I wonder if it's too fluffy for the intense historical non-fiction that follows. (It's about how we lost our Constitution in a bloodless coup d'etat led by the Supreme Court, followed by how to reclaim a government of, by, and for the people - without violence) thank you. (ADDED 1 DAY LATER: here it is
Introduction
My interest in how people work began on April 24, 1984 when I was privileged to have my worldview crash. I assure you, it didn’t feel like a privilege at the time. It was, and still remains, the most terrifying moment of my life. Imagine, in one moment, being part of the world, and the next instant, having an epiphany and realizing that all of my core values were in error. I had no belief system to guide me. I didn’t know what to do, and worse, what not to do.
In that crash, I realized that what I had been calling liberty wasn’t freedom at all. What I had been calling justice wasn’t justice. It was injustice. And what I had been calling equality was quite the opposite. It was then that I started educating myself because I realized that I was incapable of putting together a new worldview. I was functionally uneducated.
It sounds strange to me even to this day that a girl who was brought up in the 50s and 60s, could even suspect that America values liberty, justice or equality. I saw the LOOK magazine photos that introduced Jim Crowe to the north and was horrified. My first job came through the “girl wanted” want ads. Then there were three categories of job openings: girl wanted, woman wanted, and men wanted. None of the female jobs interested me in the least. If I didn’t want to be a teacher or a nurse, I could be a clerk in a store, a housekeeper, or a secretary. I tried applying for some of the men’s jobs, but was turned down. As I needed money, I had no choice but to use the want ads to find employment so that I could go to jobs I hated because they forced me into ethically indefensible situations.
My interest in how governments work and how they form societies began three years later when I agreed to be a summer baby sitter for a group of girls, aged eight and ten. What I learned as a result of these two situations sent me on another journey—a Vision Quest. In that journey, I would learn how America went so far off track that we didn’t know that our current form of government is so flawed, it is inherently unworkable. I discovered that it used to be workable. It could have worked continually. It should have. Then, the Supreme Court threw out the Constitution, calling it unworkable while saying that those who think it is workable are insane. The Court replaced our Constitutional Republic with a common law government that in America is a system of government that operates as a dictatorship that serves the well-monied, with the Court having become the dictator sharing the throne. That’s when America began falling apart.
This book is the story of how and when we lost our Constitutional Republic, and how it has damaged us to the point where we no longer believe that we are capable of being part of a government of, by, and for the people. Yet it is more. It is also the explanation of how humans work. Its about how we can heal ourselves so that we are able to peacefully reclaim our government to form another that is of, by, and for the people. We are an absolutely incredible species with potential that few dare consider.
To help you understand how a government of, by, and for the people actually works, I am going to tell you a story about a group that made an amazing shift into the type of government that can work, will work, and that I have since discovered, has worked in the past for other cultures. It may help you to imagine what is being asked of you as you begin learning things about yourself and your government that will destroy many errors in your worldview. Yet, if you are willing to bear the unbearable sorrow in discovering what has been going on in America without your knowledge, it will also offer far happier and more rational alternatives.
On day one of my babysitting, as we were making introductions, I was informed that the girls didn’t need or want a baby-sitter, but as their parents insisted they have one, they would accept me as a responsible adult only. I readily accepted that and told them that that being the case, they would need to do some things first.
I gave them each pencils and some paper as well as a manila folder on which they were to put their names. I asked them to make four lists. The first was a list of things they like to do alone. The second was a list of things they like to do with one other person. The third listed things they like to do with two other persons. Finally, the fourth listed things they like to do with 3 or more people. That way, I told them, if they are ever bored, they don’t need to come to a baby-sitter to ask for things to do. They can go to their manila folder to find something fun to do.
When that was done, I told them that they would need to work out their own form of government, because if I was just a responsible adult, they had to make their own rules.
The morning was spent devising a system of government. Basically, it resembled the US government, not surprising from these American children. It was a majority rule democracy, and it had a justice system. If there were disagreements, they would be resolved in court. They could sue one another. They agreed that the judge should be impartial. One could ask another to be a lawyer who could also speak up on her behalf. If the parties wanted, the other kids could be Jurors. I simply watched the process, and when I was handed the hand-written “Constitution”, I taped it on the wall over the rack holding their manila folders.
Within two days, things were in chaos. Everyone was suing everyone, and the ensuing days were half-filled with court cases, that all attended whether they were involved or not. They came because they wanted to, not because they were required to.
They didn’t realize that the more law suits they had, the unhappier they were and the more they argued. Meanwhile, I, observing from the outside, saw it clearly.
One day, the inevitable happened. The case had three girls on one side and three girls on the other, meaning that there was no impartial judge. They asked me to judge for them. I initially refused, reminding them of my limited role as a responsible adult, but all order disappeared and the argument grew more intense.
In order to calm the situation, I agreed to be the judge if they agreed that my word was final. They agreed.
