The POWER Matrix

THE POWER MATRIX illustrates the relationships among key factors in the dynamic balance of power.  POWER comes from the informed consent of the governed – WE, THE PEOPLE, are sovereign.  However, since POWER abhors a vacuum,  WE, THE PEOPLE, must ORGANIZE locally to store our power for use in the good offices of HUMANITY.  When we do not keep OUR POWER local, it creates a vacuum which sucks OUR POWER away from local HUMANITY and sends it to remote centralized bureaucracy.  WE, THE PEOPLE, have superior NUMBERS, and, IF ORGANIZED, superior POWER.   The way to sustain HARMONY, HUMANITY, & DEMOCRACY is via ORGANIZATION of, by, & for the people!

This means nothing can stop us without our consent!  EL PUEBLO UNIDOS JAMAS SERA VENCIDO!

NO NEW PARTIES!

NO NEW PARTIES!  

We have MORE than enough, already!

Really?  Start a new party?  Just like that?  Sure!  Why not!  WOW! WTF?!?! Ask the Libertarians!  Ask the Greens!  

It's TOO LATE to run as an Independent!  Ballot DEADlines - past, passing, soon-to-pass!  Failing success on JULY 25, we each have an excruciatingly painful decision to wrestle with - even as we share the workload of a REVOLUTION! BUT! DISengaging will not hurt either Clinton OR Trump!  It will help them BOTH!  All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing (Burke)!

BERNIE could have already taken over the Democratic Party as part of the campaign!  But, IF they even considered it for a split-second, the BERNIE-PAID EXPERT STAFF failed to do a tiny bit of preparation in advance to have BERNIE people run for party posts.  It's excellent training in & of itself for our future battles!  The Democratic Party is top-heavy, bureaucratic, big, slow, & stupid!  It is a sitting duck!  With our STRENGTH of NUMBERS all we lack is STRENGTH of ORGANIZATION.  Why?  Because NOBODY TEACHES US about ORGANIZATION!  Those who figure this out & learn on their own become useful to existing pols & get purchased & then they have something to lose and then they drink the Cool-Aid to get along to go along.

But, BERNERS are not for sale!  We don't need another hero or another party!  All we need is ORGANIZATION!  

FOCUS the BERN ! (Super) Delegates JULY 25 ! THEN ! ORGANIZE ! ORGANIZE ! ORGANIZE ! 200,000 PRECINCTS ! 50 STATES 

FOCUS the BERN ! BUILD a NEW online infrastructure to support, facilitate, & sustain a NETWORK of citizens in 200,000 PRECINCTS in 50 STATES + TERRITORIES!

We, the people, HAVE the STRENGTH of NUMBERS!  We NEED to gain the STRENGTH of ORGANIZATION!

We can EITHER build something brand new from the ground UP, - OR - we can SEIZE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY and commandeer it for the Next American Revolution and SHOW them what democracy looks like!

AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, our elections must be made thoroughly INDEPENDENT & PARTY-FREE!

This will take some time.  IN THE MEANTIME, as the Republican Party disintegrates into a zombie-party, it will still be part of our two-party election process.  The Democratic Party will become an even more centralized & unchallenged party as the other party to our two-party election process.  

FURTHER, if Clinton wins, it will have this even more centralized & unchallenged & EVEN-LESS Democratic Party to do its evil bidding!

If we TAKE it, we can take it down!  

If we TAKE it, we can make it the party to end all parties and remove both parties from the peoples' election process.

If we TAKE it, we can make it into an infrastructure of democracy in 200,000 PRECINCTS in 50 STATES + TERRITORIES!

If we TAKE it, we can make sure it can never wreck another election!

If we TAKE it, we can make sure it can never threaten to foreclose on a FUTURE TO BELIEVE IN!

If we DO NOT TAKE it, then we must NOT TAKE THE BAIT of a new party!

A new party will be a new TIME-SUCK, ENERGY-SUCK, & RESOURCE-SUCK!!!

