the most important line in all of Marx’s writing is one that should
get the most attention… but doesn’t…
“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways,
the point, however, is to change it”
and the Marxist question should really be everyone question, how do we
change/transform the world? to make changes, one has to first of all understand
where we are at right now… and that is the role of philosophers, scientist, thinkers,
historians, economist, sociologist, to name a few…
and what changes should we engage with? the conservative holds to the past,
that is their line of vision, going to the past, so what changes should we make
that return us to the golden era of the past? that is the conservative thinking…
the problem lays with their ignorant understanding of the past… what we don’t see
is that human beings are right now, living in the golden era of existence…
we have it better off then any generation before us…
and this isn’t about the economic wealth of today… although there is that,
it is how we have many more opportunities then any generation of human being before us…
we have far more possibilities available to us then any generation before us…
and we don’t even see this…and we have a real opportunity before us to make
it even better…to transform the world means to create new possibilities of
human existence…
have you ever heard a conservative ask, what should we be aiming for, as
a people, a society, as a state, as a culture? no, of course not…
what should our country look like in 1 or 5 or 10 years or even longer, 100 years?
we are here as a people, and we should be there, and then the question becomes
how do we go from here to there? what are our steps to make us a better people,
a better country, a better state/culture? how do we transform ourselves into something
better? now one may ask, how do we know that that vision is a “correct” vision of
the future? and I say, yes, let us have that conversation about what is the goal
of our country… what is it we are trying to become? we cannot be so lazy to think
that knowing where you are is enough, it isn’t… we have to know where we started,
where we are and most importantly, where are we going?
we can use prior knowledge/understanding from those thinkers and writers who
have be able to place us as a nation, culture, society into some understanding of
where we are now… but that isn’t enough… we are we going to?
I believe that it is only by thinkers and philosophers that we can get a roadmap
into the future…
so my future is one where we have justice, for everyone… and justice really means
equality… so justice is equality before the law…for everyone… in other words, we
don’t have a, (as we have now) a two tier judicial system… the wealthy get treated by
one set of rules because they are wealthy or powerful or have a title or are famous…
and everyone else gets treated by another set of legal rules…if there are two set of
legal rules for people, then we don’t have a justice system… we have a “ad hoc” system
of justice that is applied as the situation warrants, not blindly, as justice should
be applied, equally as justice should be done, but right now, our judicial system
is applied unequally, the wealthy one set of rules and everyone else, another set of rules…
so that is one aim of mine, one possibility for the future that I see…
to make justice for all, meaning everyone is treated equally under the law…
regardless of their wealth, title, fame, power… that is what I want to see in
the future… so, how do we go from here to there? for me, to transform the current
system that is clearly biased against the poor, into a system that doesn’t care what
your social, political, economic status is… you get the exact same treatment
regardless of your status…
so how do we transform our current system into this much more fair system of justice?
this is just one, one example of what should we be changing and why?
we should be making voting as easy as breathing… I hold that there shouldn’t
be any rules, of any kind preventing people from voting… if we hold that the
most important aspect of democracy is voting, then voting should be available
to everyone regardless of their lot in life…we don’t prevent people from voting,
we make it easier…
how do we go from here to there?
( those who argue against voting rights for all, are arguing against democracy…
if you hold that voting rights are fundamental to a democracy, then you must
advocate for voting rights for all, if you don’t believe in people having the right to vote,
then you are advocating for something different then a democracy… for that is the
essential point of a democracy, voting… and to vote is the point of a democracy…
no vote, no democracy… so those who attempt to “reform” voting rights are really
against democracy and the basic point of a democracy which is to vote… to have a
say in how our lives is run)
Kropotkin