Restoring the American Voice

Originally published at
http://indepthnh.org/2018/02/14/restoring-the-american-voice-from-rattlesnake-ridge-nh/

The View From Rattlesnake Ridge, Ruminations from an Unabashed Optimist, an Environmental Patriot and a Radical Centrist

By Wayne D. King

Standing atop Rattlesnake Mountain gazing down at the Baker River as it winds its way down the valley from its headwaters in Wentworth to its confluence with the Pemigewasset River in Plymouth there is a sense of peace . . . a sense of place that one feels.

I go there from time to time, in body or in spirit, to be reminded of what Camus said: “In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”

I seek out that summer at times like this, when the chaos in Washington and the world begins to overwhelm me. When one tweet storm after another sweeps across the country blotting out all of the other crises in need of our attention. That invincible summer somehow creates the space for me to continue on.

In the middle of this memo sandwich, was The State of the Union Address – the second longest such address in American history –  It wasn’t until he had finished that I realized the President had spent more than an hour telling us about all of the fantastic things he had done and never once spoken about our collective future . . . our American Journey.The most recent distractions began with a memo sandwich over the Russia imbroglio; “the Nunes Republican memo” to which the entire intelligence community had objected but was released by the President over their objections; followed by a second memo “The Democrat’s Memo”  that the President just could not release because of the objections of the Department of Justice.

The speech was filled with “I’s” and “me’s” and few – if any – “we’s.”

Call me an incurable romantic but there is something about the State of the Union Address that leads me to expect my president to tell us where he – or she – sees us going together in the future. Looking to the future together creates shared moments that encapsulate our hopes and our dreams. It even helps us to tame our fears from time to time.

Dreaming together is a fundamental part of the process for defining, redefining and reinventing ourselves. It is the expression of an ever evolving American Voice – constantly filling in the spaces between “We hold these truths to be self evident” with the inspirational ideas for building a “More Perfect Union.”

Yet, in over an hour of boasting and braggadociousness, Donald Trump never called on Americans to dream together; never engaged our American Voice;  never sang our American Song.

Yet somewhere, in the back of our minds, most Americans – including those who voted for Trump – can still hear that song. The song that we share, the bond that we share, the nexus between what we all recognize as fundamental American values and our willingness to engage one another in the journey to define a more perfect union. This has been the glue that has held us together through some of the most challenging times in our history. That is the American Voice.

Now, more than ever, we are called upon to embrace those fundamental values.

The American voice is being shattered into a babel-like cacophony and we must fight with everything we have to recover it. Not because The American Voice alone will save us from the crises ahead . . . it won’t . . . but because it will provide us with common ground to talk with one another and a common cause that will keep us from falling into an ever widening rabbit hole of fear and retribution driven by the political extremes in their efforts to either advance an extremist agenda or exact retribution from those advancing such an agenda.

Almost every American recognizes that major changes are roiling our economy and our geopolitical world, happening at an ever increasing rate. New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman describes this as the age of accelerations. The days of the simple Command Economy vs. Market Economy are drawing to a close. The left vs. right debate no longer serves us well, if it ever did. We are a nation in search of a new paradigm. A paradigm that remains true to the central ideas and ideals of the American vision of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  A nation with a place for everyone: Where the working class is not marginalized; where the wealthy are not villainized; where the poor have a real pathway out of poverty, where the middle class is expanding, not shrinking; where it matters not what your skin color is or who you choose to love or what you choose to call yourself; where the opportunity for a meaningful life is recast to reflect a new set of realities and participation in the ongoing Great American Journey is an imperative.

In order to define and build this new paradigm we will need to be able to speak with one voice – One American Voice – respectful of our differences, bold enough to honor the traditions of our founders, challenging the people to help define this new paradigm, crafted by evolution not revolution and built from the center out, not from the margins.

In other words, like a gyroscope on a rocket that prevents over-compensating in the blink of an eye turning one odd movement into an uncontrollable series of gyrations that tear the ship apart; We need the common ground of our American Voice and shared American Values to serve as a ”governor” – moderating the reaction when the “Heat of the Moment” will tempt us toward over-reaction. We must find a way to stop screaming at one another and begin listening . . . moving our country forward.

