A Sunrise to Come: The Rise of the Community Democracy
Editor's note 2.0 Some time ago I lost my primary blog due to web hosting crash and was unable to recover a lot of my writings. However, through time and effort, along with support of friends, colleagues, and like minded acquaintances, I have been able recover a good portions of my writing through the Internetarchive.org Waybackmachine. So here is a recovered posting that I found recently. This posting was originally published 10/23/2007...
There are many life things in life that one tries to guarantee, and many that we cannot. Nevertheless, as humans we strive to obtain certain sustainable lifeways so that we reproduce and produce our own unique brand of reality.
There are certain inalienable rights for all sentient beings that we as ‘individuals’ and we as a ‘community’ try to replicate in an effort to bring structure and order to the perceived perception of life. Some view life as hostile, where it is competitive and destructive, and inevitably intolerant of one’s existence. On the other hand, some view life as away to celebrate creation, benevolent, striving for order, and seeking a way for the structure of life to be embolden and tolerant of one’s existence.
Both of these views are ideas that are projected (displaced) on and away from reality in order for their existence to take hold from within and from without our minds. But in order to succeed with our ideas (whether it is from an individual aspect, or one that replicated in the community), one has to provide a form of validation, in order for the acceptance to be embarked (entered) into reality, and this is done by narration and deployment (DVND).
Francis Lappe Moore
We by nature, whether as an individual or as group, community, or nation-states need a narrative, a story,
if you will, to propel forward beyond one’s rational reasoning to go
beyond our basic instinct of survival, which gives ‘us’ (as one or as a
group) away to deploy (or redeploy) our ideas at large.
These “Ideas,” says Frances Moore Lappe, “are greater than the instinct of life.” And, by implication she is saying this is what separates us from the animal kingdom world. Our ability to view the world through abstraction and disconnect give us (or one) the ability to supersede the animal instinct within the human condition. It gives us the ability to adapt, like a virus[1], which infests nature through its ability to modify the nature world for its own means.
This ability has led humanity beyond, some believe, its carrying capacity. In other words, we as a species are living beyond the means in which Nature can support humanity. If not for our technology, humanity would have been in check. In spite of all of this, Lappe believes that at large the industrialized world is “manufacturing scarcity”; that food production is “inefficient”; and, that the economic, means of production, and means of reproduction are entangled in the way we(one) think/s.
She believes that America and (possibly) that all of Western society is headed toward another Gilded Age, similar to the 1920s, where the haves and the have not’s are separated by a great disparity. She spoke on how private industry has corrupted the democratic process away from the individual, away from the people, and how violations of rights were being stripped away, if you will, by this concentration of power.
Lappe believes that we, as a society, are tolerant of this because of the feeling of being powerless; incapable of changing the system; and, that nothing one does will make a difference. In essence, we have “bought” into this idea, told ourselves a story, and regurgitated (redeployed) it over and over again; in that we feel that we don’t have enough. This is in turn leads to our appetite of consumerism, leads to competition, and leads us to be selfish accumulators; only worrying about ourselves (Lappe, 2007)[2]. It is this way of believing that has led to our present state of “depression” both as individuals and as a society—a cultural ennui— if you will, that leads one to despair, and the sense of powerlessness. It is the concentration of power that inculcates our Pavlovian response to the present institutions of democracy—in which we (one) has surrendered personal liberty and responsibility to the “greedy” and the “materialistic” members of society (Lappe, 2007).
However, these ideas can be changed, says Lappe. In that there is a “revolution of hope”; in that, “human beings are not just selfish accumulators”; and, that we are “richly complex” beings who need to accept that we are both good and bad. In effect, change our perspective, reclaiming and shifting the story, by redistributing and returning the power to the people. Thus, the concentration of power is therefore “widely dispersed” in what Lappe refers to as the living democracy.
This living democracy is a place where the sense of fair play rules. Where community works together not only on the group level, but on the individual level as well; this is a place where humanity is aligned with Nature. And, this is a place where one is not just contributing to the global market, but to the local market place in the community. This is done through creating co-operatives and communities that hold ‘responsible and responsive’ corporations to the tasks of sharing the interest of the people.
A living democracy purports Lappe, is active within local and national politics; so that the power is distributed widely to the citizenry and that supports Restorative Justice and the Fair Trade Agreements in which people are dealt with respect and on an individual level that provides dignity, and honor to all. A living democracy provides it citizenry with a living wage. It provides hope instead of despair and fear. In a greater sense, it is a vehicle of the “possible,” the shifting of norms and renaming them. And, a living democracy raises the community up and incorporates the sense of purpose says Lappe. It is the instilling of new ideas and replacing the old ones even renaming them.
And, it is the renaming in which the living democracy strives. Turning those items and institutions on its edge and looking at them from them opposite end. It is also its flaw. By renaming one can admit certainly a differing point of view, but one may not end with a differing result. In addition, once one is aware of this renaming does not one question the root of what a living democracy is? Is this not democratic socialism renamed, made more palatable for the consumption of the American establishment and the citizenry? She spoke of checks and balances of power, wide distribution of that power, and the mutual responsibility in regards to that power. Interweaving the ideas of co-operatives and introducing the suggestion that the media is failing to report these success stories in lieu of the realization that they may be a better model out there.
Nevertheless, Lappe is correct, the changing of the story is necessary in order to shift the perspective from fear to hope. It is fear that makes us small and constricts our ability to change and search for new alternatives and different ideas. It is hope and our belief that emboldens us to look outward, and diversify the world around us. And, it is our ability displace, validate, narrate, and (re)deploy (DVND) that enable us to bring these ideas to our reality, into our consciousness, and to override the “instinct of life.” It is also ability to see that the rise of the community democracy is peaking over the horizon awaiting its turn and its return to the beacon of liberty.
