RE: How the DIY Mentality Can Fix The World
Good thoughts. Thank you. I agree and disagree. Yes, we need more hands on donit yourself people! No doubt about that! We also need specialized interest groups to focus on particular problems as they very greatly - from corruption to poverty to illness to crime and the list is a million long. A problem needs to be first identified and then a solution needs to be found and then that solution needs to be implemented. This takes people and resources that are dedicated to one problem; as there is not a one solution fits all. We also do not want wasted energy and resources in the form of separate groups solving the same problems independent of the others. This causes redundancy and inefficiencies. Some solutions will require the implementation of "laws" or public policy so these groups would need some sort of authority to envoke them. This authority should be accepted and approved by the people. This then creates a form of government...
So, I do not believe that our government is currently operating in an efficient manner and it is at times working against the solution of problems that it could be fixing. But ultimately that is because of us voters who have not held our representatives responsible for doing the job they were elected to do. So many of us brush off the corruption and inadequacies as "politics". We allow them to be bought by monied interests. We allow them to use their office as a means to better their personal interest - themselves. I believe that if we had a more informed and engaged voting base, we could hold the government and politicians to a higher standard and solve many problems through it.
Is this my unwavering believe? No. Just a stream of conciseness that was turned on by reading your post. And through it I forgot what my original response was going to be haha.
Last year I decided that the only thing I could do was to become involved. So I stopped being an observer and became a participant. I ran for and was elected to a local office. One that I cannot make a career out of. I kept my full time job and am doing this as a public servant. It has opened my eyes to the goodness that is in many electeds hearts. But on a national (and state level) we need a massive overhaul and replace them with people who genuinely want to serve and help. Not those who have made a career out of advancing themselves.
Thank you for the discussion topic!
I appreciate your thoughts and points, @jonpetric. Certainly worth the discussion. I am more focused on the 'whole' picture, which to me, says that the government is constructed of people. That said, we are all people; people create the problems. One problem is we have no universal language, terms are loosely defined and ambiguity creates confusion. Would you agree many disagreements are due to the undefined terms? Like the term "authority" for example. I could sit and compile a list a mile long of people that 'have been appointed as authority', but they excercise absolutely zero command (knowledge) of what it is they were appointed to. It happens. People are elected and appointed BY others that are elected and appointed. The political system does not appoint the most suitable person for the job, they appoint the one who played their 'tune'. Often why many of us can run for local government, but the 'glass ceiling' is very real. Local govt is where the real progress is made anyhow, not the ones so far off the ground that they can't hear the people. Many of us will not make a career of politics and rightfully so - if we all worked for the government maybe even less would be accomplished ;)
We are ALL capable of change. If more of us can convince ourselves of that, we are going to be better off. The change I'm am speaking of is one that comes from within each of us. There are billions of people that are NOT politicians and they DO wonderful things to improve the lives of many others.
My question is: why wait for someone to fix the problems all around us when we can start now?
The DIY mentality has generated so much information and knowledge that is at our disposal. No department of government can take credit for the millions of hours of free tutorials on the web. Not one. All of it is generated by people, out of love and compassion. No mandate or legislation could ever do that.
Good for you for taking it upon yourself to be active. Regardless if it is full-time, part time, or some times...better than inactive any day of the week. The more that each of us decides it is time to take responsibility for our lives, the less dependent on those around us we become.
If more people had less problems - would the world be more or less peaceful?
We have the power to help ourselves and others. The more we can do as individuals, the more can be done as a community and as a collective species.
In the 'big scope', I think we agree on just about everything @jonpetric. I appreciate the discussion and thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!