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Earth Service Corps

Begining the funeral for the childhood that wasn’t

Show Notes

Whenever I mention we ought to have a constitutional congress to anyone, anywhere, and the first thing I hear is, “You don’t have the authority to call a constitutional congress,” I can admit to an amount of dumbfounded awe.
“This is the same America I grew up in, right? Am I in “bizarro world” or something?!? This is the same America that required me to take U.S. History in Junior High, High School, AND for my ‘basics’ in college?? I mean, I know I am from West Texas, that we are typically about 7 to 9 years behind New York City or Los Angeles, and we aren’t supposed to be very sophisticated, but I know I wasn’t the only one in class, and my graduation in 1991 wasn’t that long ago!”, A. Yobi Blumberg
The right of a people to assert its obligation to alter or change entirely a government which it feels has failed to meet the citizens’ basic unalienable rights was fundamental in the founding of the United States over two centuries ago.
It is my right to call for a constitutional congress, and yours. Every single United States citizen breathing air at this moment has that same right. That right was conferred in the bones of our foundational document, The Declaration of Independence. We forget that at our peril!

Photo by John Bakator on Unsplash

Allow me to place the call for a peaceful assembly of a constitutional congress, as is enumerated in the founding precedents of modern political philosophy, as well as couch the call within some simple philosophical, grounding context.
“Context?”, you might ask.

“Indeed!”, let’s start with a source everyone has no trouble finding, Wikipedia’s Right of Revolution, in the opening paragraph, states:
In political philosophy, the right of revolution (or right of rebellion) is the right or duty of the people of a nation to overthrow a government that acts against their common interests and/or threatens the safety of the people without cause. Stated throughout history in one form or another, the belief in this right has been used to justify various revolutions, including the American Revolution, French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and the Iranian Revolution.
Many of our Founders and the thought leaders who fertilized the soil from which other movements, revolutions, and transitions have grown, extolled the ideas of deep thinkers such as John Locke, an instrumental philosopher upon whose writings many have drawn heavily. He declared that,
John Locke from his biography from https://www.biography.com
…under natural law, all people have the right to life, liberty, and estate; under the social contract, the people could instigate a revolution against the government when it acted against the interests of citizens, to replace the government with one that served the interests of citizens. In some cases, Locke deemed revolution an obligation. The right of revolution thus essentially acted as a safeguard against tyranny.
Morton White, https://www.hs.ias.edu/files/images/emeriti/White.jpg

Morton White, Professor Emeritus, School of Historical Studies. One of America’s most distinguished philosophers and historians of ideas, in his considerations of our own American revolutionaries, he said,
The notion that they had a duty to rebel is extremely important to stress, for it shows that they thought they were complying with the commands of natural law and of nature’s God when they threw off absolute despotism.”
Christian Fritz, Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico

The legal historian, Christian Fritz, envisioned a ‘contract’, or compact between a ruler(s) and the people had been made:
In this bargain, the people were protected by the monarch in exchange for the people giving the king allegiance. This was a contractual relationship. American revolutionaries accused George III of breaching his implied duty of protection under that contract, thereby releasing the people in the colonies from their allegiance. The sovereign’s breach of the hypothetical contract gave rise to the subjects’ right of revolution — grounded on both natural law and English constitutional doctrine.
Further in Wikipedia, you can find discussion on the preconditions that sober-minded individuals, our own Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, felt were necessary, prior to inciting such a bold move as altering the established governing of a society.
Photo by Library of Congress on Unsplash

On the eve of the American Revolution, for example, Americans considered their plight to justify exercising the right of revolution. Alexander Hamilton justified American resistance as an expression of “the law of nature” redressing violations of “the first principles of civil society” and invasions of “the rights of a whole people”.[13] For Thomas Jefferson the Declaration was the last-ditch effort of an oppressed people — the position in which many Americans saw themselves in 1776. Jefferson’s litany of colonial grievances was an effort to establish that Americans met their burden to exercise the natural law right of revolution., From Wikipedia, Right of Revolution
This 19th Century engraving was made from the full-length portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, oil on canvas, 1792, from the website https://www.alexanderhamilton.org/

The basis for the call, and if my fellow citizens agree that the logic is sound, a case built solidly, is the sentiment mirrored in the heart and sincere presentation of our own venerable document, the Declaration of Independence. That enshrined document first expressed the revolutionaries’ reasons for independence with the preamble, and begins the case in saying,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
The document continues to the core reasoning for this call for a constitutional congress, that,
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.


Our “unalienable Rights”, the foundational cornerstone of our society, the lives of our citizens, the liberty of us all, and any hope of our future happiness has been violated, breached, and our future prospects torn asunder, and thereby placed into serious jeopardy, by those who would be our “servants and representatives”.

These “unalienable” rights have been disregarded repeatedly, but never so egregiously as in the last several months. Our right to make this call resides in the question, “How many American lives have been taken because of this corrupted and irredeemable system of ‘ours’?”

