When 2nd Class Citizens Stand Up to Hate, Corruption and Extremism

Life isn't fair and let me say that rights and civil treatment can be sweapt away by those who were supposed to be protecting all of us. While some of us believe that second class citizens are defined by race and religion that is the narrative created by those who long ago sold out our national values. Our nation is based on principles of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the Constitution, and human/civil rights. These principles are as or more important than physical location. They are what defines our soul and those who believe in and support these underlining principles are 1st class citizens that should be encouraged and supported in our society. 

There are those who do not respect others who hold higher values because they are entitled to their discrimination. To me first class citizens are people who have loyalty to their national principles above other considerstions such as financial, social, racial, religious and political influences. We are a free people and those who sacrafice for that freedom by doing the right thing and being critical in their thinking are patriots (by a more true definition). That sacrafice could be reporting crimes, telling a group of bullies "no", challenging corruption, and discourating extremism. It may also include serving the people by using logic and making strategic decisions without worrying about personal advantage.

When the 2nd class citizens become 1st class citizens based on a more honest metric then we know we have moved into the next stage as a universal democracy. No matter your position in this nation, rich or poor, no matter your race or religion you should be judged on your character and contributions and not on superficial differences. Be positive, be polite but be powerful. Always say the truth and hope for a brighter day tomorrow. I think it will come and the seeds to positive change were sown many generations ago and our societal caretakers have nurtured and strengthened the roots of demoracy. Each generation gets stronger and better. Our job is to remove as many road blocks as we can for them so we can compete as a nation to uphold our essential principles.

You may want to read When Corruption Meets Discrimination.

* Hypothetical learning example as a thought experiment on freedom of religion, speech, Constitution,  civil/human rights. Take with gain of salt.

Honor Flight: The Benefits of Military Values

Let me say that the essential difference between people is ones character. The Honor Flight honors our veterans and the sacrifices of those with enough values to serve for something greater. Honor Flight UP

While these are older folks from older conflicts the young can learn alot about those values that transcend generations. The prior generations can learn from a new generation of motivated young members. It is a sacred oath passed from generation to generation.

The biggest lesson is that character and values are more important than all the other factors.

Positive Outcomes of Military Service

The Gen Z Perspective of What They Want in the Military

Whistleblowing Benefits and the Risks of Backsliding on National Values (Post Awareness)

Whistleblowers created serious benefits for society but more often then not they are left to their own devices when dealing with the aftermath of protecteing society. Standing against things like hate, corruption, misuse of resources, extremism can be dangerous because of existing poor values of some leaders in our society. Good people are often drowned out by bad actors and there are not enough checks and balances for those with the patriotism needed to report crimes.. While in the end there often is a general correction by society the ability to get away with crime after crime is common where poor managers are present (We can't call them leaders because they are net detractors from society.)

You may want to read Whistle Blowing Benefit

Hypothetical Example:

Let us use a hypothetical example for learning purposes. Religious minority with mixed race kids became a target of serious attempts at violence and human rights violations. Someone spread a rumor to enrich themselves and exploit the sick and dying for financial and social gain (There are people who believe that this could never happen.) The perpetrators were connected to a number of corrupted officials who appeared to include a number of violent extremists. Community members were aware other behaviors by this group may have caused serious fear, rape, misapplication of justice, and even suicide by vulnerable women and minorities. Further, the behaviors were known for a long time but other officials were afraid to stand up for what was right (Let us always honor those who do the right thing and protect their communities.). A few semi related arrests were conducted based on overwhelming evidence that the local system simply couldn't ignore no matter how much they tried. The community stood up to hate and corruption by bringing forward evidence on record knowing that without documentation no one is going to stand for the law, the Constitution and basic human descency. Certain crimes stopped but some of the intitial perpetrators were financially and socially rewarded for their crimes. Corruption was further normalized and will likely be repleated as a protected pattern.

Certainly these are not the type of systems we want to foster but all too often things are more about power over dynamics and extremist political leanings then they are about following our national laws. Whistleblowers help our society improve and sometimes officials have reason to violently suppress them while rewarding criminal behavior of in-group clan members/good old boy networks. You can't fix it because those who are entrusted with resources to fix it feel that some people are half citizens with few to no rights based on religious, racial and political bigotries. They do not feel much oblication to their communities but are strictly loyal to their self serving beliefs and ideologies.

