Robert Reich, once Clinton the First’s Secretary of Labor and now a professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, has emerged as one of the clearest pre-Piketty voices on income inequality and how it is affecting America. He asks why, in the face of incontrovertible evidence of their coming demise, our middle class remains complacent.
So why is there no revolution brewing?In a police state with total information awareness, resistance is futile?
Firedoglake
Piketty’s Reality? The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Peter Van Buren
3 comments:
As I have been saying for years. It has become impossible to revolt.
If you start from a human being, then there are basics to look after – a place to be born safely, food, clothing, shelter, a place to die with dignity; our beautiful planet. It need not be over the top, caring for human needs – just comfortable would do. At the core of this essential care is respect: and this needs to be unpacked a little. Nobody is able to respect anybody else unless they can find something GOOD within inside of themselves, which they come to genuinely feel, respect and admire – and then notice it exists in others too. Always, genuine respect is about real human qualities. Everything begins with a human being, and whether or not society exists is something else: for you and I, we are human - the basics remain. For basics to be addressed, we need to understand the value of a human being: “people before money and machines” as Tom says.
It is impossible to respect social position or wealth because these are attributes, costumes; often pretence rather than human reality. Nobody who is about to pass from this earth cares a hoot about social position or wealth, as both reality and wisdom have caught up with them. I think the first point of engagement is that there is an inside to a human being and an outside. We cannot make everything on the outside OK without making everything on the inside OK, and v.v. But we have to begin somewhere, and I would like to add my voice to those who perceive that somewhere as a priority, must be on the inside where our reality is, where our existence and experience is – because the recognition of human reality on the inside conditions what is happening on the outside, but the reverse is not true. The outside may impact on the inside and evoke a response, but the heart does not change: rather it is only when the heart is expressed on the outside in the truest sense, can we take some pride in our accomplishments.
Hence our first human priority is to find something noble inside of ourselves, understand and feel respect for it – in order to feel proud to be human. Being rich does not make a human being feel rich; manipulating power on the outside only brings an illusion of power. When the breath does not come, then we know what powers us. Thinking about imbalance and ‘inequality’: on the inside - where there is a genuine feeling of respect, as a quality, a tangible reality, a defining energy and state of being, felt within the human heart - there will be on the outside no imposition of external conditions that will break the integrity, recognition and value of the internal reality. That is a perennial Law of the human heart, which disciplines the persona. It is the search for Harmony over conflict. That is why respect is needed. Unless the inner condition is a reality, I think the level of ignorance, conflict, warring concepts, fiasco and miasma will increase greatly on the outside, as confusion breeds confusion. If we are progressing on the outside, it is glacially, through pain and suffering – and really, we seem to be inured. Picketty has excited the conceptual world, but real change comes from a change in human nature; a change in consciousness! Put simply, respect (or whatever label your put on it) needs to manifest in the world. I like the words Peace and brotherhood!
Practically, people need to be provisioned, so that they can exercise their own powers and capabilities to care for themselves; work to earn their living and enjoy their human dignity; - not be prevented from earning a living which they are just as capable of doing as the birds in the forest. Given access – and preferably in a peaceful world. There are two ends to the issue of inequality and let’s not forget that lifting one end is just as necessary as making the other end fairer and putting the predators in their place. And that the only reason this imbalance exists is because we do not see the value of a human being. The solutions to human essentials were available a long time before modern technology hit the scene. It is the inner condition that holds it back!
Mike – I think anyone in touch with their heart who looks at the ignorance going on in this world is revolted; just as a response in human nature. The problem is what to do about it on the inside and what to do about it on the outside; understanding how they impact upon each other. On the outside, we reach out and grasp for things, because we want to feel good on the inside – regardless of the fact that this has never worked out (as a formula) over the last 200,000 years for anyone; as far as I am aware. This is human nature (which everybody ignores) and is ‘by design’: – the desire to feel good on the inside is the engine that drives everything, even the curiosity of mind. So you have to wonder how long it takes to wake up. If you already were feeling good on the inside – then you would think this would highly condition how you approached things on the outside; how you would use the mind creatively, as a tool.
So my thought is, we worry about the greedy and selfish use of power and wealth on the outside – but forget the incredible power, the engine that has the whole of nature attached to the flywheel on the inside – pumping away, ready to throw off anything that does not work! In human beings, we call it people power. I think people need to understand their heart is real; and believe in themselves. Perhaps take a little hint from Kali and dance happily on their heads (which I have seen you do with a big smile on your face)!
So everything is possible!
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