Statements, cartoons, or other imagery throughout our website may call into question our political neutrality. Here's the rub:
We recognize the value of the Merchant throughout history, if not the current corporate paradigm, and the politically neutral stance that is expected from them. Yet we must balance with that the nature and intention of our particular kind of business. One that promotes quiet, efficient, clean, resource rational, environmentally friendly forms of transportation. Is our company policy one that attracts tree huggers and hippies (new age or the originals)? Well, yeah, some of them too. But we are, as a group, about concern for the group, the whole group, and that simply puts us on one side of the line, then, doesn't it?
We at Scoot On This! LLC are all very proud to live in a Blue State. The values of Oregonians has always been recognized as being more adventurous and experimental, shall we say, by the rest of the country. Those darned ol' Wild West folks out there, always trying new things. Breaking from tradition. Starting a new way of life for themselves way out there by themselves...
Ok, so we are who we are, and hope to remain who we are - and still be successful merchants amongst the more conservative corporate packs of wolves seeking only the biggest bottom line. Sure, we could probably make more money remaining neutral, but if we don't succeed in living up to our beliefs, then we will never succeed in anything. Our representatives in Washington would do well to be less concerned about elections if it costs them their fidelity to the ideas and beliefs of the voters that put them there.
If we offend, we can only say it is not our intention. Come on people. Let's have some humor and at the same time acknowledge the intense dualism that exists in our country and communities. Shades of grey are getting less and less visible. Black and white rules. The intense individualism and "me first" mentality on the one hand, and the soppy emotionalists towards some "greater good" on the other. We chose our side and we stand by it. We are utterly unable to comprehend the mentality that defends spending vast sums of money (we didn't have) to go into someone else's land and change things, and kill and destroy, (more for oil - as we all knew - than for any other reason) and then turn around and claim that taking care of our own people here at home is too costly! Are you guys joking? Utterly beyond our power to imagine such hardened souls, without demonizing or condemning as socially indifferent to a fatal degree, or see them as representative of the social goals of those evil capitalist "wolves". What I personally (Jon Younblood) want to suggest to the republicans is to simply shift their investments from Haliburton over to HMO's or the drug companies.
Are we politically neutral? Hell no! We are capitalists, but we don't forget where we came from. We don't forget that we could loose everything and be in need - a fear that is utterly lost to our opponents. It could never happen them them. They are above any such disaster for whatever reasons they used to justify their being exempt from loss and change. Entropy it seems, cannot affect them. How silly their heads in the clouds attitude toward their life is to us who know better. And know it is our responsibility, socially and religiously, to ensure that all members of our tribe are kept safe and sound. What a different world we live in than our dualist brothers and sisters. And we cherish it as much as they must cherish theirs.
Being a successful Merchant does mean we must make money. But being a successful Human Being cannot take any less a front seat in our lives, and that means being sincere and showing solidarity to those who views we share.
No more Mafia Presidents stealing or manipulating elections. Yes, they did. Get away from counting your money and do some reading and research of your own and it's all there. That's what is so astounding and leads us towards activism and action: it's all well documented and yet no one did anything to stop it or resolve it! They robbed the bank in broad daylight and nobody cared...
Yes, we understand that our politically polar opposites have been pumped full of charismatic Rush Limbla type orators and the many spin offs of his brand, who's condemnation of our way of life is so stinging and hurtful, will all kinds of good reasons to fortify their positions and their beliefs, and we are sure they must make sense to them. We are happy that it does make sense to them because our side does not and see's only the cold and heartless, almost ruthless, images that arise from their ilk.
As long as Love is stronger than hate, as long as faith is more powerful than financial reports, and as long as goodness and kindness is not lost in the bottom line, we will remain at our posts and serve the cause of the unspoken civil war that exists between the republicans and the democrats in our country today. We believe that the Universal Soul will be saved by our actions and our concerns, and we will not hide our love away. The Government, representative of the sum of all our population, CAN perform duties vested in the common good of us all, can and will be done more in the interests of those it serves BETTER than private enterprise, who by it's nature will be more concerned with financial gain than with it's assigned duties (many experiments have been done and have showed this time and time again), and that corruption without the oversight that governmental structure, run by people trained just as aptly and by the same education institutions, will be less likely to occur than in private enterprise (can we say Enron?)!
We cannot, from the soul and sense of rightness that we came into this world with, feel any differently than we do, or choose any other side than we have. Perhaps not any more than those who feel so differently than us can either. The dualism is there and undeniable. We make no apologies for our beliefs and our steadfastness in declaring them in our personal and our professional lives in this modern world where so many things are increasingly complex, our choice was a simple one when only two choices are there. The difference between the social polarization in our country today is very simple in it's fundamentals. It's black and white. It's good and evil.
We think that our side is the expression of what is good in the world. If you hate us for thinking that, then we do not regret the loss of your patronage. We are on the side that we believe is right. And we hope that others like us will join in our Organization to further our common goals and interests and organize a greater movement than what our company by itself can do. If you don't share our views, then smile and patronize us in spite of it, or find someone who does business coming from a republican's perspective and inherent nature, and from a republican's ideals and objectives. Probably not too many out there in this business, but hey, if there is a buck to be made in this industry, you can be sure there is a wealthy republican somewhere who will milk it for all it's worth. You will find them, but they ain't here, sorry.
Jon Youngblood - Member/Manager of Scoot On This! LLC