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

Thursday, April 3, 2014

No Fooling - When a Retired Conservative Politician Warns About Oligarchy...

Click here to access article by Roy M. Poses MD from Health Care Renewal. 

From time to time we hear from One Percent insiders some concerns about the growing income and wealth gap in the US. They are worried that the hoi polloi will think that there is a growing condition of social injustice in our country and that notions about democracy might even be fake. In other words, the jig will be up for the ruling class. The author found another agent of the One Percent who has such misgivings who said this:
When we conclude that in reality our government is controlled by the rich and super-rich, not the people, we will experience a great legitimacy crisis; our government will no longer feel legitimate to us, and thus it will not receive the deference that legitimate authority is entitled to. Lawlessness and disorder will follow.
Oh, now I see--he's worried that we will come to his home and take his toys away!