introduction:an overview

Introduction: An Overview

The notion that people can effect a change in the social structure, in beliefs and values and accepted
cultural norms....that we can actually progress and improve.... has never been an easy argument to make.
Even as we agree that our contemporary worldview is markedly different than that of earlier times,
everything from slavery to women and children's rights being altered in much of the world, the most
open-minded and educated among us will debate that change- fundamental change- is at all still possible.

We have, according to this line of reasoning then, always been "at the end of history" and the imaginative
leap required to envision a different future is always seen as llittle more than utopian fantasy. The fact that
we have always found ways to work for the good and survival of the social network is disregarded as irrelevant.
And its a fact that we constantly practice cooperation, that we seem 'hard-wired to do so, that it's as 'natural'
and frequent as any other human activity, if not more so. So our 'nature' is very expansive, we still are on a learning
curve about it and conditions frequently are the motivations that trigger how we behave. We know this in our family
experiences, we know it on a personal level, we recognize it in history. But it seems when we contemplate
change as possible in our present day circumstances, thinking about a change in how we do things economically
and socially, we almost automatically deny it.

We have become almost convinced that man's 'human nature' is forever fixed and that greed, aggression, war
and violence are what ultimately drives us and sustains us. Therefore, trying to fundamentally improve the present
mess we find ourselves in is useless. The problem with that reasoning is that it denies all of humankinds' history.
Every social, human, scientific and philosophic advance came from the recognition that change was the only
way to create a better life, that the present society no longer provided for the health, welfare and security of
the majority.

And we are at that point today. We are looking at a structure that is causing pain and posing a threat
to the future of humankind in this country and globally. We are becoming worried about our losses, both civil
and economic. We are awakening to the fact that we are not being represented nor protected by our political
parties or the candidates we are given to vote for. We see the corruption, but have had no alternatives. What
we want is a better society but are offered none. We are just awakening to the need to act independently, to
work for a new vision. We are feeling the urgency to join in a new effort. But how? To what end? It can start here.

People For A New Society hopes to be a place for questions and answers, dialogue and linkage. We hope to
serve as a site that brings together those of us who are interested in seeking a peaceful, radical, democratic alternative
to replace the present profit-driven, competitive system. We hope to bring together the millions who share this vision
but who are now seperated in various groups. We feel the internet holds the greatest single opportunity to reach out
to these various groups and bring us together into a strong and clear movement. That movement would be
committed to building, through peaceful and political means, an alternative party with a goal of establishing a
new society based on cooperation and with a vision of an authentic Social and Economic Democracy. (See Our
Home Page Directory) We no longer have to be stuck with accepting lies and false hopes and deceitful promises.
We will have our own movement, our own candidates, our own clear goal & gplatform: to establish a New Society.

But first, to build a movement to establish a new society we must
know what we are facing.

WE ARE A NATION of people... just like you and I....We are millions, the majority, but
live today as powerless and voiceless as any minority. We do the work, but have no control
over what we do at work, how we live in our communities, conduct ourselves on the planet.
We are so many, and accomplish so much. YET WE HAVE NO SAY in any of it. We have
become cogs in a vast system that considers only ' the bottom line' as the bottom line.
Profit and expedience is pursued at all costs and against commonsense and rationality.
We see this daily, all around us, and yet nothing changes. HOW CAN THIS BE?


             " Sometimes when something is so close and familiar, so pervasive, its hard to see it.
               And then when we're told over and over again things are the way they are because
   its our 'human nature', so soon it is hard to believe it can be otherwise. But this was once
   said about CHATTEL SLAVERY, or child labor or absolute monarchy....And yet , at
               some point we said "NO" to each and made them 'ancient history'. Now it is time again
   TO THINK ABOUT what we are capable of doing FROM HERE ON. What we want, what
   direction we will move in as a people.We have rewritten our 'destiny' before...many times.
               WE CAN DO THE SAME AGAIN. History is not dead, it lives in each of us. The future,
             as always, belongs to us. "

BEFORE WE BEGIN TO DEFINE OUR FUTURE, though, WE FIRST HAVE
TO RECOGNIZE our present. That there is something we seldom hear about, but is a force so
pervasive we must understand how it works before we can discuss getting beyond it. When
discussed at all, it is presented as an inevitable part of 'human nature' and therefore unchangeable.
That it's a great system, a way of doing things that is "as good as it gets". It uses "competitive
drive" and individualism to create unbelievable wealth. And for the few, it does indeed. But in its
wake it causes chaos and exploitation, violence and brutality. For the many, you and I, it is in fact
a deadly system, that defines our courts, our culture, our politics, our education, media, beliefs,
values, our worldview. It is unhealthy to the planet. It is capitalism and it dominates the world.

