“What do we mean by the Revolution? The War? That was no part of the Revolution. It was only an Effect and Consequence of it. The Revolution was in the Minds of the People, and this was effected, from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years before a drop of blood was drawn at Lexington.”
-John Adams to Thomas Jefferson 1815-
The attached article is excellent and full of valuable information. The main point is that moral change comes from below, from the people; and that revolution is derived from the evolution of our basic morality, as President Adams argues with his friend (and former antagonist) Thomas Jefferson.
Revolution isn’t a war. It is an agreement. Revolution can never come from above, from “governments.” War almost always does. Revolution is the only option when government fails to represent the basic morality of a majority, or consensus, of the people. When it fails to be accountable, and responsible.
Our government, at present, is gamesmanship. Governments generally are contractually incapable of phenomenal change.
Government, and for that matter, the Church, are drastically out of touch. We, the People, have changed, especially since the 1960s. We don’t believe that war is the answer. We believe that individual sovereignty is at least as important as state and federal government sovereignty. We believe that everyone deserves a chance to make it. We believe in respect for the law, courtesy to one another, civility in discourse, and in modernity and international cooperation. We believe that the cancerous growth of corporate power is a tragedy; and that denying science, and the threat of climate change, is suicidal. We believe in progress and change, though the president claims at one and the same time that everything’s corrupt, and that progress is an enemy to be hated and feared. We believe that religion is a personal thing, that we hold in our hearts.
It’s time for a Second American Revolution!
We don’t have a government suited for the Twenty-first Century. It would be more truthful to say that we have a government devised to keep the Elite of the 18th. Century in their favored position, and to reserve all real power to rural Pseudo-agrarianists.
Revolution must start with us. It must be presented forcefully, and by our best and brightest; but it must be supported with a little grace, with respect for all parties, and without violence. There is nothing revolutionary about violence, or war. There’s nothing revolutionary about vulgar shouting and swearing, or tearing up documents without tearing into the arguments they offer.
Division, the lifeblood of the political parties, has infected every aspect of life in the Twenty-first Century. It is so empowered by extremist factions that it can and probably will destroy us. It will kill us if we do not unite against our common enemies: anti-constitutionalism, criminality, climate change denial, the military-industrial complex, racism, and ignorance.
Our only hope is in unity. We must still hang together, or we will surely hang severally. The only way to beat the heat, or to irradicate gerrymandering, or defeat Trump, is to work together, for the good of all.
We set the example for the entire world, as President Adams states forcefully. It’s time that we lived up to it again!
https://www.salon.com/2020/02/17/the-climate-crisis-must-reunite-america–and-yes-that-could-happen/
I am a little afraid to respond to your post because if I disagree with you on any part of it, you tend to go on a rampage. However, you posted on an open forum, so I will take a stab at it.
I agree with the tenor of your post. Bernie is saying we need a revolution. Biden is saying people don’t want a revolution. Warren is saying we need structural change.
It depends on the what the meaning of “is” is. If revolution means big change, I am ready for it. I have actually been ready for it for a long time. Form my observation, I think most Americans want the structural change Warren and Sanders talk about. Call it what you will or may. One of the challenges is how to effect change.
For example; every Democrat, and Sanders and Bloomberg (who are not Democrats) want universal healthcare. I would even venture to say most Democrats would support a universal single payer system, IF it were adequately explained to them.
Most Americans, including Democrats, Independents and even some Republicans support sensible gun safety legislation, as well as sensible humane immigration reform, legislation to address climate change, racial justice and equality, criminal justice, economic justice, gender equality, reproductive rights for women, LGBTQ rights, a living wage. NONE of these things are radical. ALL of them are consistent with basic human rights, especially in a democratic society, and they are supported by the tenets of the U.S. Constitution. The only people who oppose these things are a large portion of the Republican Party. The rest of us just don’t necessarily agree on how to get there.
Our political structure is base on how averse we are to change. As you know, conservatives are more averse to change than are moderates, and moderates more so than progressives/liberals. I think how averse we are to change depends on how the current environment affects us. If we are adversely affected by something, we want it to change yesterday. If the current environment is working for us, change is not as urgent to us, UNLESS we have the capacity to empathize with those who are adversely affected by it. We know that republicans don’t have the empathy gene.
ALL Democrats want to get rid of trump and republicans, and I think most of us will support any presidential candidate who gets the nomination, even Bernie, although some think Bernie will hurt our chances to keep the House and take the Senate. Some of us are not so confident that Bernie’s supporters will support the nominee if it is not Bernie. Since the Democratic Party is a big tent party though, we naturally have a lot of different views. As civilized, well-meaning people, we SHOULD be able to iron out those differences in the primary process and give and take and compromise in a manner that will allow us to agree on a final product, at least for this cycle.