Can’t Write What I Really Want to Write

— Have to Write About the Urgency of What’s Happening to Us —

By Jeff Bloom

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. 

FROM: Paragraph 2, Declaration of Independence of the thirteen united States Of America, July 4, 1776

Oh, how I would love to write and work on projects involving my passionate interests! When I write and work on projects, I learn so much. Such work clarifies my thinking, develops deeper and more cohesive ideas, and leads me down unexpected rabbit holes for further exploration. It’s similar to exploring new natural habitats… in forests, deserts, marshes, meadows, swamps, and underwater reefs and wrecks. I love doing all these things. All of these involve some risk along with the adrenalin rush that ensues. But, all sorts of other neurotransmitter rushes occur from exploring the natural world and the world of ideas. However, I don’t want to leave out the world of humans. In the mid-1970’s, I would wander around Brooklyn and Manhattan with my camera. I’d explore desolate places in the City of millions, as well as locations with shoulder-to-shoulder people all negotiating ways to move forward. 

My intellectual passions have generally spun around my curiosity to learn more about an increasingly vast array of contexts that comprise our lives on this planet. From my first childhood passion for sharks, I’ve expanded my love for pretty much all forms of life. But, my years of teaching both young children and adults, I’ve become fascinated with how people think and talk and relate with one another. And, this led to looking for the similarity in patterns of thinking and relating across species. But, I also love the arts; and wish I could be better at doing art (this statement is an indicator of the psychological violence that schools do to children). I love poetry, literature, music, history, different cultures. But, also have love—hate relationships with fixing mechanical and electrical things, remodeling and repairing my house, making things out of wood, and working with computers, and developing websites. There is so much to explore, ponder, share, and discuss. But, for so much of this extensive landscape of possibilities, the timing, for me, just doesn’t feel right. 

At this moment in time, all of my passions for exploration seem irrelevant. Our shared world is collapsing. None of my passions are at all important at this time. None of our ways of entertaining ourselves are important, except in ways that keep us from being overcome by fear and anger. Saving our ecosystems, while pre-eminently important, will mean nothing without first removing the fast-growing, malignant tumor that is consuming everything in our society like a hungry, unfillable, vacuum cleaner. We’re being taken over by hungry ghosts with no integrity, no empathy, no intelligence; and who are consumed by greed, hatred, and maliciousness. 

If actions are not taken in the very, very near future, it will be too late to resolve our situation without a major violent clash. The politicians, who aren’t directly involved in this collapse of the U.S., seem to be living in some sort of fantasy world of business as usual. They’ve been doing this for decades as the patterns for this coup were being laid bit by bit. As I’ve written previously, a dysfunctional system cannot be “fixed” from within the dysfunctional system, which seems to be the illusion, or is it “delusion,” of the Democrats and the few outcast Republicans. Waiting for the next election is a sick joke. It’ll be too late. The hungry ghosts will have become too well established to the point where elections will no longer occur or have any impact. However, we can use the systemic processes from beyond the bounds of the dysfunctional system. 

The actions we need to take need to go much further than those described by Michael Popok on his February 14th podcast. We need a concerted, coordinated, nonviolent, but ruthlessly focused set of actions by a team of justices, judges, past and present law enforcement, legislators, attorneys, and probably state governors and their National Guards. And, then they need to go in and arrest every person who is involved in illegal activity and/or whomever has sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution, but who has broken that oath. These people need to be put in jail without bail to await trial. Then, we need to enact some form of national emergency, install a two or three person interim co-presidency (with one Democrat, one Republican, and maybe one Independent). We can’t just return to business as usual. The mandate of the new government should be to rework a new system based on the relevant principles of our present Constitution. 

This process has to take into account the issues that have led to our current state of collapse, along with the idea that any system has to be flexible in order to meet the demands of the changes that occur over time and the demands of any unexpected occurrences. 

Some of what I think may be important to include in the principles of a redesign in addition to a more elaborate and inclusive version the Bill of Rights that will address current and future changes in society include the following:

• All politicians, justices, judges, law enforcement personnel, and others who work for the federal, state, and local governments must be held to a much higher set of standards, than our citizens. They wield great power and must not endanger the trust we place upon them. 
• All elected officials can only have an income as provided by the government. 
• All people running for office cannot use their own personal funds or the funds any other person or entity. All media must provide free, equal “airtime” or space to all candidates, which is the way is used to be done. Some modest amount of funding can be equally distributed to candidates for any particular office. Any breach will result in immediate removal from candidacy or office. 
• Term limits for all judges and justices. 
• No executive, legislator, judge, or justice can receive any funds, goods, services from anyone outside of their immediate family. Doing so should result in immediate removal from office with concomitant legal charges filed. 
• The justice system needs to be designed to move swiftly with delaying tactics prevented. 
• Corporate ownership of news media should be prevented or highly regulated to give the media the ability to operate without political pressure from the ownership. And, since the media wield so much power, they also need to be held to high ethical standards. 
• The wealthiest people and entities need to be taxed at a much higher rate with no loopholes for sidestepping the support of this country. 
• Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs need to be permanently established and secured without Congress being able to borrow or steal from these programs. Social Security payments to retirees should be increased to more accurately reflect the rate of return on retiree funds. All of these programs should be more flexible in supporting those in need. We also need at least an option to for anyone to opt into a Medicare-type of program at any age. Payments for non-retirees can be adjusted along a continuum of age, income, etc. 
• Anyone entering into politics by running for some office, must first pass a test on local, state, and federal laws and state and federal Constitution. They also should be examined and evaluated by a board of psychologists, with special attention to preventing people with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and some serious psychosocial pathology from running for or remaining in office. 

