A most unusual lunar eclipse on Tuesday Dec. 21/2010.coincided with the winter solstice, an event that has not happened since 1638. The full lunar eclipse brings in a time of change and an opportunity to correct our course, to fulfill our life’s purpose and to act in a higher and more authentic way. Would that this be true!

“The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.” Isaac Asimov

Let’s catch up. We now have a Democratic Governor in Vermont, former Pro-Tem of the Senate, Peter Shumlin. He promises an integrated plan working towards a single-payer health care system, an energy plan firmly grounded in renewables and efficiency, a revised and simplified tax structure and an emphasis on entrepreneurship, innovation and value-added agriculture.

I did get re-elected as one of six Senators from Chittenden County [150,000 people, @50,000 voters] My new committee assignment is Senate Health + Welfare Committee as well as Senate Appropriations, which I have been doing for the last 6 years. Also, my colleagues voted me in as Deputy Majority Leader.

More changes: in the Senate, the majority party elected our leader and primary spokesperson, the President Pro-Tem, Senator John Campbell. He sets overall direction of policy, assigns committee chairmanships and membership, and is the presiding officer. Also elected by the majority party is the Majority Leader, Senator Bill Carris, who is the chief administrator of the Senate, party leader and policy strategist, schedules and counts votes.

As Deputy Majority leader, I asked my colleagues to consider a more collaborative leadership model; from linear hierarchy to circular participation; from ranking to linking. To my surprise, they agreed. In fact Bill Carris sent me an interesting book by writer and philosopher Ken Wilbur: “A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality,” He outlines theories that integrate the realms of body, mind, soul, and spirit. [I.e. Gurunomics, ha, ha] He demonstrates how these theories and models can be applied to real-world problems in areas such as politics, medicine, business, education, and the environment. My sentiments exactly!

I am creating my new role as Deputy Majority leader as a facilitator, coach, connector, communicator, and collaborator, creating opportunity for conversation and discourse on key issues such as healthcare and tax reform and VT Yankee.

When elected to the Senate in 2003 and after an accomplished entrepreneurial career in which corporate culture was a key to organizational success, I remember asking Pro-tem Peter Welch who is now VT Congressman Welch if I could organize a retreat to create some Senate operating principles. He laughed saying, “Senators are only responsible to their constituents, not to each other.”

But that’s changing. Obviously, with Obama’s call for more civility in his second State of the Union address, the shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Gifford’s and the obvious gridlock in Washington, operating principles within a group are extremely important. They guide how we treat each other and how we can resolve differences.

So here are some of the principles that I brought up in our Democratic caucus. Although we did not formally agree to adopt them, most Senators did not object.

Be respectful. Attack problems, not people. Seek solutions

Keep agreements and assume good intentions

If you have a problem with someone, meet with him or her privately

Communicate with compassion + honesty; avoid blame + pettiness

Do not hog the airspace, be clear + stay focused on the issue

Try not to take things personally.

Respect the institution of the VT senate

Changing how we think, speak and act is the most effective recipe for true change; the integration of mind, emotion spirit. A tall order but transformative in its practice. I’ll let you know how it all turns out!

Last Sunday Oct. 24/2010, in the freezing rain, we marched in support of Peter Shumlin, VT’s Democratic candidate for Governor. His opponent has said that he is pro- life but will not impose his will on others since the federal law Roe VS. Wade protects women’s right to choose. He is wrong! Parental notification, adequate funds for low-income women to access services, prevention of domestic abuse and education in our schools are decided by individual states and hinge on the values of the next Governor and legislature.

Thank G-d our mothers and grandmothers fought for the right to vote granted 90 years ago in 1920. Hatred and violence against women were in full view during the struggle. One night, when some women picketed in front of the White House, forty prison guards wielding clubs went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of ‘obstructing sidewalk traffic.

On Nov. 15, 1917, the ‘Night of Terror’, the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson’s White House for the right to vote. Denied food and water, women were beaten, chained to cell bars, hurled into dark rooms and heads smashed against iron beds. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, she was tied to a chair, and liquid was poured down her throat until she vomited.

Let us not forget the suffering that gave us our right to participate in elections. Our vote DOES matter.  It means everything to be able to fight for what we believe in. On Nov. 2/2010, please vote with your head, heart and word. Vote for connectivity, women’s and children’s rights, systematic accessible affordable health care, job creation especially for our young people and a thoughtful balance between revenues and social services. Only you can decide which candidates share your values. Good luck!

A real example of Gurunomic principles manifested in Chile with the successful liberation on Oct. 13, 2010, of 33 miners trapped 2300 ft beneath the earth’s surface for 70 days. Disciplined and focused attention to mind, body and spirit transported the miners literally from  “ darkness to light”, from the darkness of the mine to the light of their families, country and world nations.  Guided by the thoughts, emotions and actions of many brave men and women whose commitment, solidarity, love, and hope supported by international co-operation and collaboration contributed to a successful outcome.

Supported by a foundation of democratic decision-making, the miners created their own social ecosystem for survival underground. In the beginning, Luis Orzua, acting on his authority as the shift foreman, began to organize the miner’s physical existence. Dividing the miners’ world into a work area, a sleep area and a sanitary facility; he simulated sunlight by using the trucks’ headlights. He also kept the men on a 12-hour shift schedule, instituting a set of rules and regulations that were crucial to the men’s survival. After the 17^th day, once contact had been established and rocket-shaped tubes dubbed “palomas,”[Spanish for carrier pigeons] filled with supplies were lowered down to the men, the situation stabilized. With three daily briefings: one from a doctor, another from a psychologist and the third from a miner updating them on the technical aspects of the operations, the men became actively involved with their eventual rescue.

