#peter elsea

[catsynth-express]

μHausen (micro-Hausen) 2018

Today we look back at this year’s μHausen, a “micro-festival” of experimental electronics that takes place every summer deep at a secure undisclosed location in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  It was the subject of our most recent CatSynth TV episode.

As suggested in the video, I was thinking a lot about our natural surroundings as we made music with our thoroughly artificial electronic instruments.  The trees, the air, the light, all seemed to be of a piece with the music at times.  I also thought about the fact that I had not been able to attend the last three installments.  In 2015 and 2016 I had to cancel or decline because of medical issues, and I’m not sure what happened in 2017.  But I was back now and was great to see and hear everyone.

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First up was Peter Elsea, recently retired from his longtime position as a professor of electronic music at UC Santa Cruz.  On this occasion, he performed with a small rig that included a modular synthesizer and an electronic wind instrument.

His set featured tones that were timbrally rich and often noisy, but still pitched.  This worked well with the wind controller which allowed the noisy tones to swell and fade musically.  But there were also some beautiful moments of quiet pure tones that evoked the natural surroundings.

Next up was Later Days, a project featuring Wayne Jackson with his iOS-based evolutionary synth  MendelTone, which allows patches to “breed” and evolve.

There was an urgent “machine-like” quality to the music, with low drones oms mixing with high swirls of sound and various percussive hits.  Wayne is also the founder of this event and often its leader, but this year he ceded organizing duties to R Duck (of the R Duck Show), who performed next.

[Photo by Later Days (Wayne Jackson)]

The first segment of his set featured beautiful drones of processed guitar. There were quick runs, but they were absorbed into the overall sound.  Over time, the tone and structure darkened, with more complex timbres and harmonies set against slow but anxious guitar riffs.  He also teamed up with Later Days to deliver his perennial incantation featuring chocolate.  (Did I mention that we at CatSynth love chocolate?)

Next up was synthesizer virtuoso Doug Lynner, who performed on a Eurorack-based Serge modular synthesizer.

[Photo by Later Days (Wayne Jackson)]

I have long come to expect very complex and intricate sounds from Doug, often set in a very sparse texture where one can clearly hear the details.  That was certainly the case in this performance, which opened with light sounds reminiscent of birds and whale songs.  It could have come from the surrounding woods rather than the synthesizer on stage (OK, the bird sounds could have, probably not the whale sounds).  After a period of rapid modulation, the music settled into a different pattern, with a contrapuntal texture of long ascending tones reminiscent of sirens.

Lynner was followed by Paul Nicholson who had a large Korg-centric rig that included both a Minilogue, an MS-20 and an SQ-1 sequencer among other instruments.

His opening piece was more traditionally harmonic compared to the preceding sets, with slowly changing harmonic patterns that evoked late-20th-century minimalism (think Steve Reich and John Adams).  The second portion of the set featured some harsher sounds and noise centered around Nicholson’s modular synth.

Then it was time for me to take the stage.  I brought a rig that included the large 9U modular, a Casio SK-1 and my trusty Moog Theremini.

[Photo by R Duck]

As with most of my recent solo work, I select one of my more formal compositions as a point of departure.  In this case, it was “White Wine”, with the melody set against one of the SK-1’s drum beats.  This them morphed into a broken and complex break of sound and eventually to a pure improvisation with the modular and theremin, though the beats never really disappeared.  As I was when listening to the other sets, I was thinking about the natural surroundings – in my case being the “city girl” mastering my place in space and sound, even if just for a few brief minutes.

The final set featured Lemon DeGeorge on harmonica and electronics.

The harmonicas (like a true player of the instrument, he had more than one) added a unique dimension to the music, and the electronics followed with long breathy tones.  The sounds appeared to build up layers upon layers into something heavy and enveloping, but never overwhelming.  Compared to Nicholson’s sounds, DeGeorge’s lone tones and patterns were thoroughly inharmonic but no less beautiful or musical.

Overall it was a fine afternoon of weird electronic music in the woods, and not just for the music itself but for the fellowship with friends who I don’t get to see that often.   I remained in the mind space of the show, the environment, and the sounds for a while on the drive back, at least until reaching I-880 and heading first into Oakland and later home to San Francisco, where I snapped back into my everyday urban life.

