Renewing
the American Experiment
by
David Korten,
People-Centered Development Forum
A speech delivered Saturday, January 24, 2004 at Trinity United
Methodist Church, Seattle WA.
Welcome to Seattle Thunder. American democracy is in crisis and we
join together here in common cause to restore and renew it. Feel the
power of our collective energy as it flows through this sanctuary
and beyond to meld with the powerful new political energy flowing
from people all across our great nation as they awaken to the responsibility
and opportunity of this critical historical moment.
It brings to mind the moment when America's founding
fathers gathered in Philadelphia in 1776 to issue an audacious declaration
that raised the human species to a new understanding of its possibilities
and changed the course of history. Recall the words that framed the
American experiment the founders launched—an experiment dedicated
to demonstrating the possibilities of a society governed by ordinary
citizens that gives full expression to the ideals of liberty, justice,
and opportunity for all—the ideals of the true American patriot.
Listen carefully. These are words for our time.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness—That
to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever
any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the
Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing
its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their Safety and Happiness.
The American Experiment was at the time a truly audacious idea. When
the founders boldly declared that all men are created equal and that
governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,
the evidence of 5,000 years of rule by hereditary emperors, kings,
and feudal lords suggested such an idea might even be contrary to
human nature.
The situation was grim. Washington's rag tag part-time
army of volunteer farmers stood against a much larger British force
of disciplined professional soldiers. British loyalists controlled
most of the institutions of government. And many colonists were royalists
who remained loyal to the English king and the institutions of hereditary
elite rule.
Resistance from neo-royalists has continued at every
step from then forward. There were those who wanted to model the new
government on the institutions of monarchy. There were major constituencies
committed to preserving the institution of slavery, advancing genocide
against Native Americans, denying rights to workers, and the vote
to people of color, women, and those without property. It provides
a useful perspective on the present threat to the American Experiment
from the right wing extremists who have for the moment taken control
our government.
Given their historical context it is not surprising that
the lives and actions of the founders themselves were in many ways
deeply conflicted. The land they declared free had been expropriated
by force and treachery from the Native Americans whose own democratic
traditions and institutions were a source of the founders' inspiration.
The founders were all white males and nearly all owned slaves. Their
bold framing of the American ideal, however, gave latitude for those
who followed to expand on a powerful idea that ultimately has spread
throughout the world and transformed our beliefs about human possibility.
The road to democracy is long and uncertain. The American
Experiment was launched in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence.
The U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1789. The Bill of Rights was
added in 1791. The Thirteenth Amendment of U.S. Constitution that
finally abolished slavery didn't come until 1865. In 1870, nearly
a hundred years after the founding, the Fifteenth Amendment declared
that no citizen could be denied the right to vote on account of race,
color, or previous condition of servitude. Women were not added to
this list until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, nearly
a hundred and fifty years after the founding.
Yet constitutions and their amendments are but words
on paper that remain to be actualized in new cultures and institutions
through the work of millions of people over centuries of time. The
struggles of the U.S. labor movement in the late 1800s to mid-1900s
prepared the way for the progress made in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s
in reducing extremes of wealth and poverty to transform the United
States into a predominantly middle class nation. Successes of the
civil rights, peace, women's, and environmental movements in the last
half of the 20 th century produced profound cultural and institutional
advances that at each step brought the United States closer to realizing
the vision of human possibility for which people the world over have
come to admire our nation. Given the backdrop of 5,000 years of imperial
history, it adds up to quite an accomplishment for a period of little
more than 200 years.
Yet the American Experiment remains an unfinished project.
The time has come to renew that experiment within the context of the
realities of this special moment in the human experience.
The tragedy of September 11, 2001 awakened a desire among
Americans for a new sense of national purpose and unity. Those in
power turned that desire to ends wholly contrary to the ideals on
which this nation was founded—rolling back civil liberties at
home, robbing from the poor to give to the rich, and pursuing a policy
of belligerence and domination abroad. It remains to we the people
to assume our rightful authority and responsibility to protect and
advance the great ideals and purpose to which the founder's dedicated
this nation.
We of the human species stand poised on the threshold
of a choice between self-destruction and creative possibility. Able
to imagine worlds yet to be, enquire into creation's deepest mysteries,
journey to the stars or into the world of sub-atomic particles, create
great civilizations and systems of global communication, unlock the
secrets of the physical building blocks of matter, and decipher and
rearrange the genetic codes of life, we now confront a set of conditions
new to the human experience.
