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

Monday, April 11, 2011

Lesser-Evil Math Doesn't Compute: Freedom Plaza Has the Same Name as Tahrir Square

Click here to access article by David Swanson from War Is a Crime. 

The author show some signs of growing in his political awareness. He sees the citizen strategy of voting for the lesser evil as futile, which I believe is absolutely correct. But, what about his proposal which consists of two basic features?
1) We could all refuse to support candidates that make things worse than they were in the past, even if it risks allowing the greater of two evils to win an election or two.
2)  ...pack [Freedom Plaza in Washington,DC] with millions of Americans and march to and nonviolently shut down the Capitol, the White House, and the Pentagon.
It might be something to consider for the next Presidential election in 2012. Frankly, I don't believe that this strategy would be successful, but it might be useful to demonstrate to US citizens that the existing governing capitalist class will never voluntarily surrender its control over society to serve the interests of working people. Thus, it might set the stage for greater class consciousness and political awareness to prepare people to create more powerful strategies in this class war.
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