Building a Movement for Constructive Commonwealth Essays

Building a Movement for Constructive Commonwealth Essays Building a Movement for Constructive Commonwealth Essay Building a Movement for Constructive Commonwealth Essay Building a Movement for a Constructive Commonwealth By: Lean Hall, Executive Director Alliance for a Just Society I have challenged people in diverse communities inner-city black folks from New Orleans and New York, immigrants in Idaho, and rural families in Montana to draw a picture of the community they want. Their pictures are strikingly similar: Their sky is blue and their air is clean; the schools are good and the kids are happy; there are parks, good food, and safe places to live and work, as well as artistic, cultural, and religious institutions that reflect the richness and diversity of our communities and society. The desire to create strong communities where families can thrive seems almost universal, and this is true despite the presence of conservative ideologies that promote rugged individualism. We all hold this kind of vision; this paper is offered as an early step in building the strategy for transformation toward the political and social economy that sustains this vision. The kind of society we want to build can be described by the phrase, Constructive Commonwealth. I use the words Constructive Commonwealth because it engenders our capacity to address hat is broken and rebuilding it, and the imperative for constructive, positive solutions to build a true commonwealth. Our Constructive Commonwealth is an innovative, equitable, and sustainable economy that measures its success on the well-being of people and communities across the globe. The notion of well-being of people and communities extends to the environment that we live in; the education of its members; the creation of shared wealth and prosperity; access to housing, health care, and healthy food; and a truly participatory democracy governing our public institutions, government and corporations. A participatory democracy requires a well-developed civil society with people coming together to build peoples organizations and institutions that advance local community-based leadership that can interact with public and private institutions from positions of power. The imperative to recreate and transform our economy comes from three fundamental dangers that we face today: the crisis of global inequity that thrives on racial bias, threats to democracy from increased implementation and corporate control, and the global environmental crisis. Ignoring the confluence of these crises is not an option; we need to lay claim to innovation, ingenuity, and inventiveness to advance new solutions and build the Constructive Commonwealth. Retreating this shift will not be easy it will require a cultural, power, and policy shiftto move in waves across our country and the world resulting in the reanimating and transformation of our economy and society. Many of us, myself included , think the economy is like the weather. We act like the economy is an abstract force that we have little control over. But that is not true; our decisions and actions shape the economy, which, in turn, shapes our lives. Every relations. And these influences often are Justified in te rms mammals and morality. For a constructive commonwealth, we want to bring a prevailing sense of morality into the political sphere and then shape the economy. For example, in the Bible, Jesus becomes outraged by the money-changers and their exorbitant credit rates and throws them out, declaring usury immoral. Congresss decision to lift the Glass- Steals Act allowed the financial sector to create new, highly speculative and risky investment products, becoming a critical factor in the recent and ongoing financial crisis. Campaigns to regulate the environmental impact of products and corporate practices have had a significant, although insufficient, impact on the quality of our lives. The movement during the Great Depression to put people to work and the post-war enactment of the 6. 1. Bill changed lives, shaped communities and had defining impacts on our economy. And while they didnt go far enough, these public investments greatly reduced inequality. The economy is not a separate sphere; the notion of a Constructive Commonwealth recognizes the social nature of the economy and holds it within the public sphere. Our actions stem from our beliefs. To spur action for change, we need to reflect on and assert deeply held beliefs and values into the mainstream culture and politics. 1. We all do better when we all do better. Inequity is a crisis in the U. S. And globally, with more than 56 percent of the world population living on $2. 50 a day. L While inequity is color-coded and international, it is also a universal crisis. As inequity grows in a society, people of color and low- income communities are hardest hit. It is also true that there are worse outcomes health, life expectancy, crime across the board. Addressing inequity will require that we understand our society from both a gender and racial Justice lens. 2. Race matters. Today our society is shaped by institutional and systemic racism. We will not achieve our aspirations unless we understand how racism functions and address it directly. Just look at the foreclosure crisis. As CNN reported in June, White Americans have 22 times more wealth than blacks a gap that nearly doubled during the Great Recession. The housing bubble and subsequent recession greatly exacerbated existing inequities. One need only look at the predatory lending 1 The Great Transition page 23 practices of the banks and the foreclosure crisis to get at the root of this wealth loss. As the market has become less regulated, we have seen skyrocketing inequity across the United States. These systems that undermine equity are embedded in our history of manifest destiny, slavery and the near genocide of native peoples. 3. Human beings, not corporations, have rights. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his Four Freedoms speech eloquently stated, human beings should be afforded the freedom from want, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom from fear. Today that can be translated into access to basic needs: clean air and water, shelter, health, and food; a De-militaries society and a redirection away from a national budget dominated by military spending; an increase in availability to safe, dignified work with adequate compensation; and an end to the promotion of hate and the denomination of groups of people who are deemed to be the other. This kind of hate and denomination serves to divide us in ways that intensify inequity and diminish democracy, while weakening cross-cultural solidarity. It also advance our understanding of human rights, we must address the reality that report money and power have limited our democracy and freedom. 4. Global warming is a social and economic crisis. James Hanson, Annas director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, warns that if Canadas tar sands are exploited, dramatically increasing carbon dioxide levels will alone cause accelerated melting of ice sheets and rising in sea levels that would destroy coastal cities. He predicts that 20%-50% of the earths species would become extinct and our whole civilization would be at risk. I Just as our future will be shaped by the choices Canadians make, ours will also shape the rest of the world. It is time that we understand that our futures are deeply interconnected and interdependent. To date, corporations have not been required to internalize the costs of environmental degradation. It is time to assess the real cost of the production of goods by factoring in the future costs to society and to dramatically increase our investment in clean energy. 5. Corporate culture of consumption is not freedom and does not create happiness. Driven by marketing and advertising, we have been transformed from citizens into consumers. Collectively, we have forgotten that it is our family, community legislations, art, ideas, and spiritualism that fulfill us. As a society, we tend to value things over people and measure our worth based on what we have. The point about corporate-consumer culture should not be MIS-understood Economic insecurity, financial worries, and uncertainty undermine agglomerations and full participation in our democracy and the cultural life of our communities this, in turn, undermines happiness. 6. A healthy democracy is an essential part of our path forward. Our political democracy is awash with corporate dollars. The influence of this money is growing

