Recommended Political Reading
P. S. Wright
Greider
As George Monbiot says in “ Manifesto for a New World Order ,” change is coming whether we like it or not. The glaring injustices, inequalities and iniquities of our present nation-state governance and global economic systems are unsustainable. Monbiot sees the change as a “metaphysical mutation.” I would say it amounts to re-injecting the word moral back into our lives – a real sense of the word, not merely sound-bite moral -- with or without religion or phony political posturing.
The contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber would say it amounts to a change of consciousness. All of us know it: if the species is to survive in any meaningful way – and I don't consider being a consumeristic-corporate-militaristic droid in a devastated environment under smiley-face fascism a meaningful life – we must study and inform ourselves so that we have some constructive ideas and workable plans for a viable future. Then we must organize and implement.
Nature abhors a vacuum, including a vacuum of ideas. Where progressive and liberal ideas have been in abeyance, conservative and right-wing ideologies have aggressively filled in the gap. The five books referenced here all have valuable ideas for the creation of a differently democratic future.
“Citizens of the Empire” challenges us, as Americans, and thus citizens of the world's most “powerful, affluent, and militarized nation on earth,” to stop continuously looking for our own gain and share the wealth we commandeer from the rest of the world. Author Robert Jensen offers a powerful antidote to the despair many now feel about the future of American democracy.
Jensen takes issue with our claims about being the “greatest nation on earth.” Surely greatness, he argues, is manifest in a nation's actions, not its rhetoric. If so, we fail the test abysmally. It is increasingly unacceptable to a growing number of Americans that the U. S. cannot seem to take responsibility for its many heinous actions in the world, let alone engage in “critical self-reflection.”
By Jensen's standards, our democracy is questionable; political scientist C. Douglas Lummis suggests that “there is democracy where the people have power.” Since the power of choosing our president was effectively removed in the 2000 election, one would be hard-pressed to call the U. S. democratic unless and until that power is remanded.
Compassionate yet clear-headed would be the watchwords for David R. Loy's ground-breaking book, “The Great Awakening.” A brilliant application of Buddhist ethics to American social policy and politics, it's an inspiring example of how we might return to relative sanity in our treatment of our own citizens as well as the rest of the world. The source of our problems, of course, like charity, begins at home – in our own hearts. But there are many actions that we can take to affect positive change, beginning with honest, balanced appraisals of both the good and the bad in our society.
Probably the single most important book to read before the November election (always assuming we have one), is George Lakoff's breakthrough book, “Moral Politics, How Liberals and Conservatives Think.”
The divide in America isn't just class or culture, it could also be literally cerebral. I know you'll be shocked, shocked to hear this, but left- and right-wing people have completely different ways of thinking about the same issues. Lakoff spells out how this is related to and enforced by the way we're raised and in turn raise our own children. He clears up many social behavior mysteries and cuts through layers of entrenched political confusion with his extended examples of the Stern Father Morality and the Nurturant Parent models. Guess which one represents which political view.
My own reaction to “Moral Politics” is that the dualism inherent in today's “two Americas” is a tragic, politically-expedient polarization. We need some insights and practical beliefs from both sides of the aisle, not just knee-jerk allegiance to one or the other. But until that bright new day dawns, read Lakoff to find out why you behave a certain way – and your political opponents the opposite. Lakoff's penetrating analysis is compelling and eminently useful for our troubled times.
William Greider's “The Soul of Capitalism” is eloquently-written by a vetted, long-time visionary who sees signs of positive transformation of capitalism from within. America's lurch to the right notwithstanding, Greider gives good reason for unexpected optimism in wresting control of the American economy, or at least moderating it, from the stranglehold of corporations. Important reading for those who want to understand how American capitalism works and how it could be effectively re-worked.
One example: in essence, the most powerful economic force in the U. S. today isn't Washington or even Wall Street but pension funds. Who owns this enormous economic clout? American workers, the same ones who are getting screwed by their corporate bosses. According to Greider, they haven't fully woken up to their hefty leveraging power yet, but are, like a sleeping giant, just beginning to yawn and pull the covers off the bed as they get up for the day. His detailing of this single fact alone makes the book worth reading and gives one hope that, someday, America may yet wake up to realize its full potential and use its enormous power for the benefit of all sentient beings, not just a tiny strata of rich, power-mad hungry ghosts.