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The Political Evaluator by Stephen Garvey
Does democracy necessarily entail voting, or is there another way? What value can voting have when it is based on totals, and the assumption that those candidates with the most votes are the representatives? Does a person have a say when his or her vote is diluted by thousands, or even millions, and the person's decision-making is limited by political influence and manipulation?....
Before a prestigious society made up of top academics and distinguished professionals, Peter Thompson, a publicly unknown thinker and visionary, presents eight lectures which critiques the western political system (as defined by voting) in order to put forward a unique and more viable option where the hierarchy of political power is replaced by a new democratic paradigm of More Reasonableness (a fully elucidated process in which ideas rather than ballots are cast).
What ensues is a lively, thorough, diverse dialogue, which touches on the very bases of society and democracy.
The Critique of Reasonableness: A Method To
End Partiality by Stephen Garvey
Garvey invents a
method for the determination of the comparative reasonableness of human
thought.
Bhava-cell: A Hypothesis of Human
Consciousness and Existence with Focus on the Appreciation and Creation of
Works of Art by Dr. Arun Gadre
Dr. Gadre presents a philosophical/scientific theory which centers human existence
around the bhava-cell.
Evaluative Democracy: A Shift to Democracy A theoretical extension off The Political Evaluator, Evaluative Democracy entails a detailed critique of the western political system and presentation of an alternative system. This book is intended for the political theorist and student of democracy.
here, there and nowhere by Ethan Canter
Canter produces a powerful existential work, which experientially captures who we are. The publication date is November 2006.
Anti-Election A look at the globalization of elections and a sound, progressive case for their end. Publication date is November 2006.
My Kinwat Days An autobiography by an Indian doctor who sets up a hospital in rural India, which leads nearly to his death. A rare, genuine, moving look at the people of India, based on real events. The publication date is fall of 2007.
On Knowing Who We Are and Not Knowing Who We
Are, The Challenge the Philosophy Competition 1 (Volume 1)
The book is compiled of selected entries from the Challenge the
Philosophy Competition 1, with emphasis on critiques of the entries' fundamental ideas. Due to the on-going nature of the Competition, the tentative publication date is fall of 2007.
Dr. Arun Gadre (author of The Bhava-cell and My Kinwat Days). To contact Dr. Gadre e-mail him at Dr. Gadre.
Stephen Garvey (author of Evaluative Democracy, The Political Evaluator, and Anti-Election). To contact Mr. Garvey e-mail him at Mr. Garvey.
Ethan Canter (author of here, there and nowhere). To contact Mr. Canter e-mail him at Mr. Canter.
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(Video recorded on November 5, 2007): Duration of (shortened) video: 33 seconds. Double click 'play' button to start video. (No download time.)
Shortend VIDEO: To view the shortened video of Dr. Gadre see Attack on US Insurance Companies *** FULL VIDEO: To view the entire video of Dr. Gadre see Plight of Poor in India. Comment on Video: "... I watched the full video of your talk on 'Plight of the Poor in India.' It was soul stirring. Unfortunately, most of us (including me) get more and more hard hearted as we voyage along through life and see suffering around us. Some are so insensitive that they do not care to look beyound themeselves at all. Mind well, all entrants to medical college have above average intelligence. That does not automatically mean that they have even an average level of compassion. Those who have some sensitivity left adopt the 'Ostrich strategy' by burying their face in sand. The sand may take the form of some respectable distraction like academic pursuit, a hobby (like literature, music, trekking) or even social work (like Rotary). It is very easy to get side tracked and lose the sight of 'the poor man's face' depicted by Gandhiji. This has happened in my case in case of many of our colleagues who are basically good hearted and would like to do something for the poor man, but don't know how to start. The forces of capitalism and globalisation are so powerful and enamouring that we succumb to them very easily. As you have rightly pointed out, the pharmaceutical companies now rule the medical profession. Very soon the insurance companies will join them and dictate the way we practice medicine. I have been smart enough to avoid jumping into fire the way you have done, but not smart enough to fool my conscience. We are caught in a powerful torrent (the pun is accidental) and do not have the means to break out it. Our generation is almost on the way out. The upcoming generation appears even more self centered, career oriented and cut-throat. I do not have any hopes for the comman man. My pessimism may be misplaced. The paradox is that the poor do survive and even reach oldage in India. I think they survive only on Faith, inspite of our system. Maybe God really exists and takes care of those whom we have so cruelly deserted!" Ravi Shivde November 22 2007
An Indian medical school graduate. In his school leaving exams, he was second in Bombay.
***VIDEO of an interview of Ethan Canter on here, there and nowhere
The (shortened) interview answers the question: What is here, there and nowhere about?
Double click 'play' button to start video. (No download time.)
*** FULL VIDEO: To view the entire interview of Ethan Canter see Full Interview
here, there and nowhere is an examination of "the pain of consciousness" in three parts. here deals with consciousness existentially, telling the story of Henry Stilk, a man trapped by and in his own mind who is accused of murdering his lover's younger sister. In there the focus is psychological as the young and impoverished Pigeon pursues his own alienation to the point of madness. nowhere follows the journey of the isolated intellectual Edward Under who by circumstance is yanked from his reclusive life and forced to discover emotion through the young Alexandria and her dying grandfather. Together, these three stories express the confusion and agonies of wondering why we are alive, and point to, not an answer, but a livable resolution to the question.
Reviews:
"here, there and nowhere is Ethan Canter's soul, as seen through
his eyes and experienced through his brain. He's not writing as
much as seeing and feeling the shadows and spirits that haunt
modern life, and that haunt his life. If our senses were accustomed to
the dark we would find Dostoevsky and Kafka lurking in the
corners. In fact we would find innumerable books and films
embedded in the labyrinth.
