Democracy is a participatory sport. What position are you playing?

September 17, 2024, marked two related and important events: National Voter Registration Day and Constitution and Citizenship Day.  It is a reminder of the importance of making sure that you are registered to vote.  This means checking your registration status. 

You can do that here: https://www.nass.org/can-I-vote/voter-registration-status.

This entire site has lots of helpful information about the voting process in the United States.  It even includes information about how to vote if you are out of the country.

Please check your registration status, even if you think you are certain.  We are reminded by Ben Franklin that "an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure!"  We also ask you to encourage and assist people in your circle to get registered and vote in this election cycle.  It is of critical importance for us to educate ourselves and participate in the electoral process at all levels.  From the school board candidates to President, measures and constitutional amendments - it is important that you are an educated and informed voter. This election cycle, its imparative to know more than just the names of the people running. Do you agree with their positions on healthcare, voting rights and and other issues important to you? Are the platforms of those running clear and easy to understand? Are the measures more than just fancy words and titles without real substance? Have you moved recently and are now in a new council member, senatorial or congressional district? Be informed and educated before heading to the polls this November.

Your local elections determine things as varied as who will be running your city (Mayor, city council members, City Attorney, etc.), your county (judges, sheriffs, etc.) and how the finances of your local community will be impacted - from street paving and traffic signals, to changes in your property taxes, sales and gas taxes, and funding for public services such as fire fighters and police.  Federal elections tackle broad sweeping regulations such as changes to the national budget (which controls funding for schools, hospitals, the military and social security, to name a few), federal tax credits and national public parks and forests. It's not just about who's running for President, but who will be able to support their vision for the country and states to be achieved.

We strongly encourage you to get together with family, friends and neighbors to go over, discuss and understand everything on the ballot.  Important questions for you to ask are, “Who is supporting this measure?” Not just who seems to be supporting the measure based on TV ads, but who actually supports/crafted the measure as reported in your voter guide.  Think about your personal values and then look at which candidates and measures, align with your them.  If you live in an area that uses rank choice voting learn about how that works. 

Here are two videos:

1. How it works: https://youtu.be/oHRPMJmzBBw?si=EW0GeTnSexv5OFmc

2. How it works AND the pros and cons: https://youtu.be/Y47yDXmeNmY?si=C1FF42a7EIXs0KhZ

What kind of world do you want for you and your family and friends to live? What kind of world do you want to leave to your children and grandchildren?

By all accounts, this is one of, if not the most critical election in US history.  No matter what the polls are saying or how popular you think your candidate of choice is, this election is too important not to make your voice heard. If you want to participate in this election cycle from the front lines, there are numerous opportunities to get involved: you can make calls, send postcards, knock on doors, get community members registered, provide transportation to polls, and of course make financial contributions. At the end of the day on November 5, 2024, I want to be able to honestly say that I did everything that I could do to support democracy, rebuke (yes, I said rebuke!) fascism, and support the conscious evolution of democracy in the US and on the planet.  None of us can sit this one out!

Today is also National Constitution Day.   It commemorates the day that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787 - thus formally adopting the U.S. Constitution.  It is unfortunate and sad that the “founding fathers” were the originators of institutionalizing profit over people and systemic racism, in their designation of enslaved people as 2/3rds of a person. The additional caveat that eligibility to vote required ownership of land was a further edification of systems that we are still feeling the impact of and which we have the opportunity and responsibility to address.  There have been several amendments to the constitution to enfranchise and attempt to equalize the rights of Black people, women and naturalized citizens, among other things.  It is important for us to recognize our role as spiritual citizens and to participate in keeping in play and available to conscious evolution.   

The goal of Constitution and Citizenship Day (established 2004) is for “Federal, State, and local officials, as well as leaders of spiritual*, civic, social, and educational organizations, to conduct ceremonies and programs that bring together community members to reflect on the importance of active citizenship, recognize the enduring strength of our Constitution, and reaffirm our commitment to the rights and obligations of citizenship in this great Nation”  Well, alrighty then!

For open access to resources for Constitution Week, - there’s a whole week! - see the National Archives resources on the Constitution at http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html or the Library of Congress resources at https://www.loc.gov/extranet/cld/constitution.html. 

 You can also explore an interactive Constitution here: http://constitutioncenter.org/constitution.

From Ernest Holmes:

It would be advisable for us to reread the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States and try to think out their meaning all over again, line by line and word by word. For here we find not only the supreme ideal in government, but the specific and definite directions for working it out. And it is simple enough—a federal union so organized that it may protect the interests of the common good without infringing on the rights of the individual citizen.

Jennings, Jesse. The Essential Ernest Holmes: Collected Writings by the Author of the Science of Mind (p. 177). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

“When I becomes We, Illness becomes Wellness.” Malcom X

*Yes, I added Spiritual! 😊