Citizens Prerogative

Episode discussion topics

• We put the spotlight on what it means to be a patriot in our republic. What patriotism looks like in our republic juxtaposition to insurrection. Don't get them confused!
• The ongoing sliding scale of democratic self-rule and why we allow it to oscillate between freedom and authority. Self-rule is a messy business and when times are tough, we tend to sacrifice our civil liberties and create autocracies among the states. That is a fear response that we must resist.
• A recent ruling from one of the initial cases coming to bear against the insurrectionists on January 6, 2021. In Judge Amy Berman Jackson's words while sentencing an insurrectionist, "Patriotism is loyalty to country, loyalty to the Constitution, not loyalty to a head of state. That is the tyranny we rejected on July 4." Read in: King of England be damned, this is the United States!
• The dangers of political parties are showing their colors. Please check out S1 S6 | The Politics of Party. Elections, like court cases, are best designed to bring any contest to a conclusion. It is not always fair, but it should be essentially by the book. When loyalty to a party or one person or the idea of one person is an affront to operating our system of representative government. The founders were leery of kings and irrational laws and sycophants alike.
• Following the rules is very patriotic and if we do not like the rules, it is in our power to change them. It is in fact our responsibility as citizens to sponsor a system that calls foul balls and enforces the strike-outs. This is the same spirit in which we play sports and expect one another to not be a poor loser.  This is how we should view and respect our system of laws.
• Calls to Action:
  • Let us know your definition of "Patriot" in reference to this episode. How do you feel about ours?
  • Before you run off and start defending our system as a patriot, first read your state's constitution! If that's too much to start, go re-read the Constitution of the United States. You should know what you are trying to defend without taking anyone else's word for it.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• MVP wanted to put the message out there that the best way forward for all of us to live freely as Americans is to treat everyone equally under the law and each other with dignity and respect. We must accept the fact that all who are not native are descendants of immigrants and/or slaves. Anthropology teaches us that gene flow comes and gene flow goes, so too does immigration. We need to be steadfast in our principles, as a nation of immigrants, to maintain the United States as a shining light upon a hill with a beacon of promise like no other land on Earth. Sharing is caring and caring brings happiness. Off the soapbox...
• We have transcripts now! Come to the episode page on our site to check it out. It's all AI from Zoom, not us, so forgive us for any mistakes.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or on Facebook.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• We're on the hunt for solutions and having access to the solutions of our choice. The natural world is full of problems and more importantly, solutions to these problems. Natural remedies have been time-tested through the processes of evolution and natural selection and deserve our attention.
• In this part 2, we explore the current state of Genetically Modified Organisms (like wheat and cows, etc.) and the difference between natural and unnatural methods of selecting desirable crops.
• We briefly discuss the connective nature of the mushroom, a.k.a. the mycelial network, among the roots of great forest organisms and among the neurons of one's mind.
  • This National Forest Foundation article helps shed light upon what we are learning about these amazing and vast symbiotic organisms, "Underground Networking: The Amazing Connections Beneath Your Feet."
  • Regarding the brain, this scholarly article finished its summary with a powerful finding: "... These results strongly imply that the subjective effects of psychedelic drugs are caused by decreased activity and connectivity in the brain's key connector hubs, enabling a state of unconstrained cognition." Areas of the brain are talking to each other without their usual, well-worn pathways! The effect is literally freeing the mind.
• Calls to Action:
  • During your day-to-day, seek to add in new connections in your community around food. Pierce the veil of marketing and plastic wrap in your life and meet your butcher to know your meats. Choose all-natural or organic over factory farm-raised products. You may need to ask questions to understand the difference based on what's available in your area.
  • Cost-saving tip: We know it may be more expensive per pound to invest in healthful foods, but consider reducing the amount of meat you buy. The more nutrient-dense a food is, the more healthful it is, and as such you need less of it to be healthy. Use ripe fruit to finish any meal if you're still hungry.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• Learning more about the U.S. Farm Bill so that when it comes up for reauthorization, you are familiar with how your tax dollars are allocated. We need to reprioritize small farms and healthful production over the mass industrialization of our agriculture. Let us put our tax dollars to good use and move us towards sustainability and resilience in farm practices for a more healthful nation and a more perfect union.
  
