Showing posts with label democratic. Show all posts

Organizing power: for self-governance

Governance, Organization, Effective Citizenship, and the Power to Do

Your organization can make you a more effective citizen. There seems to be a new or renewed urge toward new political organization and active citizenship these days. Many of us have a growing understanding of democracy. We see that more active citizenship brings more democracy.

A new organization is much like an old organization. It takes people to organize, but many of those organizing are new not old. Persons new to organizing, especially political organizing, have a lot to learn. Their energy and enthusiasm will be an important aid to their progress.

An organization may have a beginning in individual minds, but its realization will be in a group. A group of people is most often a mess and a mess of people is not an organization. To become an organization there are doings such a mess of people must do. They can begin with a bit of togetherness and continue with a growing ability to cooperate.

Agreement that a new organization is necessary or a darn good idea can be a useful beginning. Agreement, perhaps tacit, to work together can be another important step. Finding ways to cooperate is important. Old organizers found many ways to facilitate cooperation.

Soon the purpose of the organization must begin to be identified and clarified. Clarification of purpose is an ongoing process and activity. This may often be begun by a small group of leaders, but must be carried on by many others.

Say that the original growing group is made up of citizens who have discovered that they want a brand new political organization. They have some willingness to work together. The also have understandings and misunderstandings to work out. A lot of work.

Members of this very new organization need to maintain an ongoing understanding of the aims, values, and wants of others in the organization in so far as they affect the organization. Not easy, but important to their ability to increase their effectiveness.

An important benefit of an organization is that which needs to be done, need not be done by one or a very few, but rather can be shared among and by all members. In fact the more involved with the important work of the organization that are all members, the better the moral and effectiveness of the organization is likely to be.

The members of a well functioning group can feel themselves to be effective doers, and can be those effective doers in fact.

There are some doings and practices which have helped others to start and maintain their organization.

Doings and practices to begin promptly:

~ Consider how you intend to keep in contact.

~ Begin identifying your goals and aims.

~ Clarify goals and aims.

~ Restate goals and aims.

~ Arrange to have each member help to achieve these goals and aims.

~ Take care of all business promptly.

~ Arrange for the ongoing education for all members.

~ Practice dialogue skills.

~ Arrange for members to have opportunity to be educators.

~ Enjoy your participation.

~ Keep in mind that teaching one another is important. Outside help can be very good, but seldom as good as that which we do for ourselves. As we teach, we learn.

~ Demonstrate abundant and appropriate trust of one another.

~ Keep in mind that the fewer the secrets the better. "No secrets" is a good policy.

~ Be inclusive. as a policy, help anyone who wants to be a member to be one.

~ Encourage equality.

~ Remind one another that each of you is important to and responsible for the maintenance of your organization, its philosophy, and its doings.

~ Lay out clear steps for achieving important and doable goals and plans for your organization.

~ Aims and goals ought to be not only doable and important but also be an attractive and challenging big deal.

~ Set out one or two doings or goals to be worked on today. Your organization will benefit by having important things to be done right now.

~ Keep in mind that there is much to be done and that each member ought to help with those doings.

~ Make clarifying the "grand vision" of your organization an ongoing activity. "Learning, teaching, and practicing democratic self governance for all" might be an example of such a vision.

~ Aim to govern yourselves by practicing self-governance.

Click on the light blue text above for more information.

Thank you very much for reading.

RCS

First Look at Ukraine

Cossack, Ukrainian, and Free

Cossacks have been free men and democratic. They have only been known to history since about 650 AD. They have been active in self-governing communities for well over a thousand years. They have been open, inclusive, with a Slavic bent. They knew a world from Siberia to Lithuania and up and down for many years, but were drawn to a certain land.

The Ukrainian Cossack State was formed in about 1650 in what is now central Ukraine. Their leaders were elected.

Through the years they have been few. Democracy is not easy. They experienced much, and stayed free among strong neighbors such as Poland, Russia, and Lithuania. Among such neighbors they continued to show a strong will for self-governance.

They formed the Ukrainian Peoples' Republic in 1917 to 1921, the western Ukrainian Peoples Republic 1918 to 1919, and the Ukrainian Peoples' Republic in exile from 1920 to 1992.

They were among the very first members of the Soviet Union with its promise of self-governing citizens. They may have been the first to leave that Union when it showed little will to self-governing citizenship.

They were among the charter members of the United Nations with its promise of a chance for peace and freedom. They have not given up on their fellow members yet.

Ah, yes, I believe that at the breakup of the Soviet Union the were left with one of the greatest stock of atomic weapons on Earth and gave up that stock to the U.N.

They have been few and still are. They are still a mixture of races, nationalities, and religions. They are a free democratic people self selected from that mixture.

We might mention that while all this was going on they, with the help of a few viking Norsemen, created Russia. Oh, and they had a modern republic type written constitution in 1710.

