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“I do not know whether you have seen the world as it really is. For myself, I can only say I perceive it in its grim reality every moment.” – Mohandas Gandhi; 1918.
I picked up three books this afternoon. (I'm supposed to be resting in bed or on the couch, and having a fresh supply of books increases the likelihood of that happening.) The three are:
{1} White House Diary; Jimmy Carter; Farrar, Straus & Giroux; 2010; 337 pages.
{2} Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India; Alfred A. Knoff; 2011; 359 pages.
{3} The History of the Five Nations; Cadwallader Colden; Cornell; 1964; 181 pages. (The first section was originally published in 1727, and the second in 1747.)
Why these three books? Good question. First, I think that former president Jimmy Carter was one of the most decent politicians of my lifetime. Certainly not perfect – and, indeed, with some curious personality quirks. But perhaps the most honest US President of the past century. More, in some ways, he might be representative of the type of man or woman most capable of being elected to high office, and to work for traditional democratic ideals, in the next decade.
Second, I think that the tactics of Gandhi offer the grass roots democratic left the best blue-print for what we should be preparing to do today, and in the days ahead.
Third, I believe that the model of the Haudenosaunee, or Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy – which strongly influenced the thinking of our Founding Fathers – represents both the manner in which we should be organizing various groups with common values, and the measure of how we should be exercising the political power that is found in a united front.
Peace,
H2O Man
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