Resources
Systemic
General Issues
Articles/Essays/Op-Eds
Justice by Means of Democracy, by Danielle Allen: A Review, Wade Lee Hudson.
In her magnificent magnum opus, Justice by Means of Democracy, Danielle Allen affirms egalitarianism and criticizes domination. She proposes a “power-sharing liberalism” rooted in “difference without domination” and applies her analysis to the entire society: politics, the economy, and society…. .
Allen affirms the development of
citizens’ ability to adopt habits of non-domination in their ordinary interactions with one another.… This would permit us to establish a virtuous cycle linking political, social, and economic domains in support of the kind of human flourishing that rests on autonomy, both private and public.
This attention to interpersonal relationships by a political scientist is rare and vital.
She defines difference without domination as social patterns that don’t involve any group or individual controlling another. She rightly asserts that protecting private autonomy is as important as safeguarding political liberties.
Allen recognizes the necessity to submit to legitimate limits “that come from laws, shared cultural practices, social norms, and organizational protocols.” These hierarchies, however, must “avoid an arbitrary or rights-violating exercise of power.”
Elizabeth Anderson: Democratic Equality. Wade Lee Hudson.
Anderson argues that “luck egalitarianism…excludes some citizens from enjoying the social conditions of freedom on the spurious ground that it's their fault for losing them. It escapes this problem only at the cost of paternalism. (It) makes the basis for citizens' claims on one another the fact that some are inferior to others in the worth of their lives, talents, and personal qualities. Thus, its principles express contemptuous pity for those the state stamps as sadly inferior.... Such principles stigmatize the unfortunate…. (It) makes demeaning and intrusive judgments of people's capacities to exercise responsibility and effectively dictates to them the appropriate uses of their freedom…. (However), in seeking the construction of a community of equals, democratic equality integrates principles of distribution with the expressive demands of equal respect. Democratic equality guarantees all law-abiding citizens effective access to the social conditions of their freedom at all times.”
An Interview with Jill Lepore. “JL: In some big structural way in the book there’s a quite notable absence of villains. I wonder if you could talk about that as the explanation you came to, as a narrative choice. Why no villains? EK: … There are obviously people I think of as villains in the sense that even as they are following their incentives their values are values that I find toxic... Even so what I wanted to try to do here, the kind of book I’m writing, and I say this at the beginning, is I’m trying to tell you how a machine works.” [read more]
Ezra Klein and Jane McAlevey: Who's to Blame? Wade Lee Hudson.
“Ezra Klein’s power analysis contradicts the analysis that Jane McAlevey presents in the “A master class in organizing” Ezra Klein Show podcast. According to Klein, the primary problem is “the machine” — not the “1%” or any particular decision-maker, as offered by McAlevey, the author of three books on organizing, including, most recently, A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy.” [read more]
Using intersectionality to understand structural inequality, Scottish Government
The key elements of intersectionality are:
A recognition that people are shaped by simultaneous membership of multiple interconnected social categories.
The interaction between multiple social categories occurs within a context of connected systems and structures of power (e.g. laws, policies, governments). A recognition of inequality of power is key to intersectionality.
Structural inequalities, reflected as relative disadvantage and privilege, are the outcome of interconnected social categories, power relations and contexts.
Toplines: May 2024 Times/Siena Poll of the Presidential Battlegrounds, May 13, 2024
Which comes closest to your view about the political and economic system in America, even if none are exactly right?
The system does not need changes - 2%
The system needs minor changes - 27%
The system needs major changes - 55%
The system needs to be torn down entirely - 14%
Don't know/Refused - 2%Brian Klaas, Fluke author, Interview.
”I grew up in the U.S., where I was sort of told you have to sort of just make your own path. This sort of individualist mindset, the American dream, and so on. And it's a culture that is extremely focused on control, right?
And I describe in the book how I was living, you know, what I described as a checklist existence. And I think when you start to think about the role of these forces that are sometimes arbitrary, accidental, and random, and also the chaos theory, the ripple effects of our decisions, it starts to liberate you a little bit, right? It starts to make you feel like, you know what, it's maybe OK if I don't have so much top-down control. And that's what I've internalized as a lesson from the book….
So, instead of imagining that we can have this top-down control, I think we have to have a little bit less hubris and also accept the limits of what humans can and cannot control.”
Does “the System” exist?, Wade Lee Hudson
References to “the system” are common in advertising, political commentary, popular culture, and elsewhere, but few people define what they mean by the phrase.
