LeftExchange
Warning: Not a read for those with a short attention span!!!
Static vs Dynamic America
As 1920's Governor Smith of New York said "There's no better answer for a lapse in Democracy than more Democracy." Of course we all know the intimacies of the REPUBLIC and actual Guardianship in which we exist, however I would like to offer a radical proposal.
In the last few weeks there has been renewed debate over the legitimacy of President Bush. While the mainstream media has pretty much bypassed the story (TV anyway) there has still been a phenomenal amount of information from reputable sources (suggest www.fair.org and www.corpwatch.org). Whatever theories one may have of intentional or un-intentional influence on the voting......the sad part is the fact that it was so PREDICTABLE! If one simply sloggs through the statistics of the last 3 elections (only the hearty can try!) you can see that no matter who or what was on the ticket in that election......it would have been a tie too hard to call with our outrageously inefficient voting system.
One of the really bothering things about the moment in which we are living and the implications of this strange "war" is: Domestic policy following a near internal crisis of an election has ground to a halt. We the population work and pay our taxes and wait for the benevolent Guardianship to provide a tidbit of reform. Reform of the very system that entitles these individuals to their power.
Do not scoff at that last idea, we do in fact entitle power to unsupervised strangers who commit acts, on our behalf and with our money, that defy our own common sense.
The reason the last election was really predictable was the inherent non-participation of the American people. Why was there no major voter registration campaign or "Get out the Vote" deal from the two "major" parties?
It was not cost effective.
This was literally the answer. They based this on better registration because of 3 states' "motor-voter" systems.
But...... I have great optimism in the capacity of America to evolve.
If an organization or individual thought the value was high enough to them why not go out there and garner all of the non- participant voters and you've got a majority over the rest? (I'm sure Nader dreamed this one at night)
The problem is that we all see our government as this vast, static, institutional and social system.
But it is people.
Systems and institutions can and do change. However the people who make up the system must be there to change it rather than maintain it.
Recently I called for a vast overhaul of the workforce in America: 30 hour work weeks and $12.50 minimum wage.
What will people do with that newly freed up 10 hours? Here is where we get radical.
In this Utopia America the generation that experienced these changes would feel a vast responsibility. Their desire to work all the time still so strong that they pool together and try something very new for the modern age: Democracy.
Imagine (as many probably have) if everyone spent time on some committee or panel where their knowledge and disposition added to positive social reform. Imagine if the individuals who so ingeniously invent all of our technology gave us the tools to participate on an unknown scale?
In Quaker meetings for business, all decisions are based on consensus. This is an ideal to work towards, although it really only works in smaller communities.
But a consensus of some themes and ideas that appeal to our everyday common sense becoming the themes of our government is more like it.
The more we let our government fill up with people who maintain a static system the more separate that system will be from you and I.
And if you and I are the people who can help build and change a dynamic system.....well then it is "we" who should be there doing it.
- Radiogod
...Radiogod's Page
11/20/01
for show 11/21/01
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