We Need An Overarching Vision For Change

One problem I keep having with progressive, left-wing activists--and I mean real progressives, not milquetoast, frequently corporate-sponsored "moderates" affiliated with the Democratic Party--is the lack of an overarching, compelling vision and program of how to truly reform and remake our society, and the world, into something more just, harmonious, sustainable, and just plain inspiring. Or, even if they do have such a vision, intellectually or in some manifesto, it is sung largely to the choir and hidden away within "the movement", without being implemented in a systematic fashion across the board, across the whole breadth of social policies and public issues: global relations, education, health care, ecological balance, etc.

Lefties are great at opposing particular evils and policies. A war on Iraq, a war on Afghanistan, global warming, executive greed, left-baiting media--ooh, are we ever so good at making our protest signs, holding our rallies, and decrying "corporate this" and "militaristic that". And we can totally skewer individual nefarious actors and organizations, the Rush Limbaughs and Reverend Phelpses and Carlyle Groups of the world, endlessly enraging and enthralling our fellow thinkers while the rest of society largely ignores us.

And so, too, do we push for progress in a piecemeal fashion: universal health care, a carbon cap or tax, immigration reform. Save the Rainforest. Free Tibet. Worthy causes, all; but does any of this sound too, too familiar?

Now of course, we do sometimes string together any number of these issues. This seems to occur most frequently at protests, where a demonstration against the war in Iraq can draw hanger-on causes ranging from Free Palestine, to Legalize Hemp. Or at various "people's conferences", where all sorts of activists and thinkers talk about their pet issues or projects, and the affair concludes with a proud commitment to "social justice for the whole world". This feels good, and represents the right sentiments; but I'm afraid a coherent, compelling grand vision, much less a strategy, it makes not.

What is needed is an overarching plan for how to change and ultimately save the world, and effective, coordinated steps to implement this on all levels, from the local to the global, and in all arenas, from personal choices to political movements and government policy. I think we on the Left have been afraid of embracing, and broadcasting, just such all-encompassing hope and vision for far too long now. I mean, we do realize all the different issues stem from some basic, fundamental problems in the relationships, attitudes and structures of our societies, right? From the late 1960's until very recently, the Right has been tremendously successful in promoting its own grand strategy--moralizing nationalism and "free enterprise" to the masses, massive corporate-military expansion and plunder in the corridors of power. With a faltering economy; a clear energy-cum-climate crisis; and a semi-open and progressive President in the White House, what time but now for us to push forward our own grand agenda, a newer, post-industrial New Deal?

I'd like to help contribute to just such a vision and platform. My personal proposal is for an overall "Green" transformation of our society, how we live and produce and relate. (I mean, just read the name of this blog.)

Ultimately, we are all--all peoples, all institutions, all living things--connected in an interdependent web of relations. The best model for how we can all get along and live prosperously, happily, and freely together is ecology: You take what you need from the system (the economy, the environment), you contribute an equal or greater value back, and ideally you do this in concert with other beings, starting with your own species and local community and radiating outward to encompass the whole globe and biosphere. No hoarding far beyond your realistic needs, and denying an equitable share to others. No cutthroat competition to the point of annihilation, assimilation, or subjugation (a vital and continuing part of our evolution as human beings is our capacity for cooperation and even altruism). No stinginess with your contributions to the human and biological community, no denying your essential interdependence a la Ayn Rand: that you need others, and they need you. But instead, a socially-conscious effort to work together, to balance, in order to sustain and enhance quality resources and living conditions for all, as can be found--not universally, and not perfectly--in some indigenous societies, or even modern-day communes and intentional communities.

So there it is: a start. A vision in a very broad, vague sense, pre-crystallization and implementation. Now what's left is to add to it, to flesh out the details; to make the leap from cyberspace, into real space, into real strategies and actions and social and political movements. Perhaps you can come along, and help me in this quest...