By Rob Kall and Mike Rivage-Seul
OEN contributors, listen up!
You are hereby invited to join what OpEdNews is calling "The Arc of Justice Alliance
(AJA). Its purpose is to create a progressive infrastructure and ecosystem that competes with the right wing policy infrastructure and ecosystem that has existed for 50 years. The left has never had one.
Specifically, we're inviting OpEdNews contributors to write position papers and proposals for advocacy projects and organizations in their area of expertise or passion (e.g., politics, economics, election reform, religion, foreign policy, immigration, climate change, women's issues, indigenous rights, nuclear disarmament, LGBT+ issues, culture wars, etc.).
For what purpose?
The paper will be published on OpEdNews but some of its ideas will also eventually find their way into the Arc of Justice Alliance Project.
More specifically, the Project will create an ecosystem of think tanks and advocacy organizations, a pipeline for candidates for judgeships in office, and media infrastructure, all aimed at creating a 50-year strategic blueprint to build a durable and powerful democratic society based on values of universal justice and equity, participatory democracy, and radical decommodification of personal and community life. Its inspiration and guidance will be drawn from The Declaration of Independence, The UN Declaration of Human Rights, and from sources such as Pope Francis' environmental encyclical Laudato Si'.
Our project hinges upon the recognition that humanity now finds itself at a crossroads in its history. In the United States, it is unlike any other moment, except possibly the American Civil War (1861-1865).
To cope with such an unprecedented situation, we in the AJA project are convinced that the United States must transform itself into a just, nurturing society. In the emerging multipolar world, it must assume the role of a responsible global citizen, as one nation among equals, and as steward of the Earth. Its government and economy must be led by people with child-centered, democratic values including transparency, compassion, equity, dignity and inclusion. It must be founded upon universal human rights and the common good.
This then is a call for bold, joyful, and strategic power-building. It envisions a multi-generational commitment to lifting the many, not the few, by renewing and recreating our nation's spirit, while implementing creative policies including leadership, democratic reforms , economic renewal, national defense, education, religious pluralism, and social media.
Our time is now. Now is the time for the United States to assume its role as a cooperative sovereign nation with 4.5% of the world's population. Now is the time to enact fundamental reforms that:
Respect the integral unity of human beings with Nature and all natural processes
Acknowledge all human beings as sisters and brothers (regardless of national origin, race, color, creed, or sexual orientation).
Accept the sovereignty of all nations along with their borders, forms of government, economies, religions, customs, and laws
Recognize the UN Declaration of Human Rights including the right to health, a living wage, decent housing, food, and a free education
Towards achieving these ends, the political reforms in question must renounce all forms of imperialism and expansive militarism. It must reduce wealth disparities, eliminate the threat of nuclear war, and redirect taxpayer resources towards environmental protection, comprehensive no-cost healthcare, free public education, decent affordable housing, nurturing support for families and communities, provision of healthful food alternatives, and full employment with living wages and reduced hours.
So, according to your expertise (again: politics, economics, election reform, religion, foreign policy, immigration, climate change, women's issues, indigenous rights, nuclear disarmament LGBT+ issues, culture wars, etc.) are you willing to participate?
If so, please check out these links to get an idea of How we are envisioning this project and the elements in it that you could contribute to.
Then, write your article. It will be posted in a new special section of OEN devoted to the Arc of Justice Alliance Project. Eventually the articles will be edited into a powerful single document intended to change the world!
Now's the time to step up and do your part.
thanks to Chuck Penacchio for help editing,
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