your best to give an answer two one or two of the questions below. Then, considering the question and your answer to it, consider a useful next step which you could take. Briefly, that is the two step method.

Here are some starting questions for you. You can pretend that they are your own:

~ How do I begin to trust?

~ How might I evaluate the air I breath?

~ Who can I talk with about these questions?

~ What do I know about how our local water problems are being solved?

~ Who around me covers local political doings around us and passes on the info?

~ Why do bond issues keep being past even though we know that they increase our common debt.

~ How do I find answer to questions about citizenship, government, governance and the like?

~ How can I get useful answers from a source that knows more about what is going on than I do?

~ How am I getting my questions answered?

~ As we lapse into ignorance about the doings and happenings around us, what is becoming of us.

What can I do to take better care of myself: socially, politically, as a citizen, as part of my community?

~ How do I usefully identify local problems which effect me? I mean our real local, critical, long range situations now?

~ What is democracy good for?

~ How do I tell how one thing is truer than another?

~ How can I keep in better touch with with the doings of our town, city, county, or state?

~ How can I more usefully co-operate with others?

~ How do I show up?

~ How do I participate?

~ What now links. public officials to voters?

~ With whom do I talk it over? Or, Who do I talk about it with?

~ How do we form a common understanding of that which is important to us now?

~ Who are we?

~ What am I willing to do to take better care of myself as a part of a community, as a citizen, politicly, socially.

~ Where might usefully show up?

~ What real question of mine will I find answers to?

You could find notions, points of views, and a few facts among the other posts essays, and videos on this blogsite useful and/or interesting. There are several apps here to help you explore this site.

Take care of yourself.

bye for now,

Richard

Organization: First Notes.

We know that organization increases our power enormously. We know that our organization informs and educates us well.

We are capable of forgetting the pleasures and satisfactions of organization. I expect that the pleasures and satisfactions I am recalling just now will not be the same as yours. Still among mine you may find one or two of yours.

I have an interest in ad hoc organizations and and those of longer term.

Below are many of my personal likes in organizations. You may find some of your likes listed.

An organization which attracts me often has:

~ members who feel connected, involve, and respected.

~ the motive of helping me and others to thrive.

~ a clear understanding of costs and benefits.

~ members who promote widespread participation and responsibility.

~ members who embrace reality and who are willing to approach the truth.

~ members who value honesty and justice.

~ a mission I find valuable and pleasing.

~ plenty of talk in which all participate.

An organization which pleases me is one which:

~ Keeps me in the information loop.

~ most members feel well connected with leadership.

~ Makes very clear who pays how much and who gets what.

~ moves in the direction of democracy.

~ tends to be inclusive.

~ tends to safeguard that which I value.

~ includes those who study and promote actions good for me and others.

~ advocates and protects people and process important to me.

~ promotes dialogue which leads to appropriate action.

I find an organization congenial when it includes:

~ teaching the process of organizing.

~ the purpose of advocating and protecting me.

~ objectives very like my own.

~ intelligent, respectful, loving ladies.

I am very interested in hearing your thoughts on organization. I expect to post more about organization and organizing. Dialogue skills are organizational skills for all participants in society.

Tell me what congeniality, pleasures, and attraction you would like to find in your organization for self-governance,

More as soon as I can.

RCS

Co-operation: vital to governance

Governance begins with co-operation and ends without co-operation.

Co-operation:

We know what co-operation is and we have some idea of how to do it. It takes some attention and practice. It's working together, sometimes with no boss. For a wise man it is working together for our mutual benefits with the clear awareness that it benefits each of us personally as well. With practice we can make it work for us very well.

C0-operation is an art or craft that nearly all of us know something about. It is a bit like "If you'll scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" So, its a reciprocal process. Even so, there is much that we can learn about it. I believe that we can and should learn more of the use and practice of co-operation.

Co-operation can lead us to friendship, trust, brotherhood, and sisterhood to. We learn more about people in co-operation by: working with them, observing them, listening to them, and talking with them.

Co-operation is vital for self-governance. For me self governance is taking care of ourselves. Taking care of one's self is mostly a co-operative affair these days, even though it is still much like being one's own boss. We also do self-governance together with others for our mutual benefit. Governance can be about government and Government with a capital G. Government can be about taking care of our state, city, town, school, or about finding a place to put up a basketball court, planning how to do it, and doing it. Of course doing this kind of governance is best done with co-operation, we work together. In democratic governance the working together can bring especially good effects.

Co-operating may be humanities best activities. It is certainly one of our most useful activities. One of our greatest powers as a society is the power to co-operate for our common good. Co-operation is a powerful good and an important step in organization.

Organization:

Co-operation can usually includes being supported by those you support or being helped by those you help. It can be long term as in a family, a business, or a county, but it can be short term as in a piece of work for a limited purpose. Organization is very similar.

