Discourse and critical thinking are essential tools when it comes to securing progress in a democratic society. But in the end, unity and engaged participation are what make it happen.
I sat at a lunch table with a professor of premonotheistic spirituality, plus several women from some of the tribes in this state that has more Native Americans than any other. All agreed that the paradigm of human organization had been the circle, not the pyramid or hierarchy__nd it could be again. I__ never known there was a paradigm that linked instead of ranked. It was as if I__ been assuming opposition__nd suddenly found myself in a welcoming world; like putting one__ foot down for a steep stair and discovering level ground. Still, when a Laguna law student from New Mexico complained that her courses didn__ cite the Iroquois Confederacy as the model for the U.S. Constitution__r explain that this still existing Confederacy was the oldest continuing democracy in the world__ thought she was being romantic. But I read about the Constitutional Convention and discovered that Benjamin Franklin had indeed cited the Iroquois Confederacy as a model. He was well aware of its success in unifying vast areas of the United States and Canada by bringing together Native nations for mutual decisions but also allowing autonomy in local ones. He hoped the Constitution could do the same for the thirteen states. That__ why he invited two Iroquois men to Philadelphia as advisers. Among their first questions was said to be: Where are the women?
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I sat at a lunch table with a professor of premonotheistic spirituality, plus several women from some of the tribes in this state that has more Native Americans than any other. All agreed that the paradigm of human organization had been the circle, not the pyramid or hierarchy__nd it could be again. I__ never known there was a paradigm that linked instead of ranked. It was as if I__ been assuming opposition__nd suddenly found myself in a welcoming world; like putting one__ foot down for a steep stair and discovering level ground. Still, when a Laguna law student from New Mexico complained that her courses didn__ cite the Iroquois Confederacy as the model for the U.S. Constitution__r explain that this still existing Confederacy was the oldest continuing democracy in the world__ thought she was being romantic. But I read about the Constitutional Convention and discovered that Benjamin Franklin had indeed cited the Iroquois Confederacy as a model. He was well aware of its success in unifying vast areas of the United States and Canada by bringing together Native nations for mutual decisions but also allowing autonomy in local ones. He hoped the Constitution could do the same for the thirteen states. That__ why he invited two Iroquois men to Philadelphia as advisers. Among their first questions was said to be: Where are the women?
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The proposal to quit voting is basically revolutionary; it amounts to a shifting of power from one group to another, which is the essence of revolution. As soon as the nonvoting movement got up steam, the politicians would most assuredly start a counterrevolution. Measures to enforce voting would be instituted; fines would be imposed for violations, and prison sentences would be meted out to repeaters.
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I am a citizen of this country,_ I declare, __nd Mr. Mayor, tonight I will be a citizen of this city when I put my shoes under my bed. The courageous men, women and children who are with me (blocked from crossing the bridge into NYC) are also citizens of this country and will be sleeping near their shoes too. I want them with me tonight, here, in the city of New York. We are all American citizens._ _ Mother Jones