In many of my political discussions the question of where I stand on “radicalism” has come up. Here’s what I think.
What do you consider radical? Usually, we take radical action when we are facing an urgent matter. Being transported by ambulance with lights and sirens is a radical way of getting from one place to another. Taking a knife and cutting through skin and flesh and cracking the ribs to get to the heart is radical. Shutting down the entire city because there are two potential bombers on the loose is radical. And sending thousands of soldiers, half-way across the world, spending literally trillions of dollars, destroying cities with millions still living in them and killing all manner of people and animals is a radical way to stay safe. So, we resort to radical action when we feel our other options are too slow-acting or ineffective for what we need to accomplish. Radical action, though, is and should be saved for our highest and urgent priorities. We are used to resorting to radical action and don’t think twice about it when it is needed.
With this frame in mind, lets now take a look at the world around us. At the onset let me acknowledge that I am an optimist and see a lot of positives in the world. However, an optimist isn’t blind. Hope does not separate us from reality. Here are some realities we currently face. Our economic disparity is enormous and escalating. 400 people make more money than a third of the world population. People are homeless, must work 2 or 3 jobs to barely exist, young people have student debt they can’t afford to pay back—or will never pay back with the interest rates they have to pay.
Our health care system leaves millions of people without care and half of those who have health insurance can’t afford to pay the out of pocket expenses or medication costs or their dental care, so they go without care even though they pay for the insurance premiums.
Ordinary people who are working can’t afford housing without having to room with many others like sardines or start families if they so choose. Our retirees and those who are facing the prospects of retiring are often looking at poverty-level life prospects. Our environment is continuously and perilously on the edge of total demise unable to sustain human life and causing billions of dollars in damage annually, contributing to declining health and life expectancy and rapidly moving towards uninhabitability. Our political system is corrupt, plain and simple, and fascism, hate and violence are on the rise. Our education system is not preparing students for the future leaving millions of children without the tools to critically think and make good, logical, intelligent and humane decisions about their own world and future. And, we treat vast swaths of humans inhumanely and with cruelty by denying them their basic rights because they are different by virtue of sex, ability, gender identity, race, skin color, religion—or no religion, or for heaven’s sake even hair style. We are abusing every part of the earth both living and inorganic with excesses and indifference and cruelty.
Do these things sound like emergencies to you? They do to me. If we and the world were a human body and there was a doctor looking at it, I am sure the diagnosis would be multiple organ failures and severe blood loss needing immediate and urgent care. This would not be the time to engage in pondering, contemplation and philosophical esoteric contemplation about IF we should stop the bleeding and restore functioning to the body, it would be the time to urgently decide how fast can we do it. No one would be asking about the inconveniences of the care or its costs. No one would be taking lunch breaks or going on vacation. Thoughts and prayers would be fine but not as a substitute for urgent care. Moderation in providing care, under these circumstances, would be inexcusable, unforgivable and inevitably contribute to the slide towards total demise.
None of us, regardless of political party, would argue that things are not looking good in any respect. All us ordinary people who are struggling to live our life, raise our children, pay our bills and live a reasonable life with hope would agree on these points. So, why are we so afraid of taking radical action to solve these problems and restore health and happiness to the world? Because we are brain washed.
We are brain washed by those who profit from the chaos and crises that we face. Small and inconsequential rewards (small paychecks, 10% senior discounts, a little food stamp, etc) along with fear of things getting worse (prices will go up, we have to lay people off, terrorists will get us, etc) keep us in place. Add to that opportunities for faux outrage and self-devouring (FB posts about welfare recipients, anti-muslim, anti-immigrant anti-femenist, anti-everything, etc) gives us the illusion that we are actually acting to fix anything and discharges our distress momentarily. Meanwhile, predatory and vulture capitalism devours everything in its path while we engage in moderation. No, we have come to accept radicalism in these situations to be completely acceptable to us. Radical profit margins, radical wars, radical discrimination and injustice is OK. No, radicalism in these situations is completely acceptable to us. Radical profit margins, radical wars, radical discrimination and injustice is OK. But as soon as we start talking about radical political movements to change course and fix the world, suddenly we get scared or we are scared off.
It is not radical to want to live. But to do so sometimes takes radical action. If in the next election we don’t take “radical” choices, we are doomed to demise. If we don’t radically change the way we think about our world, prioritize our needs, and do EVERYTHING we can to fix problems radically we are contributing to the eventual downfall of ourselves. Those who propose moderation in the next election are offering thoughts and prayers and we can see how far that has gotten us in gun-induced mass murders. Action, radical action, is needed to right this ship and find the course to saving this planet and humanity. There will be a time to get back to moderation again. When we have stabilized the world, when we have restored humanity, justice and fairness and have established strong common-sense and common-ground rules governing our behaviors we can go back to moderation and relax more. Now is not the time. It’s time for radical change.