Wikipedia says, “A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole.”
This description leaves open the question of whether any one element controls or dominates a particular system. Concerning human societies, for instance, who rules? Who’s to blame?
Hannah Arendt on Violence and Politics, Wade Lee Hudson
As political violence permeated the United States and spread across the globe, in 1969 the influential political philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote On Violence. This small, passionate book analyzed the nature and sources of violence, offered some prophetic speculations, and challenged many widespread assumptions…. She wrote: “At that juncture (Hegel and Marx) discovered what we call today the Establishment and what earlier was called the System, and it was this discovery that made them turn to the praise of violent action and made them turn to the praise of violent action… The greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one can argue, to whom one can present grievances, on whom the pressures of power can be exerted.”
You Can't Optimize For Rest, L. M. Sacasas.
“[. . .] There are two key points. First, our exhaustion—in its various material and immaterial dimensions—is a consequence of the part we play in a techno-social milieu whose rhythms, scale, pace, and demands are not conducive to our well-being, to say nothing of the well-being of other creatures and the planet we share. Second, the remedies to which we often turn may themselves be counterproductive because their function is not to alter the larger system which has yielded a state of chronic exhaustion but rather to keep us functioning within it. Moreover, not only do the remedies fail to address the root of the problem, but there’s also a tendency to carry into our efforts to find rest the very same spirit which animates the system that left us tired and burnt out. Rest takes on the character of a project to be completed or an experience to be consumed. In neither case do we ultimately find any sort of meaningful and enduring relief or renewal.”
Everybody’s Protest Novel, James Baldwin.
“The protest novels...emerge for what they are: a mirror of our confusion, panic, trapped and immobilized in the sunlit prison of the American dream. They are fantasies, connecting nowhere with reality, sentimental;...
Our glittering, mechanical, inescapable civilization…has put to death our freedom… The aim has now become to reduce all Americans to...compulsive, bloodless dimensions... Now, as then, we find ourselves bound, first without, then within, by the nature of our categorization... Society is held together by our need; we bind it together with legend, myth, coercion... From this void — ourselves — it is the function of society to protect us; but it is only this void, our unknown selves, demanding, forever, a new act of creation which can save us...
What is meant by a new society is one in which inequalities will disappear,... But, finally, as it seems to me, what the rejected desire is, is an elevation of status, acceptance within the present community…” [read more] [to comment click here]
The Human Crisis, Albert Camus.
“The SS and the German Officer no longer represented man or mankind, but rather...the triumph of a doctrine…
Inside every nation, and the world at large, mistrust, resentment, greed, and the race for power are manufacturing a dark, desperate universe... [with men] captive to abstract powers, starved and confused by harried living, and estranged from nature's truth, from sensible leisure, and simple happiness... They are no longer protected by mutual respects… We know perfectly well that the venom is not gone, that each of us carries it in our own hearts...
... Put politics back in its true place, a secondary one... This world must...become the world of men and women, of fruitful work and thoughtful leisure… [Advance] the spirit of dialogue... All other efforts, however admirable, that rely on power and domination can only mutilate men and women more grievously... [read more]
The Making of the New Left, Louis Menand.
“The movement inspired young people to believe that they could transform themselves—and America… These reminiscences may seem romantic. They are romantic. But they express the core premise of left-wing thought, the core premise of Marx: Things do not have to be the way they are. The nation was at a crossroads in the nineteen-sixties. The system did not break, but it did bend. We are at another crossroads today. It can be made to bend again.”
Amanda Gorman’s 2021 inaugural poem.
“…We close the divide, because we know to put our future first, / We must first put our differences aside. / We lay down our arms / So we can reach out our arms to one another. /We seek harm to none and harmony for all. / Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: /That even as we grieved, we grew, / That even as we hurt, we hoped, That even as we tired, we tried, / That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious — / Not because we will never again know defeat / But because we will never again sow division….”
2020 Best Actor Oscar Acceptance Speech, Joaquin Phoenix.
“We're talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender or one species has the right to dominate, control and use and exploit another with impunity.”
Transforming Dysfunctional Organizations: The Desire to Dominate and the Willingness to Submit, Wade Lee Hudson.
Power struggles weaken organizations, but hardly anyone addresses the divisive social conditioning that inflames the desire to dominate and the willingness to submit for personal gain. Overcoming this divisive root cause can help fix dysfunctional organizations and build a systemic reform movement to transform society into a just and compassionate community rooted in democratic hierarchies.