Over the next few weeks, I intend to use this column as a way to propose a series of interconnected ideas for moving beyond the current divide. Ideas for strengthening the American Voice and building a new entrepreneurial American economy and community.

The changes that will be required to address these new challenges we face will not be simple. The challenges that have led to where we are today are momentous and they require big ideas and solutions. If we employ our American Voice toward a civil discussion we can take on even the most intractable challenges: dramatic and increasing income disparity coupled with an unstoppable tsunami of automation that will continue to disrupt the economy and the jobs of almost every imaginable field of work and endeavor; Increased tribalization within the American community pitting rich against poor, Democrat against Republican, urban against rural.

You will not be surprised, from someone who proudly claims to be a “Radical Centrist,” that I believe one reason for this is the extremists in both political parties who have declared war on their centrists. Part of the case I intend to make over the next few weeks is a case for strengthening voting rights and watering down the power of political parties.

I also intend to make the case for National Service. It was Gandhi who said “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” These words reflect what many others have said . . . that the greatest beneficiary of public service is the person who serves, not the person served. Service creates a touchstone we share with one another. It takes us out of ourselves and puts us into the shoes of others.

National service – either civilian or military –  should be a legacy requirement of the American journey.  For every American it could be a transformational moment in both their personal journey and our collective one.

The benefits of national service accrue to both the individuals who serve, those who are served and to the country in whose service the individual labors. There is a power to the nexus of the three; synergies that can have the effect of strengthening the bonds between diverse people, creating a sense of community.

Probably most controversial, at first blush, will be the case for a universal basic income. A legacy payment to every American citizen based on contributions to the wealth of our nation made since 1492. You might be surprised at the people who have made the case before me including conservative economist Milton Friedman and Libertarian icons as well as titans of technology who see it as a way to unleash America’s  entrepreneurial spirit and to free the middle class and the precariat from the yoke of unnecessary regulation and bureaucracy.

This is not to neglect other fundamental aspects of renewing the American idea in a post-Trump world. Education is a core value that will require fundamental change to reflect the world in which we live as is the nexus of science and morality.

Let’s take a journey together . . . Americans all.

About Wayne D. King: Wayne King is an author, artist, activist and recovering politician. He was a three term State Senator,  who Chaired the Senate Economic Development Committee and the NH Senate Economic Summit. In 1994 King was the Democratic nominee for Governor and most recently the CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., a public company in the environmental cleanup space.  His art is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published three books of his images. His most recent novel “Sacred Trust”  a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline has been published on Amazon.com as an ebook (http://bit.ly/STrust ) or in paper at http://bit.ly/STPaper . He lives in Rumney at the base of Rattlesnake Ridge. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing

Wayne King’s New Novel Echos New Hampshire’s Own Ongoing Battle Over Northern Pass

News Release

For Immediate Release

1/23/18

For more information: 603-515-6001

“Sacred Trust” Now Available in Bookstores and on Amazon

Wayne King’s New Novel Echos New Hampshire’s Own Ongoing Battle Over Northern Pass

If the cover of “Sacred Trust”, created by Mike Marland, doesn’t clue you in, it won’t take long to realize that this novel is written as a vicarious homage to New Hampshire’s own ongoing battle over the controversial “Northern Pass” project and other similar projects.

Author, former State Senator and 1994 Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Wayne D. King adroitly weaves a story with a familiar ring . . . the clash of ordinary people confronting money and power in an epic battle to protect the land they love.

“Sacred Trust” is the tale of a rollicking campaign of civil disobedience against a private powerline, pitting nine unlikely environmental patriots, calling themselves “The Trust”, against the “Granite Skyway” transmission line and its powerful, well-connected consortium of investors.