- Our nuclear and biological technologies
give us the capacity, by miscalculation or intent, for total self-annihilation.
- Our human demands on the life support system
of our living planet exceed the planet's limits of tolerance; increasingly
overstressed sub-systems are going into decline and collapse with
alarming speed.
- On the positive side, we have ventured
into space and looked back to see ourselves as one people sharing
a single destiny on a living space ship hurtling through the vastness
of dark space.
- Global institutions have been created that
make it possible for representatives of all the world's nations
and peoples to resolve their issues and solve common problems through
dialogue rather than force of arms.
- Our communications technologies give us
the ability, should we choose to use it, to link every human on
the planet into a seamless web of communication and to choose our
future through a dialogue of the whole.
- Millions of people the world over are coming
together to create a global social institution unlike any other
in the human experience: a dynamic, self-directing social organism
that transcends the boundaries of race, class, religion, and nationality
to function as a shared conscience of the species. We call it global
civil society and on February 15, 2003 it mobilized more than 10
million people around the globe in the cause of peace.
Each of these conditions
has come to be within the lifetime of a single generation—the
generation to which I was born. Together they present us with the
opportunity and imperative to choose our common human future as a
conscious and intentional collective act. It is time to renew the
American Experiment in light of the distinctive needs and opportunities
of this unique moment, because to meet the challenge we must bring
to bear the full creative potential of our species. Unleashing this
potential depends in turn on the full flowering of democratic institutions
in America and beyond. That is what the still unfinished American
Experiment is about.
Polling data tell us that the vast majority of Americans
wants peace, fairness, a healthy environment, opportunity, freedom,
democracy, and security for all—a world centered on people,
not profits; on spiritual, not financial, values; and on international
cooperation, not domination. These are not distinctively liberal or
conservative values; they are the universally shared values on which
the United States was founded.
It is instructive to recall that to get within a half
million votes of the man the majority of American's thought best suited
to be our president, George W. Bush had to present himself to the
electorate as a compassionate conservative who would work
for ordinary people, be fiscally responsible, leave no child behind,
protect the environment, and pursue a peaceful, cooperative, and non-belligerent
foreign policy respectful of the rights and interests of others. Remember
that? In short, those who wrote George W's speeches knew what Americans
across the political spectrum actually want. He promised—in
effect—to advance an agenda that serves and honors the best
and truest of both conservative and liberal values. We can presume
that most of those who voted for him did so because they took him
at his word.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, George lied.
Many of you heard political commentator Kevin Phillips
speak in Town Hall about his new book forthrightly titled the American
Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House
of Bush. Phillips is not a Democrat. He is not a liberal . He
is a conservative Republican insider who served as a highly celebrated
political strategist for Republican Presidents Nixon and Reagan. In
his book he lays out how George W. Bush assumed the office of U.S.
president as current heir to a family dynasty that has been building
its power over four generations based on its connections to the oil,
military, and intelligence industries. According to Phillips the Bush
dynasty has brought to these involvements an unbroken record of ruthless
profiteering from many of the worst political and economic scandals
of the 20 th century with a stunning lack of moral principle.
Phillips quoted the famous warning of Republican President
Dwight D. Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address that the growing
power of a military-industrial complex endangers America's liberties
and democratic institutions. Phillips concludes that the Bush dynasty—which
built its power on oil, military procurement, and covert intelligence
operations—has come to personify that endangerment. It's spelled
out chapter and verse in conservative Republican Kevin Phillips' book.
Phillips' insights into the Bush dynasty bring new clarity
to our understanding of the priorities of the Bush II administration.
The deeper purpose of virtually its every action from its tax cuts
for the rich—including abolition of the estate tax—to
its energy policy, the invasion of Iraq, the contracting of Iraq's
reconstruction, and the sale of Iraqi assets to U.S. private interests
can be explained by its relentless use of the power of the presidency
to increase the wealth, power, and reach of the Bush dynasty.
Our American history teaches us many lessons useful to
our own time. Recall, for example, that our nation and the American
Experiment were born in a declaration of liberty from the tyranny
of a king named George. The time has come for a declaration of liberty
from our own King George. Let us achieve that liberation in November.
Retiring George W, however, will only be the beginning of the great
work before us as we engage the task of rebuilding our crippled political
system and imploding economy and putting our nation on a path to prosperity,
security, liberty, justice, and opportunity for all.
As a nation we are living a false and fragile prosperity
based on borrowed money and depletion of the planet's natural wealth.
