[OutsiderFan]

Goose, your point about relying on others to save us applies to everything. It is so disheartening when I see people expressing beliefs that would be or current public office holders are somehow our saviors. It’s akin to Christian faith thinking, and nothing in this world bothers me more than faith - in absence of proof, fact, or reason - as resolution to solve or ameliorate problems. Hope is not a strategy. We as people must work together to address the issues we face, based on mutual respect for others and a recognition that others may have better answers than we do. Government office holders are suppose to implement what we want, but we’ve allowed them to create structures that have continually lessened the accountability they have while allowing them to consolidate power against our interests.

The greatest quote I’ve ever heard on the topic of organizing ourselves to address challenges we face came from Barack Obama: We are the people we’ve been waiting for. It’s an empowering message that tries to tell us we are surrounded by an endless supply of metaphorical Legos, to form whatever it is we have the collective will to imagine and build together. We just need to start. It’s trite, but a journey of a thousand miles starts with one initial step.

I have an anecdote to share about this topic of government not cut out to do something big, sort of tangentially related to Covid-19, involving what I know is now going on in the MA state legislature. Will share separately in another thread.

[OutsiderFan]

Goose, your point about relying on others to save us applies to everything. It is so disheartening when I see people expressing beliefs that would be or current public office holders are somehow our saviors. It’s akin to Christian faith thinking, and nothing in this world bothers me more than faith - in absence of proof, fact, or reason - as resolution to solve or ameliorate problems. Hope is not a strategy. We as people must work together to address the issues we face, based on mutual respect for others and a recognition that others may have better answers than we do. Government office holders are suppose to implement what we want, but we’ve allowed them to create structures that have continually lessened the accountability they have while allowing them to consolidate power against our interests.

The greatest quote I’ve ever heard on the topic of organizing ourselves to address challenges we face came from Barack Obama: We are the people we’ve been waiting for. It’s an empowering message that tries to tell us we are surrounded by an endless supply of metaphorical Legos, to form whatever it is we have the collective will to imagine and build together. We just need to start. It’s trite, but a journey of a thousand miles starts with one initial step.

I have an anecdote to share about this topic of government not cut out to do something big, sort of tangentially related to Covid-19, involving what I know is now going on in the MA state legislature. Will share separately in another thread.