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

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Monsanto & Seed Patent Laws

Click here to access a 4:24m video on the John Stewart's The Daily Show.

Notice at one point in the dialog the farmer expresses a fundamental insight: "Monsanto patenting our plants is a theft of our genetic heritage."

I've always wondered why most people cannot see that our economy is also a social heritage and as such cannot be owned by private individuals or "corporate persons"?