Summary: This is the second post giving a summary of my ideas about how to reform America’s politics. That is, ideas about starting the process. The people involved will have their own visions of reform. Yesterday’s post gave an overview; this post gives details about how a reform movement might begin, looking at the mechanics. We’re at the earliest stage of the process, before stage one (the most difficult stage). This is a bleak view, but reformers must have clear vision if they’re to have any chance at success. {1st of 2 posts today.}
“Out of small acorns grow mighty oaks.”
— Ancient English proverb.
Contents
- The only path to reform for a democracy.
- How do we build organizations to reform America?
- What comes next for early reform groups?
- Other posts in this series.
- For More Information
(1) The path to reform for a democracy
‘Tis not in mortals to command success,
But we’ll do more, Sempronius,—
We’ll deserve it.— From Joseph Addison’s Cato A Tragedy
(1713).
America will be what we will it to be. A political reform movement requires people with a shared viewpoint and commitment to action, capable of building organizations that convince a large body of Americas to share their goals. The specific steps on that road will depend on the circumstances, and I doubt we today can reliably guess what those will be — nor need we concern ourselves with those details now. Taking the first step poses enough of a challenge for today.
Do we have such a group of people today? The people of the Occupy movement agreed only upon the need for change — which created an organization capable of street theater but not meaningful action.
The Tea Party Movement was in many ways a near-perfect nucleus around which a substantial challenge to the ruling elites could have been mounted (even if born as astroturf). But they were proud individualists, refused leadership and so were quickly and easily co-opted to become shock troops for the GOP (born as rebels against a bank-bailout government becoming supporters for one of the more bank-friendly Congresses since the 1930s). Their evolution shows the power of the 1%, and the need to build a strong organization rather than a constellation of easily manipulated small groups).
(2) How do we build organizations to reform America?
How does one design an electric motor? Would you attach a bathtub to it, simply because one was available? Would a bouquet of flowers help? A heap of rocks? No, you would use just those elements necessary to its purpose and make it no larger than needed … {People} will share {your views} when the time comes, or you’ve misjudged the moment in history.
— From Robert Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
(1966).
We’ve been losing for a long time. The balance of power between the 1% and us has swung far against us, so we will continue to lose for the foreseeable future.
Don’t compare the needed organization to the great organizations that brought victory to the abolitionists, suffragettes, and American civil rights movement. Instead compare our situation to the beginnings of those movements. The Pennsylvania Abolition Society was founded in April 1775 by 24 men. The Testonites, one of Britain’s first antislavery societies, was founded in the early 1780s by a small group of people. The Committees of Correspondence were small groups in each colony. That’s where we are today. Recruiting people for a long program against long odds — it’s not the phase at which mass recruitment is possible.
Where can such people be found? Let’s not be narrow in our visions. It’s possible that a nucleus of people might form inside existing organizations and spread within it. Or among neighbors, co-workers, among strangers brought together on the internet. Hundreds or thousands of such groups will form, from which a few will have the right mixture of ideas, people, resources, and luck that allows them to grow.
(3) What comes next for the early reform groups?
The great successful political reform movements of our past spent years or decades laying a foundation for growth. They prepared answers to the vital questions. Why was change needed? Change towards what goal? And they built the basic machinery: organizing, collecting petitions, developing leaders, fund-raising, etc. They built alliances with other groups having broadly similar goals.
We have the same need. I believe the same solution will work, as they’ve been refined by each generation. Look at the abundant raw material! We have hundreds of groups, dozens of coalitions — mostly special interest groups (with focused goals, hence unable to gain broad support). The internet has thousands of websites about politics with millions of readers in the outer party (i.e., the managers and professional classes). These are tinder awaiting a spark.
Today these people are either apolitical or focused on influencing the two major parties (on a local, State, or national level) on narrow goals. This is similar to conditions in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Their reform movements were able to knit their groups into a larger whole. We should be able to do so as well.
The best we can hope for is a long trek (the alternative is a quick defeat).
Please post in the comments pointers to others writing about the steps to reforming America. That is, writing about the mechanics of doing so — not visions of what might be. I’ve found very few, which is a symptom of our problem (as described yesterday).
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.— From “Ulysses” by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1842).
(4) Other Posts in this Series
- What if Samuel Adams tried to start the Revolution by blogging?
- Samuel Adams started the Revolution because he didn’t have Twitter.
- Can Constitutional amendments save the Republic?
- We’re strong and adaptable, but have a problem that might sink America.
- Enough analysis! America is broken. Here are some ways to fix it.
For More Information
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