In times like these, being a citizen is a big job. Thank you for joining us to celebrate the virtues of self-rule and debate the state of our republic. Welcome to the Citizens Prerogative podcast.

This is your nerdy host Michael Piscitelli, and I am here to share the news that we don't have a new episode for you this week. None of the behind-the-scenes, no in-front-of-the-scenes, nor anything in-between.

Instead, just this message: Please join us again next week by staying subscribed so you can receive the latest episode hot off the podcast maker.

Until then, feel free to yell at us from the contact us page at citizendogood.com or on Facebook.

Thank you for listening and staying subscribed.

• How can capitalism be merged into the doughnut economic model?
• How can we have a system that facilitates the creation of new businesses without the burden on the biosphere of unending economic growth and profits?
• How do we get to something more sustainable?
• Our proposal:
  • Start-up - private validation and growth cycle
    • Corporate entity
    • Private shares and seed capital through peer-to-peer investing platforms
  • Growth - public cycle growth cycle
    • Corporate entity
    • Conversion to publicly traded shares
  • Sustainability - community reinvestment cycle for the common good
    • Non-profit entity
    • Employee ownership
    • Strictly limited ownership access through publicly traded shares
• Calls to Action:
  • Consider opportunities for your ideas to start a business.
    • Maybe there is a product you would love to improve or a service you can provide that is in demand.
    • How much would it cost to begin selling a product or marketing a service?
    • Where and how would you find customers and sell the product or service?
    • Then check out the amounts you might be able to raise through existing peer or group lending platforms.
    • Also, save some seed money from other jobs, pay a little out of pocket as you go, or consider borrowing part of the funds you need. But do your best not to borrow or take risks with your or other people's nest eggs.
  • Support local leaders in business and civics that are willing and capable of trying something new to spur the coming of the next great economy. One such potentially revolutionary idea is to support new avenues of providing access to training and funding for aspiring entrepreneurs and new businesses.
  • Share with us what you think about these ideas on our sponsor's Facebook page Citizen Do Good.
• Honorable mentions:
  • Doughnut Model (previous episodes)
    • • S2 E25 | New Economics a la Doughnut
      • S3 E45 | Doughnut Time: Our Sustainable Responsibility

  • Hippocratic Oath (National Institutes of Health)

  • Biomimicry (Biomimicry Institute)

  • SBA Loan Guarantee Program Info (pdf from U.S. Government site)

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.

• Our ongoing supporters, thank you!
• Our sponsor CitizenDoGood.com.
• Graphic design by SergeShop.com.
• Intro music sampled from “Okay Class” by Ozzy Jock under creative commons license through freemusicarchive.org.
• Other music provided royalty-free through Fesliyan Studios Inc.

• The first amendment holds many liberties that are of the utmost importance to self-rule. One, in particular, was captured in the first 16 words of the amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

• It was designed this way because many founders had no interest in the tyranny of theocratic regimes. They were farmers, lawyers, businessmen, and plantation owners. Many founders did not even subscribe to a religious tradition or church. Nor did they want to be forced to live under the rules of one.
• The government is meant to have a live and let live under our laws and policy. Like all citizens are subject to our laws, so are people in groups.
• Organizations can get tax-advantaged status as non-profit or venture capital churches. The government should not respect an establishment of religion by providing a tax-free ride.
• Let's talk about what prohibiting the free exercise of religion looks like:
  • Police raids on churches and parish leaders.
  • Bogus charges will put followers behind bars or perhaps die in police custody.
  • Religious groups getting denied applications to organize a non-profit or acquire wealth or property for the church.
  • Harassment, threats, and violence as authorities look on and no recourse comes from the courts.
• The first amendment does not give rights to businesses to discriminate against customers because of religious beliefs. Selling a product to a customer has nothing to do with exercising religion.
• There can be no religious test to run for elected office either since our laws do not respect any establishment of religion.
• Calls to Action:
  • One of the best ways to break down divides is to ask questions and find common ground with those in our communities that are different from us.
  • Whatever you believe, seek out someone who believes differently and see if you can appreciate what you have in common as humans.
  • Seek out and vote for representatives that fight to preserve our first amendment rights.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.

• Our ongoing supporters, thank you!
• Our sponsor CitizenDoGood.com.
• Graphic design by SergeShop.com.
• Intro music sampled from “Okay Class” by Ozzy Jock under creative commons license through freemusicarchive.org.
• Other music provided royalty-free through Fesliyan Studios Inc.

• On monuments: Why they are important and under what conditions they serve us the best.
• Challenges with venerating ancestors.
• Effective ways to venerate ancestors.
• Opportunity to keep alive the valuable ideas of our ancestors and inspire a shared symbology that aligns with the principles of a more perfect union.
• We accidentally do not have a transcript for this episode. We did provide a copy of the public comment that MVP provided to the Monuments & Memorials Committee of San Francisco.
• Calls to Action:
  • This is truly a grassroots activity and one where citizens can force a lot of change. Throughout our local communities, there are monuments to the humans that came before us. Inspiring as they may be, their shortcomings are controversial and distracting nonetheless.
  • Identify these examples of ancestor veneration in your community. Approach your local representatives on the county or town council to understand the motivation for the art and how it may be symbolized in another non-human-specific way.
  • Speak with your neighbors in the local community and understand their perspectives on this topic and whether they might be interested in supporting a change for our children's sake at the least.
  • Speak with local artists to understand why kind of symbology might make sense to express the valuable ideals of the figure to be replaced. We want to honor the valuable lessons learned from the past so as not to fall victim to repeating our mistakes.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.

