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civact6
| September 30, 2005 | 10:51 AM |
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Coming Soon to a Government Near You -- Pleutocratic Trans-National Corporate Political Hegemony
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Here's how it happens, folks. It arises from a set of processes closely linked with modern mass media political campaigning.
A wise observer recently pointed out that politics used to be "labor intensive," meaning that success in political competition was dependent upon *organization* from local to national levels. To achieve success, politicians had to be both responsive and responsible to their organizational bases -- i.e., the people of their respective political parties.
But now, in the age of mass media, politics has become "capital intensive," meaning that success depends upon getting the money to buy the face time on television in order to be elected. Thus, politicians have become dependent upon, and beholden to, whoever controls the wealth necessary to provide the funding for media exposure. Genuine responsiveness and responsibility to the *people* has become far less significant as a factor in gaining and retaining political office.
One of the key ways to counteract this would be to demand national legislation that requires those who control the media of mass communications to provide equal amounts of exposure time without charge to every properly qualified candidate for political office. After all, the Media Moguls are generally making huge amounts of money through their use of the airwaves (considered, theoretically at least, in the USA to be public property). The Broadcast Barons should be willing and able to donate free time to candidates for political office. But making that happen in any country is likely to be a very difficult "uphill" battle.
The same person who provided the insight about the capital intensiveness of modern political campaigns also noted that in the USA there is one organization that completely terrifies all politicians of every political party -- namely, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). That is because every American politician knows that if he or she gets on the "wrong side" of the NAB, their political careers will be quickly and effectively destroyed by sophisticated and well organized attacks from all directions by the media.
So, dear friends, when you see what has happened to the United States, don't laugh too hard or be too scornful. Pleutocratic Trans-National Corporate Political Hegemony may be coming soon to a government near you.
Best wishes to all, Dave Matthews
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| September 28, 2005 | 10:09 PM |
| September 27, 2005 | 2:35 PM |
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Energizing Community and Economic Development in Small Rural Towns -- Uses of the Internet
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Information and resources made almost universally available by the Internet create new opportunities for energizing and accelerating community and economic development in small rural towns and cities.
Today, nearly every on-line person who has the vitality and intelligence to make any sort of worthwhile contribution to local community and/or economic development efforts can easily access enough high quality resources via the 'Net to rapidly acquire "world class" knowledge and skills pertaining to his/her chosen field(s) of activity.
This situation creates revolutionary new challenges and opportunities for traditional non-profit Community Service and Development Organizations that, in the past, may have tended to function as more or less "self-contained" entities within their geographic areas of operation.
To illustrate by analogy: Now, instead of being the only "jazz combo" in town, Community Action Agencies and Development Corporations may find that new "jazz combos" are beginning to materialize all over town. In the face of such developments, tradition-bound organizations may tend to react defensively, viewing all of the new activity as unwelcome and potentially threatening competition.
Flexible and creative organizations, on the other hand, will quickly see both strong needs and opportunities to exhibit leadership in helping with the development of new (mutually supporting and coordinating) local "associations or federations of jazz combos."
Established program operators with records of competent performance are likely to be in great demand to provide: (a) training and technical assistance to newly emerging organizations and programs, and (b) leadership in helping to integrate and orchestrate combined local efforts.
A significant asset that can be made available to any local organization receptive to utilizing it is a specially created "(Your Locality Name) Community and Economic Development E-Mail Group and Message Board," that can be assembled at no cost from the standard Yahoo! E-Mail Group format. The following example, prepared for the town of Crawford, in McLennan County, Texas, is provided for your review:
Crawford and McLennan County Texas Community and Economic Development Network
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CrawfordTXCommunityandEconomicDevelopmentNet/
Your attention is invited to the "Links" section, containing information and resources for the above Group, that can be accessed directly at :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CrawfordTXCommunityandEconomicDevelopmentNet/links/
Similarly useful collections of material can easily be gathered -- not only for almost any small town in the USA, but for those in many in many other nations as well.
E-Mail Groups of this type not only have the capability to function as either correspondence lists or message boards (depending on user-preference settings), but also provide searchable archives of posted material, ample space for accomodating relevant document files, project photos, chat rooms for real-time discussions, and calendars where Group Moderators and/or Members (depending, again, on Group settings) have the option of scheduling/announcing community activities and events.
In recent conversations focused specifically upon the challenge of economic development in small rural communities, at least six separate (but interrelated) arenas for possible growth activity became apparent. Others may also be identified, but those listed below could be useful for purposes of initial thought and discussion. They are:
1. Agriculture and livestock -- together with related supply, support, and product processing/shipping industries.
2. Value-added manufacturing and/or processing -- industrial parks, ethanol fuel production, "windmill farms" for generating electrical energy, cyber-business fulfillment centers (where merchandise is received, sorted, picked, packed, and shipped, etc. -- a single center may serve several cyber-merchandising enterprises).
3. Traditional "town center" storefront and/or shopping mall retail and service businesses.
4. Home-based micro-enterprises -- E-Bay sales, basement, garage, and/or kitchen table businesses, "shade-tree" auto mechanics, child care, as well as telecommuting, etc.
5. Tourist/travel-related businesses -- festivals, rodeos, sporting events, scenic or historical attractions -- with related motels, restaurants, etc.
6. State, Regional, or Federal Government facilities -- college/university campus, medical center, state police barracks, agricultural research center, Forest Service or Department of Agriculture offices, etc.
A seventh arena -- the feasibility of which may be substantially increased by the sort of "Community and Economic Development E-Mail Group," described above -- pertains to certain specialized types of economic activity that involve mutual participation by several small towns within a geographic region (with accompanying needs for on-going collaboration and coordination).
For example, the utilization of such an E-Mail Group could assist in staging a simultaneous or successive series of small town summer festivals along a particular highway corridor, for the purpose of producing a cumulative positive impact upon attendance by visitors and tourists.
As indicated above, setting up a "Community and Economic Development E-Mail Group" of the sort described above for your own locality is not difficult to do. Once established, it can easily be integrated into your organization's existing web site by means of a simple link.
I hope you will find the above comments to be useful. If you have questions or I can be of further assistance, please let me know.
Best wishes, Dave Matthews
Facilitator, The Civic Action Free University
http://www.tcafu.net
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| September 25, 2005 | 9:57 PM |
| September 23, 2005 | 2:39 PM |
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