  • D.C. Think Tank, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, produced a handy video and infographics: What is the Farm Bill?
  • Wikipedia a perennial source of information has a U.S. Farm Bill informational page.
• Another recent scholarly article on "How psychedelic drug psilocybin works on the brain." Notably it mentions that using fMRI technology has revealed that areas of the brain thought to deal with the ego and sense of self are less active, which also coincides with the other study that found similar connector/traffic cop regions are less active.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or on Facebook.
  

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• We're on the hunt for solutions and having access to the solutions of our choice. The natural world is full of problems and more importantly, solutions to these problems. Natural remedies have been time-tested through the processes of evolution and natural selection and deserve our attention.
• Go for a swim! "Regular swimming has been shown to improve memory, cognitive function, immune response, and mood. Swimming may also help repair damage from stress and forge new neural connections in the brain."
  
• Psilocybin is a champ when it comes to relieving the symptoms of both depression and anxiety. In fact, things are starting to move fast in the world of studies on the drug. Researchers' appetites were made wet back in 2016 when a ground-breaking study at the time showed that a single dose administered under the care of psychiatric medical doctors provided relief from depression in cancer patients for years. As recently as November 2020, John Hopkins University School of Medicine produced a study that shows even more remarkable promise for this brain wonder drug, quoted below:

“The magnitude of the effect we saw was about four times larger than what clinical trials have shown for traditional antidepressants on the market,” says  Alan Davis, Ph.D.,  adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Because most other depression treatments take weeks or months to work and may have undesirable effects, this could be a game changer if these findings hold up in future ‘gold-standard’ placebo-controlled clinical trials.” Psychedelic Treatment with Psilocybin Relieves Major Depression, Study Shows.

• More than that even... This article from Nature mentions treatments for PTSD in addition to the others we already covered. What's also notable in this article is a nifty little table that shows the number of studies being undertaken in recent years on this subject. 2020 was a boom year with 17 studies including 13 focused on Psilocybin, 3 featuring MDMA (a.k.a Molly or Extasy), and 1 on good old LSD. Now those last two we're not so sure how natural they are, for the record. The chart goes back to 2010, so check it out if you like infographics.
• One timely piece on this subject comes to us from the New York Times and provides some of the business going on behind the scenes,  "Psilocybin and MDMA are poised to be the hottest new therapeutics since Prozac. Universities want in, and so does Wall Street. Some worry a push to loosen access could bring unintended consequences." Just as the subheading suggests, it will be interesting to see what comes in the wake of all these newly destabilizing forces that might upend the mental health industry and have far-reaching implications for ending prohibition by the U.S. Federal Government. Here's a quote that shows how quickly things are moving now...

"More than a dozen start-ups have jumped into the fray, and the handful of companies that have gone public are collectively valued at more than $2 billion... Compass Pathways, a Nasdaq-listed health care company that has raised $240 million, is conducting 22 clinical trials across 10 countries of psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression."