4 Facts About Native American Reservations

4 Facts About Native American Reservations The term Indian reservation refers to the ancestral territory still occupied by a Native American nation. While there are approximately 565 federally recognized tribes in the U.S., there are only about 326 reservations. This means that almost one-third of all currently federally recognized tribes have lost their land bases as a result of colonization. There were well over 1,000 tribes in existence prior to the formation of the U.S., but many faced extinction due to foreign diseases or were simply not politically recognized by the U.S. Initial Formation Contrary to popular opinion, reservations are not lands given to Indians by the United States government. Quite the opposite is true; land was given to the U.S. by the tribes through treaties. What are now reservations is the land retained by the tribes after the treaty-based land cessions (not to mention other mechanisms by which the U.S. seized Indian lands without consent). Indian reservations are created in one of three ways: By treaty, by executive order of the president, or by an act of Congress. Land in Trust Based on federal Indian law, Indian reservations are lands held in trust for tribes by the federal government. This problematically means that the tribes technically do not own title to their own lands, but the trust relationship between tribes and the U.S. dictates that the U.S. has a fiduciary responsibility to administer and manage the lands and resources to the best advantage of the tribes. Historically, the U.S. has failed miserably in its management responsibilities. Federal policies have led to massive land loss and gross negligence in resource extraction on reservation lands. For example, uranium mining in the southwest has led to dramatically increased levels of cancer in the Navajo Nation and other Pueblo tribes. The mismanagement of trust lands has also resulted in the largest class-action lawsuit in U.S. history known as the Cobell case; it was settled after 15 years of litigation by the Obama Administration. Socioeconomic Realities Generations of lawmakers have recognized the failures of federal Indian policy. These policies have consistently resulted in the highest levels of poverty and other negative social indicators compared to all other American populations, including substance abuse, mortality rates, education, and others. Modern policies and laws have sought to promote independence and economic development on the reservations. One such law- the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988- recognizes the rights of Native Americans to operate casinos on their lands. While gaming has produced an overall positive economic effect in Indian country, very few have realized significant wealth as a result of casinos. Cultural Preservation Among the outcomes of disastrous federal policies is the fact that most Native Americans no longer live on reservations. Its true that reservation life is very difficult in some ways, but most Native Americans that can trace their ancestry to a particular reservation tend to think of it as home. Native Americans are place-based people; their cultures are reflective of their relationship to the land and their continuity on it, even when they have endured displacement and relocation. Reservations are centers of cultural preservation and revitalization. Even though the process of colonization has resulted in much loss of culture, much is still retained as Native Americans have adapted to modern life. Reservations are places where traditional languages are still spoken, where traditional arts and crafts are still created, where ancient dances and ceremonies are still performed, and where origin stories are still told. They are in a sense the heart of America-a connection to a time and place that reminds us how young America really is.

