Open Left

Great post

Like you, I don't know how this will all play out or what exactly we should do. But I do feel that lots of pieces of the puzzle are falling into place and that some trigger event may suddenly make it all manifest. I can imagine 20 million Americans in the street -- just like in Iran -- demanding an honest government, a more fair tax system, renewable energy, single-payer healthcare, etc. I don't know what would motivate people to suddenly go to the streets and demand this, but I can imagine it happening. And the blogosphere would clearly be a critical player.

Like a good nonviolent action, there must be conflict that grabs attention and an issue that people feel deeply. There must be a clear and good progressive solution and some event or action must clearly illuminate why the current system is bad and why the progressive alternative is clearly superior. The conflict must come to a critical juncture and pose enough danger/opportunity that it makes people want to check the blogs every 15 minutes to find out what is happening and to read long background articles that explain what, how, and why.

Just as the Vietnam war and the military draft focused the attention of millions of 18-year old students, there must be something that will grab the attention of millions. I don't yet know what it is -- perhaps climate collapse, deadly pandemic, financial collapse, world war -- but it feels like something is coming.

Fortunately, I think that all our hard work over the past 40 years has built a reasonably strong progressive structure. There is a lot of knowledge, a lot of connections, and a lot of resources ready and available, and many activists and bloggers who could facilitate a rapid expansion of understanding and action.

Perhaps, the waves you describe will finally crash over the wall.

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by: RandomNonviolence @ Sat Jun 27, 2009 at 19:21:26 PM CDT