Draft by James Hall

Using the Political System to Achieve a Socially Just and Sustainable World

In a diverse political world, living among billions of people, you may ask what one person can do politically to change the world we live in to make it a better place, one where human beings can live in harmony with each other and with nature? But you are not alone. Many others feel as you do. You can reach out and make contact with them; you can educate other people who are as yet unaware of the problems and the issues, and you can live a good life and be an example to others.

Taking Political Action

If you are lucky, you live in one of the world's liberal democracies. By liberal democracy, I mean a political form of government where leaders are elected by popular vote, and where human rights are honored. Since 1950, the world has seen a phenomenal growth of democracies, from 22 nations representing 31% of the world's population, to 120 electoral democracies representing 58% of the world's people.

That's a shift of historic importance, but it's not enough. 72 sovereign nations representing 42% of the world's people still have no representative government. If you are a citizen of one of these nations, working for democracy is an important first step towards creating social justice and a sustainable world economy. If you are a citizen of one of the newer democracies, you may have a democratically elected government, but few or even no recognized human rights, or your democracy and human rights may rest on fragile foundations.

Defending human rights is an important step to making your democracy a liberal democracy, where those rights are observed and respected. But if you are a member of a long-established liberal democracy, you can't rest, either. You must work hard to keep your elections honest and your rights from being abused, for there are powerful interests that benefit from restricting human rights and corrupting democratic institutions even in the oldest liberal democracies. It can truly be said that a good citizen's political work is never done, and he or she must be vigilant both to create a better world and to sustain it.

The forces that concentrate wealth and power into a few hands and that abuse the earth's environment for their own benefit oppose democratic reforms, social justice, human rights, and efforts to create a sustainable local economy. Their goal is to block genuine democratic institutions, manipulate elections, limit human rights, and use the environment for their short-sighted interest--to gain wealth and hold onto power. Opposing them requires that we become aware of their efforts and block them through democratic actions that include: 1) Organizing opposition; 2) Educating others and demonstrating against wrongs; and 3) Voting against those wrongs and those who support them; or taking legal action—enforcing human rights—to stop them.

Getting Started

Getting started involves understanding what you can or cannot do within your existing political system. If some of the suggestions I offer are impossible to do under your form of government, consider them as goals to be reached, and work to change your political circumstances so that you have the right as a citizen to exercise them.

If you are a citizen of a democracy, register to vote and vote often. Your vote does matter—consider the recent American election where the President of the United States, now perhaps the single most powerful political office in the world, was chosen by a difference of 537 votes in one state. Check out the candidates' records and vote for those who reflect your values. Join a political party that reflects your values, or create one if none exists. Volunteer for candidates you support, doing what you can do to help. Write letters to your local newspaper supporting your candidate; attend the candidate's meetings and express your concerns. Donate your time and money if you can.

Help keep your political system honest by working as a poll-watcher and monitor the counting of ballots. Help those who are illiterate to read their ballots and exercise their privilege to vote. Support efforts to keep balloting both secret and honest—creating a trustworthy voting system generates trust in democracy, while distrust undermines all efforts to choose democratically and govern justly, and forces people either to resort to violence against regimes or into sullen withdrawal from the political system altogether.

Become involved in local community organizations that reflect your agenda. Check your area for these organizations, going to newspapers, libraries, or public meetings to find them. If none exist, then consider creating your own local organization. Work with local people to clean up your local environment, create more parks and people-friendly environments, to support public transportation, protect civil rights, elect responsible local and national officials, and fight pollution and unwanted corporate intrusion. Work to educate your community through letters, newsletters, organized events, and demonstrations.

Link your local organizations with regional organizations or the local organizations in other communities to examine your region's problems and work for solutions. Problems like local peace or a cleaner environment often rely on regional solutions rather than local ones. If, as sometimes happens, you run into competing interests between communities over jobs, water rights, ethnic conflicts or other issues, work to resolve them. It's important that you settle your differences in a peaceful and fair manner, respecting and honoring all the parties involved to prevent future conflict. Seek justice, not vengeance.

Link your regional organizations with national and international organizations. Get involved with national and international organizations and work to show local and regional groups that involvement on the national and international level are also important to create social justice and a sustainable environment locally and regionally. International organizations can help deal with crucial large-scale issues like world peace, globabalization, immigration, and global warming that no one nation or region can solve alone. Support candidates and parties that advance your efforts and work for positive changes.

Become an involved citizen. Learn about the issues, live a moral life and be an example yourself to others. Get involved locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally in efforts that promote peace and justice, protect natural environments, and build sustainable local economies. Your efforts will make you both a good citizen of your state and a person of the earth.

 

 

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"In the modern world, in which thousands of people are dying every hour as a consequence of politics, no writing anywhere can begin to be credible unless it is informed by political awareness and principles. Writers who have neither, produce utopian trash."

John Berger

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