Today, THE REAL CONTROL of our entire social structure and economy is in the hands of this
"unseen" power, a global system that is made up of the owners of corporations and giant industry.
And their representatives in government, the legal system and in every powerful institution we can
name. So before we define our future, we have to examine our present. Honestly, without fear or
inhibition or allegiance. We have been led to believe it can be 'controlled' or reformed. This is the
leading reason we have had no progress in building an effective counter claim to public attention.
Diverted into either party, or by candidates who are set up to 'give us hope' and then give their
allegiance over at Election Day to the "real racehorses". We MUST AGREE FIRST that the current
political parties and their "candidates" represent entities of enormous power. And one of them will
win. But they do not represent us. And never will. They CANNOT. Trusting them is asking the
wolf to protect the sheep. The promises, reforms and agendas they represent can NEVER overcome
the system they ultimately are placed in positions to protect. The economy and our present political
representation is now an intertwined & completely closed system where we serve as observers,
not participants except in one crucial way:

WE, ALL OF US, CREATE ALL THE WEALTH of this nation..... at our jobs, everyday, day in, day out...
Yet WE HAVE NO ROLE in how this wealth is managed and directed. How it is best 'spent'. Or
whether our real needs are being met. In decision-making, at every level, WE are not "in the loop",
we are invisible. But we have, untapped, the power to change all that.

Voting for even "the best of the lesser of two evils", however, nullifies that power. Even these "good
guys" ultimately can only represent the system with its vested interest in keeping expenses as low
as possible - labor costs, wages, pensions & on-the-job health and safety. Our very expectations for
life, old age, and the lives of our children..... how government spends on social programs, housing,
education, childcare, infrastructure, clean energy and environment, medical advances, technology uses,
natural and man-made disaster prevention.....all of it is OUT OF OUR CONTROL! Voting for reform only
increases the cynacism, adds more money to the corrupt, can NEVER fix any problem. The few get to
decide everything. And their interests are the exact opposite of ours. If this is not understood, there is
no way we can hope for a solution to any problems. They will only worsen.

While we want a safe, secure and healthy place to live, enjoy life and raise our children, their interest
is simple: keeping costs as low as possible, in order to keep profits as high as possible. We need
to face it: These two interests can never both be met. In fact, if we are to ever successfully create a
world where our interests, wants & needs become the basis of our economy and our democracy,
we must agree with this one basic premise:

THIS SYSTEM WORKS VERY WELL , BUT NOT FOR US. NOR FOR ANY WORKING
PERSON ANYWHERE. WE MUST REPLACE IT. For WE ,THE PEOPLE and the PLANET itself, this
has become a system heading us towards disaster with no way to stop it. At every turn, every reform
we try doesn't work. We're told what we need can't be done, or costs too much,or is too expensive.
If this were a runaway train, we'd jump off and find another way home. But we've come to accept all
this as"reasonable". So completely, in fact, that most of us have even stopped thinking beyond the
answer we always get: "Gee, sorry, but this is the best we do". (Like it or lump it!)

BUT IS IT?

We already do all the work..... figure out, manage and get the job done everyday
without the 'help' of any one of these owners. Yet we dutifully vote and hope for politicians to offer
promises they will never keep, or we listen to the pundits and "Leaders of Industry" who tell us
they only wish they could do more. Meanwhile another generation is disappointed, again. Now
we know that time is running out on this kind of wishful thinking. THE PROBLEMS ARE
GROWING too big to ignore.......the costs of accepting empty promises too great to bear.
WE NEED FRESH IDEAS & A NEW BEGINNING. The good news is we can start it here & now......

