I recently attended an Unrig the Summit conference in New Orleans. The general goal of the event was to fight corruption in politics in a non-partisan fashion. An idea pretty everyone except the establishment supports.
The event was well run. People seemed to have few unanswered questions and little problems with lines, locations, etc. I was skeptical of the Unrigged phone app the organizers were aggressively pimping because I already think people are on their devices too much. But damn, it did work well. Too bad I gave the app a 1 star rating because it kept pestering me to rate it even before the conference. 🤷♂️
Many talks were inspiring, moving and motivational. Progressives Nina Turner, Tulsi Gabbord rocked it while I also enjoyed Steve Hilton's energy behind advocating turning "the whole thing" over to the youth. People cheered, they were happy and left with something human beings cannot and should not live without:
Hope
I didn’t go to feel good, get a booster or find hope. I went for solutions. I came to hear bold new ideas. I came to hear desperately needed uncomfortable societal conversations. I got none of that.
What’s the takeaway of the experience from the talks? Are people going to change their voting habits? Will the left heal the divide between berners, bernie or bust, and HRC supporters? Will progressives and conservatives have a better way to communicate? Fuck no. Not even close.
Some very basic lessons just haven’t been learned. Every progressive I talked to still was suggesting solutions via the government, ignoring that conservatives think government leads toward tyranny. Similarly, conservatives were pushing free market solutions ignoring progressive demands for a moral system.
Where have we heard free market and government solutions before? Oh that’s right, our whole lives. 🤦♂️
If the goal was to have people come out with ideas and plans to unrig the system, the conference feels like a failure. Two things that could have helped:
- Identify the Source of the Corruption
This one makes me laugh a little. I heard about how to help get money out of elections and suggestions for gerrymandering, etc, but no one addressed why all that pressure exists. Imagine trying holding your arms above your head at an angle indefinitely. Eventually your arms will come down. Similarly, greed will eventually subvert any well meaning government process. Why is no one talking about that? It's laughable that they didn't identify the source, let alone attempt address it.
- How to Communicate
The only way forward is for people to communicate. I would have loved to see a workshop where a prominent conservative and progressive are tasked with coming up mutually acceptable solution. Or even a workshop on how to disagree without getting triggered. Better yet, a workshop on how one side of the conversation should be actively seeking to understand someone else’s perspective. Progressives and conservatives don’t understand each other and indeed cannot even talk to each other without getting frustrated. It IS possible to do, but people don’t know how to communicate. Why would we? We learn from drama seeking talking heads and politicians and drama providing shows and movies. We rarely see authentic conversations where perspectives are explored and discovered. Also not at unrigged.
Any unifying solution should consider the major problems from all sides. The nature of the problem as seen by a union of progressives and conservatives is:
government is too corrupt and capitalism too greedy
We can and should try to improve that unhealthy codependent relationship between capitalism and government, but shouldn’t we also look at alternatives? Is humanity truly destined for a future where profit is the highest ideal or perhaps can we do better?
We have the resources and wisdom available such that human beings can look forward to a life of self discovery, personal accomplishments and artistic creation. Instead, we hear a question I rather despise:
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
There is a bit of brain washing in the underlying assumption we impose on our youth with that question. What can get heard:
“Your only future is competing is a business environment where greed is good. Pick the least offensive way to spend your next 30 years to support your family. When you are done working, here’s a bill just for being a citizen with governmental debt of $20T.
Hugs and kisses,
The Way Its Always Been”
That sure is an uplifting subliminal message to an entire species, right!? 🤷♂️
I’m not saying my solution (http://humanityrises.info/issues) is the answer, but hearing the same solutions from industry experts, shaking our fists harder at the man and just being more politically motivated will probably fall short, like it has every election in my lifetime.
In closing, an inspirational quote from Jennifer Lawrence at the summit:
"Fuck that"
