What Do We Do Next?

by Larry Kerschner
What do we see or expect from the near and far future? What should our response and preparations related to our expectations be? One of the difficulties is that we live in a society that is willfully ignorant of history, critical thinking and of the political realities surrounding us.

Johan Galtung, Norwegian historian and peace studies professor, analyzed the Soviet Empire and in 1980 predicted the dissolution of that empire within ten years. He was correct to within a few months. In 2000 he predicted that the U.S. Empire would fall by 2025. After 8 years of the Bush administration, he revised the date for the implosion of our empire to 2020.

If he is correct, and I find his analysis quite convincing, we only have a few years to get ready. What will it mean for each of us if the U.S. Empire falls? What could we expect to see? He isn’t saying the U.S. as a country will fall only the Empire. Will the political implications be an increase in the slide toward fascism and totalitarianism that seems apparent today? Or will the American public awaken and realize their actual, if unused, power.

I heard someone the other day say that the old saying about speaking truth to power isn’t appropriate. He said the powerful already know the truth and don’t care. You will get the attention of the powerful when you speak the truth to those who think they are powerless. Figuring out how to do that isn’t easy or we would have had a revolution long ago.

I’ve seen some discussion recently on the idea of whether the elective system can be a path to change. With the daily entrenchment of the corporate control of the government, it is hard to believe that any real change can be obtained by shuffling the seats on the deck of the congressional Titanic. I’m not sure if there ever was a time when the democratic process worked for the people in this country but it certainly isn’t working now.

The last President was elected with promises and hope for change. He has continued and increased some of the worst of the previous administration. The most recent predictions say it is 50-50 that the Republicans will soon gain a majority in the U.S. Senate thus giving them control of the Congress and the Supreme Court along with a compliant President.

The technological abilities of the national security state increase daily. The environment is being fouled, poisoned and sold in the ever tightening hold of the monopolistic corporations who have no view of the future beyond the end of the next fiscal quarter. The police are militarized and the media are shills.

No doubt we live in a screwed up world. What can we do to improve what are we leaving for our children and grandchildren? Can we end the lifestyle of rampant overconsumption and environmental destruction? We have to start with ourselves. Unless we realize peace within ourselves there is little hope that we can help create a peaceful and just society.

In the words of Dr. King, “We must all learn to live together or we shall perish together as fools.” Our challenge is to recognize the real and hard changes that are coming while at the same time maintaining real hope in the possibilities of our humanity.

As a group, we say that we seek to replace violence, war, racism and economic injustice with nonviolence, equality, peace and justice. It is easy to say and difficult to do but we must find a way to enflesh this revolutionary vision of a beloved community where differences are respected, conflicts addressed nonviolently, oppressive structures dismantled, and where people live in harmony with the earth, nurtured by diverse spiritual traditions that foster compassion, solidarity, and reconciliation.

We can only do this together.