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, March 4, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, March 4, 2020

  • A Green New Deal: Climate change is a collective problem and it demands collective action by David Lorimer from Wall Street International. (Note: I am posting this article as an example of the confused and misleading thinking of those that I would identify as "progressive liberals", those ideologically committed to capitalism but urging idealistic notions of modifying capitalism to save us from the climate crisis that threatens all life of Earth. What they mean by the "need for a system change" is "reviving and reinventing the public sphere, remembering how to plan, reining in corporations, re-localising production, ending the cult of shopping, and taxing the rich and filthy.", but not taking private ownership of the economy away from individuals and giving it to a government run by and for the people.)
  • Media Pundits Secretly Funded by Lobbying Firms! featuring Natalie McGill from a segment of the Redacted Tonight show on RT. "Viewers know that the mainstream media is paid to spit corporate propaganda. Natalie McGill delves into how they're encouraged to sell out to those interests."