I am in
awe of this reality we live in. It is
amazing to think about the size of the universe; amazing to think how it works;
amazing to think how it gives life to so
much complexity. How can one not appreciate
these wonders? How can we not see the
life each of us has been given as a gift… a gift that comes with responsibility;
a gift that obligates us to take care of the living fabric of our planet?
The
problem is, we are not meeting our obligation. We are not taking care of the
Earth. Start with climate change. We
humans are responsible for billions of tons of heat trapping pollutants being pumped into the atmosphere from our
cars, our power plants, even from the food choices we make. The result: higher temperatures, rising sea
levels, and more powerful weather events.
We are stripping the forest from our landscapes. We are polluting the
sea and exhausting its biological bounty. We are abusing our fresh water supplies shamelessly. The soils we depend on are being parched of
critical nutrients. We are propagating ourselves mindlessly, consuming all the resources
nature has given us like there is no tomorrow.
There are now more than seven billion humans on Earth. How many is too
many? We have ravaged our nest nearly to exhaustion. We are supposed to be intelligent
beings. We are not behaving that way.
If we
make the Earth uninhabitable, where else
are we going to go? Oh yes, some say, ‘no
problem, we can go live on the Moon or on Mars’. What are they thinking? At
best, we are hundreds of years from that possibility. Even if this was not a fantasy; even if it
could happen, have you seen pictures of the Moon and Mars? Would you want to live there? Isn’t it so much easier and smarter just to
take care of what we have?
Some
people believe it’s too late to make things right; too late to avoid
civilization scale collapse. I hope that is wrong, but there is no denying, we are already
being tested by potentially catastrophic
forces like climate change; forces we ourselves have unleashed. It’s happening,
and it will get worse. How much worse depends on the decisions we make as a
global human culture now. Every moment we delay equates to more suffering for future
human generations and more destruction
of the natural world we depend on.
About
three out of ten people totally get what I am saying. The rest are indifferent,
undecided, or stubbornly resistant to science and reason. Those of us who share
a progressive world view must be assertive. We must encourage our friends who
are out of step to see the light. We must
urge them to be part of shaping a future
that is sustainable and life affirming.
Our poor
stewardship of the biosphere has consequences. Some cannot be stopped, but the
worst may still be avoidable. Clean, sustainable technologies are emerging or are
already here that can be transformative. There
are behavioral changes and policy
changes we can make that will allow us to reassert thoughtful control over the world
we will leave to future generations.
As a
first step, beyond the nationalities reflected in our passports, we must begin
to see ourselves as citizens of the Earth. Insular thinking does not serve the
best interests of society as a whole. Taking proper care of the biosphere must
become everyone’s cause.
There is
reason for optimism. Tens of millions of people around the world are already asserting themselves as Earth
citizens. They are engaged in progressive action on a whole range of human
challenges. That is a very good thing, but
an assertive focus on a single narrow issue, no matter how worthwhile, is not enough. Women’s rights activists, and LGBT activists,
and animal rights activists, and those fighting for economic fairness must devote
a share of their activist energy toward the root cause of our dysfunction.
Governance,
on a local, national, and global scale, is the way the common good is supposed
to be facilitated. But what happens when a small number of privileged elites are
able to use their wealth and influence to pervert our political systems? What
happens when the common good is trampled by self-centered corporate and special
interests? The answer to those
questions is abundantly clear. We see the evidence revealed every day on one
issue after another. Everywhere we turn,
we find public policy that is shaped to serve
private interests over the public good.
What is
the root cause of our inability to effectively take action on global scale
challenges? Here is the one word answer: corruption. Governance, politics, the media, finance,
health care: all of these arenas have been egregiously corrupted, favoring
entrenched private interests over the public good. He who has the money makes the rules, that’s
the unfortunate bottom line. As long as
we the people accept that; as long as so many citizens remain unaware or indifferent
to that, we’re screwed.
It
starts with governance. The congress runs on its own brand of legalized bribery. The courts, particularly, the Supreme Court, are corrupted. Most agencies responsible for managing the government’s
regulatory functions are deeply corrupted by industry ‘insider’ appointees.
Candidates
for elective office at the local, state, and national level can’t get elected
without the financial support of corporations, special interest political
action groups, and rich campaign donors, all of whom expect allegiance to their
narrow agendas in return. The Supreme Court’s ‘Citizen’s United’ decision opened the floodgates for anonymous and
essentially limitless campaign contributions for candidates willing to pledge allegiance
to their financial underwriters. So, who
gets elected? In way too many cases, it’s
the candidate with no principles who takes the political sewer money. It amounts to a barely disguised form of legalized
bribery.
Instead
of wearing ourselves down fighting the symptoms of this corruption, we need to get at the root cause. The evidence suggests that the foundation for
this particularly American style of political corruption lies with two morally
bankrupt legal constructs. One is the idea that money equates to free speech. If
you have money, you are allowed to run roughshod over the political process; to spend as such as you
like to control your own public policy agenda. Thus, we end up with elected
officials, who are the best money can buy.
The second
corrosive legal construct has never been codified in law. It is the precedent
that corporations are considered persons under the law. It is not the product of any legislation. It
has never been properly vetted by the courts.
Yet, it is accepted as legal precedent.
This very bad idea blossomed back in the 19th century during the
robber baron era which, it turns out, had more than a little in common with the
dysfunctional politics that prevail today.
Assigning personhood to corporations has led to all kinds of ethically repugnant
behavior that puts their self-interest ahead of the public interest.
Getting
rid of ‘money equals speech’ and ‘corporate personhood’ would do much to make
populist political candidates more electable. How do
we make it happen? It turns out, there
is already a clear pathway. A non-profit populist action group called, Move to Amend [www.movetoamend.com] has
emerged. Its mission is tightly focused on one very specific goal: to pass a constitutional
amendment that would end ‘money as speech’ and repudiate ‘Corporate personhood’.
Move to Amend is not the only group that
claims to have a remedy for our constitutional malaise. There are other initiatives with different
focuses. Some are about turning back the clock on ‘Citizens United’. The problem is ‘Citizens United’ is not the cause of our broken democracy, it
is an exacerbation that makes a bad situation worse. The legal foundation for ‘Citizens
United’ is the entire focus of Move to Amend.
A constitutional amendment nullifying ‘money as speech’ and ‘corporate personhood’
is a game changer; it is the closest thing to a cure that exists. It is the critical first step; the foundation
on which government can be revitalized and made accountable to its citizens
again.
No
matter what the cause, Move to Amend has
the ultimate answer. A constitutional amendment nullifying ‘money as speech’
and ‘corporate personhood’ is the single most important thing that can be done
to restore our democracy. Every citizen
needs to become part of the grass roots effort to get this done
Go to
the Move to Amend website. www.movetoamend.com Inform yourself, and become part of the solution.
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