With an obvious deep fondness for both the people and the land, King weaves a fast-paced tale filled with both real and fictional stories from the political world and life in the Granite State.  In a rich tableau that includes sometimes hilarious and sometimes hair-raising stories of Senators driving North in a Southbound Interstate lane after a night of drinking at the Highway Hotel; Doctors sneaking a pregnant Llama into a hospital surgical ward for ACL surgery; A bear and a boy eating from the same blueberry patch atop Mount Cardigan as his father, the Ranger, watches helplessly from the fire tower, and more.

Among the heroes of the story is Sasha Brandt, an Iroquois woman from Canada. While hiking the Mahoosuc Range of the Appalachian Trail with her companion - a wolf named Cochise - Brandt meets Daniel Roy, a New Hampshire “boy” and now a guide and outdoorsman. After a unique first encounter they continue their trip together, eventually finding themselves camping with an unusual assortment of people including a former Olympic paddler, a conservative deer farmer, a retired spook, sidelined when he became the first US victim of Lyme disease; and an iconoclast and former Army Ranger named Thomas who lives in multiple backwoods abodes in the Great North Woods and rides a moose named Metallak – aptly named for the “Lone Survivor of the Megalloway” tribe, who in the late 1800’s was reputed to ride a moose himself.

The group quickly discovers that – despite their very broad range of ideological beliefs - they are united in their deep concern about the Consortium’s proposal to bisect the most beautiful parts of the state with massive 150 foot towers and clear cut forests for the sole purpose of transporting electricity from Canada to more affluent markets beyond its borders.  Like Oligarchs of the Gilded Age who minimized their costs by creating a legacy of polluted land and water, these modern Oligarchs stand to reap 100% of the benefits while passing off a large portion of their costs through the generations-long visual pollution of the public commons and all the economic shockwaves that result.

Determined to do more than shuffle papers and employ lawyers, the compatriots form a band of brothers and sisters - along with Cochise and Metallak. Armed with only their wits and a lot of heart they embark on a rollicking campaign of civil disobedience that would make Thoreau and Dr. King proud.

Although “Sacred Trust” is a work of fiction, King says that educators will find the novel a great classroom resource as well. Adding a new dimension and lively discussion to classes on the emergence of the renewable energy era, sustainability, and the American tradition of protest and its place in an “Era of Terrorism”.

“in the coming “Age of Electricity” “ King says, “a principal battleground will be over who controls the production and distribution of electric power. Across America today, the battle lines are being drawn. Utility companies, many in an existential battle for survival, are pitted against advocates of a new distributed energy paradigm where small, renewable power sources replace today’s large electricity generation plants.”

“Most Americans” King asserts, “notice that things are changing, but have yet to fully grasp what a sea change in life it will be for every American.”

“Sacred Trust” follows the trail of heroic citizens banding together to stop one especially egregious powerline. The citizens who stand to lose most are dead set against the project . . . but the political winds are against them. It is in this setting The Trust takes on the Consortium.

As the actions of The Trust gain traction and momentum, other citizens join in support including a wave of supporters on social media; “The Gazetteers”, a group of citizen activists writing in the style of the Federalist Papers; and journalists including one business writer who weaves together details of the historic record leading his readers through a virtual primer on the evolution of a post-carbon energy paradigm beginning with the 1972 election of Jimmy Carter and the passage of the National Energy Policy Act into which NH Senator John Durkin inserted an eight word amendment that rocked the world.

"Sacred Trust" is a hilarious and vicarious, high voltage campaign to stop the “Granite Skyway” leading the reader through the hijinks of The Trust, and the series of choices we all are currently confronted in the emerging “Age of Electricity”.

For each of the members of The Trust it is a sacred campaign fought against an impending legacy of steel towers and scarred lands - an existential threat to an entire way of life. The Trust is all that stands between the people and their worst fears . . . and they are willing to pay any price to prevail. 