Just knowing something about what co-operation is, gives us a reason to practice it with some gratitude. we know that we can work together for our mutual good. Doing so in a democratic way can be even more satisfying because the individuals so co-operating because of the satisfying feeling of equality. Each co-operator is valued. We know that working together can get us through some tough times. In tough times it can keep us safe. In better times it improves our chances for an abundant life among supportive others. Well organized co-operation can do so even more effectively.

Co-operation can be particularly important in hard times and not just at critical moments or in urgent cases, but in every-day difficult times. Who has live a year with no difficult times. It is sometimes difficult to get through a month in which a little co-operation would have helped. Its a nice feeling that there are people are around to help even when you don't need it. In some tough times some co-operation could have helped me, but I didn't realize what I had to offer. However, over the years men and women have worked out effective and informal ways of getting to better days. We practiced co-operation in clubs, families, unions businesses, towns, cities, counties, and other organizations.

Without co-operation, organization may be impossible:

It is especially useful to co-operate well in times of unusually rapid change. Earth changes such as climate change seems to be getting to be that kind of change. It is possible for us to organize to better adapt to Earth changes such as climate change.

Dialogue is necessary for nearly all good co-operation and organization:

Very often I use the word "dialogue" to refer to a special kind of talk. For us, right now, let it just mean good listening and clear talk. We can come to know one another better and to co-operate better. We can greatly improve our chances for effective co-operation by listening to each other better and talking with one another honestly. Listening and talking for meaning and understanding helps us to more effectively co-operate. Our ongoing dialogue is important.

For a higher level of co-operation, a more effective mode of communication is very useful. Face to face dialogue is an example of a mode of communication. I such dialogue we listen for meaning and understanding. We often benefit greatly from learning to co-operate with persons very different from ourselves. We come to listen more effectively for their meanings and their understandings. Their life experience is likely to have been significantly different from ours so they may have learned a point of view different from ours. Its that better listening leads to better co-operation and more effective organization. We can practice better listening. As we know, we can better co-operate by informing and being informed so as to come to necessary understandings.

Practices which can aid co-operation, governance, dialogue, and effective organization:

Good practices include:

~ sharing leadership.

~ offering suggestions rather than commands.

~ showing gratitude, praise, and respect for co-operation which effectively moves us closer to achieving our common goals.

~ doing useful work.

~ appreciating the import of our common efforts and aims.

~ sharing our understanding of our common benefits.

~ trying to really understand the problem.

~ trying to understand the other guy's ideas.

~ explaining the reasons for requests and rules.

~ taking turns talking, listening, waiting, leading, getting things done.

~ practicing participation.

Share your additions, corrections, questions, and comments related to this comment just below, in "comments." It may say "no comments." Click on it anyway.

Thank you for your visit.

RCS

A view From South East Asia

U.S.

I found that many thoughtful South East Asians and some foreigners living there now think the U.S. ruling class is neither respectable nor trustworthy. They are not unusual in such thinking Many Europeans and others have similar thoughts. They think that that actions of the U. S. government are too often ignorant and not very honorable. I try to explain that this is much do to the refusal of American citizens to govern. They say that does not account for the stupidity of those in power.

They see U. S. powers as forcing inequitable trade on others, as careless of the causes of "terrorism," as very ready to try to set up and support autocratic regimes, as willing to break their own laws, as seemingly unable to understand legal sanctions and diplomacy, as having little practical understanding of other people.

Those we have left to handle our foreign policies are as seen powerless, uninterested in justice, and uninterested in human rights excepts as they effect the profits of certain persons. They are often see as fronts for espionage activities. They are seen as willing to talk about environmental problems, but prepared to do nothing. They are seen as related to experts in the manipulation of media for the benefit of few. They are seen as related to those who have developed crowd control weapons and strategies which seem inhuman. They are sometimes seen as related to those who are careless of who sees our work at regime changes which were once done with some secrecy|. That is they acted as that it were the natural right of the US to destroy the governments of others.

People of Southeast Asia

The people of SEA often see good government as rare. For example, they have seen the Chinese as careless of genocide and cultural extinction of others within their boarders. But of course also see what the US does beyond its boarders. They also see happenings in their own countries. Their is one in which many thought that thought the rule of its king was better than that of their constitutional government. They sometimes have little of the experience of republicanism found in some parts of the world.

SEA people often had a liking for citizens of the US and some respect,

But sometimes saw them as having misplaced their dignity.

I would like for us to have more appreciation for us and our mode of governance. I would also like to see American citizens take more responsibility for their own governance.

The people, countries, and cultures vary greatly. They are wonderous, beautiful, and well worth experiencing in person.

Thank you for reading,

R. C. Sheehan

We Can Enjoy Being Active Citizens

A useful first step can be teaching ourselves to get better informed

Let's help each other to get smart, informed, and able. We can gently resist being suppressed. Our learning and understanding has been suppressed and for that we are responsible. Together we can learn better and understand better. To be together well takes trust. To trust realistically we need to come to understand one another better.