IF you want a party, THEN TAKE the one that is ALREADY ORGANIZED in 200,000 precincts in 50 States and that is already plugged into the 2-party power grid and that is a sitting duck unable to resist massive attack of young smart angry BERNERS!

FOCUS the BERN

FOCUS the BERN!

The NEXT PRESIDENT will be EITHER:

A. Democratic Nominee (JULY 25)

! COULD still be BERNIE !

B. Republican Nominee (JULY 18)

! COULD still NOT be Trump !

FOCUS the BERN on the (Super) Delegates!

AFTER THAT,
no matter WHO is President, 

IF we, the people,

fail to organize as active citizens, 

THEN there will be no change.  

200,000 PRECINCTS

50 STATES + TERRITORIES

! ORGANIZE ! ORGANIZE ! ORGANIZE !

We need an online infrastructure 

to support & facilitate 

a network of citizens in 

200,000 PRECINCTS in 50 STATES + TERRITORIES !

PLAN for a Future to Believe In!

PLAN for a Future to Believe In!

ASSUMPTIONS

1. REAL CHANGE = GOOD Elected Officials + WELL-Organized Local Citizens .PERIOD. simple equation 

+ No matter WHO holds an office, if we, the people, fail to organize as active citizens, then there will be no change.  We have occasional pockets & instances of successful citizenship.  We NEED SUSTAINED CITIZENSHIP!  The current system makes it nearly impossible to sustain active & effective citizenship. We, the people, must build an entirely new system designed, built, and operated OF HUMANITY, BY HUMANITY, and FOR HUMANITY! This is a BIG, BIG JOB!  No matter WHO holds an office - Dog Catcher to President - the power grid must be replaced. OUT with the money & corpocrats! IN with organization & humanity!

2. NEXT PRESIDENT will be EITHER the Democratic Nominee OR the Republican Nominee.

3. FBI seems to be investigating ALL Clinton scandals

+ BIG SERIOUS JOB ... tall grass, big snakes, lots of them!  One case of potentially many might actually make it past AG Lynch on to Grand Jury & into court WITHOUT hauling in half of Washington, DC with it.  Surgical precision necessary to excise (& exorcise ?) the giant tumor metastasizing throughout our body politic.  With some expert care and many hours of micro-scraping they may be able to separate the cancer from the human being(s). Whether before July 25 or not it will be a tough decision for the (super)delegates!  At least, with Bernie, they WILL have an alternative live option who is a strong, tested & vetted candidate who will beat Trump!!!   

4. WARREN as VP (Nominee) 

+ As VP (Nominee), Warren is installed as our insurance policy for when when Clinton's toxicity takes its final toll. We could do far worse!  While such "happy-sappy" compromise is revolting to watch... so is lancing a boil, cleaning up vomit, caring for those who cannot care for themselves, scrubbing toilets, and changing diapers.  It's a dirty job, but, some strong adult must assume the risk of getting their hands dirty and do what needs to be done.  While I have never questioned her authenticity, her conspicuous absence, I have attributed to wise reserve.  From last year & earlier, we all knew this would get ugly and that, come July 25, 2016, we will need someone NOT TOO bruised & bloodied who is FULLY battle-ready for the general election.  Whether as a fresh horse for President or as a fresh face as VP.  I still give her the benefit of the doubt.  


PLAN A ! ELECT BERNIE & take back America !

PUT PEOPLE FIRST by building a civil, civic infrastructure to develop & sustain an active, vital citizen network in 200,000 precincts in 50 states (+ territories +).

• Work with President Sanders.
• Work for a friendly Congress.
• Work for stronger communities & better neighborhoods.
• Work for sustainable economy, environment, & education.
• Work for new domestic policy & foreign policy of the people, by the people, and for the people.
• Work for open & transparent government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
• Work for a Future to Believe In!

PLAN B ! BACK BERNIE & take back America !

