Steve Glickman, president and founder of the Democratic Empowerment Party, is a would-be reformer of democracy and defender of the underdog like you’ve never seen. Hegelian in approach, he wants to balance economic power and political power through a provocative approach he calls vote sizing. Simple in concept but profound in repercussion, the idea is to give larger votes to people at the lower end of the economic ladder. I interviewed this reluctant leader by phone from his apartment in Vancouver, BC.

~~~~~

PB: You’ve come up with a radical idea for reforming democracy by weighting votes. How long have you been working on this?

Steve: Over 20 years. I developed it as a philosophy student in university. I realized that there are two major forces in society — money and power. Most of us believe in the separation of church and state. Well, I believe just as strongly that wealth and power should be separate. Because when they overlap, we get corruption. So the way to separate wealth and power is to increase the power of the powerless by increasing the size of their vote.

PB: The principle of one-person-one-vote is sacred to most Americans. What moved you to tinker with it?

Steve: I really didn’t want to. I avoided it for years because there are a lot funner things to do than trying to root out corruption and change fundamental democratic principles. But I took a trip to Indonesia a few years ago, and I witnessed first hand the awful effects of powerless poverty. As I talked with so many desperate people who had no power to change their situation, I realized that they had a lot of wisdom but no way to realize their ideas. It broke my heart. So I decided I to summon up my courage and become a full time advocate for vote sizing.
PB: I don’t know when I’ve heard of such a radical idea for changing a fundamental principle. Why so drastic?

Steve: Is it drastic? I’m not an anarchist, corporatist, socialist, communist, fascist, or fundamentalist and I’m not for one world government. I just want to work within government to move it toward more democracy.

PB: More democracy? But isn’t vote sizing unfair?

Steve: Is it fair for some people to have all the money and all the power, while the rest of us have neither? Is it fair for children to be born into poverty with limited or no opportunity to ever get out of it? I know some people point to examples of poor people working themselves out of poverty. And yes, the system always allows a few to escape. But the current system will never allow the majority of poor and working class people to achieve a decent standard of living. It’s rigged to prevent that from happening. And the middle class is always teetering on the edge, just one major health emergency away from powerless poverty. Most of us are so preoccupied with making ends meet that we have no energy or time to focus on the corruption that oozes back and forth between government and industry. That’s what’s unfair!

PB: You are so passionate about this. Why?

Steve: I’m pretty much terrified of the path we are on. I don’t know why more people aren’t as scared as I am. A few counterfeit leaders and insulated puppet-masters cannot continue to dominate the rest of us and the environment this way much longer. There will be disastrous consequences – it’s already happening. There’s one man in Africa who is as scared as I am of this situation. And he’s even more courageous than I am. Julius found my website four years ago and is working to establish a branch of the party in Cameroon. He doesn’t have a degree or subscription to the Wall Street Journal, but he is very smart, brave and authentic. He assists local university students in writing their papers on subjects of history, philosophy, African and English literature.

I don’t think it’s fair that he has to save up his money to go to the internet caf? just to email me, that is, if the power is on. I have so much respect for this man. He literally risks his life when he gets on the radio or in the newspaper promoting democratic reform. Some of his friends and neighbors tell him he is wasting his time and that rich people will kill him if he continues, but he says he isn’t doing this for himself but for future generations. I’m passionate about increasing his power because I want him and billions of people like him to have a chance to live a decent life.

PB: But why do you want to punish the wealthy? It’s not their fault that others are poor, is it?

Steve: I don’t want to punish anyone. That’s like saying that giving the vote to women or freed slaves was done to punish men or plantation owners. I want the wealthy to keep their money and participate in a healthy capitalist economy. But to be fair, they shouldn’t also have the power. If they need power, they can choose that – but they’ll have to reduce their income to get a weighted vote. Personally, I’d be ok with a smaller vote because I’d prefer to have a large income. If that means giving up some political power to those who need it for the greater good, fine.

PB: A lot of poor people already don’t vote. Why should they get more of a vote?

Steve: Many are disillusioned because the current system doesn’t work. Did you know that a hundred years ago, people arguing against giving women the vote said that women didn’t want to vote, weren’t smart enough to vote, and that such a nasty business should be left to men? Critics of vote sizing say the same thing about people who are poorer and working class — that they aren’t as qualified to vote. That was also the argument against giving freed slaves the vote and the premise behind the poll tax.

But many women and blacks worked tirelessly and even died securing the right to vote. America has a history of having low expectations of women and people of color. We want to improve the situation of people who are struggling, but it always seems that some expert has the answer. I say poor, working and middle class people know better than anyone else what is going to improve their situation. Let’s give them a chance to prove it. So what if they don’t have a formal education? There is a lot of wisdom in poor communities. I believe if we raise expectations with a weighted vote, the result will be empowerment, responsibility and progress. But I don’t obsess about what they will vote for. I have enough faith in people that I think they deserve a chance to figure it out for themselves. That’s democracy at work.

PB: The last two presidential elections, some people believe, were stolen. How would vote sizing address that problem?

Steve: Vote sizing would use paper ballots with printed bar codes and offline scanners to insure autonomy, accuracy and a paper trail. But election fraud, like electronic voting, is only one tool that tyrants use to disenfranchise us; there’s also gerrymandering, payola, a dumb-downed debate, shadowy appointments, foreign meddling, and more.

Also, tyranny is only one of corruption’s four sides – the other three being brutality, patronage and greed – so there’s a lot we need to fix. Vote sizing is not a magic pill to make all our problems go away; it’s a democratic reform so we the people can elect sensible, honest leaders who care about all of our fates, and not just corporate and super-wealthy interests. That’s why I don’t trust so-called experts who say they have all the answers. It’s not them but we the people who know how to keep corruption at bay.

PB: Do you really think this could ever come to pass?

Steve: It’s a challenge because it’s outside the box of what people consider democratic. But think about this: before 1920, was the US a democracy? Most people would say yes, even though half the population couldn’t vote for the president or congress. So democracies can always be more democratic. We should remember that women’s suffrage came after a century of struggle. Before women’s suffrage, no one except the visionaries could see its inevitability. I see vote sizing as the next reform that brings even more fairness, so it’s inevitable. But it still will take time and encounter plenty of resistance. I would just challenge people to set aside the sanctity of one-person-one-vote for a day and see what is possible.

PB: Would you have to change the constitution to put this in place?

Steve: The US constitution would have to be changed for federal elections and charters for local elections. But you can use vote sizing anywhere people vote for anything. We have a business model that would give janitors and secretaries weighted votes to elect the CEO. We also propose weighting votes inversely to students’ grades in schools when it’s time to decide the curriculum. Like in politics or business, vote sized learning encourages cooperation rather than competition, which could really help our schools.

PB: How can people get involved?

Steve: I’m so glad you asked because vote sizing is really about the voices of the people, and not so much mine. There’s plenty of ways people can get involved at http://www.VoteSizing.org. They can brainstorm ideas and engage in dialogue online. They can become a member of the Democratic Empowerment Party. They can start their own local chapter. We need lots of courageous people who have faith in each other to step up and join the effort. Leadership positions are available.