There are many life things in life that one tries to guarantee, and many that we cannot. Nevertheless, as humans we strive to obtain certain sustainable lifeways so that we reproduce and produce our own unique brand of reality.
There are certain inalienable rights for all sentient beings that we as ‘individuals’ and we as a ‘community’ try to replicate in an effort to bring structure and order to the perceived perception of life. Some view life as hostile, where it is competitive and destructive, and inevitably intolerant of one’s existence. On the other hand, some view life as away to celebrate creation, benevolent, striving for order, and seeking a way for the structure of life to be embolden and tolerant of one’s existence.
Both of these views are ideas that are projected (displaced) on and away from reality in order for their existence to take hold from within and from without our minds. But in order to succeed with our ideas (whether it is from an individual aspect, or one that replicated in the community), one has to provide a form of validation, in order for the acceptance to be embarked (entered) into reality, and this is done by narration and deployment (DVND).
Francis Lappe Moore
We by nature, whether as an individual or as group, community, or nation-states need a narrative, a story,
if you will, to propel forward beyond one’s rational reasoning to go
beyond our basic instinct of survival, which gives ‘us’ (as one or as a
group) away to deploy (or redeploy) our ideas at large.These “Ideas,” says Frances Moore Lappe, “are greater than the instinct of life.” And, by implication she is saying this is what separates us from the animal kingdom world. Our ability to view the world through abstraction and disconnect give us (or one) the ability to supersede the animal instinct within the human condition. It gives us the ability to adapt, like a virus[1], which infests nature through its ability to modify the nature world for its own means.
This ability has led humanity beyond, some believe, its carrying capacity. In other words, we as a species are living beyond the means in which Nature can support humanity. If not for our technology, humanity would have been in check. In spite of all of this, Lappe believes that at large the industrialized world is “manufacturing scarcity”; that food production is “inefficient”; and, that the economic, means of production, and means of reproduction are entangled in the way we(one) think/s.
She believes that America and (possibly) that all of Western society is headed toward another Gilded Age, similar to the 1920s, where the haves and the have not’s are separated by a great disparity. She spoke on how private industry has corrupted the democratic process away from the individual, away from the people, and how violations of rights were being stripped away, if you will, by this concentration of power.
Lappe believes that we, as a society, are tolerant of this because of the feeling of being powerless; incapable of changing the system; and, that nothing one does will make a difference. In essence, we have “bought” into this idea, told ourselves a story, and regurgitated (redeployed) it over and over again; in that we feel that we don’t have enough. This is in turn leads to our appetite of consumerism, leads to competition, and leads us to be selfish accumulators; only worrying about ourselves (Lappe, 2007)[2]. It is this way of believing that has led to our present state of “depression” both as individuals and as a society—a cultural ennui— if you will, that leads one to despair, and the sense of powerlessness. It is the concentration of power that inculcates our Pavlovian response to the present institutions of democracy—in which we (one) has surrendered personal liberty and responsibility to the “greedy” and the “materialistic” members of society (Lappe, 2007).
However, these ideas can be changed, says Lappe. In that there is a “revolution of hope”; in that, “human beings are not just selfish accumulators”; and, that we are “richly complex” beings who need to accept that we are both good and bad. In effect, change our perspective, reclaiming and shifting the story, by redistributing and returning the power to the people. Thus, the concentration of power is therefore “widely dispersed” in what Lappe refers to as the living democracy.
This living democracy is a place where the sense of fair play rules. Where community works together not only on the group level, but on the individual level as well; this is a place where humanity is aligned with Nature. And, this is a place where one is not just contributing to the global market, but to the local market place in the community. This is done through creating co-operatives and communities that hold ‘responsible and responsive’ corporations to the tasks of sharing the interest of the people.
A living democracy purports Lappe, is active within local and national politics; so that the power is distributed widely to the citizenry and that supports Restorative Justice and the Fair Trade Agreements in which people are dealt with respect and on an individual level that provides dignity, and honor to all. A living democracy provides it citizenry with a living wage. It provides hope instead of despair and fear. In a greater sense, it is a vehicle of the “possible,” the shifting of norms and renaming them. And, a living democracy raises the community up and incorporates the sense of purpose says Lappe. It is the instilling of new ideas and replacing the old ones even renaming them.
And, it is the renaming in which the living democracy strives. Turning those items and institutions on its edge and looking at them from them opposite end. It is also its flaw. By renaming one can admit certainly a differing point of view, but one may not end with a differing result. In addition, once one is aware of this renaming does not one question the root of what a living democracy is? Is this not democratic socialism renamed, made more palatable for the consumption of the American establishment and the citizenry? She spoke of checks and balances of power, wide distribution of that power, and the mutual responsibility in regards to that power. Interweaving the ideas of co-operatives and introducing the suggestion that the media is failing to report these success stories in lieu of the realization that they may be a better model out there.
Nevertheless, Lappe is correct, the changing of the story is necessary in order to shift the perspective from fear to hope. It is fear that makes us small and constricts our ability to change and search for new alternatives and different ideas. It is hope and our belief that emboldens us to look outward, and diversify the world around us. And, it is our ability displace, validate, narrate, and (re)deploy (DVND) that enable us to bring these ideas to our reality, into our consciousness, and to override the “instinct of life.” It is also ability to see that the rise of the community democracy is peaking over the horizon awaiting its turn and its return to the beacon of liberty.
[1] In the movie The Matrix, a character referred to as Agent Smith tells one of the protagonist, Moebas, within the story of how humanity is like a virus.
[2]
This is a basic summation one of Frances Moore Lappe points in her
speech at St. Catjeans Church on the Auraria Campus on October 22, 2007.
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