I believe that a history of the cultures most effecting these people could be traced back another 4,000 years. However, before about 650 AD they were little recognized in history as a discrete people. Throughout perhaps a thousand years of their history they stayed freer, more democratic, and inclusive than most. They have had to defend themselves and they have. They have also kept the hope and faith that they could live a free people among free people. They have seen inclusiveness, freedom, and democracy disappear like smoke again and again. Still they hold a vision of that freedom and self governance closer and dearer than do most.

Please feel free to correct this work or add to it in the "comments" section below or just to click on a social media button just below.

Ukraine. Ukraine. Ukraine.

Thank you for reading.

rcs

Democratic Meetings: Observations on Their Nature

Hints for recognizing a democratic meeting can be found below.

As you look them over you may find it useful to keep in mind that all democracy is participatory and that each democratic meeting can be a powerful learning experience for those participating. Some participants may be learning intrinsic rules for effective and just communication.

Happenings at meetings democratic or not may include:

~ politics being practiced.

~ persons consciously practicing dialogue skills, methods, and techniques.

~ persons finding that their respect and courtesy are good for them and for others.

~ participants learning intrinsic rules for effective and just communication.

On to the meeting hints. Its democratic as its:

~ of, by, and for its participants.

~ as free as possible from outside powers.

~ autonomous.

~ held in a safe place. An atribute of a safe place is that it is nutral.

~ designed and redesigned to meet the needs of the participants.

~ as inclusive as possible.

~ participants are well aware that it is an important listening expirience.

~ leadership rolls are kept to a minimum and are of wide participation. Turns are taken.

~ a ''teach in'' and a learning experience.

~ a time for understanding before deciding.

~ less autoritarian and hierarchical and more horizontal and egalitarian.

~ a time for thinking together as well as for self.

~ a time when your comments and communications are best addressed to the group as a whole.

~ a time to practice good manners and honesty.

Tomorrow my observations are likely to differ. These hints and meetings may be less about arrival and more about getting on the right track, less about arrival and more about orientation.

When you have time explore other posts on this site. Thank you for reading.

rcs

Our Laws

Governance With RCS: The Law Means Our Law and includes Habeas Corpus

We know that you are holding one of us prisoner.

We are the ones who make, support, and protect our laws. We agree that they support justice among us. When we fail to make, support, protect, and agree on our law, there may be no law, no justice, and no us. It is up to us.

Our Constitution can direct us to the way we choose, support, protect, and agree on our laws to our benefit. Our constitution has a democratic intent. Where there is lack of participation democracy fails. Its up to us. I am writing to my fellow U.S. citizens here. However, other readers may benefit.

Among the ideas we seem to have forgotten may include the following: We make laws which we agree to support. Those laws can be changed. Our laws are by us, for us, and of us. All of us. We have designed laws which give us ways of protecting them and us. When there is no we and no this doesn't work very well.

Many of the most important of our laws have roots extending deep into our beginnings, our origins. Some can be traced to before the Roman republic. I believe some go back much farther. They have been lost to many from time to time, but enough of us have kept them in heart and mind so that they still exist in the hearts and minds of what I hope is enough of us. Some have been kept in writing in our Constitution.

I continue with some of the long kept ideas. Its okay to question the nature of our laws and we must continue to interpret them together. Its our right and our duty to change a bad law or to throw it out completely. Its good to think that our Constitution is our baby and to remember not to throw out the baby with its wash water. Its also good to remember that letting a law just die is not only sad, but also dangerous to us.

Like all of our laws our Constitutional laws may be changed, we have agreed that they may be changed. However, Constitutional laws have been made to last for much more than just generations. There is more than one of the Amendments we have made have proven and are proving not so lasting. Some have them to be our holy and sacred word. That may be true. but they are our words and our laws and we may change them. But it is also true that some of our forefathers have done a very great deal to preserve them. They thought that they had very good reasons to do so, I do to. Our Constitution is often called a social contract among us. We are parties to it. How many of us can break our promise to support it before it is broken. How can it be reconstituted when it is.

Many in the US and others as well consider the Constitution of the the United Stares of America to be the best ever written. I hope that we won't let it just die. It may be written, but its life is in our hearts and minds. When it is changed many may find the changes unacceptable and that the changed constitution is not the one they pledged to support. So, a majority vote to change it may far from enough to change it an 80% to 20% might not be enough. We must make even very small changes very carefully am make sure that all of us understand them. Our Constitution is ours to interpret, maintain, support, maintain, enjoy, and to benefit from. We need to all keep learning to do that good job. As we fail in that we fail to be us. Our Constitution and our understanding of it is at the heart of our common culture. It may well be the very heart of that culture. It may be of even more value than we now understand.

We put our Constitution into writing to let the men and women of the world know the basics of the law we follow and also what we are prepared to protect. We ought to read it with a very great deal understanding. We ought to to practice being aware of how we are all interpreting and understanding the words in which it is written.

Our right to be responsible for our Constitution was not easily gotten nor easily kept. When we are not alert, aware and vigilant, it slips away from us. We need be eternally vigilant to keep this prime right. Its a good thing that there are a lot of us because it takes a lot of us to do this job ours. Many believe that our common understanding of our Constitution is maintained by our national dialogue. I believe that is worth a thought, a good one.

