moral authority – Engaging Peace

Author: James Montgomery Flagg. 1917. In the public domain.

By Anthony Marsella, Ph.D.

What does it take?

What does it take to awaken the American (USA) people to the egregious political, economic, and moral abuses and violations of their Constitutional rights and privileges? What does it take for the American people to demand changes in existing government and corporate political, economic, and social policies and actions limiting accountability, transparency, and participation?

What does it take for the American people to successfully reduce the concentration of power, wealth, and position favoring a few and denying equality and opportunity for the masses? Why are American people failing to respond to the numerous crises in American society that reveal widespread corruption, cronyism, and incompetence in public and private institutions and organizations?

Why are Americans savoring the fruits of consumerism, materialism, commodification, competition when the consequences of these institutionalized values are destructive for individuals and the social fabric? These questions are but a few of the many questions being asked daily across America and the world. At issue is the disproportionate presence of silence and passivity, and the absence of activism.

I am not discussing, nor am I advocating, widespread rebellion or revolt, even as some voices have called for these as solutions in the face of a creeping oppression. Rather, I am seeking an understanding of why so few protests have emerged and been sustained across time and place?

No one can deny the existence of protests from both “liberal/progressive” circles, (e.g., Occupy Wall Street, Wisconsin Teacher Unions, LBGT organizations) and conservative/tea party circles (e.g., regarding border immigration, abortion rights, gun ownership rights). Yet, in my opinion, these protests have been focused on specific causes, often informed by narrow ideological reasons. I am seeking an understanding of sources that could undertake a broader and unified protest, seeking to re-claim and to improve upon America’s inspired heritage of human rights — a protest to reclaim “moral authority,” “national identity,” and “social and civic responsibility,” not through guns, violence, and anger, but through virtue.

It must be asked whether current divisions across gender, racial, ethnicity, social class, political, wealth, regional, and religious boundaries have limited any collective citizen response challenging the concentration of power, wealth, and position that seeks national and global domination. In my opinion, the concentration denies citizen participation by controlling means, motives, and consequences of national activism, especially by creating divisions across diverse population sectors. Although developing diverse identities is to be encouraged because diversity is the essence of life itself, a sense of unity is lost as too many are denied equality.

And how does the fractioning of a society lend itself to external control and domination by those with wealth, power, and position? For me, the answer is simple: “A society can assume unlimited diversity, as long as it provides equal access to opportunity.”

It is the disproportion in opportunity, rights, and freedoms that lead to resentment, struggle, and violence. The USA needs a national vision identity that recognizes and accepts the conditions required for civility and citizen accommodation in our global era, including (1) an appreciation of the value of diversity, (2) a willingness to accept an interdependence ethic, (3) the commitment to nonviolence/nonkilling, and (4) a belief in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Unfortunately, what has emerged in the USA is a “limited good” mentality¹ in which gains by one group or sector are considered losses by another, because there is only so much “good” to go around. But while this may be, in part, an accurate appraisal of our global situation, there are forces at work that seek control stemming from the age-old divisions rooted in concentrations of power, wealth, and position. Choose your century, country, or cause, and “concentration” will always be the root of problems.

In today’s global era, filled with challenges that defy solution (e.g., population increases, poverty, violence, wars, environmental pollution, crime), “control” by a few (e.g., 1%, bankers, dictators, corporate royalty, Davos faction, monopolies) has become the means and the end. In the USA, which leads the world in military force, financial wealth, corporate cartels, and exportation of popular culture, “control” is essential to preserve an existing state of affairs that denies equality, and promotes homogeneity.

The USA has the world’s largest military budget, highest medical costs, greatest number of prisons and prison inmates, and greatest divisions of wealth (e.g., 1% versus 99%). What this enables — indeed ensures — is the opportunity to implement a “Just Enough” approach to keeping collective control.

NOTE:

George Foster (1965). Peasant society and the image of limited good. American Anthropologist. Limited good refers to the concept that in peasant societies the world is seen as a “competitive” place in which “goods” are limited, and so distrust, envy, jealousy, and resentment are fostered. Hmmm?

Anthony Marsella, Ph.D., a member of the TRANSCEND Network, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu. He is known nationally and internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry. In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 15 edited books, and more than 250 articles, chapters, book reviews, and popular pieces. He can be reached at marsella@hawaii.edu.

This is the first in a three-part series originally published on https://www.transcend.org/tms/2014/06/the-just-enough-policy-behavioral-control-of-collective-protest-through-minimum-reward/

by Guest Author Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., March 17, 2016

Introduction Several months ago, a friend and colleague familiar with my relentless idealistic aspirations for improving government, said to me: “So what would you change? How would you improve the situation?” How would you make it better for everyone?

A good question and one well warranted! I suspect the request was meant to silence my complaints, even as my friend agreed my complaints and criticisms were justified. The difficulty is, the problems are disproportionate in number and complexity. Reciprocity and interdependency of the problems defy any hope of simple solutions.

