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

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Coming Soon to America: Big Push for Austerity

by Roger Bybee from In These Times. 

The fight-backs in Europe that is currently being led by French workers portends the same battles here in the US. Unlike capitalist who are organized globally, there has been little effort to organize workers globally. As a consequence workers are being picked off one nation at a time: Iceland, Latvia, Greece, Portugal, England, and France.  If the French workers cannot stop the spread of capitalism's worker killing virus there, it will be spreading to the US in the near future--probably right after the November elections.

I thoroughly disagree with this comment by the author:
ELECTIONS WILL MAKE DIFFERENCE

In the US, the intensity of the Austerity-For-Workers program will
depend partially on the size of Republican gains in the November 2 mid-term elections. More seats going Republican—particularly the loss of
the House—means more momentum for attacking working families'
social safety net.
The author is clearly a capitalist liberal. As such he believes in a kinder, gentler capitalism--a cruel hoax, an oxymoron. The Republican and Democratic parties in the US function exactly like "good cops and bad cops"--they both want to hang you.

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