Words have been carefully selected but
feel like they've been violently projected. Canter wants you to feel
suffocated and liberated at once. He succeeds. Read it as a story
about stories or open it like a page in Proust and prepare to
engage. here there and nowhere is good writing by a good writer
who has something to say and has dared to say it. Who said beauty
begins where terror ends? Might have been Canter himself. The
book is art and I recommend it highly. How often are we offered
an opportunity to access a soul?"
Brian Hendricks, Senior Editor HOBO Magazine
* 3 part Video of Garvey's lecture on "Re-Designing Democracy" (includes question and answer) (March 28, 2007):
***VIDEO of Stephen Garvey on Anti-Election
Duration of (shortened) video: 58 seconds. Double click 'play' button to start video. (No download time.)
*** FULL VIDEO: To view the entire video of Stephen Garvey see Full Video
9.75 U.S.A. (not including shipping) for
North American and international orders
Through the persona of Thompson, a philosopher presenting at the United Nations, the book examines:
1.the nature of elections Anti-Election includes bibliographical references. Anti-Election's unrelenting inspection of Electoral Democracy exposes it as an autocratic hierarchy of (undemocratic) political power defined by the ability and means of dominant political parties and candidates and their supporters to influence and manipulate the people.
Review: "The Age of Reason project - the quantification and rationalization of all things - is in crisis. As we settle into the new millennium, this isn't a very controversial view. Powerful forces of both progressive and reactionary stripes confront elements of this on all fronts, from liberal capitalism to modernity. Radical Islam and rightwing Christianity both openly attack the rational consensus and its institutions, from the World Bank to the UN, the IMF to the European Union. As the highest political attainment of the Age of Reason, democracy also faces significant challenges to its legitimacy. Western democracies increasingly confront, with varying degrees of success, oligarchic pressures and declining voter involvement, while power formerly held by nation-states seeps into the hands of multinational corporations. Democracy, in a manner nearly unimaginable in the 20th Century, has to defend its egalitarian claims from other forms of voter consent. This manifests itself in, for example, the Bolivarian revolution socialism of the emerging Chavists democracies. Historian J.P. Nettl describes an approach to the concent of the governed of which Hugo Chavez would approve. This "view of democracy postulated action first and foremost - action which anticipated the expressed or if necessary deduced needs of the population: a commitment not a mandate. Such a conception might short measurable criteria like majority votes, which bourgeoise democracy valued so highly, but it was long on unmeasurable but much more real links of action which bound leaders and mass." Further, we are increasingly reminded that, contrary to the Bush Administration view, democratic elections routinely put in power anti-democratic regimes. Elections in Russia, Iran, and the Palestinian Authority prove once again a lesson that Senator John C. Calhoun explained in 1851 in A Disquisition on Government: majoritarian democracies are routinely comfortable making aggressive war and tyrannizing minorities in their midst. And while President Bush may believe that democracies don't fight wars, much evidence exists to the contrary. Conscious of the crisis of legitimacy that liberal democracy faces, author Stephen Garvey has chosen to light a candle rather than curse the dark. His new book, Anti-Election, outlines a different approach to democracy and creating a legitimate government with the consent of the governed. His books lays out his idea of evaluative democracy, a method of selecting elected representation by creating citizen review commissions that determine what is most important to the society to be governed, questioning aspirants to governing positions, and evaluating those answers for their applicability to and insight into the issues that are determined to be most important. Through a series of collaborative evaluations, the best people would be chosen to serve. The book is structured as a series of presentations about Garvey's ideas to the UN General Assembly. This doesn't make for very engaging reading - you sometimes feel like you're reading a 500-page Power Point presentation - but it does make clear Garvey's position. His ideas merit discussion and his efforts to find humane alternatives to the democratic elections of bourgeoisie liberal democracy are laudable. Ultimately, Garvey's views belong to a class of ideas that also includes the work of Brazil's Partido dos Trabalhadores (the Worker's Party or PT), a political party who has inaugurated municipal budgeting through a series of citizen meetings, a process called the orcamento participativo or participatory budget. This approach, discussed in Hillary Wainwright's Reclaim the State(2003), merits consideration by the serious student of Garvey's approach. Where it would be easy to give in to despair, Stephen Garvey makes a valiant effort to build a new form of just government. While the first part of his book, which diagnoses the crisis of liberal bourgeoisie democracy, is ultimately more convincing than his prescription, Garvey deserves credit for trying to design a viable alternative to a system we all know to be broken." Keith McCrea Verbicide magazine (20th issue)
Before a prestigious society made up of top academics and distinguished professionals, Peter Thompson, a publicly unknown thinker and visionary, presents eight lectures which critiques elections and then puts forward a unique and more viable option where the hierarchy of political power is replaced by a new democratic paradigm of More Reasonableness (a fully elucidated process in which ideas rather than ballots are cast). What ensues is a lively, thorough, diverse dialogue, which touches on the very bases of society and democracy. Review Comments: “A somewhat controversial yet visionary interpretation of democracy, The Political Evaluator is well researched, well presented and encourages readers to think beyond the existing limitations of our current western political system. Garvey proposes a thought provoking ideology, worthy of serious consideration and unavoidable deliberation.”
Tina Cobb "The Political Evaluator presents a bold and very needed alternative to our present western socio-political climate. This book needs to be read not just by those who operate in the theoretical or philosophical, but by those who are living in and acting in this world we all inhabit." Ethan Canter (Canadian Writer, Poet)
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