This is about the evolution of understanding, but requires an understanding of evolution. Don't worry if you lack such an understanding. Pick it up as you go.

A NOTE ABOUT SPAMBOT COMMENTS - Please do look through the comments that follow this post, and don't let the attempts to drown us in spam shut out valuable discussion. WE MUST NOT ALLOW THOSE WHO WISH TO SHUT US UP, THE SATISFACTION OF DOING SO SUCCESSFULLY! All of our voices should be heard and all or our reasoning applied. There is too much shutting down of good ideas. Please recognize it when you see it and FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU FEEL IS RIGHT! I plan to add examples in the comments of how to evolve a grievance. Please watch for them.

For those who are tired of hearing me tell people about the Esper' language, I want to say right away that it's not what this article is about. However, the picture I have chosen to accompany it does connect with the language issue and help to make my point about a simple to learn universal language being needed. More on that later.

Many years ago, a guy by the name of Charles Darwin introduced to the world his theory of "Evolution by Natural Selection" which explained how the then well known but little understood process of Evolution could sometimes result in positive progress without the need for the guidance of an intelligent being. This caused quite the reaction on the part of some people who's livelihoods were heavily dependent upon the common conviction that all things got to be the way they were through the acts of one or more divine intelligent individuals and the intelligent mortals they had created. The reaction was basically to attempt to convince the people that evolution simply does not occur, ever. In today's world, not many people even in such a position would attempt to convince people of such a thing, but the residual effects of the damage still hold many people back from waking up to how things really work and how we can all benefit from an understanding of the process of evolution.

Of course, the idea of "natural selection" does not exclude the possibility of an intelligence guiding the process of evolution. It simply means that evolution can work without intervention. The selection process can of course be guided in some cases, generally resulting in a much more rapid process. This is the process I would like to suggest here as a tool for disseminating and refining the solutions we need for the many problems our society faces.

Back to the picture I chose to accompany this acticle. In case the text of the article gets sent anywhere without it, I will tell here what it is a picture of. It's a sign I came across in a bus that is part of the local public transportation system. In English it says on three lines of text: "NO SHOES -- NO SHIRT -- NO SERVICE" which is a well known idiomatic expression meaning that service will not be provided to people lacking shoes or a shirt. In Spanish it says on three lines of text: "PROHIBIDO ZAPATO -- PROHIBIDO CAMISA -- PROHIBIDO SERVICIO" which if you recognize the Spanish cognate of the English word "PROHIBITED" you can probably see right away is NOT the same meaning. It was probably an error, and although this particular error does not make the sign any more effective for its intended purpose, it makes for much better bilingual humor than a correct translation of the original meaning would have. 

This is how evolution works. Changes happen, whether caused intentionally or otherwise, and if they turn out to be beneficial in some way, that benefit may increase the chances of the change being copied. The Esper' language is intended to take advantage of this process as time goes on, to allow its core dialect to be positively influences by each of its other dialects. Likewise, what I am about to present here is intended to take advantage of the processes of evolution by intelligent selection.

The delegates of the 99% Declaration got quite a bit accomplished in a short time, and work continues, but one thing that many of us were (and still are) uncomfortable with, is the fact that the process being used tends to silence some people and some ideas in favor of others chosen or prefered by a few people in positions of power over the rest of us. This is too much like the very root of most of the problems we would like to see solved. Occupy Wall Street had been given an opportunity to participate in the formation of the 99% Declaration and I suspect this may be why they passed up the opportunity. So, as someone on both the 99% Declaration side and the Occupy side of the equation, I would like to offer to all interested people a way to get everyone involved who would like to be, while not allowing anyone to be silenced by the process.

I have put together a one item grievance as a template. I've already revised it once to make it easier to understand, and you are welcome to sign it as is and send it to anyone including any politician, or to modify it, update the revision info, and pass it on, or to use it as a starting point to make your own single item or multi-item grievance and pass that allong, with the GNU General Public Licence keeping all revisions and derivations free to be copied, modified, and distributed, by anyone.

This is by no means perfect, but that's where evolution comes in. There is no way to make it perfect, so there's certainly room for a process which can always make it better.

Okay, now here comes the text of the 2nd generation grievance. In this case it is about expanding Social Security to be for all of society all the time under all conditions, so that NOBODY has to ever "fall through the cracks" again... but you can change the title and whatever else you see fit to make it into something YOU feel needs to be said... or several such things. I suggest that you keep each grievance in it's own version, titled accordingly, so that we can maximize the effects of intelligent evolution. Keep in mind that together we can be smarter than any of us. I suggest we take advantage of that.

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Here goes...

