Politics Plus

This is the last in my “The Next Gandhi” series, taken from a long essay I wrote several years ago about our political and other woes. I have made adjustments due to changing circumstances and new information.

Everywhere you turn these days, people are pounding the drums of Doomsday. Experts of one kind or another point to evidence that our society is on the verge of collapse. Economic troubles, crumbling infrastructure, vanishing resources, climate change, drug-resistant supergerms – the list of bogeymen is long, and many of these worst-case scenarios are all too plausible. Our society is far more fragile than we realize, and a lot of people are denial. We think everything is going to be OK, we believe the gold-plated B.S. that the Panglosses and Pollyannas churn out, we let ourselves get distracted by celebrity gossip and ball games on TV. We close our eyes and pretend that the elephant in the room is not there. We tune out bad news and accuse the Cassandras of being fear-mongers who are trying to instigate stampedes.

Some, however, say that these are not the signs of collapse, but of a coming drastic change. And what is this drastic change? Perhaps it is a major shift in our thinking, in how we feed and clothe and house and medicate ourselves. A major shift in how we view economics. Time and again I hear and read we need to move beyond the idea that an economy must rely on growth for prosperity.

Many things that people have suggested on TV shows, blogs and the like appear to be sound solutions to the multi-headed crisis facing us. Localizing production, insourcing, living with less, moving to a post-capitalistic economy – these are drastic and painful changes to make in our lifestyle, but necessary if we are to survive as a society. We do need to prepare for the worst, prepare for the thou-knowest-what hitting the fan. We cannot go on whistling in the dark and pretending that some deus ex machina will descend from the heavens and magically make everything hunky-dory again. We need to be more reliant on ourselves and our neighbors, and get more involved in government at all levels. A good government is important to help solve our problems, but we must not rely on legislature for everything. Remember the fiasco after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans?

On the other hand, though, we shouldn’t be too pessimistic and think that the totality of our society is going to go kablooey so that we will go all the way back to a pre-industrial lifestyle. We need to realize that, in times of crisis, people do a lot more cooperation and looking after each other than trying to save their own a**es. Also, human ingenuity has almost no bounds, and nothing brings it out like adversity.

Human beings are naturally good. We evolved that way. Civilization would not have been possible if we were not ethical and moral by nature. On top of that, we are tough as all get out. The Great Depression was the crucible that created the Greatest Generation – the men who fought and won World War II, the legion of Rosie the Riveters who gave birth to the Women’s Libbers. Tough times never last, but tough people do.

Now is a great time to get a major movement for positive change started. Americans are seriously p***ed off about a lot of things. CEOs are drawing salaries that seem downright obscene while the working class struggles to put meals on the table and keep up with rent and bills. Getting the minimum wage increased requires effort that makes moving heaven and earth seem like child’s play. Right-wing bugnuts howl about a “stolen” election. Republicans in Congress block any and all efforts to make voting easier because they care about their party – and thwarting President Biden – more than they do about this country and its citizens. Big Businesses pull the strings of government in order to squelch efforts to reduce humanity’s contribution to climate change.

Wherever you turn, you see injustice. George Zimmerman acquitted after slaying Trevon Martin. A spoiled rich brat gets not even a slap on the wrist after killing four innocents while driving drunk. Poor, weak people receive bloated sentences and are bled white with outrageous fines and fees while the wealthy and powerful get away with everything. Bankers not being punished for robbing people of their savings and homes, money being the only thing that matters in our “justice” system – one need not even cherry-pick to get a basket full of examples.

Several people I have talked with agree that, right now, the USA is a powder keg. Hell – it is a boxcar full of nitroglycerin. The right person or the right incident can give it the right shock, and KABOOMBA! In some ways it is like Russia during the last days of the Czars, when the rulers and nobles were lolling in their mansions, oblivious to the suffering and rage of the peasants and workers. Our situation is, in a major way, worse, because the Russian people had already been living in horrid poverty for generations; but many people in the U.S. who are now struggling once knew a decent standard of living. Also, we are far better informed thanks to the Internet. Finally, don’t forget the good ol’ American spirit of independence and self-reliance, as well as our right to keep and bear arms. It all adds up to an extremely volatile situation, one that could easily explode, possibly thanks to an unanticipated stimulus, one of the sort one doesn’t associate with setting off revolutions. We experienced a straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back moment with the tragic and inexcusable death of George Floyd – suddenly, the Black Lives Matter flared into action, and people by the thousands took to the streets. Those protests were mostly peaceful; unfortunately, some loose cannons and agent provocateurs caused trouble.

