World Business Academy

We are back with another installment of our Escaping Minority Rule series in Perspectives. This week we examine the filibuster, one of the ultimate tools used to hold a Minority Rule in the US Senate. The filibuster allows any Senator to hold legislation hostage by declaring their objection. This could go on for hours, or even days. We have historically seen Senators take the floor for over 24 hours like Strom Thurmond in 1957 to prevent a major Civil Rights Bill, or the... 83-day filibuster to stop the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These days, however, implementing a filibuster doesn't even require speaking for the time being! The filibuster is not permitted anywhere in the Constitution. If we cannot eradicate it completely, let’s look at the most basic reforms such as actually requiring a Senator to speak for the time being and get on with the business of democracy. https://bit.ly/3r0Hx7w

At the end of 2020, our dear friend and Fellow Gerald Jampolsky M.D. made his earthly transition. Dr. Jampolsky’s work on attitudinal healing and forgiveness continues to influence millions of people globally, and his many books such as the international best seller, Love Is Letting Go of Fear, continues to inspire successive generations to create a love based society. Rinaldo Brutoco describes his contribution as: Of all of the luminaries I’ve been fortunate enough to wo...rk with over my lifetime, Gerry’s influence on me and my life is one of the most profound. Gerry was one of my most powerful mentors and an inspiration to millions. He was like my older brother for more than 35 years, as well as the man who taught me the power of forgiveness and the power of love. While we are deeply saddened to lose him, we at the World Business Academy are honored to have shared this journey with one of the true radiant lights who walked this path with us. His work lives on in each of us. We wish our dear sister Diane Cirincione, also an Academy Board Member, Fellow and Gerry’s wife for 38 years, the solace that can only be experienced from knowing the life she co-created with Gerry will be a blessing she will carry all the rest of her days, and of which we are all the beneficiaries.

Continuing with the Escaping Minority Rule series in our Perspectives column, we examine the longstanding issue of gerrymandering. Gerrymandering manipulates electoral constituency boundaries to benefit one political party over another, while at the same time disenfranchising many groups of voters. Here in California we are fortunate to have legislation that challenges gerrymandering. The most notable instance is the Voters FIRST Act of 2008, which created a nonpartisan ...commission for redistricting purposes, and has proven to block the power of politicians in creating their own district boundaries. It is time to take back control over self-perpetuating politicians that win their seats from carefully drawn lines in the rest of the nation. https://bit.ly/360Ov4h

The last time the Capitol was successfully attacked was the War of 1812 when the British occupied Washington. No one since would ever have dreamed that a violent mob would leave five dead and a shattered sense of safety for the American people on the blood and trash strewn floors at the sacred center of our democracy. Yet here we are in the aftermath of an insurrection, uncertain on what the future of our democracy holds. Is this the final straw? Read more about our thoughts in this week's installment of our Escaping Minority Rule series in our Perspectives column: https://bit.ly/2XGx30w

Our founder and CEO, Rinaldo S. Brutoco, is co-hosting a virtual Business for America event alongside U.S. Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD) this Wednesday (January 13th) at 10:00 AM PT. Congressman Sarbanes is the primary author of H.R. 1, the For the People Act. The most comprehensive package of democracy reforms since Watergate, H.R. 1 was passed by the House in 2019 but not considered in the Senate. Citing the challenges of the 2020 election, President-elect Biden says... the bill is one of his top priorities. It will be re-introduced in the House in 2021. Join us for this FREE discussion about H.R. 1 and its prospects for passage in 2021, as well as why it matters to business. Register for the event here: https://bit.ly/35wltZW Hope to see you there!