We neglect or even actively deny the security threats that most endanger
our physical well-being—global climate change, collapsing environmental
systems, toxic and nuclear contamination, the export of jobs and hollowing
out of our manufacturing base, a skyrocketing trade deficit, a falling
dollar, and extremes of inequality and exclusion that lead to the
social breakdown and violence of which terrorism is but one manifestation.
Our nation is beset with moral decay as well, especially at the highest
levels of corporate and political leadership. And, as a direct consequence
of the arrogant unilateralism of the Bush II administration, international
regard for U.S. leadership has fallen to a historic low.
We the people have much work ahead. Beyond retiring George
W, we must create a just and sustainable economy, address the full
range of threats to our personal and national security, build an ethical
culture grounded in strong spiritual values, and restore America to
a position of respect and leadership in the world community. Those
who wait for a president, any president no matter how wise and just,
to lead us to the promised land will wait in vain—for whoever
gains the presidency will be captive to a corrupt political system
that George W. inherited and used to maximum personal advantage, but
did not create. That corrupt system will remain. Leadership must come
from We the People.
Yet We the People are hindered in our great and necessary
work by an artificial political divide intentionally cultivated by
power seeking political extremists at both ends of the political spectrum.
The real political divide in America is not between liberals
and conservatives, who in fact share a great many core values. Many
of us in this room come from liberal backgrounds. Others of us, I
among them, come from deeply conservative backgrounds. But we find
ourselves here in common cause, conservatives and liberals, because
the real political contest in America is between those of us committed
to a politics based on principle and the common good; and those who
pursue a politics of individual greed and power. It is between those
of us who represent the true political mainstream and truly want to
solve the problems that beset us all—and those at the extreme
political fringe whose primary agenda is advancing their personal
power. Call those of us on the side of the American Experiment progressives—progressive
conservatives and progressive liberals—for although we may have
our differences, we share a commitment to advancing the Experiment's
progressive goals.
The power of the extremists comes not from their numbers, which are
relatively small, but from their ability to control the stories by
which we answer three basic questions: How will we prosper? What will
make us secure? And how will we find meaning? These are increasingly
serious questions for a great many Americans.
By controlling the stories by which we answer these question,
the power seekers have defined and limited America's political discourse.
"How will we prosper?" is reduced to "What will you do to promote
economic growth and reduce my taxes?" "What will make us secure?"
is reduced to "What will you do to protect me from evil people?" "And
how will we find meaning?" is reduced to "Will your policies please
my jealous and wrathful God?" Progressive politicians thus find themselves
unwittingly reduced to a debate framed by the worldview of those who
believe in a system of elite rule.
Let's look at each of the elitist stories in turn.
The elitist prosperity story
The elitist economic agenda centers on increasing economic growth
and stock prices through market deregulation, a rollback of social
and environmental protections, the opening of economic borders to
the free flow of goods and money, privatization of public services
and assets, tax reductions for the wealthy, weakening of anti-trust
enforcement, an assault on the rights of union members, and the dismantling
of social safety nets. Each element of this agenda serves an exclusive
elite interest, yet the story crafted to justify the agenda is so
convincing in the simple logic of its claim to benefit us all it is
often tacitly embraced even by those most harmed by it.
The elitist prosperity story that lends a sense of legitimacy
to the elitist agenda goes like this:
Economic growth, which expands the pie of wealth for all, depends
on investment. Since the poor have no money to invest, a wealthy investor
class is essential to prosperity. The greater the return to the investor
class, the faster the economy grows, and the faster the lives of all
improve. Inequality is thus essential to prosperity.
The private sector creates wealth and through the
market rewards each individual in direct proportion to their contribution.
Government, by contrast, creates poverty and distorts
the allocation of rewards. Through regulation and taxes it kills the
incentive of the rich to invest. By reducing investment it reduces
the availability of living wage jobs. By offering welfare programs
for the poor it destroys their incentive to work and become productive
members of society.
Therefore the key to achieving prosperity and ending
poverty is to free the private sector from the dead regulatory hand
of government. Eliminate taxes on the investor class. Eliminate the
disincentive of public welfare programs. And eliminate government
to the extent possible by transferring public assets and services
to more efficient private management.
The free market will then put people to work, eliminate
poverty, get money in people's pockets, create the wealth necessary
to protect the environment, and provide people with better services
at a cheaper price. The rich may get richer, but so do the poor so
it works for everyone.