~~~~~

Don’t be surprised if a South American chapter of the Democratic Empowerment Party is announced soon. Glickman plans a trip to Cartagena, Colombia for the month of February 2008 to recruit people who will promote vote sizing in South America. He’ll be taping his adventure to document the early development of the DEP’s Colombian branch.
About the Author: kayaking

I mean, what party is an uninformed person most likely to be swayed by, the Democratic leaning or the Republican leaning.

“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good,” exclaimed John Heywood in 1546.? Perhaps today’s news suggests the veracity and tenacity of this antique proverb.? ?Ill winds seem to be blowing rather ferociously these days.? The storms that affect so many and so much, the financial markets that plunge so deeply, the evidence of consequences of ethical and moral and legal and political and financial choices seem to be battering the world’s psyche.?
?
Head in the sand types will look the other way, hope for a simplistic solution and imagine themselves as acting out of some kind of? so called and suspect religious motivation.? Rationality seems to be at the bottom of our list of behaviors.?
?
Maybe, just maybe, we think?some new American Idol personality will make it alright.? Maybe, if we revert to type and act out school yard behavior, we will end up okay.? Maybe, if we just believe the worst?of the best and settle for the best of the worst we will survive.? Somehow, I don’t think so.??
?
Those on the Texas coast who chose not to evacuate are good people.? They just used bad judgment.? So are we as we face?the plethora of politics and its attendant confusions.? We too aren’t bad people, we just can’t seem to make very good choices.? The last eight years, which is about the amount of time it takes to earn a PhD, surely should have taught us something.??
?
Yet, blindly, we are?like lemmings heading for the cliffs.??
?
The news this morning doesn’t tell the whole story.? For there is, in the breast of all, a beating heart that yearns for REASON.? There is inside the whole of us, a conscience, a spirit, a deep seated desire to find the best and be the best.? So, tempted by the sin of cynicism, let us ward off that debilitating choice by looking to the good.? Let us find?the good which?can buttress us from?”ill winds blowing.”?

mom rox

As said, SOME McCain supporters…

Why don’t you give Obama at least a try?