Hyper-individualistic, hyper-competitive domination leads to exploitation and efforts to defeat “enemies” and punish scapegoats. Blind submission reinforces the status quo. The failure to distinguish between justified and unjustified domination/submission interferes with controlling adverse reactions.
Paternalistic human service professionals assume a superior, controlling, disabling attitude toward clients. Nonprofit housing corporations resist collaborating with tenant councils. Kind-hearted people-helpers seek ego gratification and social status. Teachers funnel knowledge into students’ minds in a one-way process. Traditional doctors and nurses treat patients as objects. Self-seeking trainers of all sorts hustle for money and praise. [read more]
The Scapegoat Trap, Wade Lee Hudson.
[. . .]The result is widespread frustration, and people often take out their anger on handy targets — a family member, their boss, a racial or ethnic group, powerful elites, the opposing political party, Donald Trump, or some other scapegoat.
I first encountered the notion of a scapegoat when I worked as an orderly in a psychiatric institution run by Dr. “Bob” Beavers, whose System Model of Family Assessment significantly impacted psychiatry. His study of family systems led him to conclude that families often vent their frustrations on one family member, which worsens the scapegoat’s suffering.
In the Bible, after the chief priest had symbolically laid the people's sins upon it, Hebrews released a goat into the wilderness, believing the animal would take with it all the sins and impurities of the community. But today, instead of a goat, it's a political opponent, a racial group, or world leaders who bear the brunt of society's frustrations.
Learning from the Obama Movement, Wade Lee Hudson.
Barack Obama's presidential campaigns showed we can create a large national movement based on local teams focused on achievable goals. Instead of relying solely on top-down leadership, the campaigns enabled ordinary citizens to collaborate as equals. We can learn from these efforts to build a movement to transform the worldwith compassion and justice one demand at a time.
Survival, Sustainability, and Solidarity: Recovering a Sense of the Sacred Reverence for Life and Creation, Randy Thomas.
Indeed, we are living in the midst of uncertain and transitional times. The life, fate, and destiny of “human civilization” and our planetary home as we have historically come to understand it is unknown. It is a time of challenge, crisis, and opportunity for all of us.
Former ways of thinking, feeling, acting, and being in the world no longer provide assurances of meaning, purpose, and direction. There is a general cynicism and malaise that the current leaders in our world are unable to provide the necessary guidance and moral integrity to help us navigate these tumultuous times.
The Shaming-Industrial Complex by Becca Rothfeld, Wade Lee Hudson.
“In The Shaming-Industrial Complex, Becca Rothfeld describes the problem: Absent structural change, self-improvement will be limited. A large network of supportive small teams whose members are aware of this problem could be one solution. In itself, this network could constitute structural reform, which Rothfeld seeks. It could also nurture a strong sense of community whose members, given their awareness of the Shaming-Industrial Complex, would logically pursue structural reform in other social sectors and, ideally, cultivate holistic and systemic transformation.”
OTHER ARTICLES/ESSAYS/OP-EDS
Promoting the Compassionate Humanity Community, Wade Lee Hudson, Larry Walker.
Rooted in humanity’s highest traditions, the time-honored effort to relieve and prevent suffering is alive and well. In countless ways, ethical individuals and organizations spread compassion and promote justice as alternatives to society’s selfishness. These manifestations of a global compassionate humanity community tap into deep, innate, positive instincts, strengthen love and trust, counter hate and fear, and channel anger into positive action. These efforts use democratic partnerships to counter unjustified domination and blind submission. [read more]
Intergenerational Alliances to Counter Silo Mindset, Hector Garcia.
We can address the inconsistencies in globalization, such as the Silo Mindset, irrational behavior, the appearance of a fragmented or non-existent reality, and desolation, if: we choose: a) to continue learning cooperatively and responsibly in the struggle for closer yet endless approximations to truth, b) to recover constructive and honest communication, and c) evolve towards greater maturity through paradigms, which can reveal cultural and natural interdependence as a priority on par with economic and technological interdependence.
Cultivating a Moral America, Wade Lee Hudson.
Imagine a moral America. Americans treat each other as they want to be treated and respect everyone’s equal value. If you live elsewhere, imagine the same for your country.
We love our country, live good, compassionate lives, care for others as we care for ourselves, avoid both selfishness and self-sacrifice, improve ourselves and the world, are politically engaged, live in harmony with Mother Nature, work to undo racism and all forms of oppressive domination, and nurture partnerships throughout society.