E Pluribus Pabluminium

      The two party system is taken as more or less an icon of our American politics. It's driven into most of us by an early age that the two main political parties in America are the sine qua non, the be all and end all of American politics. But it's actually unusual for a nation to divide into only two political parties. In many other countries, there's often four, five or even more putting up people for election. And perhaps, that itself might be an incentive toward a more fulfilled democracy, in those places.

     For it seems to me the primary purpose of both of America's most national parties is merely to drive and focus voters in one particular direction. They have been at it for so long now, that the two polarities seem to be straining the population to the point of maximum saturation, in terms of propaganda and rhetorical frenzy. Extremes at the far left and far right begin to coalesce into blocs of more respective power, until those moderates who controlled "the center" of each are marginalized themselves, and the parties transformed beyond recognition. The liberal "Democratic" party toward more "cancel culture" and intolerance of opposing ideas, and the right "Republican" party toward more jingoistic and even authoritarian law n' order tropes. When I grew up it was more a given that Democratic presidents initiated more wars and supported the Blob, or M. I.C., as it's come to be known, and that while Republicans rarely if ever started any, they merely set the stage for the next incoming Democrat. But now the Republican party are both the staunchest defenders of military blob spending and the most vocal about pulling troops out of wherever we've managed to send their poor souls. A Democratic peace movement at the moment seems like merely a 60's memory.

     These divisions of American culture in to these two and separate factions- an intellectual "elite" that looks down their nose at "plain country folks" and ignores realities and grievances, while still claiming to support "the working class", and the other, a population that see outwardly only greater and greater government and corporate intrusion on their personal lives and "educated fools" who want to tell them how and what to think-these divisions are the product of two parties, and two parties alone.

     For what do other political parties add to the discussion? Quite a bit. There are always a large portion of Americans in any election who have been made to feel so tired of the cant and rhetoric of the majors that they deign to remain outsiders. Third parties never collect more than about 6-7 % of any national vote, but what they do and do well is serve to remind the major parties of just where their programs, platforms, and candidates are lacking. Without third parties, how will either Democrats or Republicans manage to improve on those arguments and grievances their own party is ignoring, often much to its own peril? That is why I believe that acceptance for third parties- the more the merrier! would be better for our democracy than joining one of two herds of lemmings, each streaming past the other to an indefinite coastal cliff, from sea to shining sea.

This common complaint of our national seeking unity blinds itself to the reason we can't seem to find it- because these two political organizations, with no real other raison d' etre than to get, maintain and keep control of power, are the very source of the disunity itself.  Free yourself from party affiliations, labels, and all the various silly constructs of ego that help to keep you confused in this age of more information-than-you-can-eat. Think for yourself, believe in yourself- & be the change that you want to see.

For No Rhyme Nor Reason

      Sure looks like one of them "real barnburners" we're all stuck with coming up to the Erections in a couple weeks- and never before have we witnessed the actual underbelly of the American Mind coming unhinged and blasting off in so many directions... Bad Cops popping off randomly, but with much more frequency, across the nation; President Stumpy daring the Virus to come get him, which it does; goon squads volunteering to "oversee" the polling places.... I mean hey what's not to like about the USA this year? I'm sure glad I don't live in some backward place like Bolivia or Bosnia-Herzegovina! 

     Obviously President Stumpy most wants to appeal to those Americans of whom Ben Franklin said because they desire security over liberty deserve neither, and if populations get the government they deserve, then perhaps this was all just as God planned it, because Those Americans have gotten noisier and noisier over the years, along with Stumpy. 

     Well it would be one thing if I had happened to respect what his profession was before election but since Real Estate is anathema to the Indigenous outlook (along with the importation of the European and Oriental concepts of "wealth" and "money" and "commerce") but since I know Real Estate is one profession where everyone must present themselves as exceedingly trustworthy (when their whole industry has been built on theft from the first) by dressing in best "business formal" for PR presentation... I never liked Real Estate people nor even the idea you can buy or sell the Earth Mother itself. Goes to say I couldn't care less about people such as Stumpy himself.

     Sigh. So many things went wrong in that going forward of Manifest Destiny over the original Americans and so much of all them are tied into the future demise of our Earth Mother herself, all rapped up in those civilizational tropes. I see and watch as the Arctic sea ice retreats, Greenland and Antarctica's continental ice shelves unmoor and unglue, as wildfires wreck what used to be everybody's ideas of idyllic California Summer dreams... 