• Addiction is an issue all on its own, complex and varried. No specific type of consumption is more or less addictive to people who have "non-addictive" personalities. Those people should be free to have choices. Yes, relatively among the things that people get addicted to, some are more addictive than others and it is also true that "old habits die hard." However we must also consider that when people can be addicted to food, alcohol, narcotics, opioids, sex, etc. what is most addictive, is the escapism that these experiences offer in place of a truly fulfilling life. A truly fulfilling life is one when you go to bed and fall asleep fast because you're excited to wake up in the morning. Not because it's Christmas, but because you're alive and you have something left to do to which you're looking forward to finishing.
• Call to Action: At Citizen Do Good, we believe that increasing access to choices helps to fuel our freedom of choice!  Let us not only trust in the very young, very astute scientific method but also the age-old wisdom that comes from generations of exploring nature for ourselves - experientially.  After all, we knew as a matter of fact, before science, that mother's milk is way more nourishing than any substitute we can concoct.
• Make an informed opinion by learning more now. Use some of the resources we've shared and consider exploring how you might gain more awareness experientially if such an opportunity arises. One of the most critical components of all these studies is that people feel comfortable relying on doctors, it feels safer and that's a key. You should ensure you have a trusted, safe, and secure environment any time you explore new things - unless you're climbing Everest. Even then, you'd be relieved a bit by having a guide, solid equipment, and some training or practice ahead of time. Hopefully, this analogy makes sense.
• What about the law? Similar to how marijuana is being made legal state by state in American fashion, an end to the prohibition on other schedule 1 substances will likely be won state by state at the ballot box or through legislatures. That's what we do in our Republic absent of major pressure in D.C. by unseen forces. Someone at Bloomberg agrees with this assessment. In contrast, a somewhat more hopeful tone is coming from Rolling Stone who attempts to answer the question of whether the current Democratic majority will pick up the mantle.
• Case in point, as of July 2021, California's legislature is working up a bill to do just that: California advances decriminalizing psychedelic substances. So at least the states are getting on the move and like Marijuana back in the 1990s, it looks like the west coast is on the cutting edge.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• The war on drugs ended up being a war on Americans. It was good for business and white supremacy. NPR has a timely series named, "The War On Drugs: 50 Years Later," dedicated to providing more perspective in this space.
• What about Marijuana? We haven't highlighted it because now 37 states have some form of legalized access to this gateway drug. Gateway to legalization and decriminalization for all the inmates on the Federal Schedule 1 drug row.  As far as medicine, it definitely can help overcome a lack of appetite and help insomniacs get some sleep. I don't think we need to consult medical advice to know that's true.
• Prohibition (the alcoholic one) - we will need to do an episode on just this and the IRS. Coming soon.
• Gene Editing - also another episode we promise to bring you in the future. In short, it seems like CRISPR-CAS9 isn't the only game in town. More to come.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or on Facebook.
  

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• We're on the hunt for solutions and having access to safe, abundant, and sustainable homes is absolutely critical to the survival of our modern society. We need to build homes that are resilient in the face of fire, wind, and water. In some areas, they need to have the flexibility to move with the earth.
• An oldie but a goodie: Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) are a way to build with reinforced concrete quickly, efficiently, and safely. The resulting building is resistant to fire and insulated well enough for someone to survive inside during a wildfire, albeit it's not recommended. After a fire, simply reapply the insulating foam to the outside and paint. The reinforced part helps keep the building from buckling under stress from events like earthquakes. Logix is a company in this space that demonstrates the stark difference of building with ICF.
• Even if you already have a home, there are a lot of things you can do to upgrade the sustainability and resiliency of your current estate. For instance, replacing windows with double pain versions or detaching your garage where you also keep chemicals that are flammable. If you're in a fire-prone area, then replace your roof using metals that won't catch from burning cinders or screening any entrances to prevent cinders from entering through small openings and eves. Builder online has a short article highlighting these and many other fortifications to consider.
• Modular construction techniques are a demonstration in building efficiently at scale and with the ability to offer custom builds. Think of them like legos. FactoryOS is one such company backed by big tech and big construction companies. CNBC offers this short take on some of these players.
• 3D printed homes? Coming soon to a culdesac near you! Check out this Business Insider article featuring one new company taking aim at using a new approach to building sustainably: Mighty Buildings.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• MVP was on a rant about how singular motives, like making a profit in short order, can have a negative effect by warping the moral sensibilities of individuals under the influence of such goals.
  • Many of you may not recall a company that went by Enron - but the internet remembers: When Tough Performance Goals Lead to Cheating.
  • Here's a more science-y article on this subject more generally: Employee incentives can lead to unethical behavior in the workplace from ScienceDaily.
    
  • A more recent example from the world of finance comes from circa 2016 when Wells Fargo settled a Los Angeles lawsuit in regards to sales behavior that was fueled in part by sales goals, here's a Harvard Law piece on this from a corporate governance perspective.
    
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or on Facebook.
  

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• We're on the hunt for solutions and having access to safe, abundant, and sustainable fuels for creating electricity is absolutely critical to the survival of our modern society. Humanity isn't necessarily going extinct - albeit we'd lose many and the remainder may live off the land. Coming out of that digression, we can see the value in alternative fuels including getting back to basics with hydrogen power.
  
