Candidate for
City Council Member; City of Santa Monica

MY political is a mixture of many influences. In other words, I take the best and disregard the rest. Part Green, Libertarian and Neo-Marxist Revisionist.

Most humans are motivated by characteristics of fear, hate and greed, as well as a desire for peace, love and brotherhood.  The rise and fall of civilization is ample evidence there have been far more brutal empires than the present American hegemony. Many Americans perceive themselves as the guiding light of freedom and democracy; defenders of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Many feel we are misunderstood and envied by the rest of the world and that we hold the keys to world peace, along with the responsibility to make the world a better place.  Others blame our government, the media and corporate greed for much of the ills of the world.  They consider globalization as a plot to exploit the undeveloped countries in order to concentrate personal wealth among the elite.   In my opinion, none of this reflects the truth of the American character, which is too diverse and polarized to fit into a simple stereotype.  Human beings have universal attributes, molded by survival instincts, culture and learned behaviors; conditioned by both nature and nurture.  I do not believe that humans can be solely defined in terms of a national character.  We are all influenced by the peculiarities of our variant social, economic, political, religious and cultural programming as well as by genetic predilections.    Western civilization has diverged in numerous evolutionary patterns, which differentiate it from eastern philosophies, and other world views.  As human civilizations progress, interact and clash, there has been much overlap; conflict contamination and change.   Some good, some evil...   The events leading up to, and then immediately following 9/11, altered the perception of how Americans are viewed by the international community, only to be skewed again, after the attack, by the unilateral actions of President Bush.  I have mixed feelings of my nationality, critical of some aspects of our history and proud of others, but I reject praising the American character as an ideal prototype.  Nevertheless, there have been far worse models that would replace our current domination of the world.    Since World War II our image abroad has become tarnished by the arms race, the so called cold war to contain communism and the invasion of Iraq.  Conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, throughout Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe, were different venues of World War III.  Now we are engaged in a Fourth World War, against terrorism, which is a continuation of Jihad and the Crusades and may really be regarded as a trade war over resources, markets and cheap labor.  Modernity versus a medieval resistance to change, pragmatism versus dogmatism.   The American character can be personalized as Yankee ingenuity, opportunity, entrepreneurism, situational ethics, democratic, libertarian and egalitarian values.  These are all part of the mix of what makes us unique.  We are also reflections of the same Darwinian motivations that are an incentive for all humans.  It is only our attempts to rise above our base nature that can mold us to be better than we can be.   The primary reason I am running for City Council is to present an alternate model for participatory democracy that is truly populist and creative. And to implement an electronic town hall to restore government to the people and out of the control of special interests   I was very involved in the Public Electronic Network, and founded the PEN Users Group, in 1989.  I have since become very disappointed and chagrined that fellow Greens and members of this city council have deliberately allowed a powerful tool for grass roots participatory democracy die of benign neglect in order to protect their power base.   I am also a card carrying member of the ACLU, NAACP and various environmental organizations.  Think globally, Act locally.