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Grievance Title: Expand Social Security, Please

Revision: 11:35PST, Thursday, 16, August, 2012, Donald Arthur Kronos

Dear politician or concerned citizen:

We the people, have suffered far too much for far too long.

It is time we find a way for our grievances to be heard by those who have been entrusted with the power to do something about them.

I will keep this document short so that it is easy to find the important details in, and others may replace those important details with other important details, or may choose to echo the same important details or to add or remove details as seen fit. 

Here are the details of this particular grievance, along with a proposed solution. Expect more in future revsions.

It has become obvious that an unnecessary class war has been silently declared against the majority of citizens of the United States of America, and many other countries have found themselves in similar situations, so I would like propose the conditions of a peaceful end to this war.

It seems to me that the rich and the poor have a very similar struggle for very similar reasons. The poor struggle to establish a secure future, with regards to their own security and the security of those they care about. To some that means family and friends. To others it just means themselves, and to yet others it means all of society. Likewise, the rich struggle to ensure that the future of themselves and those they care about is as secure as they can make it. Again, those may include the individual, close family, friends, or even all of society. The problems is that no amount of individual wealth can ensure a secure future for anyone, because it is the efforts of all people in society which all people in society rely on. In truth, the rich are only able to be rich because of the work done by others. This is not so say that the individual wealthy person had nothing to do with building that wealth, but without a sufficiently healthy society from which to buy goods and services their money would be practically worthless.

The first thing that I would like to ask in this revision is that the cap on Social Security tax be removed so that all people pay the same percentage of their income rather than only those who earn two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year or less, and that the additional revenue be drawn upon to ensure that NO PERSON IN OUR SOCIETY SHOULD EVER be left in a position of not being able to afford to contribute their time and effort to the betterment of society or the production of goods and services for others.

Consider as an example someone who wants to offer more to society but currently can not afford to take a few days off of work to look for a more suitable job, as the loss of a little pay may cause a chain reaction resulting in the loss of everything else.

As another example, consider the person who is being mistreated in the workplace and can not afford the risk of trying to find a better employer while currently barely scraping by.

Consider also the many people who are being held down by a system that rewards them for being utterly destitute but threatens them with an even worse situation if they try to climb out of the mess they're in and make something of their lives.

Now consider the super-rich family who understands that it is only their constant struggle to build even more personal wealth that makes their family temporarily immune to such situations.

Also, consider the person who was raised poor and has never known anything else, who's struggle in life is mainly to endure it until it's over.

How many people fall through the cracks in our society's categorization of who needs or deserves what based on which sides of what demographic lines they happen to be on?

What I am proposing is that the concept of a federal "minimum wage" be replaced with something like a living allowance, to allow less fortunate people the chance to work their way into a more fortunate situation while augmenting the income of those who are lucky enough to have a job so that they have more freedom of employment choice, and so that those who own businesses or work very hard can truly thrive, in a world where everyone can afford to choose who they buy from and help to support those organizations they feel are worthy of their support, rather than the super rich making all the decisions for them.

It would be of great benefit to society if the "Social Security Administration" could gain some ability to live up to that name a little better. Needs based programs are better than nothing, and should be maintained, but we also should recognize that all people have needs, and not just those who fit the right descriptions. Some needs should not have to be proven. If a multibillionaire wants to collect their allowance as well, why not? Let them get it like anyone else... or choose to leave it for the future of our society if they prefer. After all, if we stop trying to decide who deserves to live based on what labels we can put on them, the people who do such paperwork will be freed up to get a whole lot more done.

If this document has landed in the hands of politician, the sender requests that said politician recognize that it may look similar to or even identical to one which was or will be received from another individual, but that both the differences and the similarities are important.

Signed:

Donald Arthur Kronos - Los Angeles, California, USA

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Further revision and copyright information:

This document is covered by the "copyleft" concept, under the "GNU General Public License". http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

When received by ANYONE, this document may be modified and distributed freely under the "GNU General Public License".

"Credits" are not important, but may be included. It is requested by the original author (Donald Arthur Kronos) that some sort of "intended to be unique" revision label be included at the beginning in order to help people know if they have seen it before. The first revision is "Revision: 18:35PST, Wednesday, 15, August, 2012, Donald Arthur Kronos" and anyone choosing to modify it may simply replace the date and name, or choose a different format.

Please, kindly update increment the grneration and uptate the "based on" information, when creating a revised or derived work.

This is a 2nd generation revision.

Derived from revision: 19:35PST, Wednesday, 15, August, 2012, Donald Arthur Kronos

(First template version: 18:31PST, Wednesday, 15, August, 2012, Donald Arthur Kronos)