• We simply didn't cover wind power or hydroelectric in this episode because they don't seem to have a clear path towards long-term resiliency or as viable replacements for fossil fuels. Wind-generated power is too inconsistent and now also hydroelectric generation (water moving downhill turning giant turbines): All the dams built by FDR are starting to shut down due to drought conditions across the western U.S.
• An ideal fuel has a steady and stable supply that can scale to meet demand and sustain shocks to the system from climate and espionage events. Enter stage center: Hydrogen.
• Hydrogen fuel cells! Cars that fill up at a pump, can go 1,000 miles on a tank, and only spit water out their tailpipe! Oh yeah! We'll carry on under the call to action up ahead. We have another honorable mention...
• Don't call it a come-back, Airships've been here for years!  According to ForeignPolicy.com, "For decades, the Goodyear fleet of blimps have been the only working airships most people had a chance of seeing in real life. But a handful of companies are looking to bring back the spectacular dirigibles. [...]  The cruise company OceanSky is forging ahead with plans to send a passenger airship to the Arctic, using a ship originally designed under the U.S. military’s surveillance program, with a planned voyage in 2023." These ships use helium, not hydrogen, so just honorable mentions in the sustainable travel options category.
  
• Call to Action: Learn more about  Fuel Cell technology. We have made many advances in safety technologies in relation to hydrogen's volitile properties in a high oxygen (approx. 20%) environment in our atmosphere. Every technology has its risks.
• Buy a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle if you can afford it. MVP's statements about only being able to lease a  Hyperion Motors XP-1 or Toyota Mirai were FLASE! You can buy these vehicles now (Hyperion Motors) and they're worth your attention. What vehicles did we miss? Let us know!
  
• Go solar if you can and perhaps add wind too (link to a nerdy new device at EcoHome). Combining these technologies at a small scale coupled with a central battery system and you start to create a mitochondrial power plant for your household cell. Might as well get paid for selling extra power to the grid when you don't need it.
• Keep an eye out to support congressional bills that put our dollars on the chips of future technologies - not the old killer ones: According to Bloomberg, "Biden’s infrastructure plan calls for billions of dollars in spending on demonstration projects that include hydrogen." Sorry, this is behind a paywall.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• "...EPA Concludes Environmental Racism Is Real. A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency finds that people of color are much more likely to live near polluters and breathe polluted air—even as the agency seeks to roll back regulations on pollution." By Vann R. Newkirk II (The Atlantic; Feb. 2018).
• Fun Fact: Our evidence indicates that there is more hydrogen in the universe than any other element—it’s been estimated that approximately 90 percent of all atoms are hydrogen. Boom! Plus we already produce approximately 70 million metric tons of hydrogen globally every year for various industrial uses.
• Hydrogen as a source for energy generation comes in color codes:
  
