Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Fomenting Revolution

In a surprising change of direction Jack-of-all-thumbs, one of my favorite bloggers, has shifted his political commentary from encouraging participation in the system to fomenting revolution. I’ve really enjoyed his last few posts. As you know if you’ve read much of this blog, I’m all for revolution. The system is broken and can’t be fixed from within. Therein lies the problem. The system has become so much bigger than politics.

Here’s what I see. There is HUGE dissatisfaction with the was things are. The politicians will probably all be out on their ears except for the radical fringe folks from the right and the left (if you go far enough either way you end up in the same place (fascism from the right or communism from the left.) BUT, nothing will change. Why? Because the system is driven by money not by ideas. Money gets elected, not ideas. And once it is elected it puts the money people into the drivers seat of the myriad bureaucracies that really set policy and control the system.

So, using the system to change the system will not work because you have to become a “player” in order to play. In doing so you become the problem you were trying to solve. REVOLUTION seems like the only way! That’s where I’ve been for a while, but now… here’s a problem I’ve noticed. FOOD. Jack’s FISH post made me think a lot about food (I think about food most of the time,… it’s what I do.) in the revolutionary sense. And it is a problem. See, the folks who are a big chunk of the money that runs the system also control 99.99% of the food. Go to your pantry and take out everything made by Kraft (or it’s subsidiaries) or ADM, or Con-Agra, or… It’s not a huge list but it’s worth exploring. Not only do these and other mega-corporations control the political process by funding it, they control our access to basic necessities. As we push to change the system, this access will be used against us. When that happens they will win. We have no alternative system.

2 comments:

jack-of-all-thumbs said...

Alan,

Many thanks for following and I like the focus on food. We are trying very hard to support local food in any way possible. And yes, I have shifted my view on how best to solve this problem, but it's not exchanging one method for another. Rather, I'm embracing a multi-component approach. Eventually, the solution will have to come from government. Short of armed insurrection, there is no other choice. BUT movements like Occupy Wall Street can be invaluable in focusing public attention, and thus pressuring government to change unfair laws.

Regardless of means, we're on the same side in the same fight.

Hickchick said...

hmm, SoyLent Green and Mon$anto prophetic, no?

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