[world-vedic] vediculture digest

[Guest guest]

Haribol Vrins,

 

This is the latest on the political front.

 

A New Political Party based upon the Vedic Ideals: Mother*s Liberation and

ROOPA

 

Having been separated from my parents as a kid has allowed me to recognize

the same trend and justifications they hide behind here in America at large.

They are doing the same thing as ISKCON who sent mom’s off to collect money

for the greater cause and with the same results: kids neglected and abused in

the institutions that are to care for them. The difference is that its better

masked behind the larger numbers of a national society and more carefully

justified behind America’s religious imperative of economic development-their

religion. Anyone who thought the neglect and abuse of children and women was

an issue should now stand together on this issue today. It’s a second chance

to do something.

 

The only difference between my efforts at reform then and Mother*s Liberation

today is that we now have a network of people ready to stand together to

tackle such a cause. This is what Mother*s Liberation is all about.

 

On the Vedic front, Mother*s Liberation is part of a greater picture. The

premise is that vice and virtue, good and bad activities have an economic

outcome-good is profitable, bad is expensive. Today’s economic system

subsidizes the cost of vices by those engaged in virtue like our families and

moms. We request that virtue simply be allowed a small share of its

"profits." This principle is headed by Mother*s Liberation.

 

Secondly, those engaged in vice should now cover the full cost of their

activities such as smoking and drinking. We spend $100 billion a year on

tobacco related medical cost for example. And no, the present tobacco taxes

don’t come close to covering their medical cost. This is the principle of

ROOPA and discussed in later chapters of the book: The Economics of Love. If

you would like copies of these chapters, please let me know. If such vices as

smoking and meat eating cost society billions, then the preacher who inspires

a person to give up the ways of vice is offering society a great deal in

economic savings. It comes to millions of dollars in savings to society for

every person who becomes a follower of Vedic culture and gives up these vices

of smoking, drinking, meat eating etc.

 

These two principles of economic rewards for those engaged in virtue and

penalty fines for those engaged in vice recreates varnasrama and the Vedic

ideal. All those who would like to see this, please join our efforts. This is

the social political platform I present as an outline for us to work from as

a follower of the Veda's led movement of reform.

 

The following is to a young lady and friend who responded to the first

chapter, Super Mom. This letter summarizes the issues and purpose of Mother*s

Liberation.

 

 

Dear E....:

 

Once again, it was a pleasure to read your sound reasoning and sharp retort.

I was amused at how predictable your responses, but well stated all the same.

I ask right off though, if you like what you hear, join us in this Mother*s

Liberation Movement.

 

Your letter started off with the obvious, "don't call me dear," for all forms

of respect to our parents, family, neighbors and women are at best corny.

More often, they are only seen as degrading -- "patronizing." Don't open the

door for a feminist. It's patronizing. Opening doors is reserved for

celebrities. Of course, hotels open doors for all of their customers. Its

just "common" courtesy.

 

Terms of respect and endearment in this society are reserved for customers at

work no matter how insulting they or our boss may treat us. It's always: yes

sir, yes ma'am. It's professional.

 

This same treatment, however, is degrading if offered in any other social

setting. Well, its OK if writing women on behalf of business. In this case,

they are always addressed as "DEAR" customer, though they are not our "girl

friend or 3 years old." It's good enough for business, but not for us, the

common folk.

 

You see, such "professional" courtesies are reserved for the rich, their

business, their events and their families. It should not be used for the

common folk, friends, acquaintances, women etc. This is becoming our social

protocol. This makes sense given that business is the only recognized sacred

cow of our day. Business is its temple, our boss, its head priest, its

customer, the devotee and the wealthy, the ones to have attained salvation.

The old sacred cows are almost taboo, no longer is it the earth, our

communities, our family, women and mom.

 

For the rest of societies mere mortals, one proves their mantle by how will

they can "diss" -humiliate and cut others down. We can always count on TV,

movies and comedians to offer us hours of entertaining lessons how to diss

your friends, family, coworkers and the rest. The media provides us with all

the reasons to be so defensive. They give us an endless cast of characters

who are either "a dog," or a conniving, manipulative and evil person or just

plain old stupid. Where should we begin, Married with Children or Living

Color or Cops?

 

Your letter then moves right in to demonizing all mothers because of the few

bad-apples. Talk about generalization. Alex Smith who murdered her own

children of course being the exception, not the rule to the worlds couple

billion moms.

 

You give us dire warning of the back lash to this new "welfare" program.

Welfare reform is based upon getting moms into jobs. Mother*s Liberation will

do this far more efficiently and cost effectively then any and all other

programs combined.

