Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Democracy Is Direct

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, November 7, 2011

Democracy Is Direct

Click here to access article by Cindy Milstein from Commons Not Capitalism.

For me the key insight expressed in this article that has sustained the human race for at least 98% of its existence is this ethical foundation:

Embryonic within direct democracy, if only to function as a truly open policy-making mechanism, are values such as equality, diversity, cooperation, and respect for human worth—hopefully, the building blocks of a liberatory ethics as we begin to self-manage our communities, the economy, and society in an ever-widening circle of confederated assemblies.

This passage expresses the essence of human beings as social creatures. Should we continue to abandon that fundamental nature as we have during the past 10,000 plus years, we will descend further into barbarism, and after that, disappear from the Earth like the brontosaurs and the dodo birds. So much is now at stake!