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, November 5, 2014

A Joke In November

Click here to access article from The Polemicist. (Note: This blog is the work of one person, a New York City native and denizen, who came of age politically in the 60s, and has been a taxi driver, college professor, and political consultant. The aim is to be intellectually rigorous, politically challenging, and occasionally snarky, from a left-socialist perspective.) 

The Polemicist provides us with a great joke to lighten our cares as we go about surviving another day under capitalism. Here is the opening paragraph:
On the way home from his successful fund-raising meeting, a powerful US Senator, drives his car into a tree and dies. His soul arrives at the Pearly Gates, and is met by St. Peter.