Because the USA seems more intent on “spreading democracy around the world” than promoting democracy in the USA, many local-community members are practicing democracy in their own interest.  

From slow money at beet coin—https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0rdO6rrTsoE9HfZLXznFkpX0kj0cZw5JD1?utm_source=Friends+of+Slow+Money&utm_campaign=15a677d9b4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_16_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e9ca84a3ec-15a677d9b4-81187573&goal=0_e9ca84a3ec-15a677d9b4-81187573&mc_cid=15a677d9b4&mc_eid=a6bfff80b0      –The next Beetcoin Dialogue will take place on Wednesday, April 13, at 5PM MT. In this session, we’ll be joined by Michael Reilly of Virginia Foodshed Capital and Daniel Griffith of Timshel Wildland, recipient of a 0% loan.Timshel Wildland is a 400-acre regenerative, process-led, and emergent conservation wildland located south of Charlottesville, Virginia and in the heart of Central Virginia. Since 2017, the land – once a horse farm turned degenerative commercial cattle farm – has been devoted to a pioneering reWILDING project.
–end of slowmoney info–
As heard on a Bill Moyers discussion decades ago, governments don’t do democracy, people do democracy.  C-Span sponsored a discussion about democracy— APRIL 12, 2022 | PART OF WASHINGTON JOURNAL 04/12/2022

Washington Journal

Annie Boyajian on State of Democracy Around the World

Annie Boyajian talked about the shifting global balance between democracies and autocracies.–end of c-span info–
The concern seems to be that liberty and freedom are decreasing around the globe.  This is disturbing considering the attention and energy from the USA to “spread democracy around the world” that often is accompanied with encouraging “Western values” that seems to mean capitalism more than democracy. 
Annie Boyajian speaking on C-Span urged the public to hear views from many sources, even those contrary to one’s own comfort zone.  C-Span seems to be a good venue to use in order to hear many perspectives.  
A personal observation is that capitalistic hierarchy uses the phrase of “American values” when notions of hierarchical capitalism are FACTually the system promoted. The reason may be that democracy is not about hierarchy.
From popularresistance  —  https://mailchi.mp/popularresistance/t1na8akdx1?e=1b0a9c0541     –Protests Mark Third Anniversary Of Assange’s Arrest

The Pimps Of War

Activists Released After Blockade Of Manchin Coal Operation—“The nonviolent protest at Joe Manchin’s dirty coal operation exposes the political cruelty of the West Virginia senator, who helped this power plant at every step of his political career,” said Bishop William J. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign.  “The things he blocks hurt the poor and low-income people of his own state. And we know that poor and low-wealth people suffer the most when Sen. Manchin cooperates with extremists and treats our children and earth as expendable line items for profit.”–end of popularresistance info–
In NYS a news conference informed the public of the wishes by NYS Sheriffs to “crack down” on “activists”.  This would diminish Free Speech.  We need a discussion about the system that pays lawmakers using  political campaign donations and in which some politicians use their position to self-enrich.  If this is the “American values” that hierarchical Establishment is insinuating into foreign nations, we would be foolish to ignore the violence and aggression this entails.  As important as recognizing the harm to foreign nations is the harm to local American communities.
https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/how-capitalism-is-pushing-us-and-world-to-brink-of-disaster     –Economic and social conditions have been worsening for decades at home and abroad, especially in the context of the neoliberal antisocial offensive which was launched more than 40 years ago by the international financial oligarchy. But they have been getting even worse in recent years and over the past two years in particular.Below is a current snapshot of deteriorating economic and social conditions in the U.S. and elsewhere. The U.S. population currently stands at 332,403,650. The world population is 7,868,872,451 (December 30, 2021. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/news-years-day-2022.html). –end of hamptonthink info–

In the spirit of ability to hear differing views—–From mronline–      https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?e=2833cdb99b&u=36ce609ae68971b4f060ad9c7&id=2b9266c625      —

