Politics Anyone can get involved in politics. If you want to test this, just pick up your hometown paper, choose an issue, make a few phone calls and start showing up at the local meetings. In a short time, you'll be amazed at how different life is for both yourself and your community. You will prove that politics is not some fancy science or a rigid theory. Politics is an understanding of the way things work and how to change them for the better. It's true what people say, that "all politics are local." If you wish to make things better, than the job of politician is an honorable calling. Who can say why it is that we ridicule and despise our leaders? But it is advisable to equip yourself with a three-piece suit of armor and brush your teeth regularly. No matter what your earn in politics, you have a moral obligation to fulfill the duties of your office with integrity, vigor and fairness. Keep your word. Never back out on a handshake. Do your homework. Listen to others and go out and talk to everyone. Build a base of support for your views by articulating what it is that you stand for. Surround yourself with hard-working, loyal people. Don't let others intimidate you. Laugh a lot, as politics is an odd, but strangely satisfying business. As John Burton says, "once you get a taste of politics, everything else is a bit of a bore."

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Lilac's Book. A book for my daughter.    By Bill Orton. Lilac's Book has been on     continuously since January 3, 1997. Anyone may have a FREE copy of the entire text of Lilac's Book by going to the Download page. Back in 1994, I wrote this book, largely in random order, as a gift for my infant daughter.   When I finished the first version of the book, I made photocopies and handed them out to anyone who was interested.   In 1996, I converted the text of the book into web format and thanks to the gracious and steadfast support from this mighty site, the book has been on Hippyland continuously since January 3, 1997.   As far as I can tell from webstats over the past few years, about 3000 people a year are visiting the page to download the full text of the book.   If just a portion of these visitors are downloading the text, then this free book is now in the hands of thousands of people.   This makes me feel that the gift is not just for Lilac, but for thousands of others, most especially for the teenagers and young adults who so often write to me trying to figure out their place in our world. BEING FREE  |  Table of Contents  |  Readers Comments  |  Download Lilac's Book  |  Return to HIPPYLAND  |  Photo Album Who IS a Hippy  |  The Price of Freedom  |  Following Your Own Heart  |  It Wasn't All Beauty & Lightness  |  Contact Me The original print edition of Lilac's Book © 1994; web editions © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001.