Appeals to the branches of federal government (i.e., Executive, Representational, Judicial) are futile, because these branches are the source of many of the problems, and will only serve to promote their special powers and influence. Corruption, cronyism, and competition have infected all branches, and, some claim, limit function and purpose, requiring a nefarious and reprehensible “shadow government” consisting of a “military-industrial complex” favoring special interests.

The problem is the existing “System” of governance! It is politicized, asymmetrical, and unresponsive to needed changes, sustaining abuses and inequities. The “System” is the vehicle for consolidating wealth, power, and position of a few at the cost of the many. Citizen activism seems to have little impact. In a previous publication, titled “The Just Enough Policy,” I argued government keeps citizen protests minimal, by offering “just enough” to maintain citizen comfort (Marsella, A.J. (2014). The just enough policy: Behavior control of collective protest through minimum reward. War, Peace, Justice: An Unfinished Tapestry. Aurelius Press, Alpharetta, Georgia, pp 97-104).

Even with official government claims of deference, respect, and admirations for our iconic founding documents, voiced for election image purposes, the “System” engages in passing thousands of laws, regulations, and privileges whose content and consequences eludes even the most ardent of reformers. The laws, regulations, and privileges morph into scores of new departments, institutions, agencies, organizations, and support services, impossible to eliminate or control, and with little transparency and accountability. Each department, institution, agency, and organization becomes a power unto itself, acting to perpetuate its existence, even as it no longer has a function or cause.

Laws, regulations, and privileges enacted by the “System” become endless responses to urgent crises; power asymmetries; unmet defense, social, and economic requirements; special industrial and corporate interests insuring profits and dominance; and political accommodations to elected and appointed government officials quietly lobbying for favorite projects (e.g., bridge to nowhere). All are the stuff of the megalithic “System” defying change. From this “System,” just and unjust governance is enacted daily. Inconsistencies, conflicts, and abuses in enforcement and applications thrive, subject to the interests of those in power.

Citizens have lost trust in government and institutions. Surveys place public trust in government at less than 10%. Current presidential debates, even amid their differences, reveal the extent to which institutions serve the interests of special interests. Each candidate argues we are in moral, political, and legal collapse. None offer profound recommendations for change, fearing perhaps being termed a radical or worst. Citizens are required to accept myths whose continuation is reinforced by biased media propaganda and “strat com” (i.e., strategic communications – biased lies).

A Sampling of Myths

Myths are important, yet as they fall, we are left with uncertainty and disappointment. Myth are widely held perceptions and expectations accepted as “true.” Myths function to guide our behavior by constructing beliefs we consider as “accurate” assumptions about the world. Some of the most critical myths are now considered untenable and in need of major critique and reform. These include:

Capitalism is the best foundation for a national economy, only moderately subject to corruption and abuse. Clearly, capitalism and its Wall Street castle has demonstrated its inherent tyrannical and exploitive nature.
Democracy is the foundation of our government system. Tragically, it is clear democracy has yielded to oligarchy, cronyism, and nepotism. It is perhaps better termed “demonocracy” and “hypocracy.”
Two-Party Political System, long the foundation of elected government, has proven to be an anachronism, in need of change in response to national diversity in political, ideological, moral, and economic profiles. Political interests claim ownership of the two major parties, placing power in the hands of a few. Cronyism, corruption, nepotism, and oligarchy dominate the structure and process.
Equality before the law is proven daily to be violated in American society. Equality is, in fact, subject to a distorted distribution favoring the privileged. “Black Lives Matter” is a visible response to the inequities.
Freedom, as choice, is not available to all. Rather freedom is subject to status markers (e.g., men have more freedom than women; whites more freedom than people of color; rich more freedom than poor). The “System” is the greatest source limiting freedom; Government and private sources are engaged in mass surveillance, monitoring, and archiving.
Moral Authority of the United States of America is lost. We have no moral compass that has not been erased or destroyed by our political and economic actions. We have, as a nation, pursued scores of reckless regime overthrows, and engaged in invasion, occupation, and exploitation. “The ends justify the means!” is the Government’s motto. Ethics, law, and justice are no longer arbiters of policies and actions.
Peace is not a USA goal! The peace we seek as nation is a peace permitting selfish exploitation of special interests (e.g., commercial, foreign government allies). We are a violent society and nation. We are a culture of war!

What can be done? What changes must be made? See my next post.

Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus, University of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii). He is widely recognized as a pioneer figure in cultural and international psychology and psychopathology. He has published 20 books and more than 300 journal, chapter, and popular articles. He is the recipient of numerous national and international awards.

The “Just Enough” Policy: Behavioral Control of Collective Protest through Minimum Reward, Part 1 of a 3-part series

Reflections on Government Change, Reform, Renewal, Suggested Topics for Discussion, Dialog, and Debate, Part 1