  • Grey - fossil fuels are used in their production
  • Blue - less polluting process
  • Green - no pollution, water is the byproduct (which we could collect)
• A McKinsey study estimated that by 2030, the U.S. hydrogen economy could generate $140 billion and support 700,000 jobs. A worthy investment for our future if you ask me! - If Europe and China don't beat us to it. Germany is beginning to heavily subsidize key areas to stimulate developments in Green Hydrogen specifically and ween off its reliance on Russian gas.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or on Facebook.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• We're on the hunt for solutions and having access to nutrient-rich "premium" foods is critical to life, the old adage is very true: You are what you eat and it affects how you think. Food is more than fuel, it provides the building blocks to replace your cells as they die. If you have any skepticism that the quality of the calories you ingest has a direct impact on your internal biological processes including mental health, then check out this article which is similar to that RWJ referenced during the episode: "Crime and nourishment – the link between food and offending behaviour" (UK). Beyond the obvious concerns about malnutrition, it's another example of how our system does little to rehabilitate humans that become fodder for profit in the prison industrial complex.
• Food is our first line of defense for healthcare. Ultimately, the best way for each of us to care for our health multiple times per day is to care for the food that we eat. You want a premium body and mind that stands the test of time? Then eat premium foods and drink water. Don't believe it, check the National Institutes for Health: Increased Intake of Foods with High Nutrient Density Can Help to Break the Intergenerational Cycle of Malnutrition and Obesity. How's that for health care!
• Rewilding (see episode 28) and community gardens can provide us with abundant opportunities to introduce affordable, sustainable, local, and nutrient-rich foods. Not to mention how working in a garden stimulates our sense of belonging, community, and connectedness to nature and each other.
• Eating happy meats make for happy people. MVP is calling "happy meat" the result of happy animals living a natural normal stress life, filled with love and a nutrient-rich grass diet. All grass (think greens) means all the omega fatty acids your body and brain need, factory-produced fish oil need not apply!
• Call to Action: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." The new food golden rule - thank you, Michael Pollan (author of the book In Defense of Food). Take this rule and find some new habits that work for you! Golden rule unpacked:
  • Food is anything with less than 10 ingredients with nothing inside that your great or great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize. If an ingredient sounds like a science concoction, don't eat it!
  • Not too much! Come on now, if you're not running a marathon then you probably don't need that much fuel. Pro tip: you can't eat too many fruits or vegetables! Physically it's just not likely. Now don't go off and overdose on carrots, too much of any one thing is not good.
  • Mostly plants, yes! The biodiversity and nutrient richness of plants is many, many, many times greater than meats. We biologically don't need to eat a lot of meat, so it's high time to cut way back. Milk (as adults) and cheese are nice-to-haves for those who can digest them. Meat example: MVP strives to include happy meat (free-range naturally-fed and finished) component in up to 5 meals per week. Assume he eats like two or three meals per day. The portion is small, like a palmful of meat - not a steak.
• Mindfulness is an exercise that can be performed in any environment at any time you can provide focused attention. Be open to the testaments of your senses. Occupy your mind with what you hear, see, smell, feel, and taste using all of your available sensors. It's a great reset for the mind,  your nervous system, and primes your biome for digestion.
• Focus on the Adds. One more tip MVP found useful when embarking on any transition in life: focus on adding things you want into your life and other less valuable things in your life will naturally attrite. As another phrase goes, it's all about the bear you feed. So just focus on adding in one new healthful thing at a time. As you add, naturally other things will fall out simply due to space, time, and attention constraints. Give it a try by grabbing a vegetable from a local farmer's market that you have never had before, or where it's been a while since you had it, and experiment using it in a favorite dish. The farmer at the market can give you great tips on storing and preparing items too! Find a local butcher and get to know what happy meats they may have.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• Food deserts (thanks again Wikipedia) are a problem throughout the United States. Albeit we didn't focus on it in this episode, it will be a topic in the future for this podcast or another project from Citizen Do Good.
• Crime and Nourishment. Cause for a rethink? This article from the National Institutes for Health (NIH) really puts the focus on the effects of food from studying the largest captive group of humans on earth, United States prison populations.  :-(
• We also didn't get into the pressures against healthful foods, including big agri-business (high margins and low-quality foods for profit) and pharma (drugs for profit to compensate for the effects from years of eating low-quality foods). Yes, they both have us in a race to the bottom. Your food can free you from medications in many cases. One of the most prevalent food-based diseases, besides heart disease, is diabetes. A repeat of the link above: Increased Intake of Foods with High Nutrient Density Can Help to Break the Intergenerational Cycle of Malnutrition and Obesity.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or on Facebook.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• We're on the hunt for solutions and having access to clean and affordable water is critical to life. Although the drought is only striking the entire Southwest of the United States, everyone will feel it at the grocery store. We need bold new infrastructure using the latest in engineering to implement a better managed and more sustainable system than the one we inherited. One recommendation from Big Think proposes an interstate water pipeline system asking the question, "We have pipelines for oil and natural gas. Why not water?"
  
• How will a pipeline help? It will enable us to collect water from across the central basin of the U.S. and pipe it over or through the Rockies (think Tesla style boring system) and we might as well put some dang high-speed rails down as we go along too. The method of collection will need to be fleshed out, but it could as simple as directing the flow of storm drains into natural subterranean basins that act as a first-line filtration system. This water, as the case with most water, would need to be additionally filtered or treated for drinking. Thanks to ProPublica for this nerdy interactive page on climate maps. Check out how the quality of life within our nation will be changing with the climate from temperature to wetness: New Climate Maps Show a Transformed United States.
  
• We mentioned several water management systems that aren't as effective as they once were. Albeit going thirsty is mostly a local issue in the west, the whole nation's food security is at risk because according to the  California Department of Food and Agriculture, "In 2019 California’s farms and ranches received more than $50 billion in cash receipts for their output. [...] California’s agricultural abundance includes more than 400 commodities. Over a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts are grown in California." Similarly arid and drought-stricken is Arizona, which according to the AZDA is, "estimated to be a $23.3 billion industry." That's a lot of jobs and food for the nation on the line.
  
