Political Implications of Planetization
Mafia Wives versus Planetary Togetherness
Our leaders often use the stated need to 'Protect our American Way of Life' as justification for their unnecessary wars of aggression and the theft of other people's natural resources. Implied in this oft-repeated pretext for war is the tacit unspoken accusation that we're equally complicit in their 'criminal in any other context' war-making because we profit from it as well. 'Protecting the American Way of Life' is a thinly veiled accusation that we wouldn't have the luxurious, environmentally wasteful average American middle-class lifestyles we now possess; were it not for the exploitation, murder, theft, and terror that we inflict on other people, in other places, in order to maintain our 'American Way of Life'.
In so many words, they're calling us mafia wives.
Mafia wives (at least in fictional depictions of them); never ask their husbands about the gruesome, bloody and brutal nature of 'the business' that supports their comfortable lifestyles. They exist in a materialistically comfortable, but dangerous world of denial. But in some barely conscious recess of their mind, mafia wives must realize that if their husbands can so easily and brutally snuff out other people's lives - can they ever really feel secure..? Can they ever be certain that one day that same brutality won't be turned against them, as well..?
Dangers on our Doorststeps
In the world of mafia wives, 'the business' usually takes place somewhere far away from their own home. They don't have to confront it right on their doorstep. Our situation though, is different. The extreme climate changes brought about by global warming often take place, quite literally, just outside our own front door. Environmental degradation will ultimately affect us all, no matter where we live. Our advanced WMD pose a threat no longer just to enemies - but to all of us, as our leaders recklessly flirt with the next global conflagration that could very well involve nuclear weapons. Just how much longer can they pursue a goal of geo-political dominance before it bankrupts our treasuries, creates worldwide hatred against us... or ends in World War Three? How many more of our children and grandchildren will be physically, emotionally and spiritually mangled in future wars planned in the service of empire and fought under the pretext of 'fighting terror'?
"The despotism of governments increases exactly in proportion to the increase of their strength and their internal successes. And their foreign aggression with the increase of internal despotism."
Leo Tolstoy
A New Vision
We can’t depend on the same political mindset that created the dangers we now face, to lead us out of them. The same kind of thinking that caused our problems can't solve them. And the only way to repudiate the charge that we're a nation of mafia wives is to experience a greater unity with all the rest of humankind. Only by affirming that their suffering is our suffering, their exploitation is our exploitation, and that viewing their deaths as just so much 'collateral damage' deadens our Soul; can we legitimately refute the charge that we're equally complicit in the crimes against humanity of our so-called 'leaders'... Only by acknowledging that from here on in, there can be no winner if warfare itself continues, can we finally evolve beyond this Age of War.
"Of course, the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to greater danger. It's the same in any country."
Hermann Goering
Nazi leader
Any political structure that retains the present lop-sided power dyad of one, or several people, dominating and controlling vast populations in the millions, is still embedded in the old paradigm. Any model of power to emerge from Planetization will empower all people as we collectively evolve together into more mature and autonomous beings. Under the Planetization paradigm, all of us will assume personal responsibility for maintaining a sustained peace and emotional connectivity among all of us, through the inner work. As the Noosphere becomes a functioning, vital reality, we'll become ever more adept at harnessing our consciousness energies. Also, the idea that we must now begin to renounce war in general, rather than continue to protest 'this war' and 'that war' is a concept that is springing up with greater and greater frequency in our present cultural landscape. Just as prior consciousness raising led to the establishment of Womens Studies Departments, Black Studies Departments and Earth Science Departments in our institutions of higher learning, a growing number of voices are now calling for the establishment of Peace Studies Departments in our colleges and universities. On another front , a participatory democracy is now already possible through our technology. Electronic real-time vote casting in the millions is now used on TV shows to pick one's favorite singer or dancer. In the future, that same technology can be used on a regular basis for carrying out referendums on any number of policy issues through such 'Electroninc Town Halls' at the watershed or bio-regional level.
"As certain insights capture our collective imagination, we rise together to higher levels of self-organization and consciousness."
Christopher Hills
Energy, Matter and Form