The case was, as the cases were, about whether or not someone could play with a toy brought from home—even if its owner wasn’t playing with it. There was an income divide in this group, and it was obvious. One girl’s family didn’t have many resources, and toys that she would never be able to have or play with fascinated her. She didn’t think that she was hurting anyone by admiring or touching something as long as she didn’t break it. Those who could afford the finer toys insisted on the right to control what happened to their privately owned toy. What should happen to the offender if another offense occurred was a touchy subject.
I heard the case and I made my ruling. I ruled that their government was unworkable. Starting the next day, socialism would be instituted. Big and expensive toys could be played with by all, but small and inexpensive toys could be private property. In socialism, I told them, the government owns the big things and individuals own the small things. Remember that, I reminded them, when they choose what toys to bring with them the next day.
This didn’t help much. The next day, the lawsuits began. Obviously, the questions involved what constituted a government-owned toy and what was a privately owned toy. Where should the line be drawn? This began a process of lawsuits that involved toy after toy after toy.
Again, the time came when I was asked to serve as judge, which I again reluctantly did. I heard the case and ruled the government unworkable. I set aside socialism and instituted communism. All toys brought into the house were community property, so I advised them to take that into consideration when they came the next day.
This didn’t stop the lawsuits, which began focusing on how (in what way) some were playing with some of the toys. They wanted laws about that. There was a subtle economic war being waged against those whose parents have less. Again, the children were not happy and the frustration that was expressed in the lawsuits was so obvious that when I was again asked to be a judge, I immediately agreed. Without even hearing the case, I decreed the communism to be unworkable. I established a benign monarchy.
With a benign monarchy, I said, I would set the rules, but they could have input and even make some rules. That didn’t work. They were split on when I should be involved and what rules were theirs to make. The arguments got so heated that I brought them to an end by establishing a dictatorship.
A dictatorship, I said, is where I make all the rules and I have all the power. If you have a problem, I said, you can come to me and I will tell you what you WILL do to fix it.
The funny thing about the dictatorship was that the kids seemed to like it well enough. Yes, there were still arguments, but they were short lived because both sides came to me and I told them what to do. Even when I ruled against one, that person recovered from the sting of defeat and found something else to do. Sounds great, at least for them. Unfortunately, the kids weren’t particularly happy because in a dictatorship, rules don’t have to be even handed. We had not solidified into a group.
I was quite miserable. I wanted to be able to have fun with the kids and have a peaceful life. Being a dictator is a very hard job. It’s not fun at all. A dictator can be the enemy of both sides. Days were filled with frustration for all of us.
I pondered this for a while, and wondered how I can return power to the kids while avoiding the arguments. My pondering led me to an interesting idea.
Every afternoon, starting 45 minutes before the mothers came to pick up the kids, we always played a round-robin video game. Video games of the 1980s weren’t filled with violence like today’s video games are. My computer was the most up-to-date available for home use. It was an Atari (no internal hard drive, but it had a slot where I could insert a game cartridge). We played Donkey Kong.
I was no good at it, but the kids picked it up quickly. They kept telling me how to do it right, but I just couldn’t get it. “Relax”, they said to me over and over again. “When you’re not relaxed you can’t see what’s coming”. (Fear blocks rational thinking.) “Relax your grip on the controller. We can see how tense you are.” “Look at the big picture and remember that you are only Mario. He’s the only one you can control”. “If you look at the big picture and stay relaxed, you can see the bombs and then simply jump over them”. “You are not competing against your partners. Well, yes, you’re competing, but you’re not competing to beat them. You’re competing against yourself so that you can improve your own game”. I tried, but I kept forgetting to stay calm.
One evening after the last child left, I pondered how to get out of the role of dictator, I decided to see if I could “get” what the girls were talking about. I went back to the game and concentrated on staying relaxed (leaned back in my chair and relaxed my grip on the control stick). I looked at the big picture while I remembered that I was Mario. In almost no time, I took one man beyond where any of the kids had gone before while using up all of their men. I became the first among us to kiss the princess. Not only that, but I did it with only one man. Success! With that success came inspiration.
The next day, I gathered the kids in the back yard and explained the problem. I reviewed what we had learned about governments so far, and though the dictatorship seemed to be working better than the other governments, it wasn’t a good system. Not only were they not as happy as they could be, but I was unhappy. Worse than that, I had become a baby-sitter and we all wanted me to be nothing more than a responsible adult. That’s when I suggested the institution of the Donkey Kong government. (Rational anarchy.)
They all laughed, but listened. I told them about my success on Donkey Kong the evening before. I reviewed the rules they told me to use. Then I suggested that life is nothing more than a game of Donkey Kong. I pointed to the houses, trees, and sky, and said, “There is the monitor”. They were initially confused, but I explained it. “Everything that you see outside of you is the monitor. You are each Mario. You are the only one that you can control. You can choose to stay relaxed, and if you do that, you can avoid the unhappiness bombs that come heading your way.”