  μHausen (micro-Hausen) 2018 was originally published on CatSynth

[danithebookaholic-blog]

NEW RELEASE!

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Sugar Lane Series (Vol. 1) 

By Harlow Hayes

Publisher: Harlow Hayes Books Publication Date: November 19, 2018 Genre: Women’s fiction, Suspense

 Synopsis:

The night of Christmas Eve changes everything for Rhema Clark, a 36-year-old housewife living on quiet Sugar Lane. One day she is hosting a birthday party for her 9-year-old son, Julian, the next she is watching her neighborhood become the backdrop for the perfect murder.

To gain power, Rhema inserts herself into the lives of the residents of Sugar Lane. She knows they have secrets, but none of them run deeper than her own. On the outside she is a kind and caring neighbor, but on the inside, something sinister lurks beneath. The media storm surrounding this murder could destroy her secret life and expose her for what she is.

But will her lust for power override her desire to keep her secrets?

Goodreads

Excerpt:

It’s not the dress. The thought kept repeating over and over like a broken record. Whatever it was, she couldn’t pinpoint it, but she couldn’t escape the feeling that she was about to sell her soul to the Devil.

She fidgeted with the dress. The emotion was disappointment. She didn’t look like the other brides. The ones she saw all over magazines or even the girls she went to high school with on Facebook. They looked perfect. Perfectly slim, dress perfectly fitted, hair perfectly coiffed, and groom perfectly in love. It was expected for the husband to look upon his bride with loving eyes, but Elsea knew that Peter had never looked at her that way. The wedding was tomorrow, and all she could do was question Peter’s love.

The thought didn’t linger when she realized that she was about to be moving out of her parents’ house, getting away from them once and for all. Her heart felt like it skipped a beat in its excitement. The abuse was wearing her thin, and she tired of hearing the same thing over and over about how she never did things the right way. How she could have been anything in life but settled on being a checkout girl. She enjoyed her work there, but everyone else wanted to shame her for it.

A husband. It was the best Christmas present she could have gotten. It was a way out of that house. She looked forward to her honeymoon, but unfortunately for her and Peter, they wouldn’t be able to leave for it until after Hannah’s graduation party. That was the last request that she was going to grant her parents. She dreaded the whispers.

You know that could have been you. That should have been you. Those were the words that her parents had whispered in her ear almost a week ago at the graduation ceremony while she watched her perfect little sister Hannah walked across the stage to receive her B.A., with her law school boyfriend cheering her on like she was a rock star. Oh, Hannah is so mature, they would say. Hannah is so beautiful. Hannah is so smart. Hannah, Hannah, Hannah. She was her little sister, but she outshined her in everything from smarts to beauty. She was confident with her perfect teeth, pouty lips, and natural blonde hair. All Elsea had was a tarnished smile with teeththat didn’t look like they fit in her mouth, adult acne, and mousy brown hair. She was plain. A nothing in everyone else’s eyes except Peter’s, and tomorrow would be her day, and no one could take that from her. She had found a man, and she wanted her due credit for accomplishing such a task. But as she thought about it, the doubt returned.

Purchase:

Amazon

 Author Bio:

Harlow Hayes was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana and is the author of fiction and non-fiction books. She has always had a passion for writing and storytelling in its many forms. When she’s not immersed in her writing, she enjoys reading both fiction and non-fiction, watching classic movies, and listening to jazz with her dad. She is the author of 27 Revelations and You Got to Believe: A Guide to Managing Negative Influences and Expectations As You Prepare to Self-publish Your Book.

She currently lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Blog

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From one bookaholic to another, I hope I’ve helped you find your next fix. —Dani

Have a book you’d like to suggest or one you’d like me to review? Please feel free to leave your comments down below.

[yawednesdays-blog]

April showers bring May…..BOOKS! We’re got SOOOO many #YA releases in May, so let’s get reading!

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  May 2nd

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas, May 2nd, Bloomsbury Childrens Books, 648 pages

Maas-heads rejoice! Book 3 in this action packed Fae saga continues.

Add to your Goodreads

Dreamfall (Dreamfall #1) by Amy Plum, May 2nd, HarperTeen, 288 pages

When a sleep study goes wrong, 7 teens find themselves trapped in a shared nightmare with no way to get out.