Current Count as of May 10th, 2020 (from link):
United States Covid-19 cases
Updated May 4 at 10:08 PM local
Confirmed Cases | Deaths
1,360,172 | 80,001
By cdc.gov:
TOTAL CASES 1,300,696
TOTAL DEATHS 78,771

The fact that that the number of deaths is greater than the total deaths of Americans in Vietnam, The Gulf War, The Iraq War, AND the Afghanistan War COMBINED should be enough to satisfy the call for constitutional congress. The numbers we are talking about, which from the early 1960’s, let’s say from the first “advisors” to Vietnam in 1955, until today, took a total of seventy-five years to accrue. It is a gruesome tally that, as of the writing of this article, has been surpassed by the number of deaths in the U.S. from Covid-19 and its complications since this last February.

Let that sink in. In the span of three months (3), we have surpassed the combined total death count of all our Americanmilitary conflicts that occurred within the last 75 years.

I would say that the loss of life ALONE qualifies as a violation of the following, stated within the Declaration of Independence:
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 affect their Safety and Happiness.
Tell me America, how much liberty have you had lately? Are we feeling happy?

Of course, I am doing what any American citizen, entrusted by the founders of our modern society to be informed, to pay attention as a responsible citizen, and especially as a veteran Marine, who served honorably during the Gulf War, should do: I am calling on the people of these United States to rally to the call, seriously consider the fundamental danger facing every single one of us, male & female, cis & trans, black, white, red, yellow, and brown, young and old. We must, as our obligation to ourselves, hold a constitutional congress!

The following is a rough outline for the process for a constitutional congress as I envision it, and humbly submit for your consideration of the duty that should be discharged upon those who attend the proposed congress:

Outline Proposal to Govern the Establishment of a Constitutional Congress (C.C.)

Pick one citizen at random from each county in the U.S. to represent all citizens. Guidelines as of now are to remain simple and strict. Those are:
Service in whatever government is decided upon is similar in application to our current ‘jury duty’.· Whatever the C.C., convening on Nov 6th, 2020, finally decides upon to enact as a system of government, or a style of society going forward, it shall guarantee our UNALIENABLE rights.· Further, it MUST be entirely transparent in all communications, with access to documents and dealings made public (live or within a reasonable period [2 weeks or less]). No secret or confidential meetings shall be held, and all records shall be open and available.· Anyone ‘serving’ in any decided structure, as actual servants of the people, may only serve in whatever capacity, and/or as long as the C.C. decides, and must return to their previous profession and station, and never be involved in Federal politics for the rest of their lives. They may be involved in local government, and although I believe state offices should also be excluded, that decision will reside in the C.C.· Finally, all current federal elected and appointed officials shall ‘freeze’, and ‘shelter in place’, maintaining the functions of government, until such time as the C.C. convenes and discharges its duty as assigned by the people and enumerated within this initial ‘call’. The current federal elected officials and federal appointees, and the delegates of the C.C. may only do what is necessary to keep OUR government stable until we decide what to do with our society going forward!
Power corrupts, greed is bad, and we are being “consumed”, rather than consuming. Why else would our government get us out ‘mingling’ again before everyone knows we have done enough testing?!

We have given the fox the key to the hen house, along with our checkbooks, personal information, our cars and houses, and all the power to keep us from our own hens, and now 78,771 American lives have been lost because of… what?
What reason or excuse could ever be worth that many already spent American lives? What ineptitude, or mismanagement, or ignorance, or willful stupidity is worth a loss of this scale?
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Now for A Deep Breath
Rhetoric and emotion can get stirred easily enough. Any political rally can testify to that. However, I strongly advocate inner examination prior to jumping into anything so dramatic, no matter how necessary it is now, or may soon be. Fundamentally, each of us must ask ourselves, “what have I built the foundations of my life upon?”
Photo by Markos Mant on Unsplash
Jimi Hendrixis quoted as saying, When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will know peace.
I want to stress that this is the best option I can see, motivated from a different place where I picture a future for my for sons. I will be the first to admit, I worry about my sons. I fret about how much time they spend with their faces in little screens, watching who knows what on whatever tube is trending.
Quarantined Judah by AYOBI Blumberg

I struggle against a manifest haunted feeling, that I have lost control of my place in society, and the family I have chosen. In a fictional future I am working on writing, “Meta-Platsky: A Dustopian Love Story”, in the dystopian future of the work I already see the desert dreams that speak over the subconscious vistas, as a visionary steeped prophetically within the disciplines of history, anthropology, and sociology. The fictional tale seems to be “coming to life”, like I am writing the future somehow, no matter the truth of things, and that is creepy enough to ponder.
I worry about my kids’ future, their ability to survive in a world where they must run faster than the cannibal band of former American citizens eyeing their ham-hocks. There is constant outrage, peppered with unhealthy doses of post-apocalyptic theatrics, “faux-cathartic” literary releases of what seem like rehashed old writings, and mass media’s obsession with “solving for x” has got me on an existential edge. I can’t speak for everyone.

