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In this segment, I trace the path that led to our current political impasse, in which the scale of the economic and ecological crises we are facing continue to grow at the same time that we are increasingly unable at the federal level to democratically arrive at solutions to address them. One way out of this deadlock, which is in part occasioned by the impossibility of meaningful participatory democracy on a continental scale, might be a process of decentralization, devolving decision making down the regional level.
- Part 1: Inequality
- Part 2: “Socialism”
- Part 3: The Politics of the New Economy
- Part 4: New possibilities, new alternatives
Interview shot and produced by Jordan Karr-Morse from Softbox Digital.
1 Comment
“The notion that the country ultimately will in some way decentralize to regional structures is self-evident.”
This was very interesting. I’m surprised there were no other responses.
I wish more analysis had been provided about why it is “self-evident” that the country will decentralize. It’s not at all evident to me.
While it seems like there will be a push for cities and towns to cooperate with their neighbors for economic reasons and economies of scale, and for neighboring states to do so regionally for the same reasons, it is not necessarily clear that decentralization will lead to a more participatory democracy nor is it clear that decentralization is the only way to achieve that goal.
Even with a centralized government, referred to here as “Washington”, I see no reason that a well-informed and activist public could not achieve greater participatory democracy on our large scale “representative governmental system”. Perhaps that is a key spice the recipe is currently lacking. Also, why not explore abolishing the Senate and/or increasing, substantially, the number of Congressional representatives?
Right now, for example, if my math is correct, we have roughly one Congressperson for every 700,000 citizens. Why not make the ratio one for every 25,000 citizens? Just because the country is growing in population does not mean the only path to democracy is through decentralization.
This is not to argue, by the way, against (or for) decentralization but merely to challenge the premise that this is the only option open to us or that its evolution is “self-evident”.
The real issue, if participatory democracy is the goal, is not to chase rainbows but rather to acknowledge that be it centralized or decentralized, money, specifically capitalism, is the poison that will drain the life out of the people’s voice. Let’s not distract ourselves with decentralization until after that issue is resolved.