That, in a nutshell, is the elitist prosperity story repeated endlessly
in the corporate media. Once spelled out in these terms we can easily
see the story has a number of serious flaws. For one thing, it assumes
that prosperity is defined solely by goods and services available
for purchase in the market place. It takes no account of many of the
essentials of a healthy life, such as clean air and water, trust,
job security, safe neighborhoods, well maintained streets, loving
homes, and much else beyond the means of markets to provide.
Many things economists count as positive contributions
to economic growth actually devalue the quality of our lives. For
example, sales of tobacco, guns, and violent video games to children,
the fees of divorce lawyers who specialize in breaking up families,
costs of security guards and devices, weapons sales, toxic chemicals,
tobacco, and food contaminated with pesticide residues and the costs
of treating the cancers these toxics cause.
The claim that unregulated markets allocate wealth in
direct proportion to individual contribution neglects the obvious
reality that many fortunes began with a large inheritance or were
acquired all or in part through fraud and deception, monopoly power,
corporate welfare, preferential tax breaks, usury, financial speculation,
market manipulation, and/or exploitation of workers and the environment.
To work efficiently markets require rules impartially
administered by government to assure honest dealing, limit monopoly
power, place the costs of pollution on the polluter, secure the health
and safety of workers, maintain a living wage, and in general counter
the unregulated market's bias for financial values over life values,
short-term private profits over the public good, inequality over equality,
and rich people over poor people. As confirmed in daily reports of
financial fraud and other forms of corporate crime an unregulated
market is an invitation to criminal exploitation.
The actual consequence of the deregulation of markets
and trade is not to free markets, but to free predatory transnational
corporations to acquire and abuse monopoly power to manage trade and
markets to their exclusive financial advantage.
The self-serving claim that inequality—even extreme
inequality—is beneficial to society ignores the obvious reality
that " free" markets—a code word for unregulated
markets—respond only to money. The more unequal the distribution
of money, the more the economy directs its attention to providing
the super rich with obscenely extravagant luxuries such as multiple
trophy vacation homes and private jet airplanes and neglects even
the most basic needs of the poor. As the devastation spreads, institutional
legitimacy erodes and the anger and desperation of the disaffected
create a growing security threat for all.
Elitist security story
The security doctrine of the power seekers centers on using the police
and military powers of the state to protect the rights of private
property and the established order of elite privilege from those who
challenge its legitimacy.
George W. took the terrorist attack of September 11,
2001 as his call from God to commit the United States to a perpetual
war against evil as manifest in terrorism. He has embellished the
basic elitist security story with a messianic edge and made it a defining
framework of national policy, his presidency, and his self-concept.
The elitist security story ala Bush, goes something like this:
The peace, security, and prosperity of America and its people
are threatened by the forces of evil as manifest in criminals, terrorists
who hate us for our freedoms, the rogue regimes who support terrorist
networks, and others who seek to undermine the established order.
We must defend the American people and the world by whatever means
necessary in a perpetual war against these evils.
Internationally, war is the natural state of humankind.
Peace and order prevail only when imposed by the military power of
a righteous empire. As a righteous and powerful nation it is therefore
the responsibility of America to use our military might to eliminate
the evil rulers who oppose us, harbor terrorists, and threaten us
with weapons of mass destruction. We will eliminate these evil rulers
and liberate their people by bringing them free markets and democratic
regimes that share our values. Those who are not with us in our war
are presumed to support the terrorists and must be dealt with accordingly.
Similarly domestic criminals must be imprisoned or
executed to protect the good and righteous and to serve as an example
to others. America's crime rate is falling as its prison population
grows, demonstrating that jailing criminal elements works.
Perhaps this story's most serious flaw is its focus on terrorists
and criminals as our primary security threat to the exclusion of what
are in fact far greater threats—in particular the threats of
financial breakdown, environmental collapse, and a disintegrating
social and moral fabric.
The elite security story equates dissent with terrorism
and implicitly brands both as evil to justify the suppression of all
forms of dissent to protect the elite status quo.
Furthermore, the elitist security story calls for waging
wars against whole nations in the name of fighting terrorism. Terrorists,
however, work in invisible networks that extend throughout the territories
of virtually every state in the world. The 9/11 terrorists trained
in the state of Florida, were financed by the state of Saudi Arabia,
and were led from caves in Afghanistan by a man too powerful for Afghanistan's
weak government to control. So we ignored Florida and Saudi Arabia,
and invaded Afghanistan and destroyed its government. Unfortunately,
the guilty party—Osama Bin Laden escaped. So we responded by
invading Iraq, a country with a weak military and lots of oil that
occupies a pivotal geographic position in the Middle East, but had
nothing to do with 9/11. By any definition Saddam Hussein is an evil
man and the world is the better for his being in prison, but he posed
no credible threat to us.