Explore Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Explore - Essay Example Each chapter contains seven to eight selections that present themes in different angles and different life experiences. This work is mainly focused on illustrating one of the chapters, Prejudice and discrimination. The main purpose of this article is to illustrate how different authors, in their essays, wrote about prejudice and discrimination. These essays originate from various sources such as books, newspapers, the internet and magazines. Due to this variation, these essays vary in style, purpose and tone. Therefore, the aim of this article is to relate different ideas of the authors concerning their opinion on the subject matter by comparing their varying styles, tone and purpose. In the analysis of the essay, â€Å"The Word Police† written by Michiko Kakutani, the author uses definitions, examples and illustrations to support argument that language is on the edge of absurdity because people hide their true personalities and inequalities with euphemisms. He also states tha t due to euphemism, people are likely to distract their concentration from the main problems of prejudice and discrimination or injustice in the community. ... Furthermore, she used sarcasm in renovating words like, Superman and Miss in order to show her aversion to politically correct movement. Kakutani defined Political Correctness as a revelation of a more just and inclusive community whereby sexism, racism and prejudice of all kinds have been erased (Katherine 367-368). She further claimed that Political Correctness had a good intent though the methods employed by its activists to accomplish their goals were too extreme. This essay of Kakutani, â€Å"The Word Police† is a refreshing observation of a literally world policed by the P.C. (Politically Correct). She mainly poked the efforts of the P.C. police such as Maggio Rosalie the author of s Dictionary of nondiscriminatory language and The Bias-Free World Finder. During her mock, she mainly emphasized that the P.C. police efforts were over exaggerated. According to her, the excessive exaggeration of the P.C. contributed in complicating words thus diluting the message. From this essay, we can learn that accountability can be considered a worthwhile tool for the individuals who make every effort to better themselves. For that reason, the P.C. police efforts should be criticized and applauded due to punishing of many citizens abiding by language and for their keenness and determination to improved language mainly for inclusiveness respectively. Lakota Woman is another essay written by Mary Crow Dog that talks about prejudice and discrimination. Lakota woman is an autobiographic book of Mary Crow who was an Indian American woman. In this book, she tells the story of her life as an Indian American in the community of the white Americans. Mary

