The Balance Between Evolution & Stagnation (there is none)

In many of my previous political blogs I’ve always called for change; change in our political structures, governance & economic models, approach in debating/analyzing important issues of the day – that’s for starters. I usually referred to this change as an Evolution as opposed to the Stagnation that has led us to where we are today in terms of political turmoil, economic, environmental and now health challenges. This in my opinion is at the core of what this book is all about – the fact that we’ve been busy scoring points against each other while the big guys/gals are busy protecting their narrow interests –  all this instead of focusing on allowing the evolution to deliberately run it’s course guided by hard earned lessons from history in order to progress an archaic system that is falling apart. That said I must admit that what these posts lacked was a better articulation not only in terms of why change/evolution is necessary – beyond the singular focus on headlines issues discussed in the post – but also in terms of providing a complete/coherent vision for the kind of wholistic change needed. I then came across this book The Garden of Democracy by Nick Hanauer and Eric Liu after having watched this clip below then doing some research – a book which I would highly recommend (link on the image) – that provided more of a foundation for this new approach. The book is mainly about the American experience whether it be political challenges or capitalism in its current incarnation and how both have become so stagnant that they’ve become more of threat to the union/social order – this by the way is my own interpretation. The book in a nutshell effectively debunks the fallacy of the one dimensional left/right politics and seeks to push towards a more balanced/pragmatic worldview that helps solve real issues rather than being constrained by narrow ideological narratives. This is NOT about theory but in fact provides practical alternatives that in the best case scenario would allow us to breakaway from the ideological shackles that are slowly but surely destroying us from within and in the worst would at least allows us to debate alternate views/choices so that we can help shape how our Democracy & Economy evolve in such a way that there would much more winners than there are losers. I am an advocate for change and I believe this book provides an interesting blueprint or at least an option for the way forward.

• The chipping away of our Democratic values and by extension the systems/institutions they produce
• The catastrophic damages done to the environment
• The continued/escalating conflicts around the world the are just beginning to hit home – believe you me!
• The lives lost/continue to be lost due to flawed policies – foreign & domestic

I hope you find this simple review useful and it maybe worth reading a few pages from the book on Amazon so you get the gist in terms of content to allow you to decide whether or not it’s something worth your time.

Take care and have a great/safe weekend.