Why don’t you accept the verdict of the majority of the American people and the electoral votes?

eco planning

I need to know this information urgently and quickly. First one to answer good gets 10 points!!

The most exquisite feature of the edifice, though, is the frieze. On the west side, it depicts the judgement of Paris, on the south the rape of the Leukippidai by the Dioskouroi, on the east an assembly of gods, who watch a battle of the Trojan War, and on the north which is the finest and best preserved section of the entire frieze, the Gigantomachy. Here we see the gods fighting hard to defeat the Giants, who are attacking from the right, wearing heavy armoury: helmets and shields, and in some cases breastplates and greaves; their weapons are spears, swords and stones.

The left section of the frieze is taken up by the gods. On the extreme left, Hephaistos, wearing the short chiton of a craftsman, is shown standing in front of his fellows and preparing his red hot bolts. Next come two goddesses, Demeter and Kore; then Dionysos, wearing a panther skin, and Kybele riding a chariot drawn by lions. Then come Leto’s beloved children, Apollo and Artemis, shooting arrows at their opponents; they are facing a warrior with a kantharos on his helmet: he is the Giant Kantharos. The next section of the frieze which has been damaged, showed Zeus riding his chariot. Hera and Athena have survived, in a good state of preservation; next to them Ares is wearing a helmet and holding a shield; Hermes follows, wearing the conical cap of Arkadian shepherds; finally, come Poseidon and Amphitrite, but only fragments of the lower part of their bodies have survived.

The sculptor who produced the Gigantomachy and the battle between the Greeks and the Trojans must have been one of the great artists of his age, endowed with a powerful and daring imagination, unique technical skill and a deep awareness of the difficulties of relief sculpture. It is enough to notice the extraordinary rendering of the successive surfaces of the figures, which though frequently intertwined, always remain clearly distinct from each other. The impetus of the conflict and the mingling of the adversaries is reproduced with great power and intensity, without however damaging the clarity of form and the easy, flowing rhythm which carries us from left to right and back again, with admirable skill, in a movement not unlike the ebb and flow of a wave. But apart from its power and robust expressiveness, the frieze retains its decorative character; it is a sensitive arrangement and exploitation of a surface demanding to be filled, an impressive, but also festive development of the theme, with all the spiritual exaltation appropriate to the sacred site of Delphi.

The Treasury of the Athenians: There is a third treasury, which has survived in a fairly good condition and has been restored in situ with very few additions: it is the treasury which the Athenians dedicated to the sanctuary during the last years of the 6th century B.C., soon after the establishment of democracy in their city (508 B.C.). Only a few fragments remain from the pediments; but of the metopes there are enough left to enable us to reconstruct their themes almost in their entirety. On the main sections – i.e., the facade and the south side, which was more exposed to public view, there are representations of the exploits of Theseus, whom the Athenians regarded as the legendary founder of democracy; at the back of the treasury and on the north side we see the labours of Herakles. These reliefs are a good example of Attic sculpture during the last phase of the Archaic period, and they bring to the spectator’s mind the early, red-figured vase-paintings of that time, with their elegant figures, lightly-balanced proportions, firm and spirited movement, daring postures, flexible contours, careful and thoroughly studied rendering of muscles and draperies.
About the Author: wedding gifts

Can you think of anyone in history who did this and pushed good or bad political or social agenda’s?
About the Author: Read more about this and other topics related to build a business from home

The story of America is unique in the world. It began as a trickle of independent minded Puritans who determined to speak directly their God, keep their muskets and beholden to no king who would stand between them and God like an English pope. King James, while creating the wondrous new Bible, also determined he would harass out of the land these protesters who took the term Protestant too far for his liking. So many rebellions, so many deaths, English rebels were sent home but after turning in any musket strong enough to begin another rebellion again.