 

Today's present welfare reform is a bonanza for employers. Companies are

generously offered hundreds of millions in subsidizes. There's the cash to

subsidize the hourly wage. Benefits such as health care and child care are

still offered by the government. There is further savings from things as

lowered safety precautions required for the other employees. It means more

injuries to our welfare moms which of course is paid by Uncle Sam. Have you

been reading about all these different welfare reform programs they've been

coming up with across the country? It sounds so much like a corporate welfare

give away.

 

"Welfare's crack moms" are now suddenly transformed into productive members

of society because they "work." Of course work by government definition means

any activity that does not include helping your own family. They will never

recognize family care as productive social "work" unless its government doing

it. A low income mom is just "a crack addict" or at best a stay-at-home,

do-nothing mom.

 

Many of these welfare to work programs are community service projects done

for nothing more then one's welfare check. There is no other pay. These

community projects mean anything but tending to ones own child. Their kids

are sent off to preschool so these "crack moms" can now perform worth while

menial jobs like cleaning parks, trash cans and the sides of freeways. You

would almost think they were trying to punish these moms.

 

All and all, government pays quite a bit to send these moms off to work. Odd

how it appears like some corporate welfare scheme. It would be a great deal

cheaper and more productive to have mom care for her own kids. This is all we

propose, but then, many business interest stand to lose-big. As you say, this

will never happen. Yet, is there a more worthy pursuit then bringing our

family together again?

 

As for middle class mom's having to subsidize Head Start programs for the

poor, well, this is the current system. If middle class moms are not happy

with this arrangement, they should demand government to include their kids.

 

Again, we are not talking about introducing lots of new programs and bigger

budgets. These programs are already in effect. We only ask that mom be

allowed the same right as everyone else enjoys. They should be allowed to bid

on these family services for half the cost-if their kid presently qualifies.

Why do people have a problem with mom caring for her own child over strangers

who charge twice as much?

 

You finish on the mistaken impression that most nursing homes or preschool

overhead is spent primarily on teachers. Its not.

 

Head Start programs in California cost $13,000 per child. Using your example

of 24 students per class, the government is charging us $300,000 dollars per

class. As you pointed out, government only pays $16.00 per hour for your 2

teacher example. What happens to the rest of that $300,000? The rest goes to

management and consultants, buildings, buses, janitors, etc. This bureaucracy

is all eliminated in mom's home child care operation. That's where the

savings are had. That's why she can offer better service though only charging

half the price or $7,000 a year. In short, this system would tend to twice as

many kids or nearly 50 children on the same $300,000. Each child with their

own personalized "teacher," their mom. This system offers a better service

for twice as many kids. At the same time, it employs 50 women instead of just

two teachers and as such, this offers government far more tax revenue. I hope

this clarifies the math for you.

 

Nursing home abuses such as the one used in my essay from Chapter 1 is not

the exception as you mentioned but rampant. That's why its so scary. One in 4

nursing homes are listed as having "SEVERE DEFICIENCIES THAT ENDANGER

PEOPLE'S HEALTH OR THEIR LIVES, according to a recent federal study. (This

means these "homes" are death traps for our parents) Advocates for reform say

THAT FIGURE IS LOW, and they note that the aging of the baby-boom generation

promises to exacerbate the problem."

 

It gets better. Listen to this: "Two-thirds of all nursing homes in

California were in violation of minimum government (sub) standards. 30% were

in "grave" violation."

 

Having two-thirds of all nursing homes in violation of minimum standards is

far from the exception. Its the vast majority. Are moms really going to be

more difficult to regulate or prove worse then today's commercial nursing

homes? Its going to take a lot to beat nursing homes bad record.

 

You are right that mom should qualify herself like other nurses. They may not

need to learn every ailment known to man. They are not caring for hundreds of

patients like other nurses. They are only tending to just one or two. They

only need familiarize themselves with the medical requirements specific to

their parent. Yes, there is training like any of today's jobs.

 

You point out that this system requires extended family. Mom can't do it

alone like in your example of lifting a parent from bed. My grandmother did.

She took care of her husband, then her mother-in-law, then her sister. She

did it alone.

 

My mother sells insurance. She said 90% of all long term nursing home care in

Hawaii is custodial not medical which means feeding, cleaning up after them

and other such simple nonmedical services.

 

In this system we present, mom is like any other business. This is discussed

in Chapter 3 called Mother*s Franchise. I will send it out in a few days. Mom

will also hire employees. Nursing homes charge $50,000 to $80,000 per

patient. Hawaii charges a whooping $7,000 a month, $85,000 a year. Mom will

tend to her parents for just half this cost or $42,500. Nursing homes pay

nurses a lot less, but their bureaucracy eats up the difference. They are a

bloated, inefficient operation -- a corruption in comparison to mom. You did

not account for this total cost in your "fair" calculations. You only counted

the cost for nurses, not the entire fee charged by nursing homes per

patient-big difference.

