PDA

View Full Version : Jeffersonian


CSwriter1
17th May 2005, 02:32 AM
I am moving the subject of an energy crisis, therefore a major life style crisis, to its own place.

Sonrisa, that was a good article. I am pretty happy here in the Pacific Northwest. I live in the middle of small farm country with a railroad going through it.
Still damn fool people have made bad decisions, and their heads are so full of a false concept of reality, that they are not ready to make changes we should be making right now! Waiting until the shit hits the fan and there is no money to work with, is waiting too long.

But talking about the bad, won't get us to the good, as fast as talking about the good will get us there. Oh man, talk about the bad, if we understood the Junkers of Germany, we might make very different decisions!
We had a huge canning factory for processing our vegetables, and the damn fool city government had it torn down to put a new federal building on the site and no effort has been made to retain a local food processing plant. Since a railroad goes through town and to a food proccessing plant, we may do fine, but in this case we might to secure control of that food. I mean, you ship it off and you might not get it back.

We have hydrolic energy, but it is controlled by the federal government, and Bush wants to increase federal revenue by increasing the cost of electricity produced by the federal dam. Until recently I thought all utilities should be publically owned. I didn't realize federally owned dams that produce enery, could mean funding war in Iraq. I don't think Oregon can get control of the dam away from the federal government, but sure would be in our favor if we could. As things stand now, that electricity can by pass Oregon and go into California. That electricity is one of our greatest resources and we don't control it. If we have to pay more for electricity that is like paying higher taxes only we don't get to vote on this.

Let's get to the Jeffersonian life style. Are others aware of Jefferson's vision of our democracy?

sonrisa
3rd June 2005, 01:42 PM
Hi CS, I was digging up the yard yesterday, getting it ready to plant tomatoes & banana peppers. Already got the potatoes in. Anyhow, I was thinking about this topic, while I was out there. If you are referring to the Long Emergency article, I don't think you should be so quick to say "smile, back to farming". That article talks about displaced homeless former city dwellers forced to become farm laborers. I don't think we're talking about the return of the family farm (Jefferson's vision of democracy) here. More like the return of sharecropping, or worse, peasants laboring on the local finca. These folx will not be farming by choice. They will not be farming becuz they like to grow things or feel the earth on their feet & their fingers. They will be farming becuz they lost their homes in the city & have no place to go but to the country, where there will be plenty of jobs, becuz due to the Long Emergency, farming will once again be labor intensive. Some may discover they like to grow things & get into it, but most will consider it menial work, beneath their skills and abilities. They would much rather be doing some sort of work they consider appropriate to their skills & abilities, but farm work is the only work available to them & due to the Long Emergency, they will be stuck out in the country & unable to leave very easily. I don't think this is going to be anything to smile about.