Getting a Grip on Politics and Money

Getting a Grip on Money and Politics, Part II from Anthony Lappe on Vimeo.

Different Question: What Kind of Government Do We Need?

A week ago or so I wrote an article called Do we need Government? Thanks to John Neff who offered a comment, I realize now that it was a goofy question. We have a government, we are going to have a government, but reading Frances Moore Lappe's book "Getting a Grip" made me think: How can we use government more effectively?

We know that government is widely lambasted for wasting our money, wasting the lives of our children (e.g., war), and not being responsive to the people so much as to corporate interests. However, what if government just was in the bar setting business? We want to eliminate poverty in 10 years--go to it people. We want to provide housing for everybody--sure, figure it out.

Lappe describes that we are living in a "Thin Democracy" --we vote, we let the market do its thing--that's democracy. The democracy she describes alternately as a "Living Democracy" or a "Learning Democracy" has five qualities:
1) It is dynamic
2) It is guided by values rather than dogma
3) It is learned
4) It is power-creating not controlling
5) It is not limited to government.

In application, it is a community that says, for instance, we have a problem with our kids not graduating from our schools. And, instead of blaming the schools, looks at their the community, brings people together to problem-solve and propose solutions which the school board helps to implement.

Typically this type of governance takes time to organize, requires patience, and is ultimately messy, but the end result, is positive, real change.

So, do we want a government that "represents us" or one that is a "partner" with us?

And John, yes, kids can participate in this too (although, you're right, we might want to keep firearms away from the kiddos).

Frances Moore Lappe Rocks! Karl Rove Not so Much

“Some of the 20th century’s most vibrant activist thinkers have been American women—Margaret Mead, Jeanette Rankin, Barbara Ward, Dorothy Day—who took it upon themselves to pump life into basic truths. Frances Moore Lappé is among them.” —The Washington Post

For folks who are fed up with the politics as usual (That would include those folks who will protest Karl Rove's $40,000 spew-a-thon at the University of Iowa), do yourself a favor and pick up Frances Moore Lappe's latest called "Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity and Courage in a World Gone Mad" whose birthday was yesterday. If you are looking for inspiration, this book will rock you to the core!

I will talk more about this in future blog entries, as I am in the middle of it and finding it hard to put down. But here is some video that she has put together that spells it out. Also visit the Small Planet Institute and learn more about her work there.

If you don't know her, she's best known for her book "Diet for a Small Planet", which argued that global famine is caused not by overpopulation but by a failure of democracy to reach the people who need it most.

To the University of Iowa Lecture Committee, put her on your short list of speakers--she's actually worth listening to!