 

Mom can hire her extended family. The family can work together again at long

last. The family is the most cost effective system to meet our social,

community and family needs. This system simply recreates this natural way of

things. It also employs more people. It spreads the money to more families

then the commercial models of investor based nursing homes. Therefore more

people make better incomes and so government collects more revenue.

 

You asked if I ever cared for kids or a senior "day in and day out." I was a

monitor, teacher assistant, in Vrindavan. That's the boarding school in India

where your husband also went. I was responsible for and lived with 8 to 12

kids, ages 7 to 14 in one room. I put them to sleep, dressed and bathed them.

I took them out to play and chanted mornings and evenings with them for our

mediations. We cleaned the school and our cloths all by hand. I was by their

side from 3:30 am to 9 PM, 7 days a week. I was 15 at the time.

 

Your husband may remember when I ran the infirmary. At any given time, we had

10 to 15 kids with typhoid, malaria, jaundice and diarrhea. This is what

summer would bring with its 100 degree temperatures. I only had a part time

helper. I did it all from cooking-cabbage and carrots for there was no other

food; to giving their medication pills-on occasion without water. I cleaned

up their diarrhea or helped them to the bathroom where they were greeted with

clogged toilets and no water. I sponged them down with kopans-Indian

underwear because we had no other cloth and poured ice water over their

bodies. This was our answer to any fever over 102. I had become so proficient

at taking temperatures, I could accurately tell their fever within seconds of

feeling their forehead. A couple times, the thermometers read 106. These

kids should have died. There was no way to reach the hospital on time so we

just soaked them in ice. I was 16 or so at the time. Your husband may

remember it well. Did I feel overwhelmed, scared and lonely? Certainly. Did I

do a good job? No, I was terrible, but I do know what its like to be in that

position.

 

One summer Dhanur dhara sent about 20 of us to the Himalayan's to go

"preaching." Prabhav and I were the two monitors to help Niragadev, the only

teacher. He was 4 or 5 years older then us. I later find out he was gay. He

was there to be worshiped by the kids more then to care for them. Prabhav and

I cared of the kids. Almost every one of us got terribly sick, but we ran out

of money for doctor, food and shelter. We didn't even have enough money for a

return trip back to Vrindavan. He spent the last of it on a telegram to

Dhanur dhara, the principle. We where stranded in the Himalayas for couple

weeks with no money and very sick before the principle finally got there. We

did programs-singing and speeches for Indians-who would feed us or put us up

for the night. We almost got beat up on a couple occasions and the list goes

on. So to answer your question, yes I know what its like to take care of kids

"day in and day out" under duress and with no money while stranded in far

flung corners of the world.

 

Now for the "domestic goddess." You have a real problem with her. I'm not

sure how or in what context this term was coined. I'm assuming it's negative,

invented by someone with disdain for a women's role as a mom. I'd be more

comfortable with Mother Goddess-Mata Devi. After all, what is implied by

goddess? What does a goddess do:? She's the giver of life, health, happiness,

prosperity and good fortune. Such things are nothing short of miraculous.

They're divine-a divine power. Does mom give anything less?

 

Just last month, the LA times mentioned a study showing that if a mom's work

was done by a professional, it would cost over a half million, $500,000

dollars A YEAR. In ten years, $5 million dollars. Over a life time, how much

does she offer us, $10 million, 20 million?

 

Every good mom is offering her family, her husband, her community and her

child the equivalent value of a winning lottery ticket. How much would you

thank God, your angels and lucky stars if you won a $5 million or a $20

million dollar lottery paid out over 30 years? If I had to find an economic

expression to describe my Italian grandmothers, well this would be it.

 

How about a Hilton Hotel prize of $500,000 in service. How thankful would we

be for this? This would include, breakfast, lunch and dinner for the whole

family. Laundry, room cleaning, and arrangements for all family events like

weddings, anniversary, graduations, birthday parties, greeting all visiting

guest and covering the kids play and sports activities. It would offer

counseling, beauty salon, office services like calls, faxing, book work and

budgeting. Let's not forget the personalized baby sitting, tutoring, fashion

director, interior design and shopping. First aid and nursing would also be

included for family and friends. Stressed out, they have a friendly ear,

offer moral support and share family history, stories and other one on one

entertainment. As a final bonus, we get to make love to a beautiful young

lady who loves us and who we adore. How much is this worth? Ask the guys at

the strip club. $15 every 3 minutes-hundreds for the evening, thousands for

the week.