What is most concerning about the thought experiment example is not that these things happen, not that there isn't sometimes corruption, but that once we are aware there are no backstops. The long term implications are that democracy is declining in full view of those who were supposed to be protecting the public. Good people are being sidelined and people without values are rewarding thereby normalizing and encourating that decline. Patriotism isn't about protecting corruption and perpetrators it is about building a better nation and community. In many cases we need new leadership that has a greater commitment to our nation, our social contracts and good moral conscious. They are frightened of the possibility that they can't exploit others because they can't compete on their skills or values.

A tip: Whistleblowing is not easy and people's values are often so low you are not going to get much help from those who were supposed to be doing the right thing. However, you do it for society and should not concern yourself with the opinions of those who do not have the values or skills to be in their positions. The only concern you should have is to continuously stand up to them until the rest of the system has enough commitment to its country and people to do what they were suppose to do. The best and brightest whistleblow and the best and brightest in positions of authority correct misdeeds for society. The worst of us protect criminals and reward poor behaviors for their friends, politics, and pockets. 

*This is a hypothetical example for learning purposes. It is a type of thought experiment on freedom of speech, religion, the Constitution, and deeper patriotism to our most basic values. Take with a grain of salt. 

Escanaba Homecoming 2024: The value of sports to community and youth

That is Mo the Eskimo!

Highschools sports can have a benefit of kids and the community throughout a lifetime. Of course that depends on the values and what is being taught but also learning about health/fitness, discipline, and having a sense of community pride is important. Sports can be a big factor for both personal and community development. As a person who has played sports nearly all of my life I can support sports of many different types in our community.

The Economic-Community Value of Sports: I thought this was interesting on some of the community value of sports. 

Incomes and Ex Sports Players: This sort of highlights some research on whether sports can contribute to the development of a person. 

Some creativity below. Good luck kids!

Next year I'm going to try and sponsor
a mallet for that horse rider! Charity

Quality of Life Fosters Mini Renaissances Around Industry and Community Objectives

Business, people, and society exist within an environment and that environment helps define the quality of their lives and influences how they engage in the economy and actively pursue social and business activities. The U.S. Economic Development Administration defines Quality of Life (QOL) as something that, "...creates the conditions for economic growth and improved quality of life by expanding the capacity of individuals, firms, and communities to maximize the use of their talents and skills to support innovation, lower transaction costs, and responsibly produce and trade valuable goods and services."(U.S. Economic Development Administration, Unknown, Para 1).

QOL is a defned economic concept that varies slightly depending on who is using it and for what purpose. For the most part it means the general subjective health and wellness of community members (Estoque, et al. 2019). In the United States we might equate the importance for life quality as the right to Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness as founding principles of the republic and the founding principles of the economy. The encouragement of economic freedom and community development helps support the essentials of a strong economy. This is why you will find economic theory and community quality as related to each other in my writings.

Measurements of Quality of Life

Measuring QOL is possible when we look at objective measures and subjective internal experiences that lead to pro social and pro economic actiities. In any locality one can look at the objective measures and match that with surveys and feedback to further understand these subjective measurements that define the flavor of a community. It is the mix of hard and soft data that helps to understand whether a locality has the foundations for advanced economic development. 

A few QOL indicators may include purchase power/material wellbeing, social relationships, safety, health, community activities, personal development, recreation, pollution, etc. (Burckhardt & Anderson, 2003; Zmuk, 2015). These general concepts are then broken down into specific data points that can be measured within the cluster to consistently monitor performance (i.e. cluster health dashboard). Reviewing the internal and external factors that have an influence on economic growth is fundamental to understanding the bigger picture and making adjustements.

Keep in mind that differnet studies may use different indicators depending on their objectives and what they want to understand. However, there is likely to be some level of continuity as a main environmental quality. Researching which indicators most localities are using does create a benchmark in which we can compare cluster ripeness from a QOL perspective. However, one might need to provide unique assesstment to delve deeper depending on the type of industry(ies) they are seeking to foster. Clusters focused on certain outcomes will have different data needs.

