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ECONOMICS -
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Top Ten Ways to Evolve

Posted in the database on Monday, August 21st, 2006 @ 15:06:46 MST (3724 views)
by Jim Prues    Thomas Paine's Corner  

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from an Economic to an Ecological (read sustainable) Culture

10) Replace our Current Administration and Congress

The current crop of politicians running our country seems hell-bent on fostering violence and war. Along with the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the administration denounces real democracies like Venezuela.

In domestic policy, the vast majority have proven their loyalties by their complete disregard for us, the people in favor of corporations and elitists. Energy laws written by the energy industry. Drug plans written by pharmaceutical companies. Bankruptcy laws written by bank corporations. The laws enacted over the past five years slap the face of democracy.

The good news is that a lot of U.S. citizens are ready to throw these bums out. The bad news is that these villains will not go quietly. The next few months are crucial - and likely explosive.

9) End U.S. Sponsored Aggression

Few can doubt that Israel would be disinclined to pursue their current violent policy toward Lebanon and Palestine without tacit U.S. approval. Israel’s argument of self-defense rings hollow in light of the facts. (Google "Israeli aggression" if you need facts.)

Throw in Iraq and Afghanistan, sprinkle in the threatening behavior toward Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba and others and what do you get? A clear picture of fascism. It may not be the Hitler kind, but it's fascism. And it must end.

8) Migrate to Sustainable Energy Resources

Can I get a big "duh?" Behind much of the conflict in the Middle East is our country's perverse compulsion to control global oil supplies. Then there's the inconvenient truth of global warming and the impact of oil dependency on our pocketbooks.

The Apollo Alliance provides lots of fodder for understanding how we can make the transition away from oil in a way that supports jobs and the economy, while obviously mitigating the current oil crisis.

Sustainable energy resources have added benefits in being more benign environmentally, which includes reducing global warming and resource use. We may get lip service from this administration and big oil, but we know their hearts are where the money is, and that's in oil.

7) Recreate our Communities

Communities have been the forgotten step-child in government efforts to enable "free trade" and a "global economy." Community issues are legion and diverse, from failing infrastructure to dysfunctional schools and loss of quality jobs. We haven't had serious attention to this issue since Lyndon Johnson's 'War on Poverty.'

Communities are the foundation of a healthy culture, and the state of our communities points straight toward the priorities and policies of our representatives in government.

6) Reduce Military/Defense Spending by 75%

the bankruptcy our country faces is not just an ethical one. We teeter on the edge of financial chaos, in large part due to the phenomenal amount of money we spend on wars, arms and defense-related spending. (Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are the other.)

The 'hidden' truth in this spending cut is that it is singularly the most effective thing we could do to refocus global spending on armaments. Do you not imagine that North Korea, Iran, Russia, China and any number of other countries would feel less threatened if the U.S. curbed its military spending dramatically? Can you contrast that with our current efforts to develop lethal weapons for space and mini-nukes? The way to peace is peace.

5) Plant and Nurture Trees

It's hard to argue against global warming when temperatures all over the country are near all-time highs, when desertification is rampant around the world, when glaciers are melting at record pace, and when millions of acres of forest are being destroyed by insects that couldn’t survive such locales even a few years ago.

Most obviously trees take in carbon dioxide, a major culprit in climate change, and emit oxygen. They also 'create the space' for nearly every land-based ecological system on the planet. They are energetically peaceful. Their roots systems help retain rain, creating a sponge/trickle effect critical for natural water systems. I could go on and on. Suffice it to say that along with conservation and migration to sustainable energy resources, planting and nurturing trees is the single biggest thing we can do to help our ailing planet.

4) Re-introduce Hemp

A study of hemp's place in human history quickly reveals its central place. Highly prolific, its natural territory circumscribes the globe. Almost every major culture has a hemp component, from African religious 'cults' to Europe's Middle Ages, where it's estimate up to 65% of the population was somehow involved in hemp production, manufacture and distribution.

Hemp oil lighted the world's growing cities. Its seeds were used for food and medicinals. Its fibers for rot-free rope and sails (no New World discovery without hemp). Yet efforts initiated by newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst and carried on today by lobbyists have demonized the plant, reducing its use to the fringes of our culture (if you know what I'm sayin'). In these times when the value of plants for biofuels is gaining prominence, what could be better than hemp, an energy-rich plant that grows well without artificial fertilizers and pesticides? (Heard about that big dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico?)

3) Overhaul Corporations and Institutions

There is little question that multinational interests are undermining workers rights, the environment and communities across the globe. Apologists claim that unbridled capitalism is the only successful model for civilization, but scrutiny of our situation today proves that absurd... In these times, it seems obvious that some synthesis of capitalism and socialism is required. Capitalism to promote invention, socialism to protect resources and the vulnerable.

On the other side of the coin, many of our institutions are bureaucratic nightmares, where hard work and innovation are stifled for fear of upsetting the status quo. Policies that initiate best practices, integration and honest appraisals of systems and personnel are all required to remake these hulking dinosaurs into institutions that serve our needs.

2) Institute a Global Initiative for Children

Few resources are more important to our planetary and our personal futures than our children. It may seem trite to harp on 'children are our future' themes, but that makes it no less true. More importantly, our most critical human responsibility is to our children. We just have to recognize that all the world's children are ours, and start acting responsibly from that context. (Israel, are you listening? Darfur?)

How tragic and ironic that we can find trillions for the war machine, but can't find money for children suffering from malnutrition and disease all across the Earth. Even in the U.S., far too many children are under duress. And all the while we're hypnotized by bullshit, baubles and trinkets on the TV. Sheer madness.

1) Dedicate Ourselves to Peace and Love - NOW!

Anyone left standing (or reading) after such outrageous declarations may still swoon at this ridiculous notion. We all know how important fear is to our survival. (That why it's pandered so regularly on the TV.) And since fear is the opposite of love, we just have to throw the love out, right? It's not our fault! We have no choice!

And peace is equally unviable. Just look at the news. Yet outside the news room there are millions of people of peace in our world. We're just not connected. Or empowered. And we won't be within the confines of the current world paradigm. S

So that's the stark choice. Which will we throw out (individually and collectively) - love and peace, or the current world paradigm. I choose the former.

________________________________

Read from Looking Glass News

Peak Oil and the working class

Poverty Facts and Stats

How does capitalism affect liberty?

Riding Down the Curve: How Cities Can Survive the Energy Crisis (Peak Oil, Part III)

The Class Wars

American Capitalism and The Moral Poverty of Nations

Neoliberal Transformation and Class Struggle

Paths Toward an Anti-Capitalist Liberation

On Economics

Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment

Renewable Energy: Economic and Environmental Issues

The Twilight Era of Petroleum

THE END OF THE AGE OF OIL

All "COMMENTARIES" from Looking Glass News



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