21st Century Revolution

The recent events in the middle east, as I see them, signify the power of grass-roots organization over top-down oppression. In the information age, we, the people, have unprecedented access to one another, and to each other's ideas. This is terrible news to those who control access to information for personal (or at least selective) gain.

Cultural evolution is based on ideas and information - where the social consciousness changes over time: accruing new, beneficial notions and beliefs, while shrugging off tired, crippling misconceptions and antiquities. Of course, this process is sloppy, and there are many errors committed by the social "mind." But in the end, we always find our way.

These days, we have the wonderful advantage (over times past) of this new access to one another's social innovations. And this is not the first time we've seen such a dramatic shift. Each major leap in communication has ushered in a rapid proliferation of cultural ideas (relative to the preceding age), and ultimately advanced those groups of people who embraced the wisdom and judgment of their collective consciousness.

But those groups, gaining in power and organization, eventually advance slivers of the population into leadership/organizational roles. And as we know all too well: power currupts. So, those at the top, in a strangely self-destructive act of selfishness, begin to oppress ideas in fear of being removed from power by the up-and-coming. And eventually, in nearly every case, they end up knocking the knees off of the giant (of which they are the head), and the once-great topples.

And here we are. The great America, tiring and swaying from the underhanded blows delivered from on high, but still seething with resilience, optimism, and a brilliant amalgam of cultures and ideas from within. It is time to restore power to that which creates power - the people, the body of the beast. And we can take it!

We have been trained to "buy in" to a system. Our mythologies all point toward compliance and security. But all of the great things that we've created have immerged from the nooks and crannies of our population. All the noteworthy events involved personal risk in service of passion - not undaunted composure in the face of a scripted personal drama. We are not so small as to require anyone to show us the path. Innovation is in our blood, and the pioneering spirit that gave birth to America (and continues to feed it) can once again drive us forward into a new era.

But more than that, even, we are lovers of the group - our adventures are by caravan more than outlaw wandering. More than ever, we have the capacity to organize.

I encourage everyone (especially young people, with your energy) to shrug off the shackles of dogmatic repetition, embrace passion (whether it's your ideas or those of others), and start DOING. Let's proliferate our myriad unique contributions, feed one another's social mind, and move America, and the world, into a new kind of genuine freedom.