Beyond Beliefs:: The Journey of the Gnostic Warrior (Twisted Beliefs) by Barry Weinhold

Author:Barry Weinhold [Weinhold, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CICRCL Press
Published: 2014-03-16T04:00:00+00:00

Three Models of Change

Here is a framework for social change put forward by US Economist, the author of America Beyond Capitalism Professor Gar Alperovitz.1 Alperovitz, says that the struggle of the 99% against the 1% is fundamentally a struggle to alter the distribution of wealth. He also points out that the highly unequal distribution of wealth produces a highly unequal distribution of political power.

Alperovitz then goes on to pose the critical and central question of what to do about this inequity: “How might we go about changing the distribution of wealth?” He goes on to describe three different models of change: 1) Reform, 2) Revolution and 3) Evolutionary Reconstructionism. The latter is a term he coined to describe his observations and studies of grass roots economic initiatives occurring across the US over many years. He states that the first two models are the main ones found in our history books and also the ones that have traditionally failed most often.

According to Alperovitz the first model, Reform, assumes that the same corporate institutions remain central to the system but with increased regulations designed to control or constrain them or by redistributing the wealth through progressive taxation. He sees that the crisis we face today reflects the failure of that approach to solve our problems of inequality.

Continued reliance on this approach to change will result in a gradual decline in economic conditions, chronic unemployment and underemployment and a lower overall quality of life. The economy will likely limp along for decades much the way Japan’s economy has done.

The second model, Revolution, according to Alperovitz, assumes that change can come about by confiscating the wealth of the few and redistributing it to the masses. This means overturning the existing legal basis of property relations, which occurs during an acute crisis and usually, but not always, by violence.

He claims that looking back at most revolutions throughout history shows us that this approach fails because of the wealth and power that is now concentrated in the hands of a post- revolutionary elite. At this point, there does not seem to be enough discontent to fuel a revolution in this country.

Actually, there have been some successful revolutions. For example, the indigenously inspired Socialist revolutions in Latin America were successful. As soon as the dictatorships were replaced, major policy shifts occurred. These policy shifts resulted in a redistribution of the wealth and new opportunities through land redistribution.

In addition, oil and other natural resource industries were nationalized with profits redistributed to eradicate adult illiteracy, implement nationwide health programs, develop food cooperatives and price controls to alleviate hunger etc. I don’t see this happening at this time in this country.

The third process that Alperovitz defines is Evolutionary Reconstructionism This as a Third Way wherein, beneath the radar, a new paradigm has been emerging quietly over the past decades. Instead of regulating wealth (reform) or seizing wealth (revolution), this third option calls for steadily democratizing wealth over time and creating the underlying institutional blocks of a new system. This means

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.