An Introduction from the Left

The following is a post from a friend I have know for a long time. He is a man that I have known since he was in his pre-teens. Our love of Baseball (The New York Yankees) was the key to a friendship that started between a 12 Year old and young man of 23. Now, 26 years later we have taken our email discussion front and center so that everyone can participate.

The following was Submitted By Todd Eckenfelder:

An Introduction: More than less, Socially Democratic

Our senses dulled by machines that work to satisfy their own fiduciary needs, and apathy becomes the status of our primal social instincts, like a drug numbing our senses, this machine neuters our political will to act on our, and others behalf. We are no longer able to act for ourselves, stumbling about, half comatose, and lobotomized by the very machine our forefathers put in place to originally protect us.

Those in political control have turned away from those who they must serve and towards legal entities without life, but large accounts. We are docile and complacent, unable to think outside of the box –clay in the hands of the entities and their slaves the politicians. SoundBites are what we understand, and social policy is no more than just a word heard and not understood.

What is required is a silent populist revolution of the mind, heart, and soul of American, and back to the original thesis of a government for and by the people.

There is a void in our civic and social lives, one so large we are incapable of seeing it. Like the lack of perspective one has as they see the Grand Canyon for the first time, they see a whole –maybe- but can’t comprehend the depth and magnitude of the obstacle before them.

What I want –what we should want- more than anything else is to make a positive social democratic difference in the place we live. My hope is, that by writing my thoughts on the sate of American politics, economics, and foreign policy, I can inspire positive change amongst those who are tired of apathy, and who itch to agitate and tickle the positive populist, and socialist bone we all have.

I believe a politician’s responsibility is to teach, and inspire others to embrace socially democratic values. We must understand, and create policy conducive to current social circumstances. We must take into consideration what the state of being is for all of us –even the least of us -especially those who have no voice per status or finance.

We must start to look out for the best interests of those who have no leverage in society. History has shown us our other institutions, and organizations, and legal entities will not; in fact they tend to exploit them, placing the masses at a distinct disadvantage. Like feudal Europe, the financial landlords of our current system use and abuse the common man, in an effort to enlarge his kingdom. Not to say there are no good, or even great organizations, making a better life for the rest of us. There are those who have values sustainable in a society focused on providing quality of life benefits to the marginalized; a social investment paying dividends for decades to come, not just to stockholders in quarterly increments. Simply, the cost of ideologically, rightist, capitalist may be rising above our capacity to collectively pay.

I am a 38 year old white male who grew up in Wilton CT. I have lived on both coasts; in one of our most conservative states (Utah), and one of our most liberal (Vermont). I attended a conservative undergraduate university in Utah, and a liberal graduate program in Vermont. I have worked for a Republican congressman hopeful, and a few Democratic hopefuls. I have written from the left and from the right before, in previous websites dedicated to politics. I am an educator by trade who has spent time as a carpenter, consultant, coach, and classroom teacher. I discovered a love for teaching while serving a religious mission in a third world country as a young adult.

I played competitive collegiate baseball for two plus years in college.

I have five children, and my best friend is my wife -whom I have known since I was 8.

It is my goal; to shed constant light and understanding on the dangers that exist, the dangers of allowing us to be run over by interests whom are self serving.