“One does not need to be a socialist to understand that socialism has been a part of this country’s journey from the start.”—John Nichols
On June 23, John Nichols, author of The “S” Word: : A Short History of an American Tradition … Socialism, joined Phil Gasper, author of The Communist Manifesto: A Road Map to History’s Most Important Political Document in Madison, WI for an event to discuss the history of socialism in America and its increasing popularity during today’s crisis of capitalism. The event was sponsored by the ISO, Haymarket Books, Verso Books, and WORT 89.9 FM Madison.
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What do you all think about David Korten and his book, “Agenda For a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth?”
davidkorten.org
He also wrote, “When Corporations Rule the World,” “The Post Corporate World,” and “The Great Turning.”
His focus is to make it possible to imagine a differnt way of doing things by changing our shared “story.”
I write this in response to the request for an action plan. I think what he and others like him are saying makes sense and his focus is on “how to.”
For an interesting and not unrelated viewpoint, check out an article by the BBC’s Justin Webb who argues that the US $14tn debt is not an economic or a political problem — it’s rooted in America’s dysfunctional culture. (Link below)
Not an entirely original thesis, but If Webb is on to something, my question is — How problematic will it be for socialists, or any other group for that matter, to figure out how to transform a culture?
I hear lot’s of “talk” about the “need” for a new social movement but I have yet to see any “action plans” that would get us from where we are to where we want to be. Perhaps I’m naive to expect action plans at this stage.
Maybe it will take, as some suggest, a collapse of the current culture, system, or whatever you want to call it, before, in the words of Thomas Homer-Dixon’s book, we can create something different out of the “Upside of Down”?
Anyway, here’s the link to a re-posting on my blog of Webb’s BBC article (and accompanying slightly different audio version)–
http://citizenactionmonitor.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/is-america-doomed-by-its-14-trillion-debt-crisis-a-bbc-perspective/