Progressives in Greece reject Zelensky’s address to parliament with neo-Nazis—-In response to Thursday’s events at the Greek parliament, Greek economist and the founder of the MeRA25 movement Yanis Varoufakis stated,

our parliament did not invite a Nazi. It invited the President of Ukraine. It was the President of Ukraine who brought along the Nazi. And, yes, it was our Parliament’s Speaker who, by failing to intervene, failed to defend our Parliament.Dutch Journalist: ‘We are here, in Donbass, to awaken Westerners deluded by propaganda’

The Russian Revolution of 2022 – ‘Capitalism in One Country’ –Now that the U.S. and the NATO allies have taken from the Russian oligarchs their cash in foreign banks, their mansions, their boats and planes, and blocked the export of all private and corporate Russian capital abroad, Russia is freer to decide how to organize the capital investment of the economy. Freer, that’s to say, than Russia was when the Clinton Administration installed Boris Yeltsin and his cronies in the Kremlin at the end of 1991; destroyed the parliament in 1993, and rigged Yeltsin’s re-election in 1996.

Freer too than Russia has been under Vladimir Putin’s policy of deoffshoreization–that policy fell through a loophole in 2015. The price of their combined failures over thirty years has been more than one trillion dollars. That’s the sum of Russian capital outflow which started in 1992 and accelerated since 2000.–end of mronline info–

American exceptionalism sets the stage for the hubris of imperialism.  One is deeply disappointed without a modicum of surprise in NYS—–https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/ny-lt-gov-benjamin-arrested-campaign-donation-scheme-84031410       –The Democrat was accused in an indictment of participating in a scheme to obtain campaign contributions from a real estate developer in exchange for Benjamin’s agreement to use his influence as a state senator to get a $50,000 grant of state funds for a nonprofit organization the developer controlled.–end of abcnews info–
If anyone cares about different views—-https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/09/former-nato-military-analyst-blows-the-whistle-on-wests-ukraine-invasion-narrative/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=former-nato-military-analyst-blows-the-whistle-on-wests-ukraine-invasion-narrative     —
or years, from Mali to Afghanistan, I worked for peace and risked my life for it. It is therefore not a question of justifying the war, but of understanding what led us to it. I note that the “experts” who take turns on the television sets analyze the situation based on dubious information, most often hypotheses turned into facts, and therefore we no longer manage to understand what is happening. That’s how you create panic.–end of scheerpost info–

Harm perpetrated within North America haven’t always been addressed as we purport to encourage “Western values” around the globe.  —  https://portside.org/2022-04-10/oklahoma-state-officials-resist-supreme-court-ruling-affirming-tribal-authority-over      –State officials have also repeatedly refused to cooperate with tribal leaders to comply with the ruling, issued in 2020 and known as McGirt v. Oklahoma. Local governments, however, continue to cooperate with the tribes and show how the ruling could actually help build connections between the tribal governments and their neighbors.–end of portside info–
D’s and R’s use their duopoly monopoly to play good-cop-bad-cop—–https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/04/11/hes-cashing-kushner-firm-gets-2-billion-saudi-fund-run-crown-prince        –Watchdogs noted that the investment came after Kushner “used his position in the White House to advance Saudi interests”—and shield the regime from accountability for the Khashoggi murder.–end of commondreams info–
We harm ourselves when our only concern is financial values.  From treehugger  —  https://link.treehugger.com/view/5ee102074f5b1f0e43c55c18g9w0t.2p5f/6407f3a8     —Mushrooms May Talk to Each Other Using Their Own Fungal LanguageColorado’s First Legally Composted Human Remains Laid to RestTrees Form Friendships and Remember Their Experiences

Warmer, Longer Autumns Could Hurt Butterflies

—-end of treehugger info–
Audubon is a good place to enjoy information about birds.  To watch the American Woodcock is priceless—-https://www.audubon.org/joy-of-birds?ms=digital-eng-email-ea-x-engagement_20220412_eng-email_engaged_and_int_and_donor&utm_source=ea&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=engagement_20220412_eng-email&utm_content=engaged_and_int_and_donor    —-American Woodcocks are perhaps the most memeable birds on the continent. With their cartoonish looks and quirky behaviors, these coy and plump internet favorites are met with fans everywhere they go. In the eastern United States and Canada, they are among the first spring migrants. Each fall, woodcocks make their way to the Southeast, later returning north as early as January. 
—-endof audubon info–
The feeling of reluctance one feels when one hears this is merely the effect of brainwashing—–https://portside.org/2022-04-11/its-time-nationalize-fossil-fuel-industry      –We’re at least 40 years behind where we should be in dealing with the fossil fuel/global warming crisis because giant oil companies have run massive disinformation campaigns while funding the political careers of hacks in Congress willing to lie to the public for them.–end of portside info–

Maxine Waters apparently touched on this topic.  This expression would not be for the faint-hearted.

