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

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

U.S. oil drilling regulator ignored experts' red flags on environmental risks

from The Washington Post. See how regulators function even when there are regulatory laws in place. They still act according to the dictates of the profit seeking capitalist ruling class. Once again, laws under any ruling class system are for ordinary people. The ruling class make the laws, and simply ignore them and do as they wish when it is in their interest to do so.