Lately it is too easy to get emotional, there are too many tornadoes of chaotic injustice raging, floods of imprecations from talking heads, while disembodied voices drone on the radio, giving infinite call to action, political brands looking for unreasonable or unnecessary demands of loyalty as from ‘distant powers’, yet within my own country. Since the 1980’s, there have been far too many corporate sleights of hand, what with apparent immunity from the justice to anyone lower on the scale of economic fiefdom than they. Justice is proportional to the size of one’s bank account assets, reflecting our “Alpha Baboon” society.
Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

I grow beyond weary, much like many of you readers out there, I am betting, of our never-ending, incidental evils arising, as they do, from the exhausted, disregarded compromises of countless, well-meaning local officials, “everyday people”, and supposed friends.
This unpleasant molestation of decency was merely courteously dismissive in days past, whereas now the manipulators of our lives jitter in anxious hunger, blithely hostile to your needs, dreams, or goals. Love is choked out as half of our society refuses to accept themselves where they are right now. I am not referring to motivational speech acceptance, what I speak of is recognizing ourselves as unique individuals, perfect in form and function that have ever been sanctified by the pure expression of Love, waiting exactly where many had thought they remembered it was when we were little, before our indoctrinations began.
These indoctrinations include seemingly harmless things like teaching our children that they cannot trust us because we, whose words they should never doubt, create doubt with lies about Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and insist on obedience that reflects our beliefs. Parents’ oft-stated reason, “because I said so”, is frequently used because we do not know, and so default to what we experienced ourselves, growing up.
These things are like garden weeds springing from our collective inability to affect any real changes whatsoever. They are a slow-acting poison sapping anything sweet from our motivation to do any actual loving things, mainly because we figure any actions could never overpower the blatant cheapness of our interpersonal engagements in any case. That is a self-deluding illusion. We must not forget,
“We are the stories we tell ourselves.”
I have been waiting for someone else to tell me the story I should tell myself. We have been looking for the mentor, pastor, imam, monk, or deity to tell us what to do, or to tell us it will all be fine.

That was, until the quarantine began. I have seen more humanity in the last couple of months than in the last decade. Why do you think the call is growing for us to endanger our lives? To keep the “economy” going? For you? For me? See how easy it was for them to spend trillions?
“Paper Money”, or I.O.U. debt, only has as much value as we agree it has. Why else do you think those that know, watch the “Consumer Confidence Index”? Any person willing to look can see that we have been given too much time to reflect, to question, and start to see what is going on around us: how a “spell” that has been woven over us for so terribly long has begun to crack, allowing some light in. It would not do to have “the Mob (us pleabians)”, the “Consumed” start to wake; who would do all the “menial” tasks?

Better to fire up “the machine”, get groups arguing about race, red team, or blue team, or whatever will distract from the truth. When you refuse the game, you are playing. When you deny the game, you are playing. The only way to do anything different, the only way I can see that we can do ANYTHING with real hope, is to flip the board.

There are 350 million Americans, how many wealthy? They have television, our favorite shows, our trusted personalities. to engage our daily self-programming. If you know the truth, and stand on it, the scales will fall from your eyes.
Photo by BRUNO CERVERA on Unsplash

There is only one truth that I know of, that we will all die, we will all stand before Death’s Door alone, that the only irrefutable purpose of life is to accept and prepare for our passage through death without any certainty whatsoever about what is on the other side. I know Love wouldn’t have us use faith to feel better about it. No, Love does not deceive. Love uses reason and logic. Love wants us present, awake, and engaged!

In that regard, I hope that at the very least, this call will open serious conversations that will examine this call, and any other peaceful solutions offered, equally sound in logic and reason, each on their own merits, as we all should be accepted, by the people of this country.
I implore all to stay vigilant against the well-honed messaging machines each “side” has: each smiling, well intentioned person, if they serve any other master than Love. These are machines that will have people convinced of anything if they say it often enough.

We are the creators of our agreed upon society. The economy, education, all of it, invented by us, and/or agreed to. We should damn well invent something that serves us better than this fiasco, this litany of growing misery. I guarantee you that those in “power”, our federal “representatives and senators” will not do as poorly as you or me as this mess continues along its current trajectory.
Many of those in power have an inability, unwillingness, or understanding to accept responsibility. Eventually the blame for some future calamity may be placed at YOUR feet.

I swore an oath to protect the constitution. As a veteran, the people are the heart of that document. This represents the most peaceful, efficient way I can vision for our society going forward. , any change that was born of violence has yet to show that the death from violence ever justified the result.

I do not advocate violence in any way, except in defense, nor do I advocate the disregard of others’ lives when people ignore health precautions like distancing, and masks. Disbelief will not make a virus go away.

The American people can do with the suggestion as they see fit. I have an obligation to myself, that when I find myself standing before Death’s Door, that I know, I did my level best in this moment. This call is that. I shall continue with my editorial call for the people to Wake Up!
It is time!

Respectfully,
A. Yobi Blumberg
Citizen
https://ESChatch.transistor.fm
A. Yobi Blumberg, At the 244th Marine Corps Ball in the Bay Area 2019




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What is Earth Service Corps ?

I am an applied anthropological researcher, among other things. Anywhere I am, the E.S.C. Hatch is available. A safe space to self-therapy. Be stranger, don’t be a stranger, rights come from understanding within, ya dig?