———————–We can do better———-

That “we are a 2-Party system” is a fabrication of the Republican/Democratic duopoly and spread by MSM.  In FACT the majority of voters aren’t either registered Democratic or Republican.  The censorship about this info must be envied by bureaucrats of the Former USSR and their simplistic style of 1-Party elections.  

Regardless of which character sits in the Oval Office, We The People have work to do to maintain principles of our democratic (small d) Constitutional republic.  Several items to challenge—*We need the integrity of ranked-choice voting so voters won’t feel compelled to “hold your nose and vote”*Censored debates must be stopped.  The Democratic/Republican duopoly pretends to legitimate debates in what is nothing other than another campaign show.  Independent debates run by uninterested sponsors such as The League of Women Voters, must be restored.  (Access www.debates.org to understand the extent of duopoly control).  The so-called Debate Commission is a corporation to promote the Democratic corporation and Republican corporation, not to inform We The People*Challenge and stop gerrymandering that is a trick especially of the Republican branch of the duopoly.*Stop voter suppression by political Parties, and especially confront and stop Party suppression, which is the over-arching approach to voter suppression.  Party suppression seems to have been the responsibility of the Democratic corporation*Promote by law ranked-choice voting, so we won’t be told again, by D&R duopoly, to “hold your nose and vote”
If these issues are handled, our next elections can be honorable. 
*******************************************************************https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx—-Political Party affiliation of voters.
    https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/league-refuses-help-perpetrate-fraud–LEAGUE REFUSES TO “HELP PERPETRATE A FRAUD”

WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FROM FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE–end of lwv info–Murray Bookchin, who founded social ecology, a theory that strongly influenced early Green Socialist thought, strongly advocated the discussion and study group as the first step of any revolutionary movement. A group of individuals meets to expand their knowledge of radical thought and form a radical intellectual community; through the give and take of discussion, can eventually form ideas for next steps in organizing and political activity. According to Bookchin, study groups help create solidarity and a shared language — with a shared coherent vision — for building a mass, organizing, political movement!
Along with Climate Change, many people oppose the imperialism of the USA under control of the Republican/Democratic duopoly.  Use of the wealth of our nation should be to enhance quality of life for We The People rather than for imperialism.  Some people vote accordingly.I———————–That “we are a 2-Party system” is a fabrication of the Republican/Democratic duopoly and spread by MSM.  In FACT the majority of voters aren’t either registered Democratic or Republican.  The censorship about this info must be envied by bureaucrats of the Former USSR and their simplistic style of 1-Party elections.  

Regardless of which character sits in the Oval Office, We The People have work to do to maintain principles of our democratic (small d) Constitutional republic.  Several items to challenge—*We need the integrity of ranked-choice voting so voters won’t feel compelled to “hold your nose and vote”*Censored debates must be stopped.  The Democratic/Republican duopoly pretends to legitimate debates in what is nothing other than another campaign show.  Independent debates run by uninterested sponsors such as The League of Women Voters, must be restored.  (Access www.debates.org to understand the extent of duopoly control).  The so-called Debate Commission is a corporation to promote the Democratic corporation and Republican corporation, not to inform We The People*Challenge and stop gerrymandering that is a trick especially of the Republican branch of the duopoly.*Stop voter suppression by political Parties, and especially confront and stop Party suppression, which is the over-arching approach to voter suppression.  Party suppression seems to have been the responsibility of the Democratic corporation*Promote by law ranked-choice voting, so we won’t be told again, by D&R duopoly, to “hold your nose and vote”
If these issues are handled, our next elections can be honorable. 
*******************************************************************https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx—-Political Party affiliation of voters.