                                                             

“Sacred Trust”

Paperback: 354 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN-10: 1981490302

http://bit.ly/STPaper

Price: $14.95*

Sacred Trust Kindle eBook

http://bit.ly/STrust

Price: $2.99*

https://thesacredtrust.blogspot.com/

* Special discounts are available to schools, libraries, and nonprofits. Please contact 603-515-6001

Trump Insults the Entire Native American Community

Trump insults the entire Native American Community

There are two things that are important to realize for those who are not "of" the Native American Indian community or familiar with it:

First, and most important: President Andrew Jackson was responsible for the "Indian Removal Act" that led to the "Trail of Tears" He is so reviled among Indian people that often at Pow Wows I attend, some merchants will not accept $20.00 bills as currency. For Donald Trump to hold his news conference with Navajo Code Talkers before a portrait of Jackson was either an example of complete incompetence or an intentional insult to Native American people everywhere. I hope it was not the later but I would like to know. Was the portrait moved to that position prior to the news conference; or did they simply not move the news conference to some less offensive location.

If you find yourself unmoved by this, or you have not taken the time to google "The Indian Removal Act" or the "Trail of Tears", consider that Davy Crockett gave up his seat in Congress over the injustice of the Indian Removal Act saying ‘I would sooner be honestly damned than hypocritically immortalized’. He departed for Texas and we all know what happened there.

The second thing, and less important but still offensive is that his reference to Sen. Elizabeth Warren as Pocahantas was not only inappropriate to the occasion but also another example of the tone deafness of the Trump administration. Pocahantas, despite the popularity of the Disney Movie, is not viewed as an heroic figure within the Indian Community. (if in fact any of the story is actually factual). As someone who has one foot firmly planted in each community, it is a little like paying homage to Benedict Arnold. Arnold did some very heroic things in his military career, but in the end he betrayed the revolution.

The Navajo Code Talkers not only saved the lives of countless American and allied soldiers but stepped forward to serve their country without the slightest idea of what they would be asked to do. They are among the most heroic figures in a time when heroes were not in short supply.

We have made tremendous strides in healing the long festering wounds associated with the genocide of first Americans, though we still have a long way to go. Donald Trump has done grievous harm to that journey.

When Merit Guides Governance The 1992 NH Senate was One to Remember . . . and Emulate

The Shadows We Cast
Haiku and Image

The third major snowstorm of the winter hit us hard in the shadow of Rattlesnake Ridge, dropping more than a foot of new snow Christmas day on top of several feet that had already fallen in December.

No one was happier about that than my neighbor Alan Hunter who over the years has built a network of ski trails around the base of Stinson Mountain where he, and a group of his friends, ski almost every day in the winter . . . No one, except maybe Kevin Maas.

Where he lives in Dorchester, Kevin bought himself an old rope tow from a fellow who had it sitting in his barn for decades since a local ski area had gone defunct. Kevin is a fellow who just can’t resist a challenge, mechanical. He was the first person in the region to take an old diesel car and convert it to run on veggie oil that he gathered from local pizza parlors and Chinese restaurants. When he taught our son Zach how to do the veggie car conversion, he was kind enough to give him a few restaurants for the needed supply of “grease” and at 15 years old Zach converted a big old red Chevy Blazer he had purchased on Craigslist from a former Fire Chief on Long Island. Other than the
grease slick in our basement and myriad plastic jugs scattered around the woods by bears who found Zach’s near-empty jugs too yummy to resist, the experience was on the whole, most satisfactory.

Kevin is also a wakeboarder. During the summer he and a group of his friends, including Micky Lewis – our plow guy – Zach when he’s home, and other friends go wakeboarding on Stinson Lake until late summer.

Longview Farm Cows

This year though Kevin fixed up a water heating system that took advantage of the fact that the engine in his boat cycles water through the engine to cool it. He added a line that the intrepid wake boarders would put down the front of their wetsuits and heat up the layer of water between their bodies and the wetsuit. This let Kevin and his group of merry men and women wakeboard well into November; whereupon he gave up the lake and turned his attention to the rope tow. He began readying it for winter including cutting some glades in his woods to allow snow boarders and skiers to make their way down the hill behind his house after ascending it via rope tow powered by an old engine he had taken from a car that no longer required its service.

By now you are probably starting to wonder how I’m going to make this column transition into politics but fear not, there’s a method to my madness. You see, we radical centrists are drawn to those who get things done . . . people who, in the face of ideologues and other extremists, persist.

