courses of action to fix local problems, one by one.
Yet people should also attempt to move beyond
what had been regarded as traditional in anticipation of what is possible. Here people
could start analyzing not just the economic implications that come with job changes or transfers involved with transitioning to such a
framework, or the actual economic structures
required of these new eco-cultural forms like tax structures, fees, etc., but the costs of dissolving or altering the very institutions that serve contemporary federal-state relations (departments of commerce, education, energy,
the courts, etc.). Such information could inform economic and strategic planning models that would outline effects of the transition, not only in terms of costs but benefits. Again, one could
post these models on the e-platform to allow for greater transparency and to further conversation, if not to anticipate actual need.
And as common ground becomes established, the salons could evolve into voluntary
associations. And these same voluntary associations could join into larger organizations, which in turn might be bundled into, say, up to twelve larger regions on the national level and seven superstructures on the continental level. It would be a perfect format for structuring a national advisory group to inform national policy, or to design a parliamentary system.
Should attempts be made to shut down such efforts (say, by turning off the Internet or
prohibit people from meeting in public), the work could continue by having people go underground. There, they could meet in secret to share ideas locally or start pamphleteering to share them more generally. All activities have a long and vibrant, not to mention successful, history in the United States. People could also counter isolation with commonality: create an
icon, a symbol, around which a marketing campaign can be built. No need for harshness: no sickle and hammer, for example. Go soft.
How about using a rose, a red rose? Put the icon on all writing, websites, social networks, documents, banners, flags, t-shirts, hats, stickers, and bumper stickers. Spray it on buildings, walls, etc. Use it to identify one
another, to recognize commonality and build
community.
The point is to keep the focus on the message that this initiative is about engaging people – all people within the nation, within the region, and within the world — in work that defines, ensures, and promotes a dignified human existence. Reach out to people, enfranchised or disenfranchised. Keep the message before people, continue to educate people by revealing the relationship between them and their environments, and keep pounding home the fact they oversee their own destiny. Engage people, treat them with respect, and provide them with the education and tools to act on their behalf. Build such a structure, and they will come.
Make no mistake: talk is cheap, it is easy, and for the most part it is nonthreatening. But there will be a tipping point where people start to take the Campaign for Human Dignity seriously. And that is when the existing elites and establishment types – wealthy individuals, corporate boards and
In short, environmental, demographic, and cultural forces provide us with the opportunity to capitalize on an explosion of creative potentiality if only we do it in the right way, in respect of cultural traditions and the embrace of human dignity. This alone would provide a breath of fresh air into a stifling political climate driven by the winds and whims of personal benefit.
148