| A Citizen's Challenge | |
| To the Scholars of Social Science, Politics, Law and Government | |
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| Dear friend, You are reading a personal challenge from a citizen activist issued in August of 2005 to selected university professors, government officials, authors and members of the clergy. If you are among that group, you may consider taking part. The challenge is an intellectual one. To make the stakes more substantial, I have offered a wager. If a party accepts the challenge and loses, he or she must buy me a bottle of the beer of my choice. If I lose, I will buy him the beer. I have already risked a great deal more than beer to arrive at a position where I can issue this challenge. I abandoned a career in software development to pursue one in community service, went into debt, sold my house, and spent five months working on an organic produce farm simply for the experience of it. I produced two written works - both self-published - and have two corresponding websites to show for my effort. I have no affiliation with any organization or institution. My sole source of funding is myself. My sole credential is my ability to think clearly. The challenge is directed primarily to people in academia because it is our educators who hold the key to solving society's most difficult problems. People with strong intellects, responsible instincts and a desire to teach must take a more active role in leading the community and the nation. The terms of the challenge are divided into two sets. Set 1 concerns the eBook, "Managing the Spiritual Neighborhood". Set 2 concerns the proposal titled "Community Conscience Advocacy". You may accept just the first set of challenges and read the book, or accept both sets and read both works. The papers are available online, but I will send a printed and bound copy of either work to anyone who requests it. THE CHALLENGE ... SET 1 1) Your understanding of several key terms will be clarified. Moreover, you will readily acknowledge that your thinking about them has changed. The terms are:
2) You will acknowledge a new perspective on at least one of the following topics:
3) Your interest will be piqued and you will be inspired towards further investigation in at least one of the following areas:
4) You will acknowledge the failure of conventional government to address critical, fundamental shortcomings in societal structure arising from one or more of the following:
5) You will acknowledge the need for a new profession that elevates the status of grass-roots community service. 6) You will gain a greater appreciation for the importance of a careful, "mathematical" method of analysis to arrive at deeper understanding of topics in social science, which parallels the theoretical development in the hard sciences based on primitives, axioms and strict definition. 7) You will undergo a gut-check and a heart-check simply by reading the anecdotal material in the book. 8) With respect to addressing social problems, you will acknowledge a better appreciation for the distinction between abstract argumentation vs. real-world, real-life activity; in particular neighborhood-level, community involvement. 9) You will acknowledge new possibilities for finding common ground between the so-called "left-wing" and "right-wing" political ideologies, regardless of how supposedly extreme are the parties who embrace those ideologies. 10) You will acknowledge a new perspective about the possibility of bringing about a social paradigm that is distinctly different from that which is now in place in most of the world; something that is truly outside-the-box with regard to conventional thinking about government, economics, politics and man's relationship to the environment. THE CHALLENGE ... SET 2 1) You will gain a better appreciation for what is meant by "bottom-up" government; how it might be structured, how it relates to conventional government, what is required to make it a permanent component of Western culture. 2) You will gain a better intellectual understanding for the distinction between the spirit and the letter of the law, and acknowledge that spirit is higher than letter. 3) You will gain a better appreciation for the perspective of people on the receiving end of justice as it is meted out by our present system, and will acknowledge the fundamental heartlessness in the administration of justice practiced in the West. 4) You will acknowledge the critical lack of responsible community involvement in the judicial process, particularly with regard to the assessment of character. 5) You will acknowledge a greater appreciation for the potential benefits to societal health from having close, walking access to natural green space - trails, undeveloped land and wildlife corridors - for all residential areas, urban, suburban and rural. 6) You will acknowledge a greater appreciation for the potential benefits to societal health to be derived from a public policy that embraces quietness - the elimination of noise and distraction. 7) You will acknowledge a greater appreciation for the potential benefits to societal health to be derived from a public policy that encourages the individual practice of a spiritual, or mind-body development program. 9) You will see and acknowledge the possibility for furthering evolution towards an ideal human society by way of concrete, practical measures adopted at a very local level. You may accept the challenge by letter, e-mail or phone at: Community Conscience Advocacy "Managing the Spiritual Neighborhood" is available online at: "Community Conscience Advocacy" is available online at: Sincerely,
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