There is a lot of talk lately about how 2018 is going to see a dramatic shift in the fortunes of both Republicans and Democrats . . . maybe so. But if that shift is nothing but to have one group of  ideologues replace another we will be no farther along on our new American journey than we are today and the divisions that plague our country will be just as stark. However, there is a third way and the model for it can be found in our own New Hampshire Senate, albeit some  25 years ago. It affords an example for every legislature that is closely divided or where people of good will in both parties are willing to challenge the established dogmas to create meritocracies where what you know is more important than who you know . . . where allegiance is to country and state, not to political party.

In 1992 the NH Senate elections left the body divided 13 to 11 with the Republicans holding a slight advantage. In the typical spoils system that has afflicted us all too often, this would usually have resulted in the election of a Senate President and the Senate leadership from the majority party. Likewise all committee chairs would also be of the majority party, no matter how little they knew of
 their assigned committee’s responsibilities.

Loon Island Misty Mindscape

Just after the election then State Senator Jeanne Shaheen and I, two Democrats, along with Concord’s beloved Senator Susan McLane and Ralph Hough of Lebanon, two Republicans, met quietly in Madbury to craft a bold plan: To create a Senate where party took a second seat to merit and where Democrats and Republicans worked together for the good of the state.

I honestly don’t remember who contacted whom with the idea and it doesn’t matter. Senator Hough had a reputation as a moderate to progressive Republican whose political hero was Teddy Roosevelt, Susan McLane was a progressive Republican, undeterred by the slings and arrows from the far right within her own party. Both represented the great historic tradition of pragmatic Republicans in the mold of Warren Rudman, Perkins Bass, Sherman Adams and Charlie Bass.

Senator Hough we surmised would not have won an election among Republican partisans, but if the 11 Democrats held together, along with at least 2 Republicans he could win. Ultimately, that is just what happened; but on that day in Madbury we asked ourselves the more fundamental questions. How would we create a legislative body where people worked together; where Chairs and Vice Chairs were chosen for their expertise and their leadership ability; where fairness, transparency and achievement were the rule and not the exception?

At first we toyed with the idea of dividing everything equally between Republicans and Democrats, but that just seemed to be the same old wine in a different bottle. We decided that parity would be considered a value but not the be-all-and-end-all. We obviously needed to have a Senate President as a presiding officer but what required us to have vice presidents, or other titles that established some kind of formal or informal pecking order within the Senate? So in our brainstorming –  and later after Senator Hough had won, we did away with all these titles.

Spring Colors in a Floodplain Forest

Since the goal was to create an atmosphere where Republicans and Democrats worked together for the common good developing consensus where possible and respecting differences where matters of personal  principle made consensus impossible, we considered completely eliminating the separate pre-session caucuses, an age old tradition that generally has been a partisan planning session. Senator Hough felt that he did not want to issue an edict preventing either party from gathering together when they felt it was important. Instead he announced that the entire Senate would be invited to lunch together before the session, in effect creating a bi-partisan caucus where we would have a final opportunity to develop consensus on contentious issues and if consensus were not possible to civilly alert one another that we were going to have a “floor fight.”


It was at these lunches that I developed a real and abiding respect for many of the Senators whom I had previously seen in a very adversarial way. Suddenly Senators, whom I had viewed only as adversaries, were no longer political enemies but colleagues with whom I often disagreed but who were human beings with whom I could break bread, talk, and, from time to time, compromise.


Senator Hough began the Senate term with a team building retreat for the entire Senate challenging us all to move beyond the constraints of party and to take risks for the good of our state. The retreat included not only Senators but staff members as well.

That year, as the country struggled to get its economy moving again the New Hampshire Senate – with a full sponsorship of both Republicans and Democrats passed five omnibus economic development bills creating an Office of International Trade; supported the creation of The Center
 for Earth, Oceans and Space at UNH, expanded the Port of New Hampshire, strengthened the Business Finance Authority, took the first steps toward development of a Community College system throughout NH among other things, all while balancing the State’s budget

By the end of the two-year term I considered many of my former adversaries among the finest, most principled people with whom I had ever served. They had not changed. The dynamic had.