 

In other words, this Hilton give away would include all the "little" things

our beloved wife and mom do for us everyday. What guy would not go for such a

deal? This is what the do-nothing, stay-at-home mom does. Hilton Hotel would

charge us a half million dollars or more for a package like this. All mom ask

for is room and board, a little petty cash, and a helping hand. Often, she

does not even ask for appreciation and too often does not get it. This is the

world she offers in that little "I love you." This is the value of her

offering to be your wife, the mother of our children and a life partner.

 

Why should her work not be recognized in title and pay to Hiltons? It's only

because she is so modest? She doesn't really think much of it. It's just

natural to her. She enjoys it. She takes it for granted. We should not. Fewer

and fewer women are allowed the option of motherhood and fewer and fewer

children are allowed that good fortune of having one. The results are

obvious: Children with lost lives or expensive government programs to

compensate.

 

We have the politicians, media and other experts who absolutely refuse to

recognize her. Any mention of honor is met with immediate condemnation.

There's the titles like "domestic goddess" and "do-nothing moms" to the nasty

comparisons to welfare's crack addicts and Alex Smith. Sound familiar?

 

Why don't they ever choose Bill Clinton's welfare mom or Newt Gingrich as

examples of welfare moms? Ironic how the year of "welfare reform" was done

when the president of the United States and the speaker of the house and

leader of the Republican party where both products of the disdained welfare

mom. We didn't have ivy league university graduates leading the countries top

political brass, but kids of welfare moms.

 

Recognizing mom for her work is treated as an affront to women. Why is it

treated as a zero sum game? If mom is recognized with respect and pay, they

try and convince us that all other career opportunities will somehow vanish

and all rights gained for women will be lost? Women can still pursue other

careers and keep her rights in the work place, even if mom is finally paid

for her work. They are not mutually exclusive.

 

If men do mom's work, they too should be recognized. Again, it's not a zero

sum game. However, they generally do get recognition and pay. Its called

nursing homes, and hotels and preschool. These are men's institutions, a

man's way of dealing with kids and family: Pay someone to take care of them.

 

You see, men are smart. When I a man does something, he gives himself titles,

postures on how important it is and charges a lot of money. It's nice when

mom cooks, but when a guy does it, well, he's a chef. Of course, a chef is a

job post at work. True, but even when he cooks at home, its quite a

production. You may have heard of it. It's called a barbecue. They spend

$10,000 to $40,000 on new patio's and equipment, invite their friends and

turn it into a neighborhood event. He may only cook once a year, but everyone

body is going to know about it.

 

It's time mom gets this kind of recognition for her cooking and work. She's a

chef, and every other work title man has invented for himself when he does

her work: secretary, fashion and interior designer, counselor. tutor, beauty

solon consultant and the list goes on. This is pretty much all the Mother*s

Liberation does. We simply identify all the job descriptions of a mom's work

and asked that it be recognized as they would any other professional. That

starts by allowing her to bid on her families care like any other

professional.

 

Did you ever wonder what motive multinationals could have in getting mom into

the workforce? Well, more workers always means lower wages. Take women out of

the work force and wages would increase dramatically. Maybe by as much as two

to four times as much. Don't think this is lost to multinationals. Women also

work harder for less money then a man and they will do so more quietly,

submissively and in good faith. How many billions does this save

multinationals? As a side bonus, corporate American can replace her home

services at a market potential worth trillions. They win all the way around.

 

Did you really think these corporations were just being good Samaritans when

they sponsored the feminist movement? No surprise then that the media plays

up the joys, drama and glamour of the working women and the drags of love,

marriage and children.

 

This society seems to cringe at the idea of marriage. Marriage seems a last

resort or after thought to one getting old, an accidental pregnancy, feeling

lonely, or the need to settle down in life. How often is marriage recognized

to be as eventful as winning the lottery? This society is blind to the value

of a mother's love. It's shunned. Our government is so backwards they think

it better to put her to "work" cleaning public restrooms and trash cans then

caring for her children. How can such a government ever be asked to lead when

so blind-so heartless? They have such contempt for mom. How much do these

jobs, this "work," compromise the millions in service she would otherwise

offer to her community, family and child?

 

Look at your own work as a wife and as a mom. You are offering millions in

service. You should be recognized as such. You have brought a new life, a new

hope, a new future and a new joy to this world. What else would a goddess do?

What goddess could do more?

 

Don't you think our politicians should finally recognize this? Don't you

think our men need to finally see the truth, and understand this treasure we

call our wife and our mom? How bout our own children? Don't you think our

children should know what privilege they were born into to have a loving mom?

There is no such thing as family values until our mom is honored. She is the

beginning and end of family. Are you ready to change all this? At least we

must try. Are you ready to join Mother*s Liberation?