We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, June 18, 2010

License To Drill

from Mother Jones.
Why did the Obama administration just approve more than 400 new leases for oil companies to operate in the Gulf of Mexico?
Simply because the profit driven system requires energy. Profit under this system always trumps every other consideration. It doesn't matter in the least which front man, demopub or repocrat, occupies the White House.