Add to your Goodreads

Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohen, May 2, Disney-Hyperion, 288 pages

It’s graduation and Vic wants to say good-bye to high school and her soon to be closed favorite restaurant Happies. But in true Ferris Bueller fashion, a simple party gets blown to epic proportion.

Add to your Goodreads

Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman, May 2nd, Sourcebooks Fire, 320 pages

When Anise’s aunt gets into a car accident, Anise’s summer plans of beach weekends and bonfires are washed away. Instead she’s caring for her 3 cousins in Nebraska which is a world away from California.  But family bonding and a cute skater named Lincoln help Anise acclimate. Will Anise find her land-legs and put roots down in Nebraska? Or will she go back to her “real life” after summer ends?

Add to your Goodreads

Noteworthy by Riley Redgate, May 2nd, Amulet Books, 400 pages

In order to get into her school’s elite a cappella group, female Jordan will have to transform into male Jordan. Deception never sounded so good!

Add to your Goodreads

And We’re Off by Diana Schwartz, May 2nd, Razorbill, 288 pages

Nora’s grandfather is giving her the gift of a summer in Europe, with the condition she create a work of art at each stop. With her love of art, this is the trip of a lifetime for Nora. But her mother is strongly against the idea. That is until mom decides to go with her.

Add to your Goodreads

Cold Summer by Gwen Cole, May 2nd, Sky Pony Press, 256 pages

“Today, he’s a high school dropout with no future. Tomorrow, he’s a soldier in World War II.”- Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads

Always and Forever, Lara Jean, by Jenny Han, May 2nd, Simon & Schuster for Young Readers, 336 pages

The Lara Jean series ends (again) with this surprise follow-up.

Add to your Goodreads

Just Dreaming (The Silver Trilogy) by Kerstin Grier, May 2, Henry Holt & Co., 320 page

“A dream traveler faces the greatest challenge she’s yet encountered in this gripping third and final book of the Silver trilogy.” Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads 

Count All Her Bones by April Henry, May 2, Henry Holt & Co, 240 pages

“Cheyenne sets out to save her former captor in this much-anticipated sequel to Girl, Stolen.”- Goodreads

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Avenged by Amy Tintera, May 2nd, HarperTeen, Page 416

“In the sequel to Ruined, the romance of The Selection and the epic stakes of Red Queen come together in a story of revenge, adventure, and unexpected love.”- Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads 

How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake, HMH Books For Young Readers, 336 Pages

Grace just wants to normal life and to get through her last year of high school. But everything changes when Grave meets Eva, a girl with her own past, but who lets Grace imagine a different future.

Add to your Goodreads

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith, May 2nd, Delacorte Press, 432 Pages

Giving your bestie a winning lottery ticket is a HUGE blessing…until it turns into a curse.

Add to your Goodreads

May 4th

Release by Patrick Ness, May 4th, Walker Books, 287 Pages

Ness’s latest comes out May 4th in the UK, but US audiences will have to wait until September. Thank goodness for international shipping!

Add to your Goodreads

The Island At The End of Everything by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, May 4th, Chicken House, 288 pages

From the author of the bestselling tale The Girl of Ink & Stars comes a beautiful new adventure about finding your way home.

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The Fallen Children by David Owen, May 4th, Atom, Page 240

Keisha has lived at Midwich Estate all her life.  Unlike some of the Midwich children, Keisha plan on escaping. But when everyone has a group blackout during which some of the girls become pregnant, things for Keisha go from desperate to dire.

Add to your Goodreads

May 9th

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy, May 9th, Balzer + Bray, 432 Pages

The next anticipated release from the author of Dumplin’, brings us Ramona, a girls from  small town Mississippi who learns that love, like water, can be fluid.