Terrorism more closely fits the frame of a crime, than
the frame of a war. George W's embrace of the war metaphor is carefully
chosen to make it more acceptable for him to assume dictatorial powers
as commander in chief and dismiss his critics as disloyal. Furthermore
he has declared the war, and therefore his power, to be perpetual.
The military devastation of whole nations to apprehend
individual criminals is neither moral nor wise and worsens the very
conditions of helplessness and rage that motivate the terrorist impulse.
Terrorists hate us not for the freedom bestowed on our people
by democratic institutions, but rather for our frequent use of the
freedom our economic and military power gives us to arbitrarily oppress
and humiliate other nations and peoples. Bringing terrorists
to justice requires international cooperation among nations working
together in the spirit of trust and respect that our nation's arrogant
and unilateral war posture actively undermines.
Domestically, we are filling our prisons with minor drug
offenders at great public expense. Offering little or no support for
rehabilitation our prisons function as schools for crime, creating
a recipe for soaring future crime rates as those who have served their
time are released.
If public safety and well-being were truly the security
goal of the elitist power seekers, they would give high priority to
eliminating the deeper social and economic causes of criminality,
rehabilitating and preparing those convicted of crimes for useful
roles in society on their release, and prosecuting the criminal activities
high level corporate and public officials.
Elitist morality stories
In the realm of morality and meaning, the power seekers find support
for their doctrine of elite rule in two quite different stories. One
is a sacred story based on a misreading of biblical scripture; the
other is a secular story based on a misreading of evolutionary science.
According to the sacred story of the power seekers:
Nothing happens in Creation except by the will of God who created
the world in six days, gave his creation to man in return for strict
obedience to his will, and in his infinite righteous judgment favors
the obedient with wealth and power. Great wealth and power are thus
a mark of the pure and righteous; poverty and suffering a mark of
impurity and disobedience. It is therefore both the due and the responsibility
of those God has identified as the righteous to pass judgment on others
and to make and enforce the rules that others must follow in the market
place, politics, and relations among nations. Those who obey are rewarded
with eternal salvation. Meaning is found in obedience.
Although it claims biblical authority, this story completely dishonors
the life and teaching of the prophet Jesus, a man who chose a life
of poverty, taught that the poor enjoy God's special blessing, and
urged compassion for all people.
Secular power seekers find meaning and moral legitimacy
for elite rule in the story of social Darwinism. According to this
story:
Progress comes through a competitive struggle in which the fit
triumph, the unfit perish, and the species grows stronger. As with
other species, so is it true for humans. The victors prove their worth
by virtue of their victory and have every right to claim the rewards
that are their due without guilt or concern for those who perish in
the struggle. It is victory in the struggle that gives life meaning.
This has long used by social Darwinist not only to justify ruthless
competition, but as well all manner of racism and classism. It ignores
substantial biological evidence that life is a fundamentally cooperative
enterprise in which the species that survive over the long term are
those that find their place of service to the whole.
Each of the power seeker stories embodies a theory of
how things work that speaks to deep emotional needs and converges
on a clear bottom line of support for elite privilege. These stories
have become so established in media and academic discourse that they
have become the conventional wisdom that frames and limits our political
discourse.
It is not enough merely to point out the flawed and ethically
challenged assumptions of an established story. A story that embodies
a flawed theory can be challenged successfully only by a more compelling
story. Herein lies an important challenge for progressive movements.
Those of us committed to causes that advance the ideals
of the American Experiment focus much of our energy on critiquing
and resisting elitist stories and elitist agendas, and alleviating
the damage to the groups of greatest interest to us. From time to
time some of us join together in common cause in ever shifting tactical
alliances—most often to resist a particular elitist initiative.
Although justice, peace, and a healthy environment are
scarcely special interests, our fragmented and piecemeal articulation
of our many causes makes it all too easy for the neo-royalists to
portray us as a divided collection of special interests lacking a
coherent and pragmatic alternative to their more comprehensive agenda.
Little, if any, of our energy is devoted to articulating stories that
communicate positive, holistic theories of prosperity, security, and
meaning.
We thus concede the initiative, the national story, and
political power to the modern bearers of the royalist torch.