All this anti-Congress, anti-Wall Street, anti-establishment, anti-politics-as-usual sentiment carries a great deal of energy; but it must be properly gathered and harnessed before it dissipates. The Big Bad Guys are relying on matters simmering down, on people having short memories and even shorter attention spans, of the Occupy types getting bored or distracted. They hope that we will continue to complain but just mill around rather than organize and get active. Remember, the only thing necessary for Evil to triumph is for the forces of Good to do nothing. When good people get off their rear ends and start really doing things, evil is toast.

Our numbers will be few at first, but that is true of any great movement. The Indian independence movement and the Civil Rights movement both started small and weak, but because the leaders were dedicated and determined, they grew and accumulated support. Like the proverbial snowball that gets larger as it rolls downhill, we can make this new movement grow in power and clout if we can maintain the momentum.

Most importantly, we need the right people with the right vision running the show. The wrong leader, the wrong group will get us out of the frying pan but lead us into the fire. Look at the Russian Revolution and the rise of Communism, or Germany between the World Wars and see what happens when the wrong folks lead the charge. We can change this country for better, we can drag it out of the current downward spiral towards a police state where a handful of people control nearly all of the wealth. We can restore freedom and justice to the USA, and prevent unspeakable tragedy.

So, where can we turn for support? EVERYWHERE!!! America – indeed, the whole world – is lousy with groups of people, already fairly well organized and funded, who are ready to rally for the sweeping changes we need to bring about. Even if all they can do is march in protest while holding a banner, or sign a bunch of petitions, hordes of people are just waiting for that Great Organizer to stand up and start speaking. All thanks to the Internet, a ready-made army of 99%ers, progressives, ecological activists, privacy advocates, human rights defenders and so on awaits the next Gandhi.

Our current educational system is a joke. OK, this is not true of all schools; but there is no question that, as a whole, US students are falling behind the rest of the industrialized world. No Child Left Behind has resulted in dumbed-down courses so that anybody can pass – but this stymies kids of higher intelligence. When I was in high school and studying Latin, I felt hobbled when I was the only one who understood the ablative absolute; only after a lot of pleading and schmoozing was I allowed to advance on my own and then finally into the next grade up.

As if that isn’t bad enough, religious extremists are sneaking phony science into classrooms, hiding behind the very First Amendment they in fact despise. Creationism has tiptoed into schools wearing the sheep’s clothing of “intelligent design.” Children are taught that millennia of careful scientific observation and investigation are unreliable. Rejecting science for mythology hampers our understanding of how the world really works, and warps the minds of children so they are ill prepared to become real scientists, or even understand real science. This is one reason why the anti-vaxx and Flat Earth movements have attracted so many followers, and why anti-mask bugnuts are so numerous during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Critical thinking is a vital skill that most Americans lack. We should teach it in schools, we should inculcate careful thinking in children from a young age. People capable of critical thinking are far less likely to fall for con games, or be swayed by the silvery tongue of some demagogue. They gather as many facts as they can, they investigate candidates before casting votes, and they request the sources of alleged facts and figures. Neither organized religion nor the other Powers That Be can allow that!

We send our kids to college to cram their crania with knowledge, but a lot of it amounts to memorizing facts and figures rather than actually processing them. In addition, courses of study do not always prepare kids for the real world. Time and again you hear of A students who end up scrubbing floors while C students earn six-figure incomes. Finally, hundreds of thousands of people who have college degrees are unemployed or under-employed. Many institutions of higher education, and many courses of study, are simply useless.

Everywhere you look, you see advertising for colleges and universities that promises better jobs and better income as a result. People sign up and attend class, either on-line or in person, with visions of more gainful employment attending their degrees or certificates. However, they cannot always live up to their promises. Thousands of people find themselves deeply in hock and unable to pay back their student loans.

What gets the most attention at many, and perhaps most, universities? The athletes. The local football or basketball team is the pride of the town, not its outstanding students. One map of the U.S. shows that the highest paid public employee in 40 states is an athletic coach. Academics suffer in the name of sports. The typical American university would probably rather turn out one winner of the Heisman trophy than a half dozen Nobel laureates. The legendary athletes and coaches are remembered; while the scientists, artists, statespeople, and others who have truly contributed to society often get short shrift.

Here is an idea that I put together from more than one source: Bring back the apprentice/journeyman system. You wanna be a computer programmer? Apprentice to a highly skilled programmer who will show you the ropes. After proving you know said ropes, you move up to Journeyman level. (Journeyperson? Can’t leave out the ladies these days!) This could work for a wide variety of professions, from auto mechanics to lawyers to engineers to even doctors. Instead of sitting in a sterile classroom, see what goes on in the real world. My best computer education has taken place on the fly, when I used computers in a business setting as opposed to an academic one.

