Don’t send our money to Washington

https://newrepublic.com/article/162788/india-walton-buffalo-socialist-mayor

“ … there’s palpable excitement around the country for new local leadership, especially as the federal government proves itself to be a place where broadly popular ideas go to die.”

Liberals are wrong to advocate more tax revenues for the federal government and to have faith in the idea of more activist programs at that level of government.

The federal government of the United States is: (a) a place where broadly popular ideas go to die; and (b) the most militaristic institution on the face of the planet, spending more on militarism than just about the rest of the world combined.

The latter reality is so obscene that our movement ought to organize a campaign to have a million people pledge to withhold the percentage of their annual federal taxes that Washington will allocate to the military budget. They can’t put a million of us in jail, and what a headache it would be for them to try to claw-back money from a million. Even if we had to fork over the money in the long run, the message would be clear and electrifying.

The U.S. military budget is criminal and shameful. And the rest of their programs somehow wind up enriching the one percent, even when touted as progressive social spending.

I’m not against government, I’m against way-too-big-and-remote government. Liberals need to pay attention to the issue of scale.

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If you read the above New Republic article you’ll see that it reflects the beginning of a great historic turn toward localism and sustainability:

Walton’s platform carries the vision of a community-directed transformation of various areas of public life. She wants to institute a citywide land trust federation with democratic decision-making. On climate, she proposes an office of sustainability and task forces for green workforce and zoning policies.

This represents what we can do. The old idea of a dramatic (and romantic) sudden major transformation like the French Revolution or the Paris Commune or the Bolshevik Revolution (etc.) doesn’t work. The social reality has a momentum and an inertia such that it can’t possibly change all so suddenly. Whenever there’s an attempt at “revolution” a reaction soon sets in and reversals or a new kind of autocracy follows.

The real prospect for the greening of society is small steps, one by one, over many generations. The gradual implosion of the current insanity will foster the greening alternative. I do believe the human race will come to see the light.

Earth Day was indicative of the turning point. The process will take a long time.