Hi all. For whatever reason I haven't been getting the digest, the server is hiccuping again. But last night I remembered that I could catch up via the Yahoo E-groups. First of all, I'd like to ask the various members of the list to put away blame for right now. It is much too soon to point fingers. A month from now, then the whole western world will be ready for the second guessing and the back biting and the finger pointing. But lets wait a bit, please. Second, a few words about civilization. Every ten years the US conducts a census, and after that census political districts must be redrawn in order to keep population levels between districts roughly equal. Well, last night my wife and I attended the redistricting meeting for our county. It was decided that cancelling the meeting was the wrong thing to do. Our democracy, our civilization depends on thousands of small meetings like this one. And I was struck by how much I cared about this issue. Democracy is much more than simply voting. Voting is only a small part of what makes representative government work. And I think one of the best things people could do in response to this attack on our civilization is to become involved in the maintenence of civilization. Become involved in local politics. Or education. Or arts, or religion, or science. Some of these small local issues may seem petty, they may seem filled with boring people trying to do boring things. But these are the critical building blocks of civilization. These small arguments between petty competing interests allow the resolution of those disputes. Without democratic and just mechanisms to resolve disputes, our civilization would soon wither, as competing interests realize that they must use force to get what they need. So....democracy is much more than voting, it is much more than candidates and issues. The essence of democracy is the peaceful and equitable resolution of competing interests. And the best way to get revenge is to preserve and improve that which they hate: a free and open society. ===== Darryl Think Galactically -- Act Terrestrially __________________________________________________ Terrorist Attacks on U.S. - How can you help? Donate cash, emergency relief information http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/US/Emergency_Information/
