Kyle O'Connor's Posts - Citizens Party2024-03-28T12:44:48ZKyle O'Connorhttp://www.votecitizens.org/profile/KyleOConnorhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3152049306?profile=original&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.votecitizens.org/profiles/blog/feed?user=20pdlrj0cpn2t&xn_auth=noComing Out of the Intellectual Closettag:www.votecitizens.org,2011-02-17:6348963:BlogPost:27412011-02-17T20:13:00.000ZKyle O'Connorhttp://www.votecitizens.org/profile/KyleOConnor
<p> I recently found this website after feelings of massive frustration over my lack of ability to connect with the established political system. This morning I awoke with a feeling of sadness. I was reflecting on all the young people I have seen working in Chinese factories in indentured servitude. I was also reflecting on the abandoned manufacturing buildings in Detroit and the amount of homeless living in my community here in Northern California. At once I realized that the…</p>
<p> I recently found this website after feelings of massive frustration over my lack of ability to connect with the established political system. This morning I awoke with a feeling of sadness. I was reflecting on all the young people I have seen working in Chinese factories in indentured servitude. I was also reflecting on the abandoned manufacturing buildings in Detroit and the amount of homeless living in my community here in Northern California. At once I realized that the opportunity I have experienced to see what is happening in China is only a window into the past of what life has been like for so many people living in manufacturing bases throughout the industrial age. We are focusing our feelings of resentment towards China but the problem is not China itself but with the powers that hold the money which make the human machine tick.</p>
<p> I am hardly a communist or even a socialist at that. Isn't it a shame that I have to preface an intellectually sound idea with a disclaimer that I am not something that people first, don't know how to define, and second, hate without any sense of rational knowledge of the ideology itself? However, I cannot help but reflect on the writings of Karl Marx and his clear definition of this terrible reality and the impending problems that will result due to the rise of industrial development. You don't have to dissect the entire life of a person who tells you, "look, that building is on fire." Just look at it. If there is smoke it probably doesn't matter if he/she has a PhD or is a crack whore… or communist. It is the extreme delineation of the classes that has my fear meter rising because when this happens we see conflicts erupt around the world. Whether it comes from the left or the right; communism (radical socialism) and fascism (unfettered capitalism) are both dangers to our core values of freedom and democracy. The established system is not inching us near a balancing point but towards one of these extremes with which we have ample experience to see that they are not for us nor do they serve the populous. </p>
<p> Manufacturing in China is exploding as it has been for the last 10 years. Jobs are not only leaving the United States of American but the established industrialized world. I do business in China and Europe, often times begrudgingly, and I can see what is happening because I am friends with not only the Americans who are experiencing these shifts but also European and Chinese people. It is this dynamic and the changes happening right now that will shape our future political discourse because the entire economic system is based on a race to the bottom. As a father, I am extremely concerned for the future of my children.</p>
<p> I'm tired of feeling the passion rise up in my heart while having a desire to make a difference only to be crushed by the local, entrenched Democratic Party which does not champion innovation. There is no room for <i>change we can believe in</i> there. There is only room for followers and conformists. The Republicans have shown their true colors over the last 30 years. There's no place for thinkers in that party, just the wealthy. Te manipulative and discriminatory nature of their members is anathema to what I believe to be the core values of the American experience. At this time there is no political party that engages issues in a rational and sound manner. My Chinese friend tells me about how life is living under the Communist (Fascist) Party in the Peoples Republic of China. He lacks freedom of speech. But I reply that we lack freedom of listening. What good is it to have the ability to articulate solutions to our problems if there is no one listening? Where is freedom when you don’t have a voice because all of the outlets for speaking are controlled by private corporations? </p>
<p> Today I will be going to the post office and reregistering to vote as a member of the Citizens Party. Thank you for leading and making a home for those of us who feel lost and silenced in this world. I will do my part to engage in real discussions and be open to hearing possible solutions which can be rationally explored and voted upon in a democratic convention which can lead to the manifestation of a tangible party platform. I have a great education and a lot of opinions but I seek truth and all truth doesn't live within my being. I know there is a rich bastion of intelligence and ability just waiting to be tapped into. It is the greatest resource of our nation, or any nation, at that. I hope I can share our collective ideas convincingly with my family and friends and begin to build a truly viable third party in the United States of America. </p>