Two hundred years ago, everyone owned a leather bucket for one purpose only – to put out fires. Back then we were all volunteer firefighters and if our neighbor’s home went up in flames, the community came together. We did not have a tax funded fire department, yet we did have those who came together…

As an economic system based on the premise of individuals and companies owning the means and production of goods and services, capitalism is the primary structure of our country. We are driven for the acquisition of money, yet money is not the win all. What money brings to us is what drives us, and it all…

In 1994, Steven Spielberg directed and produced Schindler’s List. A true to life film about Oskar Schindler who saved approximately 1200 Jews during World War II. At the end, Schindler breaks down: “I could have done more. I could have saved more.” There are those among us who have Schindler’s Complex. We feel we have…

When my kids were little and got into trouble, they were sent to time-out. America is in trouble, and the world is sending us to time-out. We have alienated our allies with tariffs. We have spoken ill of our northern neighbor and even demanded they become our 51st state. We have cut children’s cancer research funding. Yet…

Welcome to carrot season and lettuce and kale and well I could go on for over 20 different crops which love to grow in Florida in the fall!   In fact, we are at the cusp of the largest growing season of the year. Florida cool weather months bring a harvest variety like no other.…

What is the foundational right of our republic democracy? Speech? Religion? Second Amendment? Voting? If you picked voting, we are in alignment. Without voting we have no voice, no choice, no representation and therefore no democracy. So why is voting being attacked? Is it fraudulent? Is it unsafe and insecure? Is it sour grapes from…

On November 5, 2024, America chose a new path. A path once traveled on four years prior. A path dictated not by the influence of one political party or ideology, however more navigated by the whims of one American businessman. This new way forward has never been more disruptive, or starker compared to any past…

All of US are Immigrants As the world’s longest current surviving constitutional charter in the history of humankind, America is having a birthday.  Looking back over two centuries, we are citizens from someplace else which makes us all immigrants. Yes, even the Native Americans came over the Bering Straits many centuries before most of our…

In 2023, John Hopkins University conducted a study to find the leading cause of death in children in the United States. It was not drownings, or car accidents or even cancer. The number one cause of death in children ages 1-17 in America was firearms. So, as a society that treasures its children, and its…

At his swearing in, the newly elected Mayor of Groveland Keith Keogh made two points quite clear – 1. citizens are the leaders and 2. elected officials are the servants to the citizens. I cannot agree more with him.  Once a year in selected municipalities and every two years in our state and federal jurisdictions,…

What is the most despised word in April?  Taxes!  In fact, have you ever met anyone who speaks positively about them? We loathe paying them. We attempt to get out of paying them at every turn. We hire lawyers and tax accountants to shield us from them. We argue “Why pay taxes, we live in a…

Spring is by far the best time to be on a farm. Everything is alive! Flowers open right in front of your eyes, creaking bamboo grows right in front of you, mulberries ripen as you walk by them.

Around 248 years ago, our forefathers created a government of, for and with the citizen’s freedoms in mind.

Roughly 100,000 years ago, our foremothers and forefathers started trusting. So, why have we lost that trust in our fellow human today? 

November 5, 2024, 89.9% of eligible voters in Lake County showed up. Let that sink in for a moment.

Imagine a farm built by Willy Wonka. Blades of grass curl up between your toes tickling your feet as you walk barefoot. Chiming bamboo dances in the breeze.

The communal oxygen we give others keeps them pertinent, relevant, and alive. However, when we stop supplying attention, they find their fix elsewhere.

America has the longest standing democracy in the world. As an experiment in participatory society, America asks its citizens every election to show up.

The smell of Loves Baby Soft wafting through my nostrils as a high school memory takes me back. Fleetwood Mac’s “Changes”  takes me to a breakup a year back.

I am speaking of the vile waste which comes out of our mouths. You ever think these words are pure hot air and that is what is heating up our planet? 

We have roughly 28,000 days of life. That is 78 years to do something, anything or nothing. So, what do we do with all this time?

This year’s ballot will have another Public Lands Acquisition Referendum. How about we put land aside for observation, conservation, and preservation?

Before it was socially acceptable to place “matter”, we cared about our families, our neighbors, our community, our state our nation and our planet.

We know someone as we're living in this new world of heightened emotions that's dealing with loss, aloneness, and desperation. Or, that someone is us.

Traditional farm fields and pastures have been eliminated from the picture almost entirely. Grocery aisles have been planted instead of farm rows.

We need to be quiet enough to hear other’s opinions. We need to be quiet enough to hear our own thoughts. We give advice as well as receive it.

If we find the fortitude to acknowledge the genius in each other, invite all to the table, and think big, real change is attainable.

In our continuous quest to enhance the natural beauty and sustainability of our farm, we've recently decided on an exciting initiative.

Small farmer, native Floridian, and champion for political CIVILITY – the act of attacking issues rather than people.

"Who wants to learn how to grow their own food, given the plants to grow their own food and then eat the food grown by their own plants?

A Letter to You, my Neighbors! I am pivoting and asking you to go on this adventure with me.

CIVILITY is the New Path Ahead. See our list of how to bring more civility to the political conversation on the local, state and federal levels.

As a candidate, I feel I have a legitimate purpose to meet people which parallels with my human nature of connecting with others.

Civility is the New Path Ahead!

CIVILITY is the New Path Ahead. Join BANKS for Florida House.

Civility is the New Path Ahead - Banks for Florida House

I remember when red and blue were integral colors of the American flag, before they became political and ideological dividing lines.