There Is Nothing Wrong With This System. That a complete overhaul won’t fix.

[20score]

Just a partial list of the problems we now face will verify that something other than attacking these problems one at a time, will be sufficient. We now face: overpopulation, a housing crisis, unemployment, millions with no insurance, underinsured, underemployed, global warming, government spying, terrorism, de-forestation, illegitimate wars, media consolidation, government propaganda, loss of personal freedom, corporate supremacy, water and oil shortages projected, species extinctions, et al. That is quite a lot of problems; and many, if not most will continue to get worse over time.

Now, I am not suggesting that these problems don’t need individual attention. They do. There should be individuals, groups, companies and the government devoting whatever it takes to solve these problems. But we also need an entirely new outlook as a society, too. Not new to the world - Locke, Jefferson, Gandhi and thousands more embodied this outlook. It needs to be reaffirmed here.

We need to be a society that looks out for the needs of all, and simultaneously put the individual first. It’s not a paradox; it is the only way to have a society worth saving. In authoritarian regimes the state matters and the individual needs are squelched, and in our society the market, companies and the government have squelched the needs of the individual and diminished the needs of all. People need to start looking at the country as a large community. That’s what it is. In a small community the individual’s needs are balanced with the groups, but they do matter. The same needs to be true in a large community. What is happening now in our country is certain groups are having their needs met, and a majority, plus the needs of all as a group, are being sidelined. This is why we have forty-seven million uninsured and why we have people dieing from pollution.

We need to start insisting that we as individuals matter. Corporations and the government can always have a reason to take away rights or limit our pleasure – and the reasons will mostly be true. What we as a people have to say is, “that’s not good enough to take away my rights, or take away my health.” Why do we let corporations delve into our personal lives? There are reasons that are true, but they aren’t good enough when the individual matters. Why do we allow police brutality? No one would suggest we should set up a society where that is okay. Why do we allow certain companies to flatten entire mountains for profit? Cheaper energy is the answer, but that’s not good enough when the needs of the entire group are weighed. We need a whole new outlook to solve these problems. Where the individual and the entire group have primacy.

[ihavenobias]

1. K & R, Thom Hartmann has said that we have shifts over time between the "me" and "we" societies

I tend to think he's onto something there.

And I really hope he's onto something when he says we're moving back toward a We Society after the last few decades of the Me Society spawned by the Reagan Revolution.

[20score]

5. I'm glad you got it; means it wasn't too convoluted.

I hope so, too - about the shift. But just the fact that people allow senators to get away with actively trying to hurt the economy - in a recession....

[20score]

2. Could have written a book on this today, and I've felt like this for years, but today's

discussions set me off. Drug testing - police brutality - employers checking credit history. Had to vent.

[suede1]

3. I'd love to change the world...

and I do know where to start. My own home, neighborhood, commuinity... ever widening circles. The ripple on the pond. It's overwhelming how much work there is to do.


I suppose if we all did just a bit more on a daily basis, and kept after our elected representatives, we might see significant progress in our lifetime.

Looking at your list, 20Score, is more than a little daunting for me.

But thanks for being thought provoking!

[20score]

4. Thanks! Appreciated.

And good ideas.

[electricD]

6. one way to change the community that we all live in.....

get rid of the thought process behind, "good fences make good neighbors." I've been told by many people that were adults in the mid 70's until now, that when people started putting up tall privacy fences around their yards, neighbors stopped talking to one another. Mind you, I have strange neighbors around me but, it does stand to reason that they probably think I'm strange too. It also seems to be extremely logical that if the fences weren't there, neighbors would communicate more, people would be more open for debate instead of holding grudges against a neighbor JUST because they have different views that you do.

I don't know, I guess I'm just a sucker for a kinder simpler world and getting to know your neighbors seems to be one helluva start.

[20score]

7. Good idea!