It appears that Mario Sepulveda, best known for being the gregarious host of the miner’s underground video, organized the whole team by posing many of the questions that were decided upon by democratic principles. With his inspiring personality and positive attitude, he managed to lift their spirits so they did not loose hope of being saved. Importantly, he took care of the men’s souls, asking for small bibles to be sent down for daily prayer.

Above ground, Chilean President Pionera proved to be a valuable partner, insisting on clear businesslike thinking and pragmatism. Requesting technological innovation and best practices from other nations, he spared no expense. A worldwide effort supported the unique system for rescue. Plan B utilized Japan’s Nitsuka phone system with cables running straight down into the ground; sophisticated drilling rigs from Southern Chile; high speed drills and advanced bits from entrepreneurial companies in southwestern Pennsylvania; and advice from NASA regarding nutrition, capsule design and life in confined spaces.

The holistic needs of mind, body, and spirit were nurtured by well-orchestrated thoughts, spontaneous emotions and measured action. The rescue, described by topographer Macarena Valdes as “75% science. 25% miracle” and culminating in the heart-felt singing of the Chilean anthem, inspired the whole world to the innate greatness of humankind when we get it right!

We left off the conversation with a concept of incentivizing the good: tax the bad. My friend Lili reminded me that there are no “good” or “bad” choices, only choices within an agreed-upon framework in which we decide how we want to live, what we value and how we define and spend resources. In my world, we want to be stewards of the environment, encourage job creation and lead healthy lives. Government can encourage certain behaviors to fulfill that vision and discourage other behaviors that do not support the vision.

Now is the time to restructure our tax system so we generate revenues that support the world we want for our children. Today, we tax assets, earned income and capital. What if we looked at assets completely differently, assets not owned by individuals or corporations, but owned by the ‘commons’, by all of us? There are two types of common assets, natural assets and man-made social assets. Natural assets include fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas; minerals; public forests; the electromagnetic broadcast spectrum, water, and the atmosphere. Social assets include the Internet; our legal and political systems; universities; libraries; accounting procedures; science and technology; transportation infrastructures, the radio spectrum, and city parks.

In his book Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons, Peter Barnes advocates reclaiming the country’s public assets for public good instead of just for private profit. After reading this book in 2007, I sponsored a bill, along with others, to create a Common Assets Trust Fund in Vermont.

Under the bill, S.44, certain users of common assets would pay an economic royalty or tax that would be deposited into a common assets trust fund. So when a business pollutes, they pay a tax. When a broadcaster uses the radio waves, they also pay a tax because the “commons” own the atmosphere and electromagnetic broadcast spectrum. The Fund would be appropriated in two ways: a portion would be sent to VT residents in the form of an annual check; the rest would be invested in beneficial programs such as health care initiatives, Social Security enhancements, and education. Alaska created a similar Permanent Fund in 1976 that uses a portion of oil royalties to pay annual dividends of $1,000 to $3,000 to eligible residents.

In 2008, UVM professor Gary Flomenhoft professor and his students found that most of Vermont’s valuable resources, including minerals, groundwater, surface water, hydro sites, and airwaves are owned by out-of state corporations. “Our major minerals are owned by a foreign corporation (Omya), our groundwater is exported by out-of-state bottling companies (Coca-Cola and Nestle), our hydropower resources are owned by TransCanada, and 88 percent of surface-water withdrawals in Vermont are used by Vermont Yankee for cooling water at no charge,” he wrote. “The federal government, meanwhile, has given away 98 percent of our ‘public airwaves’ for free, and allows private banks to create 93 percent of the currency with interest attached. Citizens and businesses are subject to taxation of earned income, which impacts job creation and economic productivity, while resource owners collect massive amounts of unearned income.“

On other words, says Flomenhoft, “Vermont is a banana republic, without the bananas.”

Although the Common Assets Trust Fund bill did not get support from the legislature, both Gary Flomehoft and I testified in front of the Vermont’s Blue Ribbon Tax Structure Commission with some of these ideas. The Commission will be making their recommendations for restructuring the tax structure in January 2011. Check it out @ http://www.vermonttaxreform.org.

P.S: This blog often incorporates the ideas of friends and family, including my husband Joel, and is edited by my research associate Molly Tucker.

Today, on Thursday, under the influence of the Fall Equinox and benevolent planet Jupiter, I am starting a weekly blog http://blog.hindaforsenate.com to express my observations as a Vermont Senator, entrepreneur, board member and yogi. I hope to start a conversation with people who are interested in politics, business and spirituality and the connections between them. GURUNOMICS refers to a way of thinking, feeling and acting that can transform us all  “from darkness to light “ [ meaning of the word guru ]

Job creation, healthcare, energy, education, taxation and environmental integrity are often viewed as separate issues, but they are all interconnected parts of the whole. As an example, I believe that taxation can and should be used to shape behavior. In simple terms, we should envision the world we want to create and then tax the bad and incentivize the good.

Many people confuse policy that they judge as “fair’ with policy that naturally incentivizes human behavior.

The basic laws of Behavioral Economics disclose that increased taxation on certain habits like smoking will slowly reduce that behavior; on the other hand, rewarding healthy behavior like tax credits for gym fees will result in an increase in that behavior. Both decisions can lower health care costs by using the power of taxation to motivate people in the direction we want to go.   Obvious right? More on this later.

As I seek re-election for my fifth term as VT State Senator, D- Chittenden, http://hindaforsenate.com, may I remind you to please vote Nov. 2 or contact your town clerk for Early Voting.

May we take the time to surround all with love and light,

Hinda