What Can We Do About It?
A Disclaimer. This is the most difficult question for the Radical Bleeding Heart. For several reasons. For one thing, it is difficult, period. The enemy is powerful, determined, and ruthless. Power seems to breed ruthlessness. For another, it calls for abilities outside of his limited skill set. It calls for action and organization, while he, for what it is worth, is a idea person. A nerd, if you will. But ideas are essential foundations. Here are a few ideas about action.
Organize, Organize, Organize. That is the key. It is of course easier said than done. Of course the obvious thing to do is to join some already established orgainzation. You can find a list of some important outfits here. But even if you do join an established organization, the following ideas will be of use. Some key points:
- Forget Political Parties. Essentially, the problem is that political parties are devoted to one thing: winning elections. To succeed as a politician you must devote your heart and soul to that one cause. Those are the skills that are rewarded. There is little or no incentive for good governance. And the skill set for winning elections has little overlap with that required for governing. If you want to learn more, you can here.
- A Charismatic Leader is Useful. Right. Don't look at me. Let us hope someone with those necessary qualifications is inspired by what they read here. I know—don't hold your breath.
- A Purpose that inspires Passion. Organization is about getting lots of
folks fired up to accomplish something after making sure they are all pointed in the right direction. In other words,
you must have a Purpose that inspires Passion.
- Passion. So, the classic rule is that to inspire passion your goal must be Clear, Concise, and Compelling. The three "C's.
- Purpose. But don't get distracted. The right has so muddied the waters
that we have lost sight of our real goals. We are in
grave danger of losing our democracy forever and becoming a plutocratic banana republic without the bananas—yet
no one seems to care. That is because they do not realize what is happening; the gradual destruction of democracy and
equality is obscured by the din of right-wing rants about nothing. But young people cannot find decent jobs. That means that our
growing inequality will continue to grow, probably at an accelerating rate. Without equality we cannot have democracy;
without democracy we cannot have justice. But we need to be clear about why and how we are losing them.
Then we will know how to fight.
[Next: Some Hints about Strategy and Objectives.]