Here’s how the government works:
If a child felt herself getting angry, she would raise her hand and loudly call out “ME TIME”. She would then go to her list of things that she likes to do and do something so that she could remember what happy feels like. When she remembers how to be happy, she returns to the group. “This is not a punishment”, I insisted. “It’s a reward.” Do you like being unhappy and angry? “No” was the universal response. I continued, so if you are not happy, and you can control YOU—because you are Mario in this government—then you must have forgotten what happy feels like. So go someplace and BE happy to remember what being happy feels like. Then bring your happiness back into the group where we can all share it and we can all have even more fun together.
Honest to goodness, it worked. It worked amazingly well. As I watched the new government evolve, I began to feel astonishment. One day, I watched two girls begin to have an argument. A third girl, who was not part of what they were discussing, raised her hand and said, “ME TIME! I don’t like watching people argue”. Saying nothing more, she went off to her list, and then, the two girls looked at one another, smiled, and went off together to find something that they enjoyed doing together. The kids were accepting total responsibility for their lives.
There was not another argument for the entire summer. The girls had such fun that I had time to create more fun activities to do with them.
With this government, my life grew happier as well. I was actually enjoying myself. How much we learned as we invented games to play together! We would go to the air-conditioned grocery store to escape the heat, and I would send the kids on scavenger hunts (walking only) as they found my groceries. They learned how to determine the price per ounce of things (in the days before they were posted) and why it’s important to know how to do that. We would buy various brands of some food and then go home to open the cans to see if there was a difference in quality and quantity and then, over lunch, discuss how much value per dollar each brand offered. Math and reasoning skills were learned without their knowing that they were learning. It took me a while to realize it, but their innate curiosity turned on. The kids weren’t afraid to ask questions, exposing what they didn’t know. They were becoming more confident. They were heading to the library (two blocks away) to look up answers to questions about so many things. It was all so exciting. When given the chance to see it for themselves, these children were brilliant.
It didn’t take long before a parent asked me what Me Time was. She knocked on my door one evening to tell me that she noticed an incredible and delightful change in her daughter. She lamented that she and her daughter had always fought, but she just realized that it had been almost two weeks since they had a single argument. Life is different at home, she told me. They were having fun together again. Her daughter was helping out more around the house without being asked, cleaning her room and the guinea pig cage without being yelled at, and they even have fun doing dishes together in the evening. It was their time to talk. She kept hearing about Me Time and didn’t understand it. Could I explain it? I did.
I told her that when someone is upset, they are punishing themselves. Anger doesn’t feel good. It hurts. I can’t feel anger for someone so I can’t take it away for anyone. We each have to do that part by ourselves.
If you’re angry, I told her, you are all alone in that anger. The girls know this. They also know that the punishment that anger does to them will stop only when they remember that they are not happy. The game of life is supposed to be fun, I continued, so they raise their hand and announce that they are going to take Me Time so that they can remember how to be happy. Me Time is not a punishment, I said again, wanting to make that point clear. Anger is a punishment. Anger is something that people punish themselves with. Me time is a reward. When the anger goes away and the happiness returns, that’s the reward. When happiness is shared, it is magnified. She went home to put together her own list of things she likes to do alone, things she likes to do with one other person, and things she likes to do with a group. She intended to include ME TIME in her life.
The next day, the daughter told me her side of the story. She was being good about cleaning the guinea pig cage because she liked playing with her guinea pig and she didn’t like playing with it when she is dreading the idea of cleaning the cage. If she spent a few minutes cleaning up the cage she can have a lot of time to have fun with her pet. She applied the same logic to her bedroom, discovering that if she picks up after herself, she can have a lot of fun in her clean room. She actually likes her room. “It’s a nice room”, she said. She avoided it and didn’t like it when she was dreading cleaning it, so it’s easier to clean it every day. Doing dishes with her mother is fun now, she added. It’s their special time to talk. She learned all this on her own from the Donkey Kong government that asked her to do nothing more than remember how to be happy and accept responsibility for her own happiness.
The Donkey Kong Government was a great success. There was not another argument or lawsuit for the rest of the summer.
Another related story also occurred that summer. We all made small change purses, and I gave each girl ten pennies. I showed them how to make the pennies shiny by using an eraser. I knew that 10 cents has no value in America, but it was something for them to put in their purses, and it was an activity that we enjoyed as we all sat around the table chatting.
The next day, I took the two oldest and gave them a secret mission. When they saw someone doing something nice for someone, they were not to say anything, but wait until everyone was out of sight and then sneak one of their pennies into the purse of the girl who had done the kind thing. I asked them to pay special attention to the quietest girl (from the lowest socioeconomic group). I assured them that I would replace any pennies if they wanted. Because it was a secret, they were excited about the idea, and no, they didn’t need to have their pennies replaced.
That afternoon, the quiet girl looked in her purse and said “Hey! I have an extra penny”. The other girls ran to their purses and another said the same thing. For the next three days, they would check their purses on and off (that were on the same table as their folders) and pennies kept showing up.
Finally, the quiet girl, having accumulated quite a few extra pennies, hid behind a door as she waited to find out how those pennies were getting into the purses. I don’t know how long she hid there, but when someone approached the table to put a penny into a purse, she jumped out from behind the door and yelled “GOTCHA!”. The secret was out. Everyone came running into the room laughing. They wanted to play that game too.
Immediately, all of the girls started giving secret donations to those whom they had seen doing a kind thing. If one girl saw someone sneaking a penny into a purse, the one who saw would sneak a penny into HER purse. Instantly, the focus stopped being on avoiding the “bombs” that suddenly appear without warning. The focus was entirely on observing how kind and nice the other girls were. Evidence of economic divisions evaporated. The most insecure blossomed. Fun was the order of the day for the rest of the summer. Without discussion, the goal changed from having the most pennies to having the least pennies. How good someone felt when her purse was empty, which was never empty for long. This continued for the rest of the summer.
During this time, the girls even passed their first law. Five of the girls wanted to go do something, but a sixth wanted to stay home and finish a book. She just didn’t feel like going out into the world. She wanted to stick around the house. Without my saying a thing, one of the girls from the majority said: “No one should have to do something she doesn’t like just because the rest of us want her to”. Her statement was followed by unanimity and a democracy by consensus was born.
Because their governmental framework allowed it, six girls developed an egalitarian democracy by consensus government—a government of, by, and for the people, and it worked exceedingly well. I had never heard of such a thing before. Our government certainly doesn’t have a framework that allows that. Their government was so gentle it was barely perceptible, yet it was so strong it was unbreakable. They had a social structure based on respect and cooperation.
On the last day, the mother of the quietest girl wanted to thank me for what I had done for her daughter. I thought she was thanking me for baby-sitting, but she continued to say that there has been a complete transformation in her daughter.
She told me that she and her husband had been very worried about their daughter. She would hide from the family and she wouldn’t leave her room when she was home. It was hard to get her to come join them for dinner. Getting her to say anything was a chore. She never wanted to join in any family activities, and the rest of the family enjoys doing things together every weekend.
Now, the mother said, that is all changed. She joins us for dinner and even sticks around to help me with the dishes. She goes places with us. She doesn’t hide in her room any more. She’s happy and chatty and even tells jokes. She’s fun to be around. We feel like we have our daughter back. We were so worried that we were losing her and there was nothing we could do to save her.
Imagine being that shy, insecure, and depressed little 8-year old girl who suddenly discovers, through the discovery of shiny new pennies consistently secreted into her little purse, that she is liked and respected by all of her peers. No wonder it changed her life dramatically. She wouldn’t have believed it if I had simply told her that she is lovable. She had to experience it to believe it. And when her mind turned back on as her curiosity was renewed, her self-respect soared. We are social animals and we need healthy and positive relationships where all are equal.
Happiness, caring, and sharing are infectious, just as fear is. The difference is that the former heals while the latter destroys.
Another interesting side-note is that within only a couple of days of starting the Donkey Kong government that is actually rational anarchy, each of the kids could kiss the princess using only one man. Something meaningful was going on in these children’s minds and the change was almost instantaneous.
If we want a government of, by, and for the people, one thing we have to change is our belief that we are inferior or not as worthy or capable in any vague or self-defined way to any other person. We must stop being that insecure little girl. That’s easy enough, so that’s where we will begin.
In a game I call “You be the Judge”, we are going to look at some Supreme Court cases, compare the facts of the case to the Constitution, and make a decision on the case. By the end of the first case, your self-esteem will rise. By the end of the Parts One and Two, it will have risen enough to help you see that we really don’t have a choice. We need to heal ourselves so that we can reestablish a government of, by, and for the people, because if we don’t, humankind will not survive much longer. The sixth mass extinction of life on earth has already begun and our government is furthering it, unable to stop itself. We are the cure, and we are powerful creatures, once we unlearn the lies we were told and replace them with testable, verifiable truth. The truth shall set us free.
This book is written in three parts. The first two parts introduce you to the secret American history that has been intentionally kept from you. It’s not that it is formally classified as secret. It’s not. It’s all well-documented. The problem is that you were intentionally taught lies and half-truths about it. Important information was intentionally kept out of your public schooling in order to keep you so in-the-dark that you could not recognize the obvious. Through public schooling, you were intentionally and verifiably led into the heart of the American Delusion. We will also look at documents about public education and how it came to be the child-damaging institution it is. We will then look at money, what it is, how it works, and how it is causing us to do things that most Americans don’t think they are capable of doing even as they do them.
Part Three is dedicated to helping you see for yourselves how humans work, using testable methods. So many of our beliefs about who and what humans are, are in error. Through Part Three, you will heal yourself so that you are capable of participating in a democracy of, by, and for the people.
Part Three doesn’t have to be read after Parts One and Two. Because there are easy experiments and exercises in Part Three, you can work the two parts together. This will allow you to have a head-start in doing what is necessary to reclaim our government of, by, and for the people while spreading some amazing news that has the ability to bring peace on earth in our lifetimes and put that unreachable star within reach.
Introduction
My interest in how people work began on April 24, 1984 when I was privileged to have my worldview crash. I assure you, it didn’t feel like a privilege at the time. It was, and still remains, the most terrifying moment of my life. Imagine, in one moment, being part of the world, and the next instant, having an epiphany and realizing that all of my core values were in error. I had no belief system to guide me. I didn’t know what to do, and worse, what not to do.
In that crash, I realized that what I had been calling liberty wasn’t freedom at all. What I had been calling justice wasn’t justice. It was injustice. And what I had been calling equality was quite the opposite. It was then that I started educating myself because I realized that I was incapable of putting together a new worldview. I was functionally uneducated.
It sounds strange to me even to this day that a girl who was brought up in the 50s and 60s, could even suspect that America values liberty, justice or equality. I saw the LOOK magazine photos that introduced Jim Crowe to the north and was horrified. My first job came through the “girl wanted” want ads. Then there were three categories of job openings: girl wanted, woman wanted, and men wanted. None of the female jobs interested me in the least. If I didn’t want to be a teacher or a nurse, I could be a clerk in a store, a housekeeper, or a secretary. I tried applying for some of the men’s jobs, but was turned down. As I needed money, I had no choice but to use the want ads to find employment so that I could go to jobs I hated because they forced me into ethically indefensible situations.
My interest in how governments work and how they form societies began three years later when I agreed to be a summer baby sitter for a group of girls, aged eight and ten. What I learned as a result of these two situations sent me on another journey—a Vision Quest. In that journey, I would learn how America went so far off track that we didn’t know that our current form of government is so flawed, it is inherently unworkable. I discovered that it used to be workable. It could have worked continually. It should have. Then, the Supreme Court threw out the Constitution, calling it unworkable while saying that those who think it is workable are insane. The Court replaced our Constitutional Republic with a common law government that in America is a system of government that operates as a dictatorship that serves the well-monied, with the Court having become the dictator sharing the throne. That’s when America began falling apart.
This book is the story of how and when we lost our Constitutional Republic, and how it has damaged us to the point where we no longer believe that we are capable of being part of a government of, by, and for the people. Yet it is more. It is also the explanation of how humans work. Its about how we can heal ourselves so that we are able to peacefully reclaim our government to form another that is of, by, and for the people. We are an absolutely incredible species with potential that few dare consider.
To help you understand how a government of, by, and for the people actually works, I am going to tell you a story about a group that made an amazing shift into the type of government that can work, will work, and that I have since discovered, has worked in the past for other cultures. It may help you to imagine what is being asked of you as you begin learning things about yourself and your government that will destroy many errors in your worldview. Yet, if you are willing to bear the unbearable sorrow in discovering what has been going on in America without your knowledge, it will also offer far happier and more rational alternatives.
On day one of my babysitting, as we were making introductions, I was informed that the girls didn’t need or want a baby-sitter, but as their parents insisted they have one, they would accept me as a responsible adult only. I readily accepted that and told them that that being the case, they would need to do some things first.
I gave them each pencils and some paper as well as a manila folder on which they were to put their names. I asked them to make four lists. The first was a list of things they like to do alone. The second was a list of things they like to do with one other person. The third listed things they like to do with two other persons. Finally, the fourth listed things they like to do with 3 or more people. That way, I told them, if they are ever bored, they don’t need to come to a baby-sitter to ask for things to do. They can go to their manila folder to find something fun to do.
When that was done, I told them that they would need to work out their own form of government, because if I was just a responsible adult, they had to make their own rules.
The morning was spent devising a system of government. Basically, it resembled the US government, not surprising from these American children. It was a majority rule democracy, and it had a justice system. If there were disagreements, they would be resolved in court. They could sue one another. They agreed that the judge should be impartial. One could ask another to be a lawyer who could also speak up on her behalf. If the parties wanted, the other kids could be Jurors. I simply watched the process, and when I was handed the hand-written “Constitution”, I taped it on the wall over the rack holding their manila folders.
Within two days, things were in chaos. Everyone was suing everyone, and the ensuing days were half-filled with court cases, that all attended whether they were involved or not. They came because they wanted to, not because they were required to.
They didn’t realize that the more law suits they had, the unhappier they were and the more they argued. Meanwhile, I, observing from the outside, saw it clearly.
One day, the inevitable happened. The case had three girls on one side and three girls on the other, meaning that there was no impartial judge. They asked me to judge for them. I initially refused, reminding them of my limited role as a responsible adult, but all order disappeared and the argument grew more intense.
In order to calm the situation, I agreed to be the judge if they agreed that my word was final. They agreed.
The case was, as the cases were, about whether or not someone could play with a toy brought from home—even if its owner wasn’t playing with it. There was an income divide in this group, and it was obvious. One girl’s family didn’t have many resources, and toys that she would never be able to have or play with fascinated her. She didn’t think that she was hurting anyone by admiring or touching something as long as she didn’t break it. Those who could afford the finer toys insisted on the right to control what happened to their privately owned toy. What should happen to the offender if another offense occurred was a touchy subject.
I heard the case and I made my ruling. I ruled that their government was unworkable. Starting the next day, socialism would be instituted. Big and expensive toys could be played with by all, but small and inexpensive toys could be private property. In socialism, I told them, the government owns the big things and individuals own the small things. Remember that, I reminded them, when they choose what toys to bring with them the next day.
This didn’t help much. The next day, the lawsuits began. Obviously, the questions involved what constituted a government-owned toy and what was a privately owned toy. Where should the line be drawn? This began a process of lawsuits that involved toy after toy after toy.
Again, the time came when I was asked to serve as judge, which I again reluctantly did. I heard the case and ruled the government unworkable. I set aside socialism and instituted communism. All toys brought into the house were community property, so I advised them to take that into consideration when they came the next day.
This didn’t stop the lawsuits, which began focusing on how (in what way) some were playing with some of the toys. They wanted laws about that. There was a subtle economic war being waged against those whose parents have less. Again, the children were not happy and the frustration that was expressed in the lawsuits was so obvious that when I was again asked to be a judge, I immediately agreed. Without even hearing the case, I decreed the communism to be unworkable. I established a benign monarchy.
With a benign monarchy, I said, I would set the rules, but they could have input and even make some rules. That didn’t work. They were split on when I should be involved and what rules were theirs to make. The arguments got so heated that I brought them to an end by establishing a dictatorship.
A dictatorship, I said, is where I make all the rules and I have all the power. If you have a problem, I said, you can come to me and I will tell you what you WILL do to fix it.
The funny thing about the dictatorship was that the kids seemed to like it well enough. Yes, there were still arguments, but they were short lived because both sides came to me and I told them what to do. Even when I ruled against one, that person recovered from the sting of defeat and found something else to do. Sounds great, at least for them. Unfortunately, the kids weren’t particularly happy because in a dictatorship, rules don’t have to be even handed. We had not solidified into a group.
I was quite miserable. I wanted to be able to have fun with the kids and have a peaceful life. Being a dictator is a very hard job. It’s not fun at all. A dictator can be the enemy of both sides. Days were filled with frustration for all of us.
I pondered this for a while, and wondered how I can return power to the kids while avoiding the arguments. My pondering led me to an interesting idea.
Every afternoon, starting 45 minutes before the mothers came to pick up the kids, we always played a round-robin video game. Video games of the 1980s weren’t filled with violence like today’s video games are. My computer was the most up-to-date available for home use. It was an Atari (no internal hard drive, but it had a slot where I could insert a game cartridge). We played Donkey Kong.
I was no good at it, but the kids picked it up quickly. They kept telling me how to do it right, but I just couldn’t get it. “Relax”, they said to me over and over again. “When you’re not relaxed you can’t see what’s coming”. (Fear blocks rational thinking.) “Relax your grip on the controller. We can see how tense you are.” “Look at the big picture and remember that you are only Mario. He’s the only one you can control”. “If you look at the big picture and stay relaxed, you can see the bombs and then simply jump over them”. “You are not competing against your partners. Well, yes, you’re competing, but you’re not competing to beat them. You’re competing against yourself so that you can improve your own game”. I tried, but I kept forgetting to stay calm.
One evening after the last child left, I pondered how to get out of the role of dictator, I decided to see if I could “get” what the girls were talking about. I went back to the game and concentrated on staying relaxed (leaned back in my chair and relaxed my grip on the control stick). I looked at the big picture while I remembered that I was Mario. In almost no time, I took one man beyond where any of the kids had gone before while using up all of their men. I became the first among us to kiss the princess. Not only that, but I did it with only one man. Success! With that success came inspiration.
The next day, I gathered the kids in the back yard and explained the problem. I reviewed what we had learned about governments so far, and though the dictatorship seemed to be working better than the other governments, it wasn’t a good system. Not only were they not as happy as they could be, but I was unhappy. Worse than that, I had become a baby-sitter and we all wanted me to be nothing more than a responsible adult. That’s when I suggested the institution of the Donkey Kong government. (Rational anarchy.)
They all laughed, but listened. I told them about my success on Donkey Kong the evening before. I reviewed the rules they told me to use. Then I suggested that life is nothing more than a game of Donkey Kong. I pointed to the houses, trees, and sky, and said, “There is the monitor”. They were initially confused, but I explained it. “Everything that you see outside of you is the monitor. You are each Mario. You are the only one that you can control. You can choose to stay relaxed, and if you do that, you can avoid the unhappiness bombs that come heading your way.”
Here’s how the government works:
If a child felt herself getting angry, she would raise her hand and loudly call out “ME TIME”. She would then go to her list of things that she likes to do and do something so that she could remember what happy feels like. When she remembers how to be happy, she returns to the group. “This is not a punishment”, I insisted. “It’s a reward.” Do you like being unhappy and angry? “No” was the universal response. I continued, so if you are not happy, and you can control YOU—because you are Mario in this government—then you must have forgotten what happy feels like. So go someplace and BE happy to remember what being happy feels like. Then bring your happiness back into the group where we can all share it and we can all have even more fun together.
Honest to goodness, it worked. It worked amazingly well. As I watched the new government evolve, I began to feel astonishment. One day, I watched two girls begin to have an argument. A third girl, who was not part of what they were discussing, raised her hand and said, “ME TIME! I don’t like watching people argue”. Saying nothing more, she went off to her list, and then, the two girls looked at one another, smiled, and went off together to find something that they enjoyed doing together. The kids were accepting total responsibility for their lives.
There was not another argument for the entire summer. The girls had such fun that I had time to create more fun activities to do with them.
With this government, my life grew happier as well. I was actually enjoying myself. How much we learned as we invented games to play together! We would go to the air-conditioned grocery store to escape the heat, and I would send the kids on scavenger hunts (walking only) as they found my groceries. They learned how to determine the price per ounce of things (in the days before they were posted) and why it’s important to know how to do that. We would buy various brands of some food and then go home to open the cans to see if there was a difference in quality and quantity and then, over lunch, discuss how much value per dollar each brand offered. Math and reasoning skills were learned without their knowing that they were learning. It took me a while to realize it, but their innate curiosity turned on. The kids weren’t afraid to ask questions, exposing what they didn’t know. They were becoming more confident. They were heading to the library (two blocks away) to look up answers to questions about so many things. It was all so exciting. When given the chance to see it for themselves, these children were brilliant.
It didn’t take long before a parent asked me what Me Time was. She knocked on my door one evening to tell me that she noticed an incredible and delightful change in her daughter. She lamented that she and her daughter had always fought, but she just realized that it had been almost two weeks since they had a single argument. Life is different at home, she told me. They were having fun together again. Her daughter was helping out more around the house without being asked, cleaning her room and the guinea pig cage without being yelled at, and they even have fun doing dishes together in the evening. It was their time to talk. She kept hearing about Me Time and didn’t understand it. Could I explain it? I did.
I told her that when someone is upset, they are punishing themselves. Anger doesn’t feel good. It hurts. I can’t feel anger for someone so I can’t take it away for anyone. We each have to do that part by ourselves.
If you’re angry, I told her, you are all alone in that anger. The girls know this. They also know that the punishment that anger does to them will stop only when they remember that they are not happy. The game of life is supposed to be fun, I continued, so they raise their hand and announce that they are going to take Me Time so that they can remember how to be happy. Me Time is not a punishment, I said again, wanting to make that point clear. Anger is a punishment. Anger is something that people punish themselves with. Me time is a reward. When the anger goes away and the happiness returns, that’s the reward. When happiness is shared, it is magnified. She went home to put together her own list of things she likes to do alone, things she likes to do with one other person, and things she likes to do with a group. She intended to include ME TIME in her life.
The next day, the daughter told me her side of the story. She was being good about cleaning the guinea pig cage because she liked playing with her guinea pig and she didn’t like playing with it when she is dreading the idea of cleaning the cage. If she spent a few minutes cleaning up the cage she can have a lot of time to have fun with her pet. She applied the same logic to her bedroom, discovering that if she picks up after herself, she can have a lot of fun in her clean room. She actually likes her room. “It’s a nice room”, she said. She avoided it and didn’t like it when she was dreading cleaning it, so it’s easier to clean it every day. Doing dishes with her mother is fun now, she added. It’s their special time to talk. She learned all this on her own from the Donkey Kong government that asked her to do nothing more than remember how to be happy and accept responsibility for her own happiness.
The Donkey Kong Government was a great success. There was not another argument or lawsuit for the rest of the summer.
Another related story also occurred that summer. We all made small change purses, and I gave each girl ten pennies. I showed them how to make the pennies shiny by using an eraser. I knew that 10 cents has no value in America, but it was something for them to put in their purses, and it was an activity that we enjoyed as we all sat around the table chatting.
The next day, I took the two oldest and gave them a secret mission. When they saw someone doing something nice for someone, they were not to say anything, but wait until everyone was out of sight and then sneak one of their pennies into the purse of the girl who had done the kind thing. I asked them to pay special attention to the quietest girl (from the lowest socioeconomic group). I assured them that I would replace any pennies if they wanted. Because it was a secret, they were excited about the idea, and no, they didn’t need to have their pennies replaced.
That afternoon, the quiet girl looked in her purse and said “Hey! I have an extra penny”. The other girls ran to their purses and another said the same thing. For the next three days, they would check their purses on and off (that were on the same table as their folders) and pennies kept showing up.
Finally, the quiet girl, having accumulated quite a few extra pennies, hid behind a door as she waited to find out how those pennies were getting into the purses. I don’t know how long she hid there, but when someone approached the table to put a penny into a purse, she jumped out from behind the door and yelled “GOTCHA!”. The secret was out. Everyone came running into the room laughing. They wanted to play that game too.
Immediately, all of the girls started giving secret donations to those whom they had seen doing a kind thing. If one girl saw someone sneaking a penny into a purse, the one who saw would sneak a penny into HER purse. Instantly, the focus stopped being on avoiding the “bombs” that suddenly appear without warning. The focus was entirely on observing how kind and nice the other girls were. Evidence of economic divisions evaporated. The most insecure blossomed. Fun was the order of the day for the rest of the summer. Without discussion, the goal changed from having the most pennies to having the least pennies. How good someone felt when her purse was empty, which was never empty for long. This continued for the rest of the summer.
During this time, the girls even passed their first law. Five of the girls wanted to go do something, but a sixth wanted to stay home and finish a book. She just didn’t feel like going out into the world. She wanted to stick around the house. Without my saying a thing, one of the girls from the majority said: “No one should have to do something she doesn’t like just because the rest of us want her to”. Her statement was followed by unanimity and a democracy by consensus was born.
Because their governmental framework allowed it, six girls developed an egalitarian democracy by consensus government—a government of, by, and for the people, and it worked exceedingly well. I had never heard of such a thing before. Our government certainly doesn’t have a framework that allows that. Their government was so gentle it was barely perceptible, yet it was so strong it was unbreakable. They had a social structure based on respect and cooperation.
On the last day, the mother of the quietest girl wanted to thank me for what I had done for her daughter. I thought she was thanking me for baby-sitting, but she continued to say that there has been a complete transformation in her daughter.
She told me that she and her husband had been very worried about their daughter. She would hide from the family and she wouldn’t leave her room when she was home. It was hard to get her to come join them for dinner. Getting her to say anything was a chore. She never wanted to join in any family activities, and the rest of the family enjoys doing things together every weekend.
Now, the mother said, that is all changed. She joins us for dinner and even sticks around to help me with the dishes. She goes places with us. She doesn’t hide in her room any more. She’s happy and chatty and even tells jokes. She’s fun to be around. We feel like we have our daughter back. We were so worried that we were losing her and there was nothing we could do to save her.
Imagine being that shy, insecure, and depressed little 8-year old girl who suddenly discovers, through the discovery of shiny new pennies consistently secreted into her little purse, that she is liked and respected by all of her peers. No wonder it changed her life dramatically. She wouldn’t have believed it if I had simply told her that she is lovable. She had to experience it to believe it. And when her mind turned back on as her curiosity was renewed, her self-respect soared. We are social animals and we need healthy and positive relationships where all are equal.
Happiness, caring, and sharing are infectious, just as fear is. The difference is that the former heals while the latter destroys.
Another interesting side-note is that within only a couple of days of starting the Donkey Kong government that is actually rational anarchy, each of the kids could kiss the princess using only one man. Something meaningful was going on in these children’s minds and the change was almost instantaneous.
If we want a government of, by, and for the people, one thing we have to change is our belief that we are inferior or not as worthy or capable in any vague or self-defined way to any other person. We must stop being that insecure little girl. That’s easy enough, so that’s where we will begin.
In a game I call “You be the Judge”, we are going to look at some Supreme Court cases, compare the facts of the case to the Constitution, and make a decision on the case. By the end of the first case, your self-esteem will rise. By the end of the Parts One and Two, it will have risen enough to help you see that we really don’t have a choice. We need to heal ourselves so that we can reestablish a government of, by, and for the people, because if we don’t, humankind will not survive much longer. The sixth mass extinction of life on earth has already begun and our government is furthering it, unable to stop itself. We are the cure, and we are powerful creatures, once we unlearn the lies we were told and replace them with testable, verifiable truth. The truth shall set us free.
This book is written in three parts. The first two parts introduce you to the secret American history that has been intentionally kept from you. It’s not that it is formally classified as secret. It’s not. It’s all well-documented. The problem is that you were intentionally taught lies and half-truths about it. Important information was intentionally kept out of your public schooling in order to keep you so in-the-dark that you could not recognize the obvious. Through public schooling, you were intentionally and verifiably led into the heart of the American Delusion. We will also look at documents about public education and how it came to be the child-damaging institution it is. We will then look at money, what it is, how it works, and how it is causing us to do things that most Americans don’t think they are capable of doing even as they do them.
Part Three is dedicated to helping you see for yourselves how humans work, using testable methods. So many of our beliefs about who and what humans are, are in error. Through Part Three, you will heal yourself so that you are capable of participating in a democracy of, by, and for the people.
Part Three doesn’t have to be read after Parts One and Two. Because there are easy experiments and exercises in Part Three, you can work the two parts together. This will allow you to have a head-start in doing what is necessary to reclaim our government of, by, and for the people while spreading some amazing news that has the ability to bring peace on earth in our lifetimes and put that unreachable star within reach.
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