• Call to Action: Support new infrastructure programs as we need to build a new nation that can rise to the challenges of a changing world. Please use less water and begin planning for your own household's resiliency. Beyond investments in rewilding your landscape, it may make sense for you to invest in a rainwater runoff capture system or greywater reuse systems. There are larger-scale operations that need to start cutting back to have an outsized effect on conservation before it makes sense for people to have to make more draconian cuts in service.
  

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• Wikipedia has decent content on the Colorado River Compact for your historical pleasure.
  
• And in order the mind the gap, here is some equally satisfying historical food for thought around the Klamath Project, courtesy of Wikipedia. For a quick snapshot of the current, dire, state of the project check out, "5 things to know about the Klamath water crisis" from Oregon Public Broadcasting.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or on Facebook.
  

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• We're on the hunt for solutions and rewilding is a major component in our arsenal to combat climate change and enable ecosystems that make conditions conducive to life and create a more resilient food web for ourselves.
• What is it? According to the Internet's favorite source Wikipedia, "Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration with an emphasis on humans stepping back and leaving an area to nature, as opposed to more active forms of natural resource management." Here's an informative video about rewilding with wolves in Yellowstone National Park.
• There are several reasons to be supportive of rewilding across the United States..
  • For climate's sake: Strong ecosystems make a formidable defense against climate instability. Considering that climate is a function of the biosphere and the biosphere is sustained by rich natural ecosystems, we only stand to gain in terms of maintaining a livable Earth when we let nature do its thing.
  • For food's sake: A biodiverse food web will be more resilient than the mono-agriculture system we have now, which is akin to putting all your eggs into one basket as the phrase goes. We should have diversity in the supply chain so that we're not susceptible to being only one pest or one fungus or one viral infection away from a mass starvation event. We already know that Bananas and coffee are at risk of being lost to extinction due to shifting climate and invasive marauders that love the one kind of plant we chose to grow.
  • For the community's sake: Whether be it through shared common spaces like community gardens or farmer's markets or other mechanisms, a greater sense of belonging and fulfillment can be attained when people nurture connections to nature and one another.
• Call to Action: Take on a rewilding project in your own yard. Return the vegetation to native species and have some fun with raised flower beds by planting things you want to eat or planting pollinator-friendly flowers! Also, check out your local resources from seed banks (like this seed bank in Tucson) to gardening groups to rewilding and conservation corps efforts that could benefit from your time as a volunteer.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• As you embark on your rewilding search, feel free to start here at the True Nature Foundation site for more information on what it is all about and more ways to get involved.
• You can find more information specifically on the gardening side of the equation (think your yard and your rooftop!) by hitting up the Wild Seed Project.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or on Facebook.
  

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• Our right to vote is under siege by proposals across 43 out of 50 states in the Union (Washington Post, March 11, 2021). This is one of the rare cases DC is fortunate not to have a statehouse. We provide a May round-up on what's passed, below under the more info section.
• First, we review a "brief" timeline on the Hokey Pokey dance for who could vote when and where within the United States. Thank you to Wikipedia for the info. (Full list here, accessed Jun 4, 2021).
  

1789

• The Constitution of the United States grants the states the power to set voting requirements. Generally, states limited this right to property-owning or tax-paying white males (about 6% of the population).[1] However, some states allowed also Black males to vote, and New Jersey also included unmarried and widowed women, regardless of color. Since married women were not allowed to own property, they could not meet the property qualifications.[2]

1791

• Vermont is admitted as a new state, giving the vote to men regardless of color or property ownership.[5]

1807

• Voting rights are taken away from free black males and from all women in New Jersey.[2]

1870

• The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents states from denying the right to vote on grounds of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".
• Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era began soon after. Former Confederate states passed Jim Crow laws and amendments to effectively disfranchise African-American and poor white voters through poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses and other restrictions, applied in a discriminatory manner. During this period, the Supreme Court generally upheld state efforts to discriminate against racial minorities; only later in the 20th century were these laws ruled unconstitutional. Black males in the Northern states could vote, but the majority of African Americans lived in the South.[17][18]
• Women in Utah get the right to vote.[21]

