There's a reason, well, several reasons, that I rarely venture into the specific goings on of the political scene. I mean, even if I weren't tied up with personal issues, I wouldn't have been saying much about the Plame/Rove thing or the Novak eruption or any of the numerous scandals and other events that are going on. One reason, of course, is that so many other bloggers do a much better job of that than I do, and I don't see any point in duplicating these efforts. Nor do I have the time to delve into these things in detail anyway.
The big reason that I don't get too involved in all that stuff is because, as I see it, so much of it is a given anyway: I mean when I hear people talk about the things Bush does or the things Rove does or how idiotic the press is, my attitude is always, "this
surprises you?" I mean, it's not like these guys ever had a stellar reputation to begin with outside of their own cult following. I just don't see the need to belabor the point that the Bush administration, the leadership of the Republican Party, and their financial backers are the greatest threat to global peace since the rise of fascism eighty or so years ago. Despite their rhetoric, there's nothing bold or new about what they are doing, just the same tired old story we have seen since the dawn of human civilization: just another excuse for some people to kill others to get something they want.
This doesn't mean to say that we shouldn't focus on these individual issues; taken as a whole they provide a foundation for doing what eventually needs to be done: removing the assorted neocons, religious fundamentalists and corporatists from power, holding those responsible accountable for their actions, and building a world where their kind will find it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to regain power ever again. And we're going to discover that doing the first part, as difficult as it seems right now, will be easy compared to what must come after. Because winning the battle is less important than winning the war.
The American Revolution was founded on a very simple premise: that the government exists to serve the needs of those governed, not the other way around. At the time, it was a radical idea. The liberal/progressive view of this took that one step further: that the government has not only the responsibility, but the
duty to look after the least-protected of its citizens. That, too, was a radical idea. Both of these political revolutions challenged the established order and presented a
truly bold, new way of seeing the world. Each was a step forward, ushering in a new level of achievement for the human race. It wasn't perfect, but it was better. And now we have to build on that foundation and take it to the next level. As our Founding Fathers and the New Dealers did before us, we need to start thinking just as boldly.
A global order is coming, parts of it are here already. What form that global order will eventually take is still uncertain; It may become, as it is progressing now, a corporatist state run by people whose only interest is increasing their own wealth and power and where corporate/economic rights are valued greater than human rights. It may become a world ruled by a government which is more interested in maintaining its power than it is in protecting the rights and freedoms of its citizens, stifling any innovation that threatens it. Either of these, or a combination thereof, are distinct possibilities. Neither of them will benefit anyone but a few.
But it could be a world where happiness and success aren't determined by how much money you have or how many people you have power over, and that's the world I'm sure most of us want to live in. In order to get there we have to start thinking in bigger terms and in ways we haven't thought about before. We still have to take the small steps we need to get there, but it takes a great leap in thinking just to begin. The new world order the neocons and assorted fundamentalists are trying to build just won't last, it never does. Their thoughts are only for themselves and the immediate future, they aren't concerned with anything beyond their own families and lifetimes. We should think in terms of a greater human community, for centuries to come. When their world falls, as it will, we have to be ready to fill the gap.
It's time we began to look past the idea of
nations and start looking at the Earth as a whole: its ecology and how we can best balance human needs and the planet's health. It's time we started to discard the relics of culture that have held us back for millennia: racism, sexism, ethnic hatred, and religious fundamentalism have no place in our new world. We must not only reject them for ourselves, we must also reject others who embrace them when it suits our own interests. We have to throw out the idea that one nation, one culture, or one religion is superior to any other and recognize that we are one community of humans working together.
It's time we started to re-think the entire idea of
money, perhaps in terms of an economy where money as we know it doesn't even exist. Remember that money is an illusion: it's real only if we believe in it. In theory it is supposed to represent a person's contribution to society as a whole, but I think reality has proven this to be utterly false. The hardest working among us are usually the least compensated. This has been true for ten thousand years, it will never stop unless we start thinking of the economy in completely different ways. We have to do it without suppressing the innovative spirit that gave us our greatest technological advantages. We have to do it and still make sure the necessary work that needs to get done gets done.
Who sweeps the streets? is the question I always ask. That still needs to be done regardless of whether someone gets paid for it or not.
We need to reaffirm our commitment to science because as the guardians of our world, we can best serve it by understanding how it works, but we must balance that with the thought of something greater, an understanding that science is only a
part of life, and the quest for life's meaning goes beyond chemistry and biology or computers. Life's value cannot be measured by a yardstick alone, nor can it be found in the rituals of organized religion. And those of faith must recognize that The Word of God exists in many places, not just in books but in the very structure of the universe.
There's more, of course. What I am suggesting is merely scratching the surface. As with all bold ideas the greatest fear is the fear of the unknown. But I believe in what FDR told us, that all we have to fear is fear itself. Conquer that, and we have won much of the battle already.
And finally, we need to accomplish this without bloodshed, using force only when all other choices have run out. Self-defense is the only excuse for military action, period. A society built on blood cannot last.
All too few of us understand the enormous undertaking this is, and how long it will take to accomplish, if indeed we even can. Because a great deal of what needs to be done means that we need to try and change human nature itself, a seemingly immovable object we must hurl ourselves at. We did not begin this struggle, nor will we finish it. It has been played out before us for thousands of years, it will be played out long after all of us have passed on. Like it or not, the demons of our past will be with us always. We are still prisoners of our history, our culture and our genes, but those bars can be broken if we work together to do it. It will be our most difficult task, but if we succeed it will open a new door in our history, leading us to new challenges in a brave, new world.
Cup O' Joe - Blog Of The Working Man!
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