Proposal for supporting "The Global Economic Crisis" for Domestic Use - Letter from Lorna Salzman

Unlike the American the Best pablum, this statement represents the most cogent and realistic agenda for the comprehensive economic and environmental change that is needed to prevent the collapse of civilization. As the powers that be - the major parties, Wall St., corporations, funders, consultants, media and others gather around the camels to defend their fortress of sand, otherwise known as modern industrial capitalism, the voices of those who know the truth and are willing to speak it, are drowned out by the whistling in the dark. 

It is normal for humans to deny, at first, harsh reality. It is normal to believe the self-styled experts with their polls, graphs and data that show things will get better. It is normal to get angry at people who have the opposite view. But the time for wishful thinking and unsubstantiated optimism is long gone. We are seeing the convergence of several crises: in finance, political legitimacy, ecology,

energy, social conflict, and the onset of irreversible climate change that will exacerbate all of these. Any one of these may abate temporarily and give us more false hope,but in fact the other crises will remain. At a certain point it will be impossible to fend off the impacts by cooking the books, fiscally and ecologically. 

There are some honest voices among us: James Kunstler, Richard Heinberg, Dmitri Orlov, and some courageous scientists. But besides being drowned out, they are being squashed by a new, massive deliberate conspiracy (no other word suffices) to purvey an Era of Good Feeling about this country and to paint a bright rosy picture of its future. This picture bears no resemblance to reality, of course. It makes no reference to the thievery of Wall St., the complicit actions of our president and congress, science, economic inequality, the deterioration

of our education, health and transportations systems, the disastrous "socialism for the rich", the lousy tax system, homelessness and poverty, unemployment...you name it and they ignore it. (see URL at bottom for the American the Best report to get the full flavor of this cheerleader's report on the future).

This is all intended to lead up to my inquiry: whether any of you are willing to sign on to the statement below, as an antidote to the ATB's rosy upbeat report that rejects fundamental ("radical") policy changes in favor of "values" and"emotions". I can't find anything objectionable in this report. I think it is a remarkable document that covers the bases extremely well. Let me suggest additionally that those of us who support this should consider holding our own conference and organizing our own movement for a rapid transition to the equitable, sustainable and ecological society that it envisions.  Comments?

PS: I have posted some quotes from the America the Best report at the end. Their URL is http://www.americathebest.org /who

LS

America the Best: 

Some quotes from the report, including remarks about where "we" have failed:

"This vision is grounded in economic realism vs. scarcity in a prosperous, people-driven, clean American energy economy.....we build healthy, vibrant inclusive and resilient communities grounded in public discussion, responsibility, well informed planning and inspiration...we have a democratically enriched America - in the truest sense a return to American's original democratic principles - empowered by today's technology, a reconnection with ecology (sic).

"..we lacked a clear language, narrative and effective messengers; communicated policy versus values (LS: reversing this can only lead to authoritarian top down solutions from the elites);

" didn't make climate relevant or important enough; and we failed to reach the minds and the hearts of Americans on the issue. How could we be so ineffective? 

"  ....the environmental movement is out of touch (LS: on the contrary, it's the only one that's in touch with reality, science and the ecological problems)

"....have a national dialogue on what American happiness means (LS: is this a TV reality show???).

"...long term narrative, common simple values/vision..plausible socioeconomic scenarios (LS: environmentalists have presented the ONLY plausible ones: of socio-economic-ecological collapse ).

"..work with religious organizations...appeal to the emotions of the Republican grassroots...invest in raising more of the business voices...emotional message that will appeal personally to Americans, tap into American pride (LS: let's all salute the flag now)

"...My American Dream...develop grassroots movement, bypass media..connect dots...long term vision, values based...Disconnect from politics - social issue (LS: not clear what this means: ignore poverty, corporate control of government, inequality?)

"...avoid further polarization (LS: a subtle way of saying: we need compromise)

"...make it safe and not radical (LS: means no more bad news and no discussion of radical systemic change)

"...stop talking about policy (LS: Hey, wait a minute, you just said we need more public discussion, didnt you? see above)

"... go one foot down from brain to heart - to emotion, to compassion (LS: guess you don't want people to actually THINK for themselves or learn the facts).

Click Link For more: The Global Economic Crisis: An Historic Opportunity for Transformation