Failure is an option

SUBHEAD: Climate Change, Healthcare, Education efforts have failed at all levels of government.

 By Juan Wilson on 16 December 2009 in Island Breath -
 (http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2009/12/failure-is-option.html)

  
Image above: Imperial Walker frace down in the snow from "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back"

Watching the news at World, National, and State levels makes me draw the conclusion that contemporary human organizations, at anything but the smallest units, are doomed to failure. The forces that drive them make them incapable of solving critical problems that undercut their very foundations.  

The World Level
The most dire problem facing humanity is the destruction of life on the planet due to greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuel and clearing forests. The ongoing United Nations attempt to bring the world together to reduce the impact of climate change this week in Copenhagen is coming up with a big goose egg. Nada. Zippo... Pathetic. And so "World Government" fails humanity. See Ea O Ka Aina: Copenhagen Protests Begin 12/16/09.

 The National Level
The American economy is strangling on exploding medical costs and masses of its citizens have no health insurance at all. The majority of Americans are obese, sedentary, and unhealthy. An unprecidented effort to solve this problem is underway in the U.S. Congress. The results... Bad compromises. Business as usual. Less than nothing. See Ea O Ka Aina: Kill the Healthcare Bill 12/16/09.  

The State Level
The state of Hawaii is at the bottom of the scale of student performance in public schools nationwide. It has the fewest number of schools days of any state. It recently dropped most weeks to four days off schooling inorder to save money - Furlough Fridays. Efforts to work out an agreement to solve this problem and get education going again show no signs of reaching a solution. Everybody is expected to lose out - students, parents and treachers. See Ea O Ka Aina: Hawaii gets an F in Education 11/7/09.  

Too Fail to Big
But progressive activists should not be depressed or despair. These three items are not intractable problems. The solutions to all are well known. They all require changing the way we are organized and do things. They are intricately linked to the level of organization that is attempting to deal with them. And that's part of the problem. The solutions lie at lower levels of organization.

Moreover, it now seems that only sweeping away of such large systems like world industrialism; national health industry; and state education is required to reach a sustainable, healthy and humane future. Activists must simply work closer to home. For us in Hawaii, sovereignty is ever more important as world, national and state structures fail.

The agencies most of us need to deal with is at the family (ohana), community (ahupuaa), regional (moku) and island (mokupuni) level of organization. Let's get on with concentrating where it counts most.

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