The Importance of Quality of Life

We will have a hard time getting ahead, bringing forward the best and brightest, or developing our human capital if our environments that sprout such talents are weak or poor. History has shown that economic and social development are related and can lead to development spurts (i.e. Renaissances on local or national level). Economic clusters are the creation of environments that help foster mini renaissances around key industry and community objectives. Blight, pollution, poor schools, policing/justice quality, social togetherness, discrimination, etc. impact the world in which we live and people's economic engagement. Human capital is one of the next legs, matched with technology and infrastructure in the nation's development. Without thinking about quality of life we will struggle to find the innovative talent we need to compete. 

Key Points

-QOL can be measured in hard and soft ways.

-QOL takes into account economic and community factors

-People's economic engagement and human capital capacity is based on their environment. 

-When opportunity and quality of life are in alignment we will see stronger economic performance.

-It is possible to create an economic and QOL dashboard to monitor cluster health.

-Clusters can create mini renaissances around key industry and community objecties.

Burckhardt CS, Anderson KL. The Quality of Life Scale (QOLS): reliability, validity, and utilization. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2003 Oct 23;1:60. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-1-60. PMID: 14613562; PMCID: PMC269997.

Estoque RC, Togawa T, Ooba M, Gomi K, Nakamura S, Hijioka Y, Kameyama Y. A review of quality of life (QOL) assessments and indicators: Towards a "QOL-Climate" assessment framework. Ambio. 2019 Jun;48(6):619-638. doi: 10.1007/s13280-018-1090-3. Epub 2018 Sep 11. PMID: 30206898; PMCID: PMC6486941.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6486941/

U.S. Economic Development Administration (Unkown, para 1). Key Definitions. https://www.eda.gov/performance/key-definitions

Quality of Life Indicator Systems–Definitions, Methodologies, Uses, and Public Policy Decision Making https://crp.trb.org/acrpwebresource12/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2021/09/Quality-of-Life.pdf

Žmuk, Berislav. (2015). Quality of life indicators in selected European countries: Statistical hierarchical cluster analysis approach. Croatian Review of Economic, Business and Social Statistics. 1. 42-54. 10.1515/crebss-2016-0004. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291339743_Quality_of_life_indicators_in_selected_European_countries_Statistical_hierarchical_cluster_analysis_approach

Purchasing Power Index

68.70

30.42

44.28

60.86

23.70

146.51

Safety Index

62.73

7.95

12.67

64.05

48.67

74.29

Health Care Index

62.63

12.02

19.19

65.70

35.12

82.58

Consumer Price Index

66.98

23.40

34.94

61.56

34.72

126.03

Property Price to Income Ratio

10.55

3.39

32.18

9.69

5.02

17.38

Traffic Commute Time Index

30.07

5.39

17.91

30.45

18.82

47.08

Pollution Inde

FOMC Report 1/2 Point Reduction in Federal Rate: What does that mean for you? (Sept. 18th, 2024)

It looks like in the market there is some slowing of job gains and unemployment has ticked up. We had a pretty good run as a country so far. While many other countries were struggling we continue to grow. Thus, this would indicate that the economy may be normalizing. It could also be a blip, which I don't think the Fed believes that, or it could be part of the natural cycles. I think it could be a short slowing before another more stable growth period but the data seem amebic and inconclusive. The federal funds rate will be reduced by 1/2 percentage point to 4-3/4 to 5 percent. You can read the Sept 18th, 2024 FOMC. Let us wait and see what happens. Time answers all questions. 

A few things you might benefit from....

-Lower mortgages, credit card rates and auto loan rates. 

-Business borrowing gets a little cheaper so it should help growth.

-Watch the job reports and manufacturing reports because it might indicated short and long term changes. I also like to watch inventory levels and orders to help judge what might happen in the near future.

-We should expect some prices coming down and hopefully that will impact food. 

Airforce Meets Recruitment Targets: The Importance of Joining the Service

 I'm a supporter of our services and the brave men and women who join. It is one pathway to development and I encourage the young to get involved. There are a few institutions where values and learning can occur and the military is one of them. That is a little different then the decision making that occurs outside the military but the actual military teaches values and can help young people be the best they can be with new skills and perspectives. If you came from a normal background without the silver spoon in your mouth like many decisions makers then you have to take whatever avenues you can to learn and this is definately a place to go. Thank you Military for your loyalties to our nation, protecting us and fulfiling your oaths and maintaining higher values. Airforce Meets Recruitment Goals