Below is the graphic representation of the cover of the first book in a series about Advocates In Action. The idea is to help our culture build heroes and heroines (similar to the James Bond or Bourne Identity that we associate with all things sexy, exciting and of political interest.
Here is a sample of part of the text from the introduction of Installment 1, the affordable introduction to this series. A full copy of this installment will be available online beginning in August 2005.
You can order the book or a downloadable version by clicking on the Lulu order button below.
Critical Forword Sample:
Balance of Empowerment
"In politics as in everything else it makes a great difference whose game we play…. The rules of the game determine the requirements for success….”
As quoted by: E. E. Schattschneider. A Realist’s View of Democracy in America, Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1975
Welcome to the beginning of a new experience in the political adventure thriller. We are introducing here, for the first time, a series of stories that have as their characters the heroes and heroines of everyday advocates who are learning to be entertaining agents for change—Advocates In Action, as we call this series.
As you will see in the pages of this first installment, there is much prejudice in the books we all enjoy toward self-, self-interested, and clearly profit-oriented characters whose motivations are mostly in line greedy desires or the search for that perfect lover. True enough, these super or sexy stars often seem to save the world from a bit of evil, but they do so primarily for the benefit of a less than charitable leader.
Our Advocates In Action series is designed to show that we can have super heroes and heroines who are motivated by the power of collective goodness really can exist; that collaborations between people who care, who understand the power and potential of social justice and equality, can be as powerful as any exploding ink pen, super fast car, sexy clothes or supportive network of industrialists and politicians whose riches are provided as a means of making profit off either more war or some temporary version of peace with industrial profits.
Our mission, which we have chosen to accept, is to develop stories about commercially viable heroes and heroines who save the world while reinforcing the humanitarian values that really should underlie the ideals of a nation state committed to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.
We know this is a new idea. We know we do not know all the answers as to how this adventure will play out. We know that there are many people, including those like ourselves who have actually grown up in the world of community activism, who have little ability to even visualize such a concept—let alone such a concept that is entertaining enough to keep us happily seated in a theatre for a couple of hours while we eat nutritious boxes of health, Earth-friendly snacks.
But has that not always been the very challenge behind the struggle for human, civil and humanitarian rights? Achieving the goal of truth, justice and the American way while making it an interesting, relevant part of the lives of those who live with the consequence of being in this world together?
We, as Americans, have failed to provide ourselves with the kinds of role models that can reinforce the very ideas glorified by our founding fathers and mothers. We don’t even do a very good job of having examples of personal heroes and heroines who can mentor our next generation of young people. Instead, we rely on television, the Internet and increasingly schooling and business sectors whose profit motives have mostly just gotten us fat, lazy and lacking in the imagination of learning, caring or compassion.
Our Advocates In Action Series begins with the Balance of Empowerment. We make the case for the origin of the name in the introductory section that follows. What we hope, however, is that it is the first step, the pilot, if you will, in the process of changing the very nature and concept of the world in which we live.
To buy BALANCE OF EMPOWERMENT (in August 2005), click below.
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