Varanasi: Modi's Adopted City

Varanasi: Urban Chaos Or Urban Energy

I was just reading this article by a journalist friend. A few things struck me.

In the south east Nepal I grew up in the "progressive" farmers were those that were learning to use fertilizers. I come to America and "progressive"  farmers here are those moving towards organic farming.

Varanasi seems to have what a lot of cities in the west wished it had: large, excited crowds, urban energy.

Progressive cities in the west are building bike lanes and paths for dedicated foot traffic. Public transportation is the in thing.

If those attempting to transform Varanasi were to tune into some of the global conversations taking place, very easy to do online, they might realize they are starting out on a solid ground. There are positives to preserve. And what they call urban planning is too much unthinking imitations of models that are no longer thought great in the west.

The idea that the best way to build a city is by starting out on an empty plot of land is not true. The people are the city. And Varanasi seems to have that number one ingredient in plenty.

The number one thing to do would be citywide municipal WiFi. Then build a ring road around the city and make all roads inside toll roads, to relieve congestion. Turn into a city of 24/7 public buses, buses every 15 minutes. Turn it into a city of foot traffic and bike lanes. Build satellite cities outside the ring road. In a second phase build an elevated metro to criss cross the city.

Focus on WiFi, water and sanitation. Focus on safety. Focus on 24/7 electricity. Focus on public transportation.

New York City Is Under Colonial Rule

It is. Half of New Yorkers can't even vote in the city elections. Taxation without representation is going on, big time. The capital city of the world has full fledged colonial rule.

Mexicans pretty much run this city. As in, take away the Mexicans and the city grinds down to a halt. And Mexicans are almost all Christians, devout ones too. That does not seem to help. There is full throttle anti Mexican racism. Every brick of the Trump Tower has some Mexican's name written on it.

Name calling is the tip of the iceberg. Structural racism is the iceberg. Like, denying voting rights. That is the mother lode of structural racism.

A functioning democracy is like a functional marketplace. Demand and supply takes care of things.

NYC is the biggest bastion the Democratic Party has. But it is under colonial rule. So in a functioning democracy the way it would work is the opposition party would step in. The Republican Party would pick up the cudgels to end colonial rule and spread the love of voting rights.

But no. The Republican Party would like to take away whatever little voting rights there are.

That is dysfunction. That is a dysfunctional democracy. It would not be that big of a problem, except there are quite literally existential implications.

America is the number one culprit behind global warming. The planet is hurtling towards the stone age at breakneck speed.

The very first step to applying the breaks is a world government: one person, one vote, one voice, 24/7, local to global. The UN is a joke. It is no world government. Every country should pay 1% of its GDP as a membership fee. That would be a small price to pay to not go back to the stone age.

Imagine Donald Trump's day job as a stone breaker. It could happen.