Hello mudcatters, I had the privilege to meet only one of your ranks this year. He heralded himself as a philosopher. No he did not ask me Socratic questions like "what do you think justice is?", although I wish he had. He was merely a peaceful man who loves to work wood with his hands and electricity and a man who loves to sing along will his wife is the maestro of musical detail. As a couple they host musical comrades of other nations in their home.
A better setting for a philosopher may not be found easily.


As a whole my nation is not thinking. Without thinking people who believe they are the chosen ones who love America. They hate those who point to our mistakes is the same as hating our country.

They may be right sometimes. Some do love their country without thinking and some do hate their country without action.
All of mudcat and countless other forums is a precious thinking group but they are new in the sense they are virtual. What is needed in our nations today are thinking groups open to neighbors, not action groups since good action will come from good thinking.

The myth makers, artists and stories that are needed to see beyond the hypocrisy, graft and corruption common to every age, are needed if this nation or any nation will long stand. If there is anything our prophets or philosophers have taught us it is that no nation will stand long without tolerance and compassion for the rights of the common man.

The dichotomy of good and evil is an evil in itself. Was George Washington and Jefferson evil for owning slaves in their day. Before you answer that let me ask you, "Do you favor destroying the environment?..... OK but Do you drive a car or heat with fossil fuel????"
Correcting the mistake is the burden and glory of each generation, not the evil they inherit.


Nations hear the man who says things like "We will heal our differences with malice toward none".
We will abandon those who say "you are with me or against us."

The difference is as stark as Bush standing beside Obama.
I select these men only as near philosophical opposites,
like Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.

In small measure I spent time discovering direction, inventing new mythologies, predicting outcomes, making pictures that teach and warn, and was punished by those who were told their love is greater without thinking.

I am banned by 18 website forums, my website was erased with corporate authority, my family is now paying the price with IRS audits that go back 10 years (without cause) You see only neighborly accusation is all that is needed) I should add that anyone who gives the IRS a name and address claiming any tax suspicions will be entitled by law to get 10% of any monies recovered. Annominity is assured by the IRS.

But that is only an assault against my speech and economic security. The assault on people's lives to the point of disfigurement and death is the ultimate issue. IF we can not speak of it, they will have even lost justice after their death.

Liberty has suffered an arterial bleed. There is no wound that can not be dressed and corrected in time.

So thinking groups is all that I have to suggest. Your mythologies, your songs, your stories if successful will become our stories about Liberty rediscovered. Each of you will inherit the wind of every free thinker that helped found a hard fought freedom.

Actual neighborhood thinking groups (not action or virtual groups) are like paper back up ballots because the freedom you know as the internet is in certain peril now that the robber baron model of ownership of the routes of communication/transportation are soon to be approved by the government of the United States.

Find the myth, the heroic figure, the idea you think of together to correct the mistake, write the story that inspires, the song that changes the world, as if there is nothing more important.
Because it really may be the most important thing in your lives.
If all you can do is give $5 to PBS, then brag about it. Like the old Union song says "ya gotta go down and join the union by yourself".

I myself have heard myself ask if my free speech is worth the hassle.
If I have done it, then I am damn sure others are afraid too.
You may think the internet is now the bastion of free speech.
A well groomed, censored , or offline youtube.com is as easy as a stroke of a pen.