A Green State of Mind

The Bill Of Rights, especially the first amendment, requires interpretation and analysis not in order to create new legal meaning but to discover the original meaning of the text in synchronization with a changing world.

It can be argued that the first amendment of the Bill Of Rights is the most important amendment. Certainly, it is one of the most argued over in all periods of American history. This continuing debate itself is a sign of good health in a democracy. In putting into practice the right to free speech, right to assemble peacefully, freedom from and for religion, and to petition the government one finds that courts have tried to look into original intent. This means finding the mentality of the founders, which requires inspection of the actual wording of the amendment. As text, it is a trace that presents the absence of speech first and foremost. This absence points to the use of text to convey meaning beyond long distances and spans of time. But the text, as being the final word of authority, is actually a continual recitation of a limited meaning since there can not be elaboration from the isolated inscribed words. More can not be said by looking at the finite words as they are detached from the original utterance.

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The constant incorporation of reality into the creation of political structures that are employed as an alternative to the status quo can be one of the most important actions in regards to real political change, more revolutionary than traditional types of revolution.

The main hope for a real political alternative lies in the ability to both understand how the current structures of power work, as well as the formation of tools for empowerment. The political is always embedded within both the social field and reality in itself, and makes use of reality in order make new configurations within the social field. These structures of power can be transcendent and lay beyond the ability of the populace to control it, taking on the appearance of being both natural and eternal. However, these structures of power can also be immanent and within the control of the people who are engaged within it to solve problems within social relationships. The factors that determine whether political structures are transcendent or immanent is whether or not prehension and prefiguration are employed to allow a true and direct democratic process. Democracy used to widen empowerment will use prehension and prefiguration to accomplish specific goals while also generally offering a real alternative to business as usual.

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By Susan Donderewicz:

This is our third annual public meeting on the economy. If ever there was a subject that lent itself to varied and often inconsistent viewpoints, it is the economy. Tonight, we’ll focus on the policy of collecting taxes based on property. It has occurred to me as I planned for this program that most people, the sane ones, would rather have knee surgery than sit through a meeting about tax policy. So thank you so much for being here. I’m going to try to make this as listener-friendly as possible. We’ll look at some different taxes and see what kind of footprint each leaves.

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