1882

• Chinese-Americans lose the right to vote and become citizens through the Chinese Exclusion Act.[11]

1883

• Women in Washington Territory earn the right to vote.[24]

1887

• Citizenship is granted to Native Americans who are willing to disassociate themselves from their tribe by the Dawes Act, making those males technically eligible to vote.
• Women in Washington lose the right to vote.[24]
• Women in Utah lose the right to vote under the Edmunds–Tucker Act.[25]
• Kansas women earn the right to vote in municipal elections.[20]
• Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, and South Dakota grant partial suffrage to women.[13]

1913

• Direct election of Senators, established by the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, gave voters rather than state legislatures the right to elect senators.[31]
• White and African American women in the Territory of Alaska earn the right to vote.[32]
• Women in Illinois earn the right to vote in presidential elections.[25]

1914

• Nevada and Montana women earn the right to vote.[20]

1917

• Women in Arkansas earn the right to vote in primary elections.[20]
• Women in Rhode Island earn the right to vote in presidential elections.[25]
• Women in New York, Oklahoma, and South Dakota earn equal suffrage through their state constitutions.[25]

1918

• Women in Texas earn the right to vote in primary elections.[33]

1920

• Women are guaranteed the right to vote by the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In practice, the same restrictions that hindered the ability of non-white men to vote now also applied to non-white women.

1924

• All Native Americans are granted citizenship and the right to vote through the Indian Citizenship Act, regardless of tribal affiliation. By this point, approximately two thirds of Native Americans were already citizens.[35][36] Notwithstanding, some western states continued to bar Native Americans from voting until 1948.[37]

1943

• Chinese immigrants are given the right to citizenship and the right to vote by the Magnuson Act.[39]

1948

• Arizona and New Mexico are among the last states to extend full voting rights to Native Americans, which had been opposed by some western states in contravention of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.[37][40]

1961

• Residents of Washington, D.C. are granted the right to vote in U.S. Presidential Elections by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution.[11]

1962-1964

• A historic turning point arrived after the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren made a series of landmark decisions which helped establish the nationwide "one man, one vote" electoral system in the United States.
• In March 1962, the Warren Court ruled in Baker v. Carr (1962) that redistricting qualifies as a justiciable question, thus enabling federal courts to hear redistricting cases.[45]
• In February 1964, the Warren Court ruled in Wesberry v. Sanders (1964) that districts in the United States House of Representatives must be approximately equal in population.[46]
• In June 1964, the Warren Court ruled in Reynolds v. Sims (1964) that each chamber of a bicameral state legislature must have electoral districts roughly equal in population.[47][48][49]

1964

• Poll Tax payment prohibited from being used as a condition for voting in federal elections by the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[30]

1965

• Protection of voter registration and voting for racial minorities, later applied to language minorities, is established by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[11] This has also been applied to correcting discriminatory election systems and districting.
• In Harman v. Forssenius the Supreme Court ruled that poll taxes or "equivalent or milder substitutes" cannot be imposed on voters.[30]

1966

• Tax payment and wealth requirements for voting in state elections are prohibited by the Supreme Court in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections.[23]

1970

• Alaska ends the use of literacy tests.[44]
• Native Americans who live on reservations in Colorado are first allowed to vote in the state.[50]

1971

• Adults aged 18 through 21 are granted the right to vote by the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This was enacted in response to Vietnam War protests, which argued that soldiers who were old enough to fight for their country should be granted the right to vote.[31][51][52]

1973

• Washington, D.C. local elections, such as Mayor and Councilmen, restored after a 100-year gap in Georgetown, and a 190-year gap in the wider city, ending Congress's policy of local election disfranchisement started in 1801 in this former portion of Maryland—see: D.C. Home rule.