     But why go on? It's duality anyway and more of the Games of mice and men. 

     Me, I think things are gonna get better. They always do, since "even this too shall pass away..."
The karmic pendulum can never remain on one angle anyway, and so, go vote, or not. It's your freedom and how much you value Life maybe. Things won't get better presto change-o and don't ever kid yourself buster that any new president is ever gonna be the Messiah you keep expecting them to be. 

     But you know, you can choose to go under in the onslaught, or you can "resist" by ignoring it, and the loud voices of hate you hear coming from left and right, of a country armed to the teeth ready to take each other on on an issue where the only sensible approach would be nonviolence, period. Those loud voices of hate want to eat out your substance and grind you down until you are in the same hole that they are. Don't listen, if they knew anything in the first place they wouldn't be down IN that hole looking up.

     Think with your heart., and walk your right dharmic path.

     Free your mind and your feet will follow.

Score 2 for the Indians

     This last month has seen 2 refreshing developments in the ongoing struggle of indigenous people to reclaim what once belonged to them, stolen by custom or treaty. In the first, a federal judge ruled that a portion of Oklahoma granted, by treaty, in the 19th C, to the Creek Nation, was still to be officially considered a reservation and under the tribe's, neither state of Oklahoma nor federal jurisdiction. It didn't mean that "Injuns are comin' - t' take away our land!" but it does mean that the tribe is allowed to adjudicate certain cases outside of any "constitutionally formulated" whiteman-style jurisprudence, set up since the great land grab of 1888. The judge ruled that since Congress had never said otherwise since the treaty was set in place, that the tribe still retains its sovereign dominion... over quite a large area of the state, including the city of Tulsa. This can possibly also mean that other tribes such as Cherokee who were removed by Pres. Jackson with the Creeks and Choctaws may themselves have righteous claims to the same opinions.
     In the other development, a ranch that had been out of Indian hands for over 250 years on the Little Sur River in California was purchased by the Essalen tribe, the original inhabitants, and will be a preserve for endangered species such as red legged frog and California condor. In this case, the land itself has been returned from the clutches of the 'wasichus" and every small step forward like this only serves to help to rectify the immense injustices done to the native people in my native state, and country.
     So score one for Sitting Bull  and the good guys. Wouldn't he look so much better than Andrew Jackson on the $20 dollar bill?

Long Hot Summer

     The latest national mood crash centering around race and police violence doesn't escape me, no matter how apathetic I choose to be toward most developments in my nation.
     The fact that cops are violent is no surprise. Neither is it a surprise that so many of them act like goons and bullies, since "that's their job." To be goons and bullies.
     To train for this , they often spend a term or two first in the military, and when they get out, no further ahead than they were before, they are given preference as veterans, in hiring- especially within police departments, where military hierarchy is a simulcrum of "service" life. These folks are trained to see things in confrontational shades, and so, we end up with a country that appears to have been overrun by an occupying army, where those paid to "protect" us bully, intimidate, harass, and kill us with impunity instead, since, of course, the man at the top "has their back." And we still want to think we are a "free country."
     We could go on about "the man at the top" but one thing strikes me as noteworthy at this point- he seems immune to the voices of actual protest against police violence whether directed at minority groups, or just the population in general. I notice he gives great credence to those who fought tfor the treasonous cause of slavery and secession as if they were "braver than you" and yet where's his own bravery to even match those? And why is a representative of the federal government so opposed to excising remnants and souvenirs of an abolished evil?
     Partly because he pays evil no mind, and swims with the likes of evil kings and dictators himself, and having long ago sold his soul (for whatever reason at the time- becoming most powerful man in the world seems to have been an afterthought) sees no moral turpitude in protecting his "friends" from moral and international justice.
     Well I sure would not want to drink a beer with either him, or most cops on the beat for that matter. The only way a President of the United States could ever be received in my home would be on the other end of a search warrant, thank you. And I never listen to his speeches- I only read abut them later, that's how little I think of the "msjesty" of his imperial position.