Furthermore, a quick look at what our fragmented causes
and stories communicate when placed within the prevailing frame of
the power seeker stories makes it easy to see why our lack of stories
that address the larger questions place our progressive messages at
a serious disadvantage.
The power seekers offer a prosperity story that promises
ever-growing material prosperity for all and spells out a clear plan
in which, by their telling, everyone wins. Within the frame of their
story, the progressive agenda is easily reframed by the far right
to sound like a call to tax those who are productive to provide welfare
for those too lazy to get a job, take jobs from white males to give
them to women and people of color, and reduce our standard of living
to save exotic species most people have never seen and wouldn't recognize
if they did. No matter how truthful our claim that elitist policies
actually destroy wealth and take from the poor to give to the rich,
the elitist story will carry the day until we are able to counter
it consistently and convincingly with a coherent prosperity story
that communicates a compelling theory of wealth creation based on
engaging the talents of every person in productive contribution.
The power seekers offer a security story that promises
to impose peace and order on a demonstrably unruly world populated
by dangerous criminals, political extremists, and religious fanatics
intent on violence and other evil deeds. By contrast, the progressive
international security story centers on unilateral disarmament
and the rejection of war as an instrument of policy. Our domestic
security story calls for greater attention to protecting the
rights of the accused, constraining the police, making life better
for those serving time, reducing sentences, and closing prisons. It
seems we have little to offer by way of comfort to those who fear
for the lives of themselves, their families, and their children. It
should be no surprise that the elitist security story carries the
day.
It is especially significant that the power seekers ultimately
ground both their economic and security stories in a story of the
sacred. From the beginning of time we humans have looked to sacred
stories for meaning, moral guidance, and understanding of creation's
deep mysteries. Except for the civil rights movement, progressive
movements have generally been self-consciously secular—carefully
avoiding discussion of the sacred. We are thus left by default with
a dehumanizing scientific story devoid of meaning or inspiration that
speaks of a world in which only the material is real, life is an accidental
outcome of complexity, and consciousness is an illusion.
Yet I am struck by the fact that nearly every progressive
leader of my acquaintance acts from a deep sense of spiritual connection.
If we are to renew the American Experiment, perhaps it is appropriate
to acknowledge and renew its spiritual foundations.
If we are to gain a place for progressive voices in the
national political discourse and build a values based mainstream alliance
of principled conservatives and principled liberals committed to the
progress of the American Experiment we must get serious about crafting
credible progressive stories that answer critical questions, enlarge
and redefine the terms of the debate, express our vision of the human
possible, and evoke a new sense of national purpose.
We need prosperity stories that spell out a practical
path to creating wealth and jobs for all within a framework of economic
justice and environmental sustainability. We need security stories
that address the reality of criminal elements, rogue states, and the
need for a sense of safety within a framework of commitment to civil
liberties for all and cooperation among the world's peoples and nations.
And we need sacred stories that address our need for meaning, moral
guidance, and understanding of the infinite within a framework of
mutual responsibility. All must be stories that invite the imagination
to soar in its search for an ever-expanding vision of human possibility.
Stories such as those of the power seekers that demean and diminish
the human spirit cannot compete with the stories of creative human
possibility it is ours to tell.
I offer YES! magazine as a resource in this
endeavor as it is filled with stories of the possible. You can find
it on the web at www.yesmagazine.org.
The longer draft paper on which this presentation is
based along with commentary from colleagues is available on my own
website at www.developmentforum.net.
Look for the "American Experiment" button.
Our nation, the United States of America faces a defining moment
of challenge and opportunity. The goal of creating a world that works
for all is integral to the American Experiment. The United States
is a natural social laboratory for advancing its realization. Nearly
all the world's many traditions come together within our borders by
virtue of our rich racial, cultural, and religious diversity. And
we have a long history of social and technological creativity and
innovation.
The time has come to renew the American Experiment. This
is our opportunity to join with all the world's people and nations
in a cooperative effort to realize the ideals of liberty, justice
and opportunity for all people everywhere.
In these turbulent and frightening times it is important
to remind ourselves that we are privileged to live at the most exciting
moment in the whole of human history. We are being called by the deep
forces of creation to awaken to a new consciousness of our own possibilities
and to embrace the responsibilities to one another and to the planet
that go with our collective presence on the living jewel of life called
Earth. The choice is ours. Now is the hour. We have the power. The
work starts here. We are the one's we've been waiting for
.
Thank you all for your wonderfully important work.