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, November 12, 2014

Political Bunraku

Click here to access article by John Chuckman from Uncommon Thought Journal.

The metaphor he uses is perfect to describe the political puppet show being daily performed here in the US. Unfortunately, he has only scratched the surface in his application of the metaphor. Things are far worse than his awareness. He omits 9/11, the most dramatic illustration of this kind of performance, which has had much more of a dramatic and devastating impact on Americans and the world.

Also, he exhibits confusion about who are the puppets and who are the puppeteers when he poses government as a puppeteer, instead of what they really are: puppets.

If his awareness is a measure of the awareness of many educated people in the US, then his consciousness shows hopeful signs of awakening to the dreadful condition we are really in.
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