Painted Sky Over Jericho Lake

In years past, legislators had opportunities to experience one another  as human beings, whether it was because they would gather together at the Highway Hotel for dinner or because they carpooled to legislative sessions. Today it is harder to find such opportunities but with some effort this small group of Senators upended years of partisan tradition to create what I believe was the most collegiate and
cooperative group of Senators that I had seen in all my 12 years in the NH House and Senate.


I will never forget what Ralph Hough said at the end of one of our early meetings. “They will probably throw us all out for this, but it will be worth the ride.”

I won’t represent that we changed the face of politics in New Hampshire – we didn’t. In the next election Republicans dominated the election and the Senate returned to business as usual, more partisan  than ever. It may have been the same if Democrats had dominated. But for one brief, shining moment, we glimpsed how things might be if change were built from the center out.

 I hope that Ralph Hough still thinks it was worth the ride. I know I do.

—

About Wayne D. King: Wayne King is an author, artist, activist and recovering politician. A three term State Senator, 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor, former publisher of Heart of New Hampshire Magazine and CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., and now host of two new Podcasts - The Radical Centrist (www.theradicalcentrist.us

) and NH Secrets, Legends and Lore (www.nhsecrets.blogspot.com). His art is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published three books of his images and a novel "Sacred Trust"  a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline all available on Amazon.com. He lives in Rumney at the base of Rattlesnake Ridge. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing . You can help spread the word by following and supporting him at www.Patreon.com/TheRadicalCentrist .  

A Golden Moment in the Larch Bog

A Golden Moment in the Larch Bog

Chosen as a Featured Image at Fine Art America

Hand painted sky completes the image in this image that combines elements of photography and watercolor painting. An edition of 25 signed originals is created with a certificate of authenticity along with a digitally initialed open edition. To purchase the signed original with a certificate of authenticity, contact the artist directly, or click here: http://bit.ly/2ou9Pqr

The digitally initialed open edition provides you with the closest approximation of an original without the premium cost of the original. Open Edition prints of this image are available for as little as $12.26

A Golden Moment in the Larch Bog 

Re-Imagining GDP Are We Measuring the Wrong Things - or Do We Just Need to Expand Our Thinking?

Moonlight On the Stone House

The first substantial snow has fallen on Rattlesnake Ridge and it was followed by a cold snap that has kept the snow light and fluffy. That makes the job for our plow guy Micky a little easier. Every time that Micky shows up we have to make sure our Siberian Husky “Boof” is inside because otherwise he might be curled up in a pile of snow – where he loves to be this time of year – and Micky might end up taking him for the ride of his life. Boof was named by our son, a kayaking term – unless you are Portuguese – in which case it’s a fart.


On days when the snow is falling and Micky shows up, invariably I trudge out through the snow to his truck to hand him a payment for his work. He rolls down his window and gratefully accepts the money but we always take a moment to catch up a bit. Micky probably knows more about what’s going on in the shadow of Rattlesnake Ridge than almost anyone else – except maybe Brian and Dianna at the Common Cafe, where many of the men in the area gather for a Wednesday breakfast together, followed by the women on Fridays.

So much of life here, and in most of America, is a series of encounters which, taken in their totality, help to give us a sense of place and community . . . a feeling of belonging. Whether those encounters are at the bottom of the drive, at the library, the farmer’s market, on the football field or at the field hockey game, they are a part of the rhythm of life for most of us . . . The contra-dance of community.

Most of what makes life truly meaningful is in this dance – measured in meaningful moments . . . moments that can never be converted to dollars and cents.

Then there are the American moments. Moments that speak to our broader sense of community: The lump that forms in our throats when the American Flag is unfurled at some pinnacle moment in time; the pride we feel when justice is done whether it is in the courtroom, the congress or on the streets; The joy we feel when Liberty prevails. These too are a part of that dance. They form the glue that unites us as Americans and holds the promise of moving beyond the divisions that divide us.