     Someday, and soon, America will get is head together about the Great Disease, and also, about Racial Equality These things take time and evolution, and often one step forward can mean two steps back will be required. However, since I happened to grow up in one of the world's great cultural melting pots, Honolulu, I could never understand why people on the mainland were so hung up about race, social status, class, and all those other things that go into making up "white privilege"- something I've never felt much of myself being both
a) a longhair and on the "wrong side" of the War on Drugs"
and
b) my partial native American ancestry, dating back to before the Trail of Tears, which gives me a sense and perception of being part of a community established much earlier than 1492.
     I can't yet, figure why people have to hang on to their stupid ideas that there are "races" when there is just ONE human species, our brains are grey, our blood is red, and when our hearts stop beating, we die.

The Great Pause

     What’s not to like about this situation? The Rat Race has shut down, although in fits and starts, it will come roaring back soon enough; the government is sending everyone money (after stealing it from us, and profiting off of us, for once we get a share of the take) and the natural world has had a chance to take a breather from the relentless Assault of the Seven Billion upon it.

     Times like these were built for those who get a little kick out of seeing things driven into extraordinary situations. For once, soldiers have not been forced to duke it out, although some continue to do just that; for the most part, the industrial nations which rule the world’s hegemonies have for the last two months been forced to freeze in their tracks. Politicians have had to face watching some of their dirtiest secrets exposed, and the Deep State revealed itself to have really blown it for once in instigating the whole Russiagate brouhaha. And while most musicians who depend on entertaining and the gig economy have been hurt, the sheer proliferation of folks just making their own noise coming out of homes across the world means that music isn’t suffering this so badly as some might have claimed, after all.

     There are always bright sides to things and silver linings and unicorns still play in the sunshine meadows of frolic.

MYSTERIES OF THE PAGE Collected Chamber Orchestra Music 1988-1997

  MARK LIND HANSON   

  AVAILABLE NOW

"It took only twenty years to swim to this desert island!"

CONTENTS

DISK 1

MANTRA (Adagio) (1988) (6:30)

ON THE GRANITE PLANET (1990) (Allegro con Brio Giusto) (2:27)

HERE COMES EVERYONE (1995 ) (Allegretto Alfresca) (5:22)

PAINTED DESERT (1996) (Allegro) (6:24)

SLIPSTREAM (1996) (Allegretto) (3:57)

DISK 2

SPACE MEADOWS (1995) (Allegretto) Aubade au Breton (4:19)

MERCURY TERMINAL (1996) (Allegro) (6:44)

SYMPHONY #6 (1997)

1. Indo-Celtic Pastorale (Allegro Moderato) (14:58)

2. Ghandarva/In the Garden of the Gods (Tranquillimento) (35:27)

3. Electric Rose in the Forest (Andante) (13:47)

Inquire @

mlindhanson@yahoo.com

Rat Race Goes Down Under the Weather

     The appearance of clean fresh blue skies (under an unusually long pattern of cloudy weather) and green mountainsides ought to be a inspiration to our neighbors- this is what our world looks like when we don't drive our cars so much. The Bay Area is experiencing unprecedented views, generally impossible since the 50's and the coming of AutoSuburbia to the West Coast.
Here's one example (and my apologies to the local photographer whose name I did not note):

      As you can see, situated on the MidPeninsula the photo shows (with great clarity) a view from the Palo Alto foothills all the way to The City and beyond. Usually we can't even see across the bay! Now, we could all enjoy more views like this, if people could only slow down and not drive their Rat Race machines so often. 

     The forcing of the Rat Race to slow down to a standstill or crawl at this time is greeted by many with horror. They are too trapped within it see anything but a negative outcome to their personal quality of life, meaning they are hard-pressed to see what a positive it is for all the rest of us to be able to enjoy and appreciate nature for what she is. And without the daily, impeding presence of humans, the natural world is able to reassert itself, as this next photo shows...

      How badly do you really, honestly, need to get the Rat Race back into your life? Many of the folks I know are welcoming this release from a daily grind of commuting and spending hours in a place which, were it not for being employed there, they'd quite probably ignore in favor of the other places in their lives which have a more lasting & meaningful value.

For what good is our Rat Race in the end, if it leads to high stress, hypertension, heart attacks, and a sense that everyone else is just out for themselves and exhibiting it in the meanest fashion?

So there are silver linings to this current world pandemic. Not the least of which is, we get a break from our species' constant efforts to deny our place within the ecology of our planet. Take some time to breathe this new life freely and appreciate it for what it is. Your job, title, and position in society are pretty meaningless when you comprehend your place in Nature and in God's World. All that other stuff, from politics to sports to the economy, are creations and interventions of the human race. And in the end, what can they matter for a soul seeking  spiritual freedom?