Spiders Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Spiders - Research Proposal Example eight legs (Rollman and Taverna, 2008). It does not have a mouth to chew and it does not have wings which are common to other insects. Spiders produce silk but all spiders do not produce webs to hunt for other insects. Spider silk is also used by the creature for many other purposes such as climbing, building egg sacs, as well as immobilizing other creatures (Australian Museum, 2002). Their magnificent capabilities of adapting to new situations were tested in space as well where it was found that spiders could continue to spin their webs even without gravity once they had adapted to the environment (Wikipedia, 2008). This adaptation and the wide variety of spiders in the world also means that they are found all over the landmass of the planet from the jungles of brazil to the frozen tundra. Spiders have been found in deserts, near rivers, in densely populated cities and in the grasslands. They are found on all continents of the world and their habitat extends the planet (Australian Museum, 2002). The variety of the places they are found in is also reflected in the manner in which they mate since certain female spider species have been known to kill the male before or during the mating session which increases the chances of the male being the only one to mate with the female (Wikipedia, 2008). Beyond this aspect of their existence, certain spiders have also developed special adaptations which let them become better hunters or give them better chances of mating. For example, spiders which hunt near water may use bell shaped webs that are able to trap insects on the surface of the water. Some types of spiders have abandoned making webs altogether and have evolved into creatures that chase down their prey to hunt it (Wikipedia, 2008). Certain species of spiders also exhibit social behaviors such as living in a colony of thousands. In terms of size, depending on the environment they are in, spiders range from

The Black Death Essay -- Plague

Graveyards were full, medicine failed, parents abandoned ill children and in just six months, millions had died. It was the beginning of the Black Death. It was a deadly plague that spread through Europe and Asia from the mid 1330’s -50’s. The cause of death for twenty million people, the survivors thought it was God’s anger at something they had done and, therefore, the end of the world. In Venice, ninety thousand died and in Florence, half the population. There were three types of the plague. The Bubonic plague was the most common, the Pneumonic Plague was less common and the Septicaemic Plague was the most deadly and rarest of them all. Historians believe that the plague was caused by fleas that came to Europe from Asia on ships. At the time, people thought they were being punished by God and that they were being abandoned to fend for themselves. They thought the plague was being spread by bad smells. The plague is believed to have originated from central Asia in 1331, when the wild rats moved to live around the people, probably due to flooding and earthquakes. From central Asia, the plague spread to China and India before moving west to Iran. By 1345, the disease had spread along the trading routes to Europe. It is thought that Italian trading ships that were at Caffa also brought the plague to Constantinople, the capital of Turkey, and then to Eastern and Western Europe. The plague was then spread from person to person by bad hygiene and because the sick and dying weren’t isolated from the rest of the world. It affected more people in cities that in rural areas. This is because people in cities people are in closer proximity to each other than people in rural areas, so the germs have more people to get to than in the... ...hurch and ruling class in order to survive. Now, most people have a choice of religion and most people aren’t treated like the people of the medieval period. We have more advanced medicine and have excelled in science and knowledge. As a result of the Black Death we are now an almost perfectly civilized community that knows how to try and avoid things happening such as the Black Death. Bibliography: Mellissa Snell. (2008). Death Defined. [Online]. About.com. Available from: [23 July 2008]. E.L. Skip Knox. (Unknown). The Middle Ages: The Black Death. [Online]. Boise State University. Available from: . [23 July 2008]. Greer, V.et al. (1997) Ancient & Medieval Worlds. Mason, K.J. (2004) Experience in World History. BBC History Magazine

