On Reform

 I am a reformer. As we learn, we should continuously reexamine and rethink what we know and what we should do, based on the lessons of the past. When those processes break down, the pressures on the status quo end up being expressed unhealthily, and the status quo is often preserved unhealthily.

I'm not sure where that leaves me. There don't seem to be reform movements with potency, and the movements with potency seem more bent on destruction, which will cause harm and may spiral. On the other hand, maintaining what is with only minor changes, uncritically, on the theory that "we're the best you got," is also a long-term losing play.

We're not playing by the same rules anymore. Economic power, cultural power, people power, and political power are distributed unevenly and thus those with real, hard power don't appreciate their power, and think of themselves as victims or powerless, required to strike with hard force. We spend more time seeking and punishing heretics than winning converts.

We are mistaking how we see the world with how everyone should see the world - confusing attacks against a universal as attacks against our particular. We all seem to be supporting more and more state power, so long as it enables our causes and concerns - or supporting oligarchic power in opposition to the state. Neither is healthy.

In this climate, nuance and accuracy loses. Thoughtfulness loses. People in impossible situations get caught in a crossfire because that's just how it is, and those who seek to follow ethical and moral guidance are - slowly - punished when no one actually steps up to enforce guidance on those who seek infamy and harm as part of seeking their own success.

The body politic is sclerotic, and I don't know where to find the pacemaker.