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.

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                Ukraine. Ukraine. Ukraine.

                Thank you for reading.

 

                                                                                    rcs 

Civics for the Brave and the Free

                             It seems worth repeating that civility is an important part of governance, civics, politics, society, and our daily lives.

We, and our governance, can also profit by our learning:

~ some collaborative leadership. 

~ about consensus building.

~ about a deeperlevel of tolerance.

~ about sources of conflict an cohesion.

~ how people fudamentally different from one another develop sensitivities which enable them to co-operate effectively.

We ar at our civic best when we:

~ are listening and hearing.

~ are working in partnership with others

~ lead by example.

~ have the courage to be appropriately humble.

~ are practicing productive democratic talk.

~ show up.

                            We all have some learning to do. I like to remember what my old aunt used to say, "By beginning, we are half way there."

                            Other saying worth rememberting are: Democracy breeds solidarity solidarity and justice. Democracy exists where and when it is being practiced. The practice of democracy is not difficult.

                                                                                                rcs

American Mythology and the Loss of Democracy

Governance With RCS: It's hard to lose democracy, but it can get very rusty from lack of practice.               

             Decades of lack of practice are resulting in a loss of our hard won democracy. We are governed by others and are now on our way to passing into superfluousness. 

            Read our Declaration of Independence. When we don't use it, we lose it.

            Nader is reminding us of that which we can do. Listen carefully for what can be done. 

            Also he says that it takes only about 1% of us to be strongly effective. 20% is much better.

            We can learn to do it by doing it.

            We must learn more about cooperation and organization. 

            We must learn how to more effectively cooperate and organize. 

            We may also benefit from reconsidering the nature of freedom, as in free press, free communication, free elections, freedom of privacy and more about free men and women.  

 

            Without active citizenship and active self-governance we become useless.

            Do you remember what superfluousness means?

                                                                    by Richard