PUT PEOPLE FIRST by building a civil, civic infrastructure to develop & sustain an active, vital citizen network in 200,000 precincts in 50 states (+ territories +).

• Work with Senator Sanders.
• Work for a friendly Congress.
• Work for stronger communities & better neighborhoods.
• Work for sustainable economy, environment, & education.
• Work for new domestic policy & foreign policy of the people, by the people, and for the people.
• Work for open & transparent government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
• Work for a Future to Believe In!

GROUPTHINK is Deterioration of Mental Efficiency and Moral Judgement

GROUPTHINK

What is Groupthink?

Groupthink, a term coined by social psychologist Irving Janis (1972), occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment” (p. 9).  Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups.  A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making.

References (also see annotated bibliography of books, articles and websites below)

Janis, Irving L.  (1972).  Victims of Groupthink.  New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Janis, Irving L.  (1982).  Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes.  Second Edition.  New York: Houghton Mifflin.

SOURCE:  Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PSYSR) | GROUPTHINK

Symptoms of Groupthink

Janis has documented eight symptoms of groupthink:

1. Illusion of invulnerability –Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme risks.
2. Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their assumptions.
3. Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their cause and therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.
4. Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemy” make effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary.
5. Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express arguments against any of the group’s views.
6. Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not expressed.
7. Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous.
8. Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions.

When the above symptoms exist in a group that is trying to make a decision, there is a reasonable chance that groupthink will happen, although it is not necessarily so.  Groupthink occurs when groups are highly cohesive and when they are under considerable pressure to make a quality decision.  When pressures for unanimity seem overwhelming, members are less motivated to realistically appraise the alternative courses of action available to them. These group pressures lead to carelessness and irrational thinking since groups experiencing groupthink fail to consider all alternatives and seek to maintain unanimity. Decisions shaped by groupthink have low probability of achieving successful outcomes.

SOURCE:  Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PSYSR) | GROUPTHINK

Conceptually BRIDGING MASLOW's Hierarchy of [ HUMAN ] Needs to HUMAN BIOLOGY

Conceptually BRIDGING MASLOW's Hierarchy of [ HUMAN ] Needs to HUMAN BIOLOGY

While Maslow's hierarchy does seem to map fairly directly to human biology, and, while he seems to be on the right track logically, still, yet, socially, his phraseology leaves much to be desired.  

Below, is a simplified map/matrix to relate HUMAN BIOLOGY with MASLOW's TERMS from "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs". While the tripartite brain model is correctly criticized as simplistic and nonreflective of the vastly detailed current understanding of the physiological, neurological, bio-chemical, neurochemical, and energetic complexities of human biology, it serves the present purposes, here, as described, above.  The COMPLEMENTARY CATEGORIZATION / ELABORATION serve simply to connect conceptually to MASLOW's TERMS and to bridge them to HUMAN BIOLOGY.

Allowing for generational & cultural learning & evolution which has occurred, to some degree, since the time of Maslow's writings in the 1940's & 1950's, we, now, must evolve his (& our) phraseology accordingly to not be so cold, sharp, abrupt, and dismissive of the essential spiritual humanity of the victims of previous society which had to struggle in its development prior to the availability of the benefit of the genius of Master Maslow and his benificent works he has so ungraciously bestowed upon planet Earth and its inhabitants. Sincerely.

How he could have read the exemplars he cited and extracted only the components he required to support his logical construct while leaving behind the grand universal human spirit and love of humanity each so boldly wore on their sleeves challenges comprehension.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review.[2] Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of human developmental psychology, some of which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans. Maslow used the terms "physiological", "safety", "belongingness" and "love", "esteem", "self-actualization", and "self-transcendence" to describe the pattern that human motivations generally move through. 

Maslow studied what he called exemplary people such as Albert Einstein, Jane Addams, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Frederick Douglass rather than mentally ill or neurotic people, writing that "the study of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield only a cripple psychology and a cripple philosophy."[3] Maslow studied the healthiest 1% of the college student population.[4] 

Maslow's theory was fully expressed in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality.[5] The hierarchy remains a very popular framework in sociology research, management training[6] and secondary and higher psychology instruction.

