A couple of days ago, I posted a couple of videos detailing the latest (and potentially greatest) abomination foisted upon the american people by its government. Under the snappy title ‘will it be alright?’ I stated that there is still hope; I’d like to back that statement up.

Ultimately this fragile and fleeting ‘hope’ of which I speak is dependant upon the will of the populace. Any system of government depends upon the complicity of its people. When I refer to complicity in our modern times I’m probably putting myself in a small percentage of people who feel that unless you are actively seeking profound change within our current system, you are aiding and abetting that system.

I was having a conversation with a couple of my friends last night about the loss of habeas corpus, and one of them said something to the affect that the future of our country depends on the nine people sitting on the Supreme Court. After a moment of reflection I had to call bullshit where I saw bullshit.

There are roughly 300 million people in this country, regardless of the powers that we have handed over to those nine people sitting on the high court, there are still 300 million of us. If enough people reach their breaking point and realize that the way our government has decided to go about its business is immoral, change will occur, regardless of what the judicial, or the legislative, or even the executive branches decide.

Before I say anything else, allow me to assuage what I see to be a very easy misunderstanding . . . I am not talking about violence in the streets (although, unless some fairly significant changes start taking place, that’s exactly where this is going, and the loss of habeas corpus is a very effective tool for dealing with violent revolution). We can create change without violence, what needs to occur is for small groups to begin taking care of their own communities, and proving to the general populace that we can have energy, freedom and safety without war, repression and torture.

Imagine if you will, a small town that starts implementing local policies designed to encourage green energy. What happens? Well you start creating local jobs, you start creating local resources; and by curtailing dependence on the massive energy companies, you start to hit them where it really does hurt, their profits.

Imagine if a town kicked all the big industrial farms out of their community and returned the land to small time farmers. Well, all of a sudden you’re not supporting a couple of CEO’s with their bloated salaries . . . all of a sudden you’re not supporting lobbyists to harangue our politicians into relaxing environmental standards . . .

When the elections come ’round, I’ll be going to the voting booth, but my biggest problem with voting is the way it assuages the need for change in our own lives. What we’re facing is not a problem of having a pack of jackals sitting in the positions of power in the country, what we are facing is the problem of a climate where politicians, once elected, are so effectively insulated from the will of the populace, because they are virtually left alone once elected. It really should come as no surprise that instead of their silently grumbling constituents, politicians listen to the lobbyists who cover capital hill like a swarm of locusts.

Too many of us are trapped in the paradigm of change coming from the top down. I know a bunch of people chomping at the bit for the opportunity that will be offered in ‘08 to elect a new leader. What I’d much rather see is change coming from the bottom up, let’s see the government scrambling to ape the policies and sudden financial stability of a dozen small towns across the country who are starting to come to the realization that when you stop supporting multi-national corporations and instead focus and invest in local people, local ideas, sustainable, healthy and sane ways of conducting business; you create jobs and a community.

I know this sounds like a pipe-dream, an almost unrealizable utopia, you can claim that this is all fanciful navel gazing, but that’s alright.

Hope.

I believe that this country is full of good people who are itching for the chance to do something great with their lives, and are just waiting . . .

I believe that this country is full of people who are fed up with the way that things are currently going on, and feel trapped because they don’t know what they can do about it . . .

I believe that most of our social problems can be traced to the fact that our society encourages a strange sort of solipsism. We feel alone and isolated from our neighbors, and the only way to correct that problem is to reactivate our communities.

If you had the choice, which would you rather purchase? A pair of pants made by a local craftsman who enjoys what they do, and puts pride and care into every stitch, or a pair of pants made in a foreign sweat-shop by someone barely making ends meet, and then shipped across the ocean on a boat burning petroleum which we fought a war to claim, and then sold in a WalMart which actively tries to drive local merchants out of business?

Yes, it’s a simplistic analogy. For myself, I keep coming up against the fact that I don’t have all the answers, nobody does; and my greatest suspicions are reserved for those who claim that they do. At the heights of my egotistical finest (and i have been known to ascend to those heights occasionally) I like to think of myself as an agitator.

I believe that this country is full of people with good ideas, and right now they’re stuck in a holding position because they don’t have the proper connections to see those ideas take flight.

I’d like to identify and introduce as many of these people to one another as possible, and help them realize their dreams.

I’d like to live in a country where the majority of people get to go work feeling like they are contributing to something better than their own fragile stability and the bloated excesses that have been allowed to arise in our system.

There is still hope, but it’s going to take an amazing reserve of courage and yes, sacrifice.

And now a quick shot of inspiration . . .

Everybody, say it with me . . .

Fuck this!!!

Quick shot of inspiration provided by Punk: Attitude. This is a great documentary that covers more than just the whos and whens of the punk rock movement, instead choosing to focus on the ideals and motivations that drove the thing.

Fuck this! is powerful. It can be so much more than simple negation, voiced properly it can be a call for something better, it can serve to wake people up, to shake them out of their carefully constructed convictions, and we need some convictions to be shaken if we are to survive. So one more time, come on, say it with me . . .

Fuck This ! ! !

Good, now let’s start brainstorming.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 27th, 2006 at 2:48 pm and is filed under indiscriminate, philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.