In no other English speaking countries but America did it become custom to carry a musket, other than country folk for protection from bears or natives. And so we come to now, after American protests once too much to the king, and were now free. Well, the white men. Who owned property. But, war by blood, all men, then among the first on earth, all women. America, the first democracy on earth, is an inspired example to others all over earth. In China during the 1989 rebellion it seemed amazing but wonderful that we all over earth could witness idealistic Chinese students dared display a Statue of Liberty in the center of the Forbidden City, and the world watched them die before tanks churning them into hamburger, as was said by students there then.

In contrast, America was created, ship by ship, town by town, by idealists from Europe, then gradually from all corners of earth, as a place a man could bring his family and start a new life. No serf master, no nobleman to bow and pay most of their crop to, and see no hope of advance for your children, or theirs yet unborn. Ironically it was the decades of small booklets written by an early American who really encouraged the deluge. Benjamin Franklin, an enterprising young lad in a printer’s shop in Boston, tired of the whippings and the sleeping behind the stove, fled to Philadelphia. Here he trained in a printers shop, studied all he could in this and other trades, read all he could, and still in his 20′s he began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac, which was an instant hit.

People loved Franklin’s timely wisdoms, history factoids, and overall tone that favored a life of hard work, diligence, respect for others and obedience to general standards of decent behavior, proper grooming, the value of a penny saved. This seemed such good logic to many of the barons of estates throughout Europe, and soon Franklin’s witticisms and reminders of early to bed, early to rise were being translated into many languages and being generously handed out. Unfortunately for the barons their messages had the opposite effect: that of creating in the serfs a desire to move to this promised land filled with fair minded people like Poor Richard.

And the flood has rarely slowed down since, from those sickly few to the world’s mightiest nation of three hundred million people, and growing daily. But until further settlements such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, Savannah, and some English take overs such as Dutch settled Manhattan, named Niew Amsterdam, becoming New York: it was a doubtful matter. This initial settling of a handful of sickly English settlers around Boston and Jamestown to face a forested continent filled with lions and tigers and bears and resentful natives seemed ill fated; settlers kept dying of diseases, and infecting the natives. What to do?

Well, it seems, stir and mix; have Tom Jefferson send Lewis and Clark to the Pacific, and within decades families in conestoga wagons were creating a new mighty nation. While in this time ming made vases and Europe made war with itself, as always. Anything American is unique: Canada’s later wild west cowboys, many who were escaping American justice, were met and occasionally hanged by Canadian Red Coats. And Mexico’s amigos were not usually riding with the Texas Rangers, as any antique shop in any neighborhood makes clear. Just as Rome was Rome, America is America.

Famous art museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art have one of the largest collections of art under one roof. Located in New York City’s Museum Mile area, it has over two million works of art within its permanent collection, which is split into 19 sections of interest.

The Met’s American paintings section also has one of their earliest sculptures from 1870 on display. Hiram Power’s California was one of the first pieces that inspired them to focus building the museum around American art. Over the years, the Met has built its collection of art that covers many areas. Their art section features paintings by Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Van Gogh amongst its 11,000 paintings on hand. They have also built sections featuring Asian Art, American Decorative Art, and Arms and Armory as some of the many sections that they feature.

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is a privately-run museum that has a wide collection of European art, Greek and Roman sculptures, and classic drawings. The museum also has an extensive collection of American photography collection, which is one of the only areas within its museum that focuses on American areas of interest. There is also a research center that was opened in 1985, where a staff researches information about the artifacts that exist and makes sure that the information being presented can be used in publications and workshops for presentation purposes.

The Musee du Louvre in France is one of the oldest, famous and most visited museums in the world. Known as a place where artists were allowed to showcase their art since the early days in the 1700s. The museum was formally opened in 1750, and much of France’s much neglected artists were allowed to present their works in this museum. They have owned collections of famous artists like Rembrandt and Da Vinci for years and have them up on display to the public.Visitors can view some of the favorite famous pieces, like the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, which has called the Louvre home for centuries.

The Louvre has over 380,000 pieces of art within its collection. It showcases 35,000 works spanning over eight curatorial departments in its current rotation. One of its highlights is the collection of 11,900 paintings on display. The museum also hosts exhibits on archeology, sculptures and objet d’art. They also have a permanent gallery showing large holdings of furniture, including the Bureau du Roi by Jean Henri Riesener.
About the Author: old testament study