So how is this pertinent to the 2014 elections and the Democrats?
As the political party whose role for the last century has been to protect the 99% against the excesses of capitalism, they have danced around the edges rather than confront the Military Industrial Complex -- and their cronies in big banking, big oil, big Pharma and big agriculture -- on the increasingly predatory nature of their endeavors.
The Democrats have been -- and will likely continue to be -- incapable of leadership, because leadership at this moment in history requires thinking outside the current political matrix. It requires the vision that unequivocally points us toward a world where "we're all in this together", and the courage to confront the unspeakable perpetrations so they can be healed, and we as a country can finally use our human, our spiritual, our creative and our natural resources in concert.
An Independents Movement For 2016
As Danny Sheehan suggests -- and Rabbi Michael Lerner echoes in his book The Left Hand of God, the current political "shituation" has less to do with economic issues than spiritual ones. The deep divide between the secular left and the religious right has left a moral vacuum at the heart of our body politic. So it should be no surprise that the unchecked, unbalanced and unmitigated power of money should be our de facto ruler.
The failure of the secular left to confront this fundamental moral and ethical issue, has empowered the paradoxical "selfish-righteousness" that somehow blends fundamentalist Christianity and atheistic Ayn Randism into a belief set that simultaneously promotes creationism and social Darwinism. If that seems outrageously absurd, the liberal left has provided no compelling narrative that speaks to the virtues and values that the 90% of us who are not sociopaths hold dear, values that transcend left and right.
No wonder a poll last spring indicated that those who identify as "independents" now comprise 42% of the electorate, whereas 31% identify as Democrats, and just 25% as Republicans. This represents much more what people DON'T WANT than what they do, since there is not yet a coherent political "independents" movement.
As for how to launch, vitalize and "viralize" such a movement, I don't have the answer. But as some wise man (or was it wise guy?) once said, if we want better answers, we have to ask better questions. So I end with these Frequently Unasked Questions (FUQ) that might just spark an upwising:
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
3
1