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The Traitor’s Kiss ( Traitors Trilogy #1) by Erin Beatty, May 9th, Imprint, 352 pages

“An obstinate girl who will not be married. A soldier desperate to prove himself. A kingdom on the brink of war.”- Goodreads

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It Started With Goodbye by Christina June, May 9th, Blink/HarperCollins, 305 pages

“Sixteen-year-old Tatum Elsea is bracing for the worst summer of her life. After being falsely accused of a crime, she’s stuck under stepmother-imposed house arrest and her BFF’s gone ghost. Tatum fills her newfound free time with community service by day and working at her covert graphic design business at night (which includes trading emails with a cute cello-playing client). When Tatum discovers she’s not the only one in the house keeping secrets, she finds she has the chance to make amends with her family and friends. Equipped with a new perspective, and assisted by her feisty step-abuela-slash-fairy-godmother, Tatum is ready to start fresh and maybe even get her happy ending along the way.”- Goodreads

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It’s Not Like It’s A Secret by Misa Sugiura, May 9th, HarperTeen 400 Pages

“Telling the truth is easy… what comes after it, though, is a whole lot more complicated.”-Goddreads

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Umberland (Everland #2) by Wendy Spinale, May 9th, Scholastic Press, 288 Pages

“What began with a reimagining of Peter Pan and Wendy now twists into a stunning version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass!” Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads

The Duke of Bannerman Prep by Katie A. Nelson, May 9th, Sky Pony Press, 352 Pages

“Words are weapons. Facts can be manipulated. And nothing is absolute—especially right and wrong.

A contemporary retelling of The Great Gatsby, Katie Nelson’s taut debut is perfect for fans of John Green’s Looking for Alaska, Kate Brian’s Private series, and anyone who’s encountered the cut-throat world of competitive high school.” –Goodreads

We’re super excited for this release, especially since we’re on the blog tour!

Add to your Goodreads

Brave New Girl by Rachel Vincent, May 9th, Delacorte Press, 272 Pages

“In a world where everyone is the same, one girl is the unthinkable: unique. A high-stakes fast-paced series launch from New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent.” Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads

May 16th

The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich, May 16th, Feiwel & Friends, 384 Pages

Caden is nice. Dylan is not. One of these boys will break your heart…or die trying.

Add to your Goodreads

Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord, Bloomsbury USA Children, 400 Pages

Lucy’s world is up-ended when her mother’s cancer returns, her summer job at bible camp turns into working with troubled teens instead, and her boyfriend puts their relationship on “pause”. Can Lucy rediscover herself and her faith before summer ends?

Add to your Goodreads

The Truth About Happily Ever After by Karole Cozzo, May 16th, Swoon Reads, 320 pages

“A theme park princess must put her life back together after her happily ever after falls apart in this contemporary YA romance from Karole Cozzo, author of How to Keep Rolling After a Fall and How to Say I Love You Out Loud.” -Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads

A Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh, May 16th, G.P. Putman’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 368 pages

From the brilliant mind behind The Wrath and the Dawn, Ahdieh’s newest series mixes samurai, poltical marriage and hidden identity.

Add to your Goodreads

Violet Grenade by Victoria Scott, May 16th, Entangled Teen, 300 pages

Domino is resuced from a life on the streets by Madam Karina. But the madam is not the savior she appears to be. But then again, Domino isn’t the helpless girl the madam thinks she is.

Add to your Goodreads

The Crown’s Fate (The Crown’s Game #2) by Evelyn Skye, May 16th, Blazer + Bray, 400 Pages

We pick up where we left off in this intriguing continuation of The Crown’s Game.

Add to your Goodreads

A Millions Junes by Emily Henry, Razorbill, 350 Pages

“Romeo and Juliet meets One Hundred Years of Solitude in Emily Henry’s brilliant follow-up to The Love That Split the World, about the daughter and son of two long-feuding families who fall in love while trying to uncover the truth about the strange magic and harrowing curse that has plagued their bloodlines for generations.” -Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads

Seeking Mansfield by Kate Watson, May 16th, Flux, 300 Pages

Finley has many talents, but her greatest one might be her ability to go unnoticed. She’s content with working behind the scenes on school productions and with her bestie, Oliver. But when teen movies stars movie next door, Finley will have to take center stage if she wants to keep from losing Oliver.

Add to your Goodreads

Grit by Gillian French, May 16th, HarperTeen, 300 Pages

“Raw and moving, this contemporary realistic debut novel will leave readers of E. Lockhart and Gayle Forman breathless as it unflinchingly unfolds the tragic secrets being kept in a small, deceptively idyllic Maine town.” -Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads

Antisocial by Jillian Blake, May 16, Delacorte Press, 256 Pages

“Alexandria Prep is hacked in this whodunit set in the age of social media and the cloud.” Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads

Seeker (Riders #2) by Veronica Rossi, May 16th, Tor Teen, 352 Pages

“New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Veronica Rossi’s new fantasy adventure in the Rider series—Seeker .” -Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads

May 30th

I Believe In A Thing Called Love by Maureen Goo, May 30th, Farra, Straus & Giroux, 336 pages

Desi excels at everything….except dating. When a super hot guy walks into her life, she decides it’s time to study up on love. What does she use as her guide? The “K Drama Rules for True Love”, of course! Armed with the advice from Korean soap opera. Desi is determined to conquer love at last.