(Wikipedia, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, 111415)

It might occur to one, upon speculation, also considering the traumatic early-Twentieth Century time period during which Maslow was born, raised, lived, and worked, that this may well have induced a sort of compassion burnout or self-protective compassion shield which de-emphasizes the natural emotions from deeply & keenly observing so much human experience, especially during that time.

While one can only speculate as to Maslow's motivations, internally, we know, externally, he shared deep expressions for a better framework for understanding of humanity, by humanity, and for humanity.

We also know we can do better.  We owe it to Maslow and to ourselves to develop and share the best of humanity, by humanity, and for humanity. 

What is Missing from the 2016 Presidential Race?

[ NOTE:  Any TRUE democratic leader who has been serving for a while can fill this bill.  I supported Bernie Sanders in 2016 and will in 2020.  I wrote this when Joe Biden was considering entering the 2016 race which would have split the establishment Democrats.  Joe Biden is a true democratic leader as is Bernie Sanders.  Bernie is the choice of those who represent the future of the Democratic Party and America! Joe, whether as a candidate or as a former Vice-President, will be right there with us helping us stand up and fight back for America and humanity! We, the people, are all in this together!]

What is missing from the 2016 Presidential Race?  

Unifying, inspiring, uplifting leadership and vision!

What is missing is a candidate who is a true witness to history...

...who has ascended to the highest elected offices...
...yet, who has remained deeply rooted in his working class background...

...who is a proven leader with international experience...
...yet, who has never lost his common touch...

...who has grappled with complex legislation and policy issues...
...yet, who has never lost faith in the American promise and the American people...

What is missing is a candidate who does not shrink from the gravity of this moment in history...

...who has the intellectual gravitas to grapple with the complexities of people, politics, and planet...
...yet, who understands that lasting solutions must be built from the ground up by hand by common people with common sense and common decency...

...who has spent decades challenging the system from the inside and working within it to make it better...
...yet, who knows that when systems exceed their limits, the opportunity exists for great democratic progress for humanity...


What is missing is a candidate who will lead a real honest national conversation...

...who will stand up and say...

America, we need to talk!

America IS great!

America always has been great!

America always will be great!

America is greater when we are unified!

America is greater when we listen to each other!

America is greater when we work together!

America is less great when we are divided against ourselves!

America is less great when we yell at each other!

America is less great when we fight for personal and partisan gain at the expense of the common good!

America, we need to talk!

We need to talk because we cannot act when we are so violently divided!

There should always be healthy differences and healthy debates!

America, our differences and our debates are not healthy!

We need to talk so we can find out what we agree on!

As we build common ground, we can stand on solid ground!

When we stand together and pull together, we can do anything!

Archimedes said, "Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the world."

We have to reach back for the American spirit of the American revolution and call on the best of the old!

We have to gather at kitchen tables, schools, town halls, churches, pubs, taverns, and living rooms and find what we agree on!

Less and less, though, do we have time for gathering together with neighbors, AND, we need a place to collect our work as citizens and watch as our common progress grows!

For this, we must make full use of technology to build a civic infrastructure and call on the best of the new!

Democracy 2.0 is an idea whose time has come and we need our young people to help us make it a reality for our common future!

Justice Louis Brandeis said, "In a democracy, citizen is the highest office."

We need a civic infrastructure where every person can register their own views and their own priorities and work together with their fellow citizens to build common ground!

As that common ground builds, we can take common action and move America forward and make America greater than ever!

America's greatest challenges lie before us.  

Americans will not be divided by small mean greedy parasites!

Americans will face our challenges, and, together, we, the people, will enjoy America's greatest days ever!

The American spirit 

is the high and noble 

human spirit 

famously expressed in the poem by Emma Lazarus 

engraved on the pedestal of 

the Statue of Liberty,

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"


[ SOURCE: http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm ]