Endorse The QA Platform!

[RU Sirius]

In your very own words, this is the place to endorse the QA Platform. Quibbles are allowed

[Jack Pitsker]

I'm new to MondoGlobo, and I make no claims to being very politically intelligent. But I feel that there is definitely a culture of fear brewing in the United States that is similar to the McCarthy era paranoia. While I believe that a central government is necessary, it should always be afraid of the citizens, not the other way around. Once we cease to question authority for whatever reason - laziness, fear, or misguided trust - we cease to deserve the freedoms that we take for granted. I look forward to reading the views of my fellow MondoGlobo-ites, and learning more about what is going on and what I can do about it.

[Praenomenal]

I came across this and was struck, hard. It came quickly on the heels of watching an incident of police brutality online and really hit home. We lose our freedoms we lose everything.

"The great appear great only because we are on our knees, let us rise."

Liberty is the only truth.

I whole heartedly embrace and endorse this platform for change.

[Yodhe]

First of all.......

It is great to see that something has actually grown from the "Question Authority Project" Maybe Logic Academy course in 2006, coordinated by R.U. From my perspective I remember that there was a fair amount of advocacy that R.U. should be the one to take the role of "lead facilitator", and initate the project into the "public domain". Mostly it seemed a case of "you thought it, you brought it.", although I suspect this was a matter of a little frustration for R.U. who seemed to advocate a more Open Source approach to the project.

I have also found it amusing that having recently gotten back involved in "left-wing" (sic) politics in the past year after an absence of a decade, that the "Marxist" organisations in the UK, use the slogan "Question Everything" for their educational material.

I have to disagree with Jack Pitsker's analysis that once one cease to question authority that we cease to deserve the freedoms we take for granted. Certainly there is some truth in the quote "The price of freedom, is eternal vigilence". However one deserves those freedoms regardless of whether one is actively engaged in the process of discernment (questioning authority), or not. In essence it is to reduce our state of paranoia, not fuel it, that is in my opinion needed to provide an viable alternative culture/tale of the tribe. I appreciate what Jack is saying, as it is a sentiment that I feel myself from time to time, but equally although it is something I feel created from my circumstances, rationally I reject it as an elitist proposition. It seems to me to remind me of Plato's Republic and the concept of virtue amongst the ruling class, as though those who aren't politically aware somehow don't deserve these "mystical" freedoms.
In my head there is more than enough rooms for all the slackers, misguided, paranoid and others to do as they please (within obvious caveats). Or as Emma Goldman so beautiful wrote it.....

"If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."

In response to Praenomenal's "Liberty is the only truth".... I think that such cacheisms are exactly what needs to be avoided with Question Authority. I am not trying to berate you, but it seems so obvious that liberty is not the only truth, though it maybe for you and others. For me what is true/truth changes as I receive and interpret information that my sense receive, or rather "one man's liberty, is another's tyranny". Indeed the concept of liberty seems such a nebulous thing that, like the concept of democracy (mob rule anyone?) I don't think that it is a particularly useful construct to use in these discussions. Of course on the other hand I maybe being overly semantic..

Did I mention that I look forward to seeing how Question Authority grows and evolves, and participating in the ride?

[Jack Pitsker]

Hah. See? I told you I wasn't very politically intelligent, and in the same paragraph proved it to be so.

I would agree with you that my statement was a bit too severe. Freedom shouldn't have to be earned per se, especially since there are those who simply can't for whatever reason. I guess the point I was trying to make is that it is all too easy to assume that someone else will be minding the store, and that their intentions are inherently benign. If you willingly surrender your authority to someone else without question, you may not have the freedom to question that authority in the future. I don't think that slackers don't "deserve" to be free. That was badly worded on my part. But I do think that if we are all slackers, we may not remain free for very long.

Thanks for helping me clarify my thoughts on this. See? This platform is already working! :-)

[Praenomenal]

Hu, Interesting. I can really see where you were coming from on this and you make a good point. Firstly I agree 100% on Plato. His concepts and rationals put me off staying in philosophy courses in college.

I think I was straying into hyperbole with the "liberty" statement and thank you for pointing it out. Where I was coming from on that was liberty in its purest form. To me this includes the liberty to do nothing, say nothing, or say the opposite.

Oddly it is philosophy that has created for me the ethic that the statement comes from. To me, liberty and freedom are the key aspects to choice. Every person has the right to choose for themselves the life they lead. My rights to choose end at theirs. I have no more right to make a man choose to think my way than he or she has to me.

I hope that made sense.

[William Craig]

I endorse the QA platform wholeheartedly, recognizing it as mere commonsense-- or, rather, as an expression of the sensibility that motivated the Founding Fathers' creation of a government of limited powers, of checks and balances. I'm involved in an effort to shut down the Border Patrol checkpoint 100 miles from the Vermont/Canada line in Hartford, Vermont. You can learn more about it at
stopthecheckpoint.com
and
www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/01/1...
This seems to me to be a prime example of the precipitous erosion of civil liberties since 9/11. I also believe that this checkpoint (and others like it) can be shut down, and that winning an anti-authoritarian struggle for a change would be a great starting point for a take-back-civil-liberties movement. I'm looking forward to hearing more from QA and its members on this and many other issues.
BTW, I'm saddened by the ridiculous requirement to check an absurdly reductivist choice in order to join this QA group. Can any sensible person's economics or politics be summed up by the reduced-to-meaningless terms "right" or "left" in Dubya's and Hillary's America? Please eliminate this silly and coercive requirement in your application, and help raise the level of discourse.

[Jeh]

I endorse the QA platform with zero qualifications. I eagerly look forward to what will become of it. I am a long time supporter and activist in the freedom movement and though I am an anarcho-capitalist at heart, I realize we need a path from here to there. So I support any and all efforts to roll back the police states of America to its Constitutional Republic foundations.

[Gary F. Moraco]

First i would like to thank R.U.this looks like hard work just getting this online.What would be the point adding to this?I'm not really confused as much as tired of explaining myself.So i will ask some questions of myself. If I tried to be the change I wanted to see in the world or however that goes,than why was did I find myself here?Why do the simple rules become obsolete?What good is a Constitution when the people we "elect" dont understand it?Why should I be prepared for the future when the movie"Idiocracy"says it all?Why do I have to experience loneliness when I was not lonely?Huh?Where have I been all my life?Where's my ox?Let's get the h*e double hockey sticks outa here!Naw let's kick the crooks outa here!Ya like a theif in the ,oops dont want to offend the master,apparently he has no sense of humor.So let's all rage against the nectarine.If I blame it on nature can i go to the dance tonight?Electic geeters are the best invention since feathers.Quetzal stop licking my face please I'm trying to pickup crazy chicks.So in review our corrupt leaders got the idea that we are sheep from the industrial revolution not "The Fool On The Hill"****Beatles circa 196? And dare to keep your kids fooled for to long!Now if you excuse me I'm going to drink some clean water in hope that it's not too late to stop coffee outbreaks.Or after i finish this last "BitchesBrew"First small i denotes humble thanks to R.U.after that I'm being lazy.Sound good but the60's are indeed misunderstood.A moment of silence for our truth seekers. There was something in the reading about not being non-authoritarian?Of course you realize that that's just gonna make powers that be take more away?Anyone like to answer that one?Maybe R.U.?