It's about time someone started telling it like it is. If you really believe that there is a segment of the population that has no intention of working with us to make this a better place for everyone, then you understand that this is going to get ugly, before it gets better. That segment is small, but vocal and very powerful, because they control the wealth right now. But to move our society and our species to the next level, we are going to need to try new things, and give up some of the entrenched mindsets that may have been rational or necessary for the founding fathers survival, but are no longer relevant to the world we live in. Foundational concepts, such as capitalism and democracy, the monetary system, and the role of government need to be re-evaluated and in some cases radically altered. Does that mean a wealth shift? Of course it does. Does that mean we alter the Constitution? If need be. Everything has to be on the table so that the best decisions that benefit everyone can be determined.
Who would oppose this? Obviously only the people who feel they have something to lose. People whose power and privilege are inextricably tied to the status quo. And they are aided and abetted by those who aspire to join their ranks, at any cost. We should not expect them to go gently into that dark night. In fact, we should know from history that the process of overthrowing an entrenched power is often brutal and bloody, and always comes at a price. I attended Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta, GA. Each day for five years I was greeted by the words, "Power concedes nothing without a demand". It never did and it never will. The demand will initiate a struggle, and the struggle will be won by those with the most conviction and power.
Too many of us are unwilling to even contemplate rocking the boat, for fear of how it could affect us. This myopic point of view is actively fostered in our "shake and bake", "instant gratification", "smoke and mirrors" society. Forget compromise; War has already been declared. When half of your next generation is unemployed (and largely being rendered unemployable by the standards of the new economy), it's no longer a matter of lack of foresight. It's willful blindness, coving up your eyes to reality. Like "reality tv" shows that condition people to believe that something scripted and controlled is actually spontaneous free expression, we are complicit on our own deception. It's time for us to stop pretending like we really have anything to lose at this point.
I urge you to move beyond pretending things are getting better. I stood on a platform of CHANGE before it was the mantra of the movement. It's time to be brutally honest and FORCE that Change to happen. You will be ridiculed, you will be harassed, you will be vilified; but you didn't get into this for the fame and fortune. Don't be afraid to be in the vanguard of the evolution we so desperately need. Don't be afraid to be one of the first to say, "what we have been doing is no longer working, so maybe it's time to try something else." Speaking truth to power has never been a healthy proposition. But your legacy will be determined by whether you choose that road, or whether you flee back to your comfortable world of blinders and deception, disguised as reality.
"Those who profess to favor freedom, yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
Frederick Douglass
