If you’re trying to keep track of the money spent by our Federal Government for “stimulus”, you must know that it’s not easy. CNN has a guide that I’ve found handy that tells me the Government has committed to $1.9 Trillion (With a capital T) and the Federal Reserve about $6.4 Trillion. It adds up to about $75,000 for every family in the USofA, a number so large that it still defies description. I was wondering if somewhere in all that was, in fact, a bit for our families – or at least the kids who will have to pay for this.
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Systemic Connections: Politics
Governments of various kinds and levels are the way people organize and define themselves, and their operating systems are politics. Connections have always been at the heart of politics for obvious reasons. In our modern democracies, journalists have tried valiantly to define elections based on issues and ideas, but it never works – the connections of politics are tribal and personal. People rarely change their affiliations because they’d lose the connections that define them in part, too. Issues come and go, but connections remain. That doesn’t mean that connections in politics never change, but change stalls until the tribes and their purported issues lose all connection with relevance.
Such a time might be now.
Systemic Connections
This is a summary of the main theme of Barataria so far, written for the purpose of taking the discussion off to a new level. If you need more explanation, just follow the links. Thanks!
Pick a system that influences your life. You might start with the obvious physical networks of technology like the internet, telephones or highways that make it possible for you to meet the world on a daily basis. You might branch out to the systems that distribute food to grocery stores or electricity to every household. These link up eventually to more “soft” systems of people and ideas, such as religion, politics or academics. They are all systems that have their own purpose and daily grind that keeps it all keepin’ on.
Unread Influence
Minnesota politics crossed a threshold when Michael Brodkorb was elected Vice Chair of the state Republican Party. His name was well known to many people as a blogger for Minnesota Democrats Exposed (MDE), a site that has a name that pretty much speaks to its content. To many, this signals an endorsement of blogging as a way to advance in politics. Yet if you look closely at the political blogs here in Minnesota, you can see that the influence MDE enjoys is masked by an amazing fact – hardly anyone reads it or, for that matter, most of the other Minnesota political blogs.
Beer
The problem started soon after people started messing around with barley and other grains. Sure, they were an interesting crop that you could make a lot of with this “plow” thingy, but what could you do with it? You can imagine the debate running on and on, with the Sumerians that were pro-grain being called all kids of names by the anti-grain faction of Sumeria. Somewhere along the line, some of this grain rotted in bowl of water in a very careful kind of way and soon there was something everyone could agree on – it was a tasty and good thing, and not just because it was alcoholic. The whole debate got a lot more mellow after a few bowls full of it were downed, and everything was allright.
That’s about how making beer was the first act of civilization.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 