For example, if you are interested in becoming a more effective citizen, or something else, consider a good way for you to find another with a similar interest. Give yourself a good chance for finding that person. Find that person. Talk with that person about your mutual interests. Tell that person that you believe that the two of you can increase your understanding and power by finding a couple of more people to meet and talk and maybe develop your mutual interest.

I suggest that you meet find a democratic way to choose specific topics of talk and of making sure that each of you take equal time to listen and to speak. After only three or four such meetings you will feel and find understandings starting to grow among you. You may find appropriate trust appearing among you to. As an important common interest appears among you, you may find yourselves gathering and sharing information on that topic. You have come a long way. You can begin to recruit. You may want as many as 30 persons, but 17 a good solid number. You will want the strength variety.

You can talk about your freedom to learn and know. We can learn to c0-operate to help each other to learn how to find out what is going on. With understanding, trust, and the practice of co-operation we have the start of a strong organization. You have the start of a good, practical organization which can provide pleasure and satisfaction without being a to burdensome responsibility. Everyone is helped to be useful, supported and valued equally. Relax and let everyone benefit as fairly as possible. Equality is a direction to take, to move forward toward, but may never be perfect.

You can help others to be responsible for their personal governance and your common governance. An important early step is to co-operate and organize to inform yourself on our common interest.

We can find out if there are any among us willing to check a library (why not) for good information that they believe will interest us with honest and realistic information. Powerful and useful information has many sources. Maybe there are those among us who can help us to be better honesty and reality detectors. There are those of us who are sensitive trickery in words used in advertising and politics.

As we practice our democratic kind of dialogue at meetings we will find ourselves talking among ourselves in better ways and also may be doing so with others.

We may discover fun ways of doing somethings for ourselves rather than having them done to, ah, for us. We may get better at informing one another in, honest, useful, realistic ways.

We may learn to be more pleasantly active in governing ourselves. We can practice do that which has some effect on what is done around us and how it is done. That is we can practice a modest self governance. Practice can lead to improvement. Practice is an experience and experience can be a good teacher.

We can come to honestly say that we each matter, that we are each co-equal members of the we, we have become, that we are willing to see that each is treated fairly and justly. We are beginning to learn that it may not be difficult to move toward helping to see that it is not always necessary to let anyone govern any one of us without our permission.

We have come to understand and respect one another more fully. In our talks we are coming words like justice, fairness, equality, and many others to get our meanings straight. That is we are coming to see how others have their particular way of understanding and and thinking about a given word or concept.

Each of us has good reasons for our understandings; each of us has had differing learning experiences. I time we may be able to know more about the experiences of another.

We can learn more about realities of governance by getting more facts about how our town has be and is governed. We can do the same with our county, state, country, water district or where ever our interests lie.

News shows on TV are not a super source of good information. How can we get more useful sources of information. How and where can we get better, more useful information? Where can we get sources which are better for us? Where can we get more trustworthy info? I'd like to have a handful of sources of useful information which I knew how to trust. I'd like to be honestly informed by one who was well informed and smart.

I believe that we can help to make governance easier to understand and simpler to do. With the help of another group or two like ours we could pay a couple of reporters to report to us for us. Or we could have a couple of group members gather information from among and perhaps another group and report back to use. We might find that in some things we could inform ourselves very well and that in another we were sadly ignorant. We may also find that we were capable of lifting and alleviating our own ignorance.

You can do acts of governance for yourself by yourself as you as you learn about organization. Find out who your elected representatives are at the levels and in the areas which interest you. Next you can begin to find out more about them and their doings. You may find that in this effort it is more easily and effectively accomplished by co-operation. Your next interesting learning experience experience can be beginning a contact with a representative. Choose one and consider a plan of approach. Making contact with another interested in the same representative and be interesting and helpful. Co-operating with such another can prove a powerful yet comfortable experience.

It is not unusual to find that a representative you are attending to begins to note you. That representative may suspect that you vote and that you know other voters. She may find that you have some knowledge of an area of interest of hers. You now seem to be a truly active citizen. You may find that another is co-operating with you. Could that entail a bit of organization. You have

made significant progress.

You have made a start toward more rewarding self governance. You have a more significant stance. You are likely to have a more realistic yet positive point of of view. You may be taking better care of yourself and even helping others to do the same. You could actually register to vote and then to actually vote. You may have a much more complete and realistic concept of how your vote is likely to have a positive effect on issues which are important to you. Your social wisdom seems to be developing. You have found or made ways to be more usefully informed.

You may have found time to co-operate with others interested in your interests. You may have found your way to positively effective participation in the nominating process of candidates and in moving a bill through Congress effectively. You do not have to participate in any of these doings. You can just become a more satisfied citizen that is doing that which supports good governance around you and yours.

You may have found that social and governmental issues have been called planks. And found that such planks were used to build the platforms of co-operating citizens. Platforms gave them standing and clarified that which they stood for.

We can. We can do. We can do it in co-operation with others. To do it together really well we may need to improve ways of communicating and understanding among us. We can practice the best ways of communicating we have. We can practice taking of our doings. We can practice listening, hearing, and understanding.