Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Our society is in a challenging period.  Many individuals are overwhelmed by the complexity of our society.  Politicians are all but permanently elected.  Companies present one image to the world and a very different one to their employees.  It almost looks like our choices are to be limited to being between a hard place and a rock. Fortunately we are very resillient creatures.  I read this morning that the number of small farms have stabilized over the last view years. Maybe we will continue to have a choice besides factory farms.  Even our local Kroger carries organic produce these days.  Even as Apple casts a cloud over publishing on the web, people like Dan Gillmor stand up for the rights of those speaking out on the web in articles like his "The Gathering Storms Over Speech." Even more encouraging people are not buying every story the government throws at them on Social Security. I don't have any pretensions that my musings on the web are going to turn the tide for individual rights.  I do believe that my voice as one of many can make a difference.  It certainly makes a difference to my mental health. I like many others have seen the darkside of corporations and worry that our government is moving farther and farther away from caring about the needs of individuals.  I do not believe that making money has to be tied to being nasty to those that work for you.  Most people are willing to give their loyalty to companies for the opportunity to work hard.  Unfortunately some corporations are willing to take your hard work, amass billions of dollars and show you the door at the first excuse to hire someone cheaper and likely younger.  Nor do I believe that the richest country in the world cannot afford a decent minimum wages, healthcare for all, and a decent retirement for those who have survived the vagaries of a changing world. As our government keeps trying to convince us to work longer, someone has to start making certain that corporations are fairly treating older employees.  I am not certain that our current government with their cosy relationship with large corporations actually has my best interests in mind.  Certainly some of their investigative efforts have been a little less than ethusiastic. My hope is that the open communication enabled by weblogs will eventually lead to a new openess with corporations and government.  We pay for government with our taxes and for corporations when we buy their products.  It would be nice to know that the people that produce the products get a fair share of our dollars and at the same time that our government dollars are used for something more than re-electing incumbents. More of my thoughts on politics and society at my political weblog Just my Politics.  For a particularly in depth view of one corporation, check out Apple Peels. For lots of my thoughts on everthing, visit my main blog View from the Mountain. 2:02:19 PM    comment []