I have heard of schools that do without grades, either the report card or the level kind. Only about 20% of a student’s education takes place in a structured classroom, while the rest is entirely freestyle. These schools have the advantage that children don’t feel they must be grade-grubbers who kick a*s on tests. Their education is on their own, at their own rate, so they can discover where their real talents lie. Some people are even trying “un-schools” where the kids set the agenda: a visit to a museum one day, a walk through a park the next. Maybe that is the real solution to our education troubles, to make education far less structured and more adaptable to the individual needs and abilities of each student. As Plutarch stated, a mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

Merchants have encouraged a culture of greed, of keeping up with the Joneses, of equating a house full of possessions with happiness. Think of all the “collectible” items out there. The Beanie Baby craze is a great example. Ty keeps coming out with new beanies that have cutesy back stories, including “limited edition” ones. People have invested hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands in hopes of having an impressive collection. Some bought Beanies in hopes that their value would increase quickly enough to make them a worthwhile investment. Unfortunately, as happens with most so-called collectible items, their value didn’t increase at all. One couple hoped to finance their son’s college education by reselling beanies, only to lean that their collection wasn’t worth what they had put into it. People have been watching too many reality shows in which people discover rare collectibles, and get the idea that buying some recherché items and squirreling them away will provide them with a gold mine down the road. All too often this turns out to be a mere pipe dream. Meanwhile, the greedy merchants who tout such kitsch laugh all the way to the bank.

In addition, many products have planned obsolescence worked into them. How often do you have to buy a new computer, or a new smart phone? Companies continually upgrade both software and hardware, and even stop providing support for old systems in order to force upgrades. Car manufacturers used to get away with pestering Americans into buying a new car every few years; today, they brag about how long their cars last. Of course, a home computer or cell phone isn’t nearly as expensive as a new car, so people are less likely to complain or demand longer-lasting electronics. Still, wouldn’t it be better if you could count on your Dell or Compaq to work ten, twenty or more years?

Then we come to home entertainment. First, we had videotapes so we could watch favorite movies and TV shows in the comfort of our homes, whenever we wanted. When they first came out, videotape players cost upwards of a thousand dollars; and videocassettes weren’t cheap, either. Then along came laser disks, and then smaller and better DVDs. The latter have many advantages over VHS tapes, such as not needing to be rewound. Millions replaced their tape collections with DVDs, at great expense. Then, just as people thought the industry had settled on DVD, along came Blu-Ray and another round of replacing equipment and media. Even in the early days of Blu-Ray, many declared that they were not going to go through having to replace their libraries again. And that’s for just the second media upgrade! Finally, there is streaming media, requiring people to pay in order to watch movies or TV shows. The option to download is there, which saves on plastic and other materials; however, companies can always provide shows and movies in only the next video format and stop supporting old ones, forcing upgrades – and providing a lucrative market for video pirates.

Our culture of greed is most prominent during the holiday shopping season. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Festivus, the Winter Solstice, or whatever, you cannot escape the screaming ads on TV and radio, in newspapers and magazines, and just about everywhere you look that holler Buy! Buy! Buy! The merchants want you to shop for everybody, even your pet Nanday conure, and make you feel like a Scrooge if you don’t. Department stores and shopping malls have become bomb-cratered war zones where people fight like rabid pit bulls over items that will get used once or twice and end up gathering dust in the back of a closet. Stores tout their “doorbuster” specials and open their businesses earlier and earlier; in fact, some are forcing their minimum-wage minions to work on Thanksgiving – without offering special holiday pay – so they can lure in the hypnotized hordes.

Kids are especially vulnerable to the holiday madness as the ads that air during cartoons and other kiddie fare fill their minds with visions of toys and tie-ins with popular shows and movies. Their doting parents feel compelled to indulge them with piles of gifts. No Christmas (or whatever) tree is complete without enough packages around it to fill a boxcar.

Fortunately, more and more people are standing up to the greedy merchants and their bellowing. Search the Internet for “Xmas Resistance Movement” and you will get a lot of hits. Adbusters touts “Buy Nothing Day” every Black Friday, encouraging people to keep their wallets closed. Religious people are raising hell about the birth of their Messiah becoming a buying frenzy. Some people and groups are encouraging “ungifting,” donating to charity in other people’s names, something that my family has done several years in a row.

We need to break free from the current model that an economy has to grow to be sustainable. We need to learn how to be happy and satisfied with less. No, we need not starve or live in shacks; but we can enjoy life with fewer possessions, smaller houses and older cars. We can thrive while sticking to the basics, while hanging on to fewer belongings. Too many possessions are a burden. Our current way of life takes up too many resources and generates far too much waste, and is causing terrible harm to this planet, destroying ecosystems and driving species to extinction. Fewer things and a smaller living space are easier to maintain – and cheaper to insure.