• Our ongoing supporters, thank you!
• Our sponsor CitizenDoGood.com.
• Graphic design by SergeShop.com.
• Intro music sampled from “Okay Class” by Ozzy Jock under creative commons license through freemusicarchive.org.
• Other music provided royalty-free through Fesliyan Studios Inc.

• Just as the allied nations of World Wars past continue to battle in the struggle against tyranny, we as individuals need to be allies of the common good.
• Equal liberty and justice under the law can only be established if the plurality of Americans that have an equal footing to gain band together in solidarity. Especially those who are least wealthy among us, which represent 98% regardless of ethnic or religious identity.
• What does this look like?
  • For the LGBTQ+, it looks like a straight military veteran who jumps into action to take down an armed mass shooter in one of their nightclubs.
  • For the curious young mind, it looks like a brave teacher or librarian who risks their livelihood to provide a banned book or discuss cogent subject matters.
  • For the black person being refused service, it looks like the other employees behind the counter who shut down their confused coworkers and poor business acumen.
  • For anyone who is being ridiculed because of their color, shape, size or other aspects of who they are, it looks like the anti-bully who puts an attacker in their place.
  • For immigrants, it is the person who reminds us that this country was built by and is fed from the labor of slaves and immigrants.
  • For the religious or nones, it looks like mutual respect for a live-and-let-live way of life: The essence of liberty.
• Calls to Action:
  • We need to stand up for our human dignity during our battle for liberty and justice by standing up for each other everywhere, in every way that we can.
  • We need to recognize the real string of bullies that have been ascending various thrones from business to politics and stop promoting their messages.
  • We need to meet each moment prepared to speak truth to power in the halls where we walk and call out divisive commentary and thinking as we encounter it from others.
  • We need to show care to one another, especially when it is unexpected.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.

• Our ongoing supporters, thank you!
• Our sponsor CitizenDoGood.com.
• Graphic design by SergeShop.com.
• Intro music sampled from “Okay Class” by Ozzy Jock under creative commons license through freemusicarchive.org.
• Other music provided royalty-free through Fesliyan Studios Inc.

• It has been a while since we discussed the idea of freedom in the United States and this time around we’re marrying it up with the pursuit of happiness. We’re also going to lean into some Stoic teachings to help guide our discussion.
• Freedom is the ability to use one's own agency to affect change in their life. Whether that be to change one's class, profession, companions, or one's own mind. This embodies the freedom to pursue happiness.
• Government acts as the civilian interface between individuals and groups. It mediates the boundaries where our lives intersect. The law is there to bring those conflicts to a conclusion and deconflict our freedom to pursue happiness.
• Together, they should keep others from treading too heavily on our pursuit of happiness and keep us from trespassing on others.
• Now, how best to choose a life for one's self? How shall we make ourselves accountable for pursuing happiness? There is nothing in school or church that truly prepares one to live a fulfilling purpose-driven life. That one is on us to figure out through self-reflection to achieve greater self-awareness.
• Calls to Action:
  • We all have a limited time here on Earth, try not to spend too much of it angry, fearful, or wanting. Look for any reason to be grateful. Focus your energy on what is in your control, not outside of it.
  • Learn more about fulfilling your purpose, something you feel compelled to create, which is all part of the pursuit of happiness. Explore it, grow it, and share it with others for community's sake.
  • It is up to each of us to find our path in life and seek fulfillment through growth and community building. If we are not building community as we move through our careers and lives, our purpose seems aimless. We will fall short in using our freedom to pursue happiness.
  • Learn more about the history of the United States and philosophy, in general, to get grounded in something closer to fact than fiction.
    • Philosophy, we have a special reverence for Stoicism, teaches us how to think well and develop an ever-growing awareness of things.
    • Learn something new often. The truth is documented, that was done before our time or the time of the internet.
    • Books, magazines, documentaries, podcasts, and online course lectures are good too.
    • Join Citizen Do Good's newsletter and get your FREE Guide to Good Thinking today. It has practical steps to think well, be well, and make better decisions dear citizens. Build beautiful new mental skills today. Check us out and help to form a more perfect union one mind at a time!

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

• We have transcripts located at the end of each podcast episode's page on our site. Check it out, but know this: It's all AI and not us. So thank you in advance for forgiving any and all errors.
• Please feel free to share your thoughts through our Contact Us page or like us on Facebook.
• Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this podcast are for listener consideration and are not necessarily those of the show or its sponsors.

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.

• Our ongoing supporters, thank you!
• Our sponsor CitizenDoGood.com.
• Graphic design by SergeShop.com.
• Intro music sampled from “Okay Class” by Ozzy Jock under creative commons license through freemusicarchive.org.
• Other music provided royalty-free through Fesliyan Studios Inc.