A Livable Future

If the people of the world are going to enjoy a livable future (i.e., one in which peace and justice and environmental security are embraced as not only articulated goals but fundamental and achievable human rights), we must first rid ourselves of certain delusions.

First and foremost, we must recognize that the most formidable obstacle to a livable future is the Plutocratic War Party of the United States and its allies and proxies around the world.

The PWP is composed of BOTH Republicans and Democrats. Consequently, politics as usual will get us nowhere. The American political process is part of the problem where the PWP is concerned, not part of the solution.

Why? Because the U.S. electorate only represents a small portion of the world's population; we cannot continue to vote away the rights of others around the world while pretending that we are only attending to domestic business. The PWP may be headquartered in Washington and on Wall Street, but it is a global power elite.

Besides, the American political process, the so-called "two-party" system, obscures the reality of power distribution in the United States and, indeed, in the world. In other words, it is the PWP vs. the people of the world. We must learn to think outside the "box" (the trap, really) that is the "two-party" system.

Once we recognize that the true obstacle to peace, justice, and environmental security for all the world's people is the PWP, we must emphasize the fact that it is a WAR party. Warfare is NOT peacefare. Nor does it make the world a more just place. Nor does it protect the environment. Therefore, those who recognize the PWP as the true enemy of a livable future MUST embrace radical pacifism. By radical pacifism I mean a commitment to non-violent non-cooperation with all that the PWP promotes and stands for. In the immortal words of Nancy Reagan, the people of the world must learn to "Just Say No" to militarism of any kind.

We must not shrug and ask, "But what can I do?" We must be resolutely defiant and determined. We must begin by being vocal advocates of non-violent non-cooperation. We must complain. We must argue. We must protest. We must ridicule. We must pledge ourselves to the proposition that friends don't let friends join the military, and we must remember these words of Mahatma Gandhi: "It is contrary to our manhood if we obey laws repugnant to our conscience."