WHAT YOUR CIVICS CLASS NEVER TOLD YOU

IT CAN BE DONE PEACEFULLY THRU THE BALLOT

What began as a government dedicated to the rights and protection of a growing middle class, has become todays'
collusion between vested corporate interests, the few who own the industries, and those who do their bidding. Today,
government agencies, Congress and the Presidency have become servants to this system and so out of reach of the
people, that to call what we do every few years 'OUR DEMOCRATIC PROCESS" is seen INCREASINGLY AS A
SHAM. BUT IT WASN"T ALWAYS THIS WAY. And needn't continue. Why? Because we can still vote.

TODAY'S SYSTEM of 'give and take' is set up between the various powerful institutions and owners of our country,
and globally between the heads of states, corporations, the military and the privately controlled world organizations in
every nation on earth. It has become all-powerful and imbedded in all aspects of our lives. Yet those of us, We The People,
who do the work and create the wealth.....we are left out in the cold. We, too, have become servants of this system.
And increasingly, we needlessly suffer from the overwhelming problems this system creates.

                           It is no longer "a steam engine for progress". It has become a steamroller for destruction.
   We need to replace it with something that better serves us and is designed to fit our wants
   and needs. If we accept these premises, then we are ready to never again waste our time
   begging the twin parties (Democrat- Republican) to keep promises they CANNOT keep.
                           Stalling, playing "Good Cop/Bad Cop".. We are here now because we are through with
   the games. We are ready to define ourselves as PEOPLE for a NEW SOCIETY.   But
                           HOW CAN WE EFFECT REAL CHANGE? Can we do it peacefully? How do we begin?


The Butterfly Effect ...

BEGIN FROM WHERE WE ARE....
We begin where we live, where we can gain a public voice, where we can begin dialogue. This is how
movements start. All change begins as a small thing but, focused and persistent because the problems
remain, these lead toward greater and greater impact. The arrival of Our own American Revolution
was not foreseen by those very people involved in creating it! Only after letters and cheap pamphlets
appeared -the internet of their day- only after newspapers and discussions in homes and small cafes & pubs,
town meeting halls, at work and in churches...only after arguments that involved nay-sayers and visionaries alike...
sorting out the opinions & problems and failed attempts 'for reddress of grievances', even then, after all these
rumblings had begun to spring up in various small towns and villages, as is happening with us today, even then
Thomas Jefferson was to comment that "it may be years before we see it happen". It was 1775 and the
"The Great Experiment in Democracy" and the Revolution that shook the world would begin only months later.

We know his guess was a bit less than optimistic.... the idea of change and human liberty SO NEW it was
seen as an impossible dream. They were ordinary people, yet they became dedicated to a vision of a
better future. They would come to realize that "These are the times that try men's souls", much as ours do now.
They would come to realize that the times also demanded the people's energy not be diverted from the ultimate
goal: changing the system that oppressed them and their fellow countrymen and women... and ridding themselves
of an unjust social and economic structure. It broke with centuries' old beliefs in the Divine Right of Kings, with the
notion of serfs and indentured servants, slavery, religious persecution and class distinctions and divisions.

What has made us so convinced today, then, that we can do no better? That what we have is all we deserve,
or is in our 'nature' to ever have? That WE are as OTHERS have defined us. That we can only attempt to slow
down dangerous tides, but the tides are inevitable forces. It is 'the way the world has always been'. We are at
the mercy of these most powerful 'natural' forces. That THEY define each of us in every social, every human
encounter. Competition, violence, aggression, suspicion, fear, the race going to the swiftest, winning is all !

Yet, our intelligence, our experience, our daily life contradicts this. We are many things, and not only aggressive!
We are compassionate, too. And selfless, too. Basing survival on violence may breed violence and a few victors.
But we know that survival through cooperation also works. And in the long-term, works for the many. The present
culture emphasizes what benefits the very few: excessive consumption, excessive materialism, excessive competition.
Yet every day, we can and do choose co-operation - where we work, where we live. We only need to become
conscious, class conscious, and realize our own potential to create a saner, more beneficial, more humane,
more cooperative economy and culture. For our survival, we must trust that we can do this.


