America the Possible

James Gustave Speth is the former Dean of the Yale University School of Forestry.  He was a founder of the National Resources Defense Council. He's written a number of books, the most recent of which is, America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy. 

James Gustave Speth

I had high hopes when I began reading America the Possible. When an author uses the word 'manifesto' in the title of a book, one  expects it to offer a specific prescription; a remedy for what ails that can be embraced by the masses. In a word, Dr. Speth's new book is terrific. It's an effecive and most worthy effort  from a genuinely good soul, who certainly qualifies as one of the world's most distinguished voices for the environment.

The arguments in this book are presented succinctly and with great aplomb. Speth begins with a review of  the social, economic, political, and environmental consequences of our government's current status as a wholly owned subsidiary of giant corporations and the super wealthy.  In effect, argues Speth, the American people have allowed the jackals to take charge of Uncle Sam's henhouse. 

On a  global scale,the evidence is clear. All of the human culture is in a tailspin.  Speth calls for a democratic transformation of the institutions society depends on. Public policy and governance must be reinvented to moderate and manage the destructive forces at work in the modern world.  This effort must be driven from the bottom up by citizens galvanized into a political force that can stand up to the daunting influence of the rich and powerful.

America the Possible is a very important book. Speth paints from a global perspective, but focuses mainly on the United States. It's all too clear that we Americans are a big part of the problem.

Speth covers a lot of bases.  He urges the nurturing and participation in a national scale, even global scale movement.  It turns out, the organized grass roots are already deep. Paul Hawken's book, Blessed Unrest reports on the hundreds of millions of people who are engaged in grassroots progressivism around the world. An extraordinary amount of human potential; the problem at the moment is all that human energy is unfocused.  Imagine what might be possible if you could get all those people on the same page.

That's where I think America the Possible comes up a tad short.  If it's me trying to galvanize the grassroots, I would put the focus on something that will inspire Americans who want to see the restoration of our nation's core democratic princples.  I'm talking about a goal, a rallying cause that can power the evolution to a human civilization that every person would or should wish for. It has to be something that will get grassroots social, political, economic, and environmental leaders all together on a single formidible task.

Leaders are not generally good at being followers. There are many single issues that ignite passion among the tens of thousands of leaders who fall under the progressive umbrella. The leaders of those single issue groups must be mobilized to an unprecidented degree. They must choose to channel a significant portion of their energy toward a great shared goal.  

Restoring genuine representative democracy to America is a very tall order.   If I were responsible for instilling inspiration, I would focus on two morally bankrupt legal constructs as a rallying point for progressives.  One is the treatment of corporations as persons under the law. The other is money being protected as a form of speech.  These two ideas allow the rich and powerful to own public policy and the process of governance in America. Neither concept has ever passed muster in the legislative process. Neither has ever been signed into law. In both instances [Santa Clara County vs Southern Pacific in 1886, Buckley vs. Valeo in 1976], it was overreaching by conservative Supreme Courts that provided legal standing. 

More recently, the current conservative dominated Supreme Court doubled down with a ruling called, Citizens United.  Because of this ruling, corporations and the rich are allowed to flood the American elective process with limitless amounts of campaign cash anonymously.  Hundreds of millions were invested by corporations and the rich into influencing the 2012 election, almost entirely to support conservative candidates and initiatives.   In essence, these two repugnant ideas provide the framework for a deeply entrenched political brand of legalized bribery.  We are where we are at the moment in America because rich and powerful corporations and individuals are unaccountible for the massive, undemocratic influence they wield over public policy and governance.

There are a number of very worthy efforts underway to push back against corporate personhood, money as speech, and the stench of  Citizens United.  I hope the smart and dedicated leaders of these groups will soon come together and pool their energy rather than competing with eachother. Before I go further, in the interest of full disclosure, I need to say that I came to embrace this particular focus after reading Thom Hartmann's book, Unequal Protection.  Hartmann urges his followers to give their attention to a group called Move to Amend.  This group is focused entirely on pushing a constitutional amendment that would eliminate corporate personhood and money being treated as speech.   I also urge support for Move to Amend.

The leaders of every progressive advocacy group, every trade union, every organization that prizes the restoration of genuine representative democracy in Amerca should rally around Move to Amend.  While we're at it,  let's demand that all political candidates seeking local, regional, state, and national elective office take a public position on corporate personhood and money as speech. 

Focusing on corporate personhood and money as speech does two things. First, it offers a real chance to actually change the law on those issues. Second, the process of getting everyone on the same page would create a single movement rallying point of amazing scale.   Such a movement would make James Gustave Speth's bold and life-affirming vision for America the Possible, not just possible, but maybe even genuinely probable.

Here is a video of James Gustave Speth talking about building a new economy
http://vimeo.com/47118890

Here is a link to a video of Thom Hartmann talking about corporate personhood... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hziy7WR9TQc