Add to your Goodreads

Royal Bastards by Andrew Shvarts, Disney-Hyperion, 352 Pages

Being bastard born means knowing you will always be second best. But it just may take this band of bastards to save the kingdom from rebellion.

Add to your Goodreads

Romancing The Throne by Nadine Jolie Courtney, May 30th, Katherine Tegen Books, 400 Pages

“Scandal, secrets, and heartbreak abound in this juicy, modern girl-meets-prince story—perfect for fans of Stephanie Perkins and Jennifer E. Smith.” -Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads

When It’s Real by Erin Watt, Harlequin Teen, 384 Pages

“From #1 New York Times bestselling author duo Erin Watt comes the addictive contemporary tale of a teen rock star in need of an image makeover and the teen girl hired to be his fake girlfriend.” -Goodreads

Add to your Goodreads

Juniper Lemon’s Happiness Index by Julie Israel, May 30th, Kathy Dawson Books, 320 Pages

Juniper’s sister Camilla died in a car accident 65 days ago. When Juniper finds a love letter written by her sister to a mystery person just before she died, Juniper sets out to find who the letter was intended for. But is Juniper prepared for what she may find (and loses) along with way?

Add to your Goodreads

One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus, May 30th, Delacorte Press, 368 Pages

“One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.” -Goordreads

Add to your Goodreads

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon, May 30th, Simon Pulse, 320 Pages

We had LOTS to say about why you should read this book in our First Reads Friday post.

Add to your Goodreads

Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia, May 30, Greenwillow Books, 400 Pages

Eliza Mirk may be weird and quiet in the real world, but what her classmates don’t know is that she has an online presence of epic proportion. She’s the anonymous creator of the webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza likes her double life and has no intention of telling people in or her secret. But when her double identity is found out, things start to slip out of control.

Add to your Goodreads

This concludes our May One to Watch Books. Of course we can’t include everything so if there’s something you’re excited about that we missed, let us know in the comments. See you next month and Happy Reading!

Ann-Eliza

Have you read all the April OTWB?

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One To Watch Books: Your Guide to May YA Releases April showers bring May.....BOOKS! We're got SOOOO many #YA releases in May, so let's get reading!

[takebackthedream]

Terrible Working Conditions at Auto Plants as States Race to the Bottom by Dave Johnson

Some states have cut worker safety protections and made it difficult for unions to do their job. They say they do this to attract jobs and businesses. What they are really doing is hurting human beings in their race to the bottom, and the nation is following their lead.

Lowering Wage And Safety Standards

What happens when a state lowers wage and safety standards and keeps unions out to attract jobs? Peter Waldman at Bloomberg BusinessWeek took a look at Alabama, where  auto parts makers like Ajin USA and the Matcor-Matsu Group Inc. have set up shop to service the automakers like Kia and Hyundai who have set up shop in the state. The results are are even worse than you might expect.

  Waldman profiles workers like 20-year-old Regina Elsea, who worked 12-hour shifts for Ajin at $8.75 an hour, seven days a week, in the hopes of moving from temporary to full time status. What happened instead? She was pinned against a steel dashboard frame by an out-of-control robot, and kiled.

  He also profiles Cordney Crutcher, who lost his left pinkie when a hole puncher misfired and caught him off guard at the end of a 12-hour shift.

  He was put on a press that had been acting up all day. It worked fine until he was 10 parts away from finishing, and then a cast-iron hole puncher failed to deploy. Crutcher didn’t realize it. Suddenly the puncher fired and snapped on his finger. “I saw my meat sticking out of the bottom of my glove,” he says.

Why do workers face such dangerous conditions? Waldman explains.

