Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Post Election

I realize this blog is several hours later than usual, but I wanted to interrupt my discussion of CDIP (Complexity, Diversity, Individuality, and Practicality), again, as reality intrudes.

Yesterday was election day in the US. The good news is that Barack Obama was elected as the next president. The bad news is that no matter who might have won, there are limits on what they can do. I realized a while ago that the best, most aware, most radical leader really can't do much. Complexity theory and the experience of governments like the Soviet Union and other 'communist' countries show that even the most well intentioned politicians, the most well intentioned governments, can do little, and often what they do, backfires. You can't create change from the top down. Unfortunately, the reverse of this isn't true. Leaders such as Reagan and Bush/Cheney have proven that a lot of damage can be done from the top down. So I'm quite glad that Barack Obama won. Congratulations to everyone who made it happen. Now we need to get back to the real work of rebuilding the world, from the bottom up.

Quote of the day: "Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work - that goes on, it adds up." - Barbara Kingsolver
Word (or phrase) of the day: Synergy
Hero(es) of the day: Ginetta Sagan

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

!

Chris

MoonRaven said...

Sorry I'm slow to responding to comments these days, but your '!' has me mystified. Would you care to expand it?

Anonymous said...

The "!" was all I needed to exclaim upon your excellent perspective. I have said for years, our world will never change unless we are all involved. (And elected leaders want us involved not as mere followers, but participants...) Something that has not much happened in quite some time, including both parties, and most business models...

It is like my analogy for a sports team, football in this case, if everything is totally dependent upon the star quarterback and this person is injured, then the team falls apart. We all need to be leaders collaboratively valued!!!

By the way, I am so stoked that the people that now favor non discrimination (and highly intelligent thinking) out number the bigots. More smart and reflective young people on the planet. Imagine where we forward thinkers will be in four years. It would be interesting to research on voting demographics and mortality, and critical forward thinking timeline potentials...

Though I have to say, my mother whose has always been a devout, loyalist Republican, now in her 80's, voted proudly for Mr. Obama!

Thank our DNA Heaven's for the Internet so more people can gather and share voting information...

C.