We have long known that we must learn, relearn, and practice healthy and effective ways to support and protect our laws. We have also learned that we must help our youth to do the same. We act can help to keep the ongoing review of the effectiveness and Constitutionality of our laws simple, common, and honorable.

Thanks to citizens who came before us, our Constitution has been kept relatively short and sweet. Remember that our Bill of Rights is an integral part of the Constitution. It is sweet and very short. Your copy is so small that it can easily lost, but free copies are usually available. You can down load a copy or read it online.

Like all else our Constitution needs to be interpreted. Our Supreme Court judges are are doing that continually. We can do the same. The principles are important, but not too difficult. However, sometimes their application offers difficulties. Our national dialogue can help us understand how it has usually been interpreted and how it is being interpreted now. To keep ourselves safe and strong we all need to keep the principles in mind. Recently we have not been doing so, nor have we been teaching our children the use of them. We could restart the process of having those principles in mind by getting the concept of democracy stirring in mind.

For those who want to learn more there is much that on can do to get and understanding of meanings and usages in mind. Just reading the other post on this blog can help as can other blogs discussing democracy and/or our Constitution can help a lot.

For many of us, talking about Constitution or democracy with a friend or family member can be productive step.They probably know less than we do. You might find out some interesting a couple of people what they think democracy is for. You could make finding a website dealing with a democracy that you like and telling us about it; the same the Constitution. You can probably find a lot of nonsense too. A search for active democracy can be interesting, so can a search for active citizenship. Beginning to read or to reread the Constitution can be revealing. I like our Declaration of Independence.

Our Constitution expresses our ways of governing ourselves, but may seem to lack details. Important parts if it are about our rights and responsibilities in governing out communal selves. As you read you can consider who has oversight of the doings of government. If you read it again you may begin to see the messages of democracy and self governance. It is much about out our participation in keeping to the path to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness open and clear for all of us in government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The Bill of Rights of out Constitution spells out The rights we have agreed to protect.

We can all get help to understand how the meanings of our Constitution have been interpreted and understood by wise men. Some of best sources of sound help can be found in the writings among the statesmen to be found among our Representatives and Senators and also among our better Supreme Court justices. It seems to me to be best to learn from than one source.

There are lies and nonsense online but also a lot of great information. High School history and civics books can be a help. College political science texts and histories of US government can be another useful source. There are excellent and horrible popular works to choose from. Actual US documents such as the Declaration of Independence are a marvel.

As we learn we find there is no law against using our own good sense and our own understanding. We can use our understanding of words such as:justice, lawful, co-operation, participation, democracy, and governance as well as the reality they point toward.

Habeas Corpus:

The great majority of us can agree that taking a person prisoner for the fun of it or for the profit in it is wrong and outside out of our law. Should I become that prisoner, I believe I would feel it definitively wrong. We can probably agree that there must be a very good reason for making one a prisoner.

Long ago a way was worked out to deal with the case of one of us being taken and held and of doing so without bloodshed. We have adapted that way into our Constitution. That way has seemed useful and just to many for centuries. That way may be called honoring a writ of habeas corpus. Habeas Corpus has been an important part of our Constitution from beginning of that Constitution. As we have not been doing our duty as citizens, the "writ" has been seriously weakened. I might have done my duty had I been bit more organized.

We have the right to learn the meaning and use of what we may call are right of Habeas Corpus. We can even make changes to our Constitution. We also have the duty to each other to do so well.

Many have understood habeas Corpus something like the following: Bob, our fellow citizen, has been taken and held. We confront the takers and holders and say, "We know that you have Bob; in accord with our law you must put him before us and in our hearing accuse him of so badly abusing our law that you have the right to hold him prisoner. Then before us, other accepted peers, and a accepted judge, you must prove to us, without a doubt, that you have taken Bob legally and in accord with our laws. If you cannot so prove you must release him immediately. If you continue to hold him, you go beyond our laws and we may now ring all our righteous force upon you to cause you to release him. We trust all others within our law to aid us."

Today the counter part of the ancient Writ of Habeas Corpus is our most basic defense against tyranny. The meaning of habeas corpus is more important than the word. Understanding that meaning makes us stronger as does our familiarity with Common Law and our Constitution. By learning to quickly recognize encroachment of tyrannical tendencies as a a danger to you and I the better we can protect ourselves and our law. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Its good that we are many.

It's time for me to end this post. It has become longer than many of my posts. Try using the "comments" section below to say hello to me an perhaps comment on the contents of this piece.

As a way of practicing some citizenship ask your Representative what has happened to out Habeas Corpus rights. With your zip code you can get his name and online address. You can as questions to the representative of your Representative how you can find something out Habeas Corpus or how to get a grant for your daughter's college education.

Or you could ask how to find out for sure if you are covered by the Write, or just where you can find out more about it. If can report on your experience here. I suggest that you do fin out who your Representative is.

Thank you for reading!

rcs

Free, Democratic, and Inclusive

History With RCS: Cossack, Ukrainian, and Free