I’m sure there are many more principles and points to add, but this is a start. We can collect suggestions from people. And, with this point, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we could actually use AI for something good. AI can be used to compile, categorize, condense, and organize these suggestions into something more easily readable. Everyone in the U.S. can participate. And, this point is key. With the technologies available to us, we can maximize participation without it being way, way to unwieldy. 

Some other things to consider are the need to stop talking and wanting to “grow the economy.” This idea is a major issue in our current environmental crisis. There are limited resources on our Earth. Continued growth will lead to collapse. We should start planning for a way to have near zero growth, while providing reasonable standards of living for all people. The wealthy may have to give up some of their wealth (I know that’s a terrible shame). But, such a plan can have wide-ranging positive effects on our societies. If people aren’t desperate and struggling to survive, there’s a huge decrease in crime and violence. We could begin to live with a positive view of possibilities for the future of our children, and their children, and their children…..

What should we, the everyday people, be doing?

I suppose the first thing we should do is take care of ourselves. Getting too upset, angry, afraid, etc., will cloud our thinking, sap our energy, and generally be bad for our physical and mental health, as well as for the health and wellbeing of the people with whom we live and interact. Meditate, pray, go for long quiet walks preferably in nature (without our phones and earbuds), eat well, get lots of good sleep, and/or whatever it takes to minimize the stress and claustrophobia that can result from such crazy times.. 

Next, harass your local, state, and federal politicians of all parties. Demand immediate action. And, then, demand more immediate action, and then more action…. Make sure they know future votes depend on their actions, and not their words. Do this weekly or more often. SEE a list of links to help with contacting by email, websites, and phone at the end of this essay.

Attend “town hall” meetings with your politicians. Ask pointed questions and demand immediate action. Don’t accept their verbal gloss-overs.

Contact the news media personnel whom you watch, listen to, and/or read. Describe how you’re being affected, your concerns for the future, and what you want done.

Attend local protests. These usually don’t have any immediate effect, but may provide enough “visual” support for fearful politicians to muster up some courage and take action. 

The above are relatively short-term strategies to promote change. But, we also have to address the longterm issues of divisiveness, marginalization, fear and hatred of others, and so forth. We desperately need to heal our social contexts. 

Once upon a time, we valued integrity. We valued honesty. We valued kindness and compassion. We valued courage in its many forms. We valued basic human decency, even though we may have had specific biases. We valued creativity. And, for an all too short of a time, we valued our diversity. We valued our neighbors and communities. We valued the merchants with whom we did business, who also were our neighbors. We valued (most of) our teachers, who were our neighbors. We valued our doctors, who again were our neighbors. We helped one another. 

Just earlier today, I was waiting for my prescriptions at the pharmacy window, while a man was kneeling on the floor beside me looking at eyedrops. I asked him if he was looking for eyedrops. He said, “yes,” and elaborated about having dry eye. I told him I had the same issues, then continued with what my eye doctors recommended. We ended up talking for another 10 minutes, but not about eye drops. At the end, he thanked me profusely for helping him and said, “nobody helps anybody anymore.” We exchanged names, smiles, and wished each other well, and parted. I think the short human-to-human relationship, our shared humanity, made both of our days.

We need to start talking with one another, sharing our humanity, our concerns, our fears, our loves, our passions, our ideas about whatever. We need to break down the barriers of fear and hatred. We need to care for one another and start helping each other. We need to smile and laugh with another. 

We can have neighborhood potlucks and barbecues. We can have neighborhood coffee hours or, in the British tradition, afternoon tea with pastries. We can have a neighborhood game night, or a neighborhood dog owners (but all dog lovers welcome) backyard dog and people picnic. 

Almost a decade ago, Nora Bateson [[1]] started hosting “Warm Data Labs” (WDL), which became “People Need People” (PNP), which were online versions during the pandemic. Both are still occurring around the country and around the world. They are wonderful contexts for communicating with other people from diverse backgrounds. I’ve developed some great and valued friendships with people from all over the world through both WDL’s and PNP’s  Keep a look out for these events and register to attend. They are usually free. You also can find a WDL/PNP host to help offer WDL in your locale or a PNP online. SEE below for helpful links. 

We have to stop fighting with one another and start supporting one another. Fighting amongst ourselves supports authoritarian despots. Our only hope for survival as both a country and a species is to come together (to quote a Beatles song) to support one another in whatever ways we can, and not let the psychopathic hungry ghosts destroy us and our world. 

I think we are definitely at that point in time as described in the Declaration Of Independence (see opening quotation), where we need to take action of replace the current coup conspirators and re-establish a new government. 

My Great Great Great Grandfather fought to establish this nation

LINKS

Political

• Democracy.IO - write to all of your federal legislators at one time
• My Reps - U.S. government links to legislators
• Find and Contact Elected Officials - Find all of your local to federal politicians

Warm Data Labs & People Need People

• Warm Data
• Toward Warm Data

NOTE

[[1]] Nora Bateson, the second daughter of Gregory Bateson, established the International Bateson Institute in 2014 to carry on and extend the work of her father. A major emphasis of Nora and the IBI involves bringing the much needed idea of “warm data” to how we see and work with the world in which we live as “warm” human beings. You can find out more in her Blog, YouTube, and from her two books: Small Arcs of Larger Circles: Framing Through Other Patterns & Combining. 

© 2025 by Jeffrey W Bloom

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