Parts suppliers in the American South compete for low-margin orders against suppliers in Mexico and Asia. They promise delivery schedules they can’t possibly meet and face ruinous penalties if they fall short. Employees work ungodly hours, six or seven days a week, for months on end. Pay is low, turnover is high, training is scant, and And, of course, if the injured can find a lawyer in a state where “tort reform” has limited access to the courts, how much good does a bit of money do? ” ‘I’d rather have my arm back any day,’ Allen says.”

You get the idea. When governments remove regulations and protections to be “pro business” the result is that the people the government is supposed to be watching out for are endangered, and they take more risks in exchange for lower pay. This is what happens when a government becomes corrupted and no longer operates as the agent of the people, and instead operates to facilitate profit for a few.

Note that the Trump administration is working to cut protections and regulations nationally, including cutting out the OSHA record-keeping rule. Interfaith Worker Justice warns that the Labor Department is cutting job and safety training programs “that will affect the most vulnerable Americans.”

Who Really Benefits?

When states become corrupted and cut protections and regulations the regular people in those states certainly do not benefit. They end up with low-pay crap jobs and the state uses its power to fight their ability to band together in unions.

When states throw in tax cuts it means the people in the states don’t get good schools, infrastructure, services, either.

But wait, there’s more. When a company moves to such states the working people where the companies and jobs moved from lose their jobs, and everyone else in those states faces wage pressure as a result. And those communities lose their revenue base so their schools, infrastructure, services suffer as well.

And who is to say that yet another state won’t offer even lower pay and fewer protections to ‘compete” for the businesses? It is a race to the bottom.

If you look at our country as a whole instead of as competing states, we all end up poorer in aggregate, with lower pay, worse schools, etc. If the first state had $100 jobs at $20 an hour, but now the second state has those jobs at $10 an hour, that’s a loss of $10 an hour to the working people of the country. The people who get the jobs are poorer because they pay less, and the people where the jobs were are poorer, too.

Ass the tax base declines, and schools, infrastructure and the rest suffer the longer-term ability for business to prosper goes away. In other words, after we eat the seed-corn of our prosperity, we starve.

Or, to put it another way, look at what has happened to our country in the years since the late 1970s deregulation and “tax revolution.”

“I’ll Be Gone, You’ll Be Gone”

Who benefits? Who actually gets the money that is cut from budgets and wages and protections as states compete for businesses and jobs? Who gets that $10 an hour difference from the above example?

People say, if a business (or state inn this example) harms its ability to do well in the future, that’s not very smart. This is because they look at the business as some kind of sentient entity that makes decisions.

But people make decisions, not “companies.” And people might not be making decision to benefit their companies, they might be making decisions to benefit themselves.

“IBGYBG,” or “I’ll be gone, you’ll be gone” is an actual thing. I’ve gotten my profit, commission, payoff, whatever, and it doesn’t matter what follows.

The money from selling out our future (and corrupting governments by paying off politicians to sell out our future) has gone to the executives and investors in those businesses at the time. These individuals sell out everyone else for cash they pocket today. They sell out the future of the companies they are fleecing and the communities they drain, so they can pocket the assets and seed corn for themselves today.

What To Do?

The first thing to do is understand that arguments for cutting regulations, taxes, protections, etc. are self-serving arguments designed to enrich a few people at the time, at the expense of the rest of us and our future. After they get rich they’ll be gone and the rest of us are left to try to pick up the pieces. Or, to put it another way, look around and see what has happened to us.

The next thing to do is refresh our understanding of democracy and government. We the People are supposed to be in charge here and our government is supposed to exist to make our lives better. Government is us, decision-making by We the People. People who want “smaller” or less government” are really saying they want less decision-making by We the People. When they say government is “burdensome” or “inefficient” or “government gets in the way” they are saying democracy and decision-making by We the People is hindering their ability to get more for themselves.

Finally, once you understand these things, get active and demand that taxes and regulations and protections and government be restored so we can all share together in the prosperity that democracy brings us — all of us together, collectively — over the longer term. We have to stop the ability of a few wealthy people and their corporations to pay governments to do things that benefit them at the expense of the rest of us.

This includes calling your representative and senators and telling them you demand a restoration of democracy. What will restore democracy? As unpopular as it may sound, it’s taxes, regulations and protections. Because these provide the oversight, transparency and accountability that keep our workplaces safe, and our democratic government alive.