One system that has gotten much attention recently is the sharing economy, in which people and organizations share both information and physical assets so we need to buy fewer items and can pass along what we no longer need. Sharing economies no doubt have been around for a long time, but it was only in this century that the term appeared. Crowdfunding and open-source software such as Linux are examples of this sharing. Freecycle and BookCrossing are just two out of numerous web sites where people can share personal resources they no longer need, thus reducing the necessity to use up more resources and room.

I like to call this new economic vision “post-consumerism” because we need to rethink, redefine and restructure economic stability and free enterprise. We need to move beyond greed and want, and adapt a simpler lifestyle in which we are satisfied with only what we need. This will benefit not only our own wallets, but our planet itself, when we curtail our use of resources such as land and minerals. As the old saw goes, live simply so that others may simply live. The blossoming Minimalist movement embraces this beautifully, encouraging people to keep only what they really need and give away or share the rest.

This is a continuation of last week’s post.

It is not enough to get the ball rolling. We have to keep up the momentum. We have to accept that this is a marathon, not a sprint; and that we will have to maintain our effort for a long time. Many will hang on for only a short time and then bail. We need to overcome this “one and done” attitude and inspire people to stick with our crusade for the long haul. We will have to keep them focused amidst all the distractions and temptations that surround us. No great societal change ever occurred overnight, or smoothly. This effort, therefore, is more than a marathon – it is a relay race, and we must make sure that we pass the batons to people who will work diligently for needed change while keeping their eyes on the prize.

We will face formidable opposition from the Powers That Be and their army of mealy-mouthed, forked-tongued spin doctors, as well as exasperation at pushing against the inertia and fickleness of the general American public. The barriers we must overcome include apathy and helplessness on behalf of the oppressed, as well as voter suppression and right-wing propaganda. The numerous laws that Republicans have passed making it harder to vote prove that they are afraid of high voter turnout, especially by marginalized communities. Fortunately, people are already fighting back.

We need a movement that knows what it represents and what it seeks to bring about, as well as realistic ideas of how to bring about those big positive changes. We need leaders who will lead by example instead of just flapping their gums. We need people who have a true vision that balances idealism and realism. We need leaders who know not only what they are fighting against, but more importantly, what they are fighting FOR. The reason so many revolutions fail, or end up as out of the frying pan and into the fire, is the leaders either know only how to destroy but not how to build, or lead for the sake of leading rather than helping those who follow them, like the pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm. We need leaders and troop-ralliers who really believe in a vision of a better society, a freer one where people are indeed secure in their persons and people receive not only a living wage but also decent and realistic benefits. We need to be clear that we are socialists, not communists – we believe in commerce and business, as well as individual freedom and rights.

We need our own “spin doctors” who know how to counter the patronizing hogwash of the Powers That Be with intelligent – and devastating – replies. We need people who can do research to back up our claims and provide facts and figures from reliable sources that support what we state. Many people will not join or support a movement that lacks credibility. Our foes will cook up their own figures to discredit us, so we must be ready with answers.

This crusade does sound as though it is “taking on the world.” However, that is what we have to do. Thus, instead of just one big group, we need a coalition of activist groups: some concerned with protecting privacy, some with how to fix our medical system, some with how to improve education, some with encouraging businesses to pay a living wage, and so on. There are numerous activist groups already in place tackling such problems, and they are across the political spectrum. Already there are quite a few progressive coalitions out there, and sites that attract progressive activists and groups, so some necessary work has been done.

We need to get all these groups pointed in essentially one direction. That will not be easy, since some lean to the left, and some to the right; not only that, in every group, though people will agree on one thing, they are bound to disagree on some hot-button issue such as guns, abortion, the environment, animal rights, and who is the greatest all-time player for the Yankees. Thus, leading such a coalition is going to be a lot like herding cats. It won’t be easy keeping everybody focused on the common goal, and infighting and bickering are inevitable. However, somebody who has the right combination of charisma, leadership skills and oratory talent can keep this motley crew on the move in the right direction.

Am I volunteering myself? No. I know myself well enough to realize that I am not that person, not the next Gandhi or MLK Jr. or Nelson Mandela. I have good ideas, and I can help organize; but a movement of this scope requires a person of great charisma, intelligence, compassion, dignity, tact, persistence and insight. Someone good at rallying the troops, making speeches, inspiring others, keeping everyone focused. Someone who can work with people of widely differing backgrounds and opinions. Someone who is bold and not afraid of the limelight, yet modest and unpretentious. Someone who can handle both flattery and brickbats. Someone who can stand firm in this position and recognize barricades to progress as detours rather than dead ends. Whoever this Great Leader is, I will gladly support him – or her.