THE QUESTION IS ALWAYS........ HOW?

ITS CALLED THE AMENDMENT CLAUSE, ARTICLE 5, of the CONSTITUTION...
and it is our Right

Today, the groundwork for change and serious debate of ideas, problems, issues is taking
place all around us, in the rumblings of dissatisfaction, worry and frustrations we hear and read everyday,
in our local communities and neighborhoods....in School Board meetings and at PTA gatherings when
budgets and needs are brought up, in the Village Associations and Town Councils when the constraints
of finances to pay for sewers or environmental clean-up or street safety, parks, bike paths, conservation
areas, community centers, good public transit, are brought up. The list is endless. We're just not paying
attention. But the how we frame the debate, conduct our conversation with others, how we engage in public-
in any arena we take an interest in- can change things and bring action. By putting local problems into the
broader context of our national needs and problems, by choosing long-term thinking rather than inadequate
reforms and lies, by clearly advocating a new direction, small steps can help develop positive actions, votes,
decisions in our local communities. Our first step in building a movement is to "come out of the closet" and
by joining the world. LINKING COMMUNITY with POLITICS, PROBLEMS with CAUSES, ECONOMICS
with DEMOCRACY and CERTAIN INALIENABLE RIGHTS as our Revolutionary forefathers and mothers
did before us is the only clear TRIED AND PROVEN way to change our direction, and move forward.

WHAT WOULD ABRAHAM LINCOLN HAVE SAID ?
"Any people anywhere being inclined and having the power have the right to rise up
and shake off the existing government and form a new one that suits them better. This
is a most valuable, a most sacred right- a right which we hope and believe is to
liberate the world".

               What has changed since those early days? Why have we come to
   accept that the rights Lincoln, Jefferson, Madison and Washington
   fought to establish, and the Constitution was written to uphold, that
   our forebears sacrificed to protect, and that we are told no longer
   apply to us? That we cannot do what they have done. That Our
               American experiment in self-rule is over, a failed and weak illusion.
               All this to now accept "Democracy" is no more than a phony campaign
   promise, sold out to the highest bidder and no better than we deserve?
   What has happened to make us so deluded?

DEMOCRACY, LATELY UNTRIED

Without seeing the necessary linkage between a lack of democracy over our economy, and our
failure to deal with and solve our problems.... between an intentionally impotent government and
the power of the few to get laws enacted to protect their global and national interests, too many
are tricked into APATHY, DISENFRANCHISEMENT, ALIENATION & CYNACISM , rather than
hopeful and meaningful action. Without having a voice that reveals that linkage in every venue
possible, & a vision to replace it, we ensure Fascism as we have never seen it. In other words,
without pursuing OUR MOVEMENT we abandon our past and foresake our future.


IF we can learn again to simply tell the HONEST TRUTH about what ails us, acknowledge we must
stop being satisfied with a dying & threatened planet, a chaotic and dangerous economy, an
endless series of enemies and victims....and begin a serious dialogue about our needs...we can create
the beginnings of the NEW SOCIETY we envision. Enjoying the relief of honest discussion and new
goals, we can move TOWARDS envisioning SOLUTIONS that, individually, in our own neighborhood
organizations, our bookclubs or excercise class, our after school clubs, our children's play groups or
the volunteer organizations we run & always need more funding to maintain, while they may appear
insignificant, taken together- like the wings of butterflies- can create currents that become headwinds.

Our job, OUR GOAL, in these first steps, will be to use this website to join together, to enter the 'body
politic" locally and thru the internet, nationally.... creating a movement by the simple- but for most of us-
untried path of starting a dialogue. Using a new, positive language, envisioning a different way of solving
our problems. Democratically. Joining the very center of our communities and engaging in a different
-yet familiar- activity of sharing and talking. From this beginning, across this country, eventually the voice
of our future will be heard. We can do this, it is our tradition. Looking back at our history as a guide, we
can see how ordinary people with a vision of their future, developed ways towards building a new society
and gave us tools for peaceful ways to change it when it would become necessary. This is how we can
begin, how it is possible, and why now is the time to start.