The ideals set forth in the stirring rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence notwithstanding, the founding of the United States and the drafting and ratification of the U.S. Constitution did not bring democracy to North America. Rather, it created a context for a long struggle to overcome an inherited cultural and institutional legacy of five thousand years of Empire - a struggle violently opposed by the elites in power. The historical reality of the genocide against Native Americans, the enslavement of blacks, the denial of the basic rights and humanity of women, and the denial of just a share of profits to those who toil to make capital productive manifests this legacy, underscores the magnitude of the challenge, and reveals how much remains undone.
- David Korten,
The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community
No comments:
Post a Comment