A good chief doesn't take, a good chief gives...

~"Title Line" by a Mohawk warrior

Last night I was talking to one of my neighbors. She's is on her final year of college, and is deciding to get her Masters or not. She has hit a crossroads with her life, and pretty much talked for over an hour. She kept apologizing for talking so much, but she had a lot to say. (This is one of two blogs I'm going to do on our talk.) She covered everything from her life to current politics. She couldn't understand why the world was so messed up. So we talked about "Dubba" for a bit. "Why did people vote for him?", "We should change the way our system works?", "Everything going on today is his fault!" Her frustrations reflect this entire town. Arcata is "Green Party" central. The local government up here has rejected Dubba as our Prez. (As if that makes things better.)

But is everything Dubba's fault? No. Sadly, what I wanted to say to her (She just wanted to be heard, so I just listned) is that as bad as Dubba is a Prez, and he really is the worst Prez in our history, if you want to look at the problem just go stare at a mirror. Our country, and now most our world, is a world that is afraid to take responsibility. We'd rather take the easy way out then confront real problems (or enjoy "The Drama" to make our lives more entertaining). Most of the country doesn't vote anymore. There is no reason to change our system when people don't put effort into the system we have now. Although having only two control points of veiw (Rep. and Demo) is naive.

If people really want to make a change then start in your own backyard. I can imagine that all of us have barely enough time to worry just about our lives much less everyone else's. Fine, work on yourselfs. Recycle, buy from local business, bike or walk instead of drive, get to know your local Congress representive. You will do more cleaning up a park then picking fights with people who don't have your opinion.

More importantly, if you want to make a change. Well, one of my heroes said it best...

"Politics is the art of controlling your environment. That is one of the key things I learned in these years, and I learned it the hard way. Anybody who thinks that "It doesn't matter who's President" has never been Drafted and sent off to fight and die in a vicious, stupid war on the other side of the world-or been beaten and gassed by Police for trespassing on public property- or been hounded by the IRS for purely political reason- or locked up in the Cook County Jail with a broken nose and no phone access and twelve perverts wanting to stomp your ass in the shower. This is when it matters who is President or Governer or Police Chief. That is when you will wish you had voted."~ Hunter S. Thompson