1986

• United States Military and Uniformed Services, Merchant Marine, other citizens overseas, living on bases in the United States, abroad, or aboard ship are granted the right to vote by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.[59]

2013

• • Supreme Court ruled in the 5–4 Shelby County v. Holder decision that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. Section 4(b) stated that if states or local governments want to change their voting laws, they must appeal to the Attorney General.[62]
• Call to Action:  Email or call your Congressional Senator to voice your support for  HR1 - For the People Act of 2021 which passed the House and sits on the doorstep of the Senate. Now is a critical time. Also, it's worth mentioning that a more focused bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act seems to have enough support to pass the Senate, as of this moment anyway.
• Find out what it takes to vote in your county and get it taken care of, then vote in candidates who support everyone's access and right to vote.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• According to Voting Laws Roundup: May 2021 by the Brennan Center for Justice, states have already enacted more than 20 laws this year that will make it harder for Americans to vote — and many legislatures are still in session. Between January 1 and May 14, 2021, at least 14 states enacted 22 new laws that restrict access to the vote. At least 61 bills with restrictive provisions are moving through 18 state legislatures.
• Just to illustrate the variety of voting conditions available to citizens across the thousands of counties among the 50 states, here's a chart.  :-)
  
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or on Facebook.
  

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• We're on the hunt for solutions and one or more of the various flavors of universal basic or supplemental income programs looms large. The more that MVP and RWJ look into these ideas, the more water they seem to hold and more potentially beneficial their side effects. They are even coining a new term and tagline for it: Citizen Seed Funding empowering generations to come. This idea aligns with the tenants of Doughnut Economics and is reminiscent of that comment regarding life having the propensity to leave conditions conducive to life. In this regard, seed funding would have the potential to be as restorative and empowering for generations of people in society, just as seeds beget life.
• We all deserve freedom. Part of being free is having your own agency to choose. That extends to the capitalist market systems we have in place. People should be empowered to a position of choice when it comes to whether or not to participate, under what conditions, and for how long. Today we're born into it and have to scramble for better odds (through relationships) and/or leverage (demanded skills), but it's not how it has to be. People can be born free to choose how and when to participate in the commercial economy. They can use it to serve a need and not become beholden to it. And we will participate in sufficient quantities, because it's quite lucrative, even with a universal basic or supplemental income feature installed.
• How's it work? It can work a multitude of ways, however for illustrative purposes, here's what it looks like: The government keeps depositing stimulus checks into people's accounts who make less than $40,000 USD. That's it.
• How do you pay for it? Again, a multitude of ways, but they should be limited to revenue streams that are not fickle or place an undue burden on economic activity. The easiest places are from wealth, estate transfer, and market activity (buy/sell) taxes. We'll be diving in more in the future.
• Then what? Just wait and see. As people start to become used to the stability of a seed income, they will begin taking new risks. We'll see new kinds of businesses, art projects, social projects, and communities bloom. People will go to school and re-tool in order to create and sustain new economic opportunities. We'll see a new economic floor established by sustained consumer spending. Many of our unbanked will open new accounts to receive and spend their funds and many former unbanked may open their own banks. Most importantly, homelessness and hunger will be reduced to a lower level than ever in history. All made possible through the deployment of seed funding.
• Do we have to have universal health care for it to work? NO. We do have to have viable healthcare marketplaces where people can ensure they use some seed funds for coverage. They may be eligible for additional assistance through state Medicaid programs without affecting the amount of seed funding received. Likewise, seed funding would have no bearing on qualification for other programs like Pell grants, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Disability, alimony, etc.
• Call to Action: Keep an eye out for all of the valuable activity that is currently unpaid. These are of the many things humans do without a financial motive. As a species, some behaviors are intrinsically motivated. Our very nature compels us to do things, not to be idle. Raising children is no small feat and we shortcut it drastically today due to "work-life" balance or single-parent households. Caring for our wise elders is another responsibility that requires a modicum of fortitude and today is mostly outsourced to the lowest bidder. Our time in those roles is valuable outside of and in support of the economy. Now imagine sustaining those human investments minus the financial stress of boom and bust. An improvement, no?

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• Minor notes: This is episode 26 despite MVP calling it 27 during the episode. Also, the term he was looking for was "Performance Art" in reference to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
• The History of the Monopoly is a nice synopsis of the genesis of the game including a feature on The Landlord's Game (same page), upon which it is based. One notable is the fact that the original (by Elizabeth Magie cira 1902, patented in 1904) featured two different set of rules: Monopoly and Anti-Monopoly and it was intended as a teaching tool to juxtaposition progressive policies against the lazie-fair status quo.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or on Facebook.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.