Ethics Game Simulation Essay

In simulation game, two dilemmas were presented. The first case is happened to a 16-year-old mother, RB. She is in her tenth hour of labor. Her parents are at bedside with her. Because of religious belief, they have chosen to limit the amount of medication and other medical assistance. Due to the length of her labor, her unborn child’s situation is getting worse. RB has not received any medication so far. Because of her fear and distress, fetal distress has been increasing gradually. RB’s brother stated that their parents want the staff hold the painkiller and treatment because they punish her for getting pregnant before she was married. RB is still a minor, her parents are informed of her health status, but we are not sure whether or not they understand how dangerous her situation could get. In the second case, one of the ICU patient, AT, was brought to the hospital by his domestic partner, YM. YM was accompanied with him while both of them were in the ER, but he was n ot allowed to visit his partner in the ICU. The shift supervisor nurse stated she would follow the rules and allow actual family members visit the patient. AT has been unconscious for one day and no definitive diagnosis has been reached. He was in critical condition and cannot make decision by himself. There is no related information on patient’s file whether or not approve or refuse the current treatment. In order to address ethically, I need to be attentive. So I have to identify the real dilemma first. In the first case, the teen and her unborn child need medical care but her parents are the legal guardian that have legal responsibility for her care. Now I have already now the problem, the next step is to be intelligent. I need to use my critical thinking skill to evaluate the facts. Also, I need to think about my obligation to my patient and how my decision affects each person involved in this case. Hence, the decision needs to be fair, fulfill my duty, and reasonable. I have to assure that the patient and her unbor n child get appropriate medical care, her parents’ wishes are being honored, and I will follow hospital’s policies and  rules. After careful consideration, my decision is to ask the assigned nurse to call a physician to make sure the mother and baby are assessed medically, they will get appropriate and necessary care, and both of them will be safe. Meanwhile, I will contact the chaplain to make sure patient’s parents’ values are respected by the medical care team. In the second case, I have to identify patient’s domestic partner’s rights and each person’s emotional state. Then I have to consider how to perform my job duty responsibly and my obligations to the patient, and patient’s best interest. The issue they have now is how to assure access for same-sex partner’s patients on equal footing with heterosexual couples. Because the same-sex partner do have some rights in this situation such as right to make decision for an unconscious family member. Since my patient, AT, is still unconscious and he can’t make any decisions for himself. So, my decision is to give YM access to his loved one and treats him as family. I will also speak to my supervisor about my decision. When utilizing ethical lenses, it will guide me make a sound decision. In the first case, I used right/responsibilities lens and results lens. The right/responsibilities lens focuses on duties and obligations, and be ethically acceptable. The results lens focuses on the duties and what meets individual desires, which means I have to consider how my action will affect each person. Hence, I have to combine all the analysis and my knowledge to make a sound decision in order to satisfy each person’s ethical desires. The second case, I used relationship lens and reputation lens. The relationship lens focuses on being fair. In order to be fair, I have to use my power appropriately and everyone’s rights as a person. For instance, I need to know the patient’s domestic partner’s rights and what kind access I can give to him. The reputation lens guides me focus on the virtues of each person. The rights/responsibilities lens allow me to consider my duty as a nurse and how to accomplish my duty. My patient and her baby’s safety ar e my top priority. Hence, I have to call the physician and notify him that my patient needs medical care. When using the results lens, I need to consider how to create a satisfied result to meet my patient and her family member’s needs and honor patient’s parents’ wishes as well. Hence, I have to contact the chaplain to comfort patient’s parents in order to meet their spiritual needs. The relationship lens allow me to consider my patient and his domestic partner’s rights. Hence, before I make a decision. I look at  hospital’s policy and rules. I want to make sure I give my patient’s partner his rights to access his loved one while I am still implementing hospital protocols. The reputation lens leads me to think about how to be a good nurse and how to provide best care for my patient. Also, I have to let my supervisor understand my decision and my standard as an employee and a nurse. As a home health nurse, we meet patients who from countries and who has different beliefs, and cultural backgrounds. I think when I have an ethical conflict, I have to assess the situation and gather data instead of making assumptions. After I collect data, I need to think about how the decision will impact each person involved in this case (right/responsibilities lens). As a nurse, I also need to remember ANA Code of Ethics. I have to remind myself I need to References EthicsGame.com, LLC. (2007). The troubled teen and policies an politics. Retrieved from: http://www.ethicsgame.com References Guido, G. W. (2010). Legal & ethical issues in nursing (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Do You Know a Psychopath