Rob, I am pretty politically savvy, (although I tend to follow a particualr political school of thought, though not to a tee....) and if you want to PM me with more specifics, I would be interested in hearing them.

AA has changed the way I view certain political situations. My view on health care in general has changed since AA. (Not going to go into it here, don't want to start catching heads on fire, including my own!! LOL)

But it sounds as if something pretty serious is at stake here. Don't forget to PRAY for guidance. And find someone in AA, if you can, who understands and is interested in the cause.

My state was considering allowing a foreign company to BUY the rights to teh Ohio Turnpike. They would give the state a big bunch of money in a lump sum, and then not only reap all the profits and set their own prices for tolls, but they would be in charge of the kind of maintenance done on the roadway. My husband works for a company that is contracted with the current Ohio Turnpike Commission, abd were this foreign company to purchase the "Pike", his company would have been in jeopardy of losing 70% if their business to a lesser-bidding company, who woudl be ill-equipped to handle the kind of chemical spills and catastrophes that happen there on a regular basis. So not only was it amatter of Public Health, it meant possibly cutting the workforce down to less than half in that company, which employs hard working blue collar families, affording them a good honest wage, medical coverage and the like.

I understand wanting to get involved. I don't know to what extent you are willing to or capable of fighting your battle though... how woudl it impact your fmaily if you didn't? How wil it impact your family and your sobriety if you DO? What if you fight the good fight and your cause loses? Are you willing to have realistic expectations? These are sobriety-related questions that, in my opinion, are very important to ask ourselves before taking any new major cause on.

When I started earning my recovery one of the things I learned to re-do was laugh.
Even the word politics cracks me up.  I won't belittle your concern just had to
mention how loose and relaxed I got after the "fear of" was gone. 

I learned to ask myself a question when I was facing investigation prior to a choice
and the question was, "Could I be wrong".  That question helped the investigation and
lessen the reaction to what I was being concerned about.   Knowledge is security and
power and the truth does set me free.

Continue to hold it up to the light of the serenity prayer and gain new perspectives
of the situation.

Good thread Rob, thanks.    

Great post Rob. As others have said on here, AA is not about being a door-mat or relinquishing your citizenship and rights. "Acceptance is the answer" doesn't mean that you just sit there like a stone and let things happen to you. It was just that kind of approach to life that helped feed my passive aggressiveness (a big ol character defect of mine) which in turn I treated by what I thought was solace in the pubs.

A while back, I was on another AA forum when some guys were more or less saying that "acceptance is the answer" meant that we even had to let people keep smacking us in the head. I literally lol'd when an old-timer guy retorted along the lines of "let's say that someone was siphoning off my bank account -- just sitting back and accepting that would be lunacy."

One thing though: are you sure that this bill will shut down your business? I work in the law. There are a lot of people out there who, with ANY legislative initiative will say that this means that all life will cease as we know it. I was involved in dealing with some lobbying on one of these issues about 5 years ago. The measure in question was passed, and it literally has had NO discernible impact on the area in question. I'm not doubting you, just relaying my own experience with these things.

But being in AA does not preclude us from getting involved in politics. Heck, the Big Book even goes into great fanfare about how AA number 3 got involved a political campaign in recovery, etc. And there have been a number of high-profile politicians who have been in AA (we won't get into the anonymity issues) and I'll bet many more who have chosen to preserve their anonymity.

Steve

turninggrey wrote:

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I find its much easier to just listen to Rush Limbaugh and just do whatever he says. That way I do not have to do any actual thinking.

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Bwaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

Hey AM,
I just looked at the bill and its supporters and it seems to be all the usual characters. Just on the face of it, I wrote a quick email to Senator Jim Demint to be on the lookout and vote down this bill. Good Luck!
Tom

Aquaman wrote:

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Ya see, it's the Performance Rights Act. The rhetoric behind the act is nice "musicians should get more money for their work." Sure. I like that. Where is the money going to come from? AM & FM radio stations will pay either a "per song tax" or if they make less than $1.25 million a year (us) a flat fee of $5000 per station annually.

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Wow - it sounds like you boys over there have been listening to the way we do it over here - if you play recorded music publicly, you gotta pay the artist, that means if you have a radio station, you pay per play (about 10 cents a record). If you have a bar with a jukebox, or have a background music system, you need a licence and pay a flat fee to the Performing Rights Society, who pay out the artists.

IMO - seems fair and reasonable.

as for how much music do I buy as a result of hearing it on the radio - not that much as most radio over here is commercial pop pap. Most of my music purchasing comes from Advertising, Gigs, friends recomendations and a desire to actually hear the music I 'listened' to when off my face on Brown Ale.