Greetings Economists,
On Jun 24, 2008, at 1:08 PM, Gar Lipow wrote:
At the same time you can see how much it goes against the political
grain of our current system. 422.5 billion is trivial compared to
what you get. But diverting that much from military spending to public
investment of this sort is also freakin radical. It would only come
about as part of a major shift in social conciousness and political
balance of forces. And it is more likely to be a result of than a
driver for this kind of change.
Doyle;
That's why I think it takes time to make possible. Though I agree
with what you say too.
It seems to me the speed at which this would be done is related to a
broad national movement. So what would create that? I think it would
be class sense of unity about the punishing life in the suburbs being
ground down. I don't think one can get transportation implemented
before pressure on a gas/car economy forces a national consensus. A
reformist movement not a reformist President does the changing.
Rather than see this need described as green, I think we are really
talking about culture. Not exactly the deep foundations like language
that presents so many barriers to group consensus about culture, but
in the sense that if car culture dies, then how does it get replaced?
I'm sure you are right that the technic is feasible. Costs spread
over fifty years make all of this possible. But it would have to be
preceded by a social movement great enough in size to make the change
feasible. In that sense of vision that social change is cultural.
For example white flight from inner cities is culturally supported by
car culture, so ending car culture closes the door on a kind of way of
life and imposes living together in the community that broke down in
the previous mode where flight from conflict defused the political
tensions.
To summarize, I think cultural support for the change precedes the
changes. These could be nodes in cities that communize how people
live - ending racist structures, addressing how women live in the
city, and so on. Supported by building a unified energy and transport
system. These would be the new foundations for the left, which would
then revitalize other left structures like unions, or political
movement forms.
Thanks,
Doyle Saylor
_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