Long Dog Race

These too cannot be measured financially.

Why then do we measure the strength and health of our country and our states with the purely economic indicator of GDP? Furthermore, why the hell does it matter, anyway, that we do so?

It matters because the world in which we are living – and especially the world that is just beyond the curve in the road ahead – demands a new way of thinking about what a meaningful life looks like.

Yesterday, Alice came back from a hair appointment and said that her friend and hairdresser Terry had told her, as she cut Alice’s hair, that in Japan haircuts were being done by robotic hair dressers. She figured, according to her estimates, that she had ten years before her career would meet an untimely (at least to her) end. A quick search of the Web indicates she might be right, though the technology is very much in its infancy.

The world is shifting beneath our feet. The rate of acceleration of change quickening, challenging the dogmas of the past, making them irrelevant to our real lives.

Whether GDP ever truly served well as a measure of the success of American life is a matter for philosophical debate. Even back in 1968 Bobby Kennedy recognized that it failed to capture our essence. (see speech below)

A Child's Dream Among Lupine

Today, it surely falls short.

Masked in those numbers is a dramatically growing disparity of wealth, shrinking the middle class and increasing the precariat;

Pushing those numbers ever skyward are the advances in technology that remove the hands of human labor and the pride of work;

Measured in that GDP are the automatic weapons that rained death and sadness on Las Vegas and New Town and Sutherland Springs;

Measured in that GDP are the political ads, sponsored by nameless and faceless Political Action Committees, even individuals, that continue to divide our nation – shouting for us to pay attention to what alienates us, one from another, rather than reminding us of our common dreams and our shared commitment to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness;

Kokobrite Washday Fresco

In the tiny nation of Bhuton they have developed a Gross National Happiness index as a measure of the success of their national efforts – based on indicators such as sustainability, resilience, health, education, cultural diversity, good governance, community vitality and living standards.

I am not suggesting that we cease to measure GDP but we find ways in which we can augment it that help us to measure those things that really matter most to us. In doing this, perhaps it will help us to find common ground with one another.

Big changes are on the horizon. We are going to need all the common ground we can find.

In this holiday season, perhaps we can start by agreeing not to fight over how we greet one another. Let us remember the lessons of those moments, principles and people we celebrate and take to heart the teachings that deserve our attention all year long: that we must love one another; that we must light one candle when the darkness threatens to overwhelm us; that we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors but borrow it from our children and our grandchildren; that we must seek the middle way that provides the most happiness for all the Great Spirit’s children.

Robert F. Kennedy, March 18, 1968

“And this is one of the great tasks of leadership for us, as individuals and citizens this year. But even if we act to erase material poverty, there is another greater task, it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction – purpose and dignity – that afflicts us all. Too much and for too long, we seem to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things.

Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product – if we judge the United States of America by that – that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts (the mass shooter’s) rifle and (the serial killer’s) knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”

About Wayne D. King: Wayne King is an author, artist, activist and recovering politician. A three term State Senator, 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor, former publisher of Heart of New Hampshire Magazine and CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., and now host of two new Podcasts - The Radical Centrist (www.theradicalcentrist.us) and NH Secrets, Legends and Lore (www.nhsecrets.blogspot.com). His art is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published three books of his images and a novel "Sacred Trust"  a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline all available on Amazon.com. He lives in Rumney at the base of Rattlesnake Ridge. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing . You can help spread the word by following and supporting him at www.Patreon.com/TheRadicalCentrist .  

"Sacred Trust is now available in paperback!

"Sacred Trust is now available in paperback!

“An existential environmental time bomb - in the form of a massive powerline - is about to explode an entire way of life for the people of the North Country. Nine unlikely heroes - rock climbers, paddlers, a deer farmer and a former spook -  are all that stands between the people and their worst nightmare.”

This is their story . . .

The paperback version is available here: 

http://bit.ly/STPaper

Sacred Trust Kindle eBook

http://bit.ly/STrust

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http://eepurl.com/bbOh3n