Overriding Militarism Amidst Uncontrollable Pandemics and Unstoppable Climate Disasters
I define “militarism” as the use of force instead of non-violent actions, especially when the use of force causes needless injuries and deaths that could have been avoided by non-violent actions.
So this post focuses on what is unfolding inside and outside the boundaries of Ukraine, especially if armed combat becomes the dominant course of action. My objective is to point to an alternative pathway through which ordinary people can override the militarism that seems to be getting the upper hand in many places around the world.
I focus on “ordinary people” rather than governmental authorities for several reasons. The first is my belief that it is more likely that ordinary people rather than authorities will find non-violent means to resolve differences. I’ve been studying political science and international relations for decades. My view is that violent confrontations and militarism are typically caused by political troublemakers. I include in this category self-serving politicians, political parties, and lawmakers who contrive, fuel, and lead conflicts in order to increase their power, status, and influence, within their governments and over ordinary well-meaning people.
That they can continue to do so in early 2022 even in the midst of an uncontrollable pandemic and unstoppable climate disasters, raises questions in my mind as to their soundness of mind! To take the confrontation occurring in and around Ukraine, how can the needs of upwards of 200,000 armed fighters and tens of millions of civilians be met with Covid-19 wreaking havoc and climate disasters bringing the strongest winds and rain ever recorded into that part of the world?
One of the most effective weapons of these troublemakers is to mobilize aggrieved groups of ordinary, gullible people by convincing them to accept false narratives about what is really going on. The former U.S. Secretary of State Madelyn Albright describes in a recent book, Fascism: A Warning, how aspiring political autocrats use such people to seize power electorally, citing Hitler and Mussolini as examples.
What enables them to gain and hold on to power are the changes made to rig the decisions of electoral, legislative and judicial institutions, so that they do not serve the people, and ordinary people cannot control them. Putin’s grip on the government of Russia appears to exemplify these classic maneuvers. Reports in mid-February 2022 of his apparent intention to change the legal boundaries of Ukraine, through massive militarism, is an external corollary of his internal undemocratic control of Russia’s government.
But he is not alone. Similar things are happening in countries around the world, even in countries that previously had vibrant democracies. So what are the causes and remedies of these disastrous and injurious setbacks? My view is that the primary cause is the deliberate electoral and legislative disenfranchisement of ordinary people. Yes, elections are still being held. But in many ways they are phony “no choice” elections, because ordinary folks have little influence over who is on the ballot and their legislative agendas.
Once they get into office, they purport to make laws reflecting the “will of the people”. Yet extensive research indicates majorities of voters and ordinary folks around the world — including in the U.S. — distrust lawmakers and think they are leading their countries in the wrong direction. They believe elected representatives do not know or care what they think, need, or demand.
What can be done under these circumstances? Traditional reform mechanisms are being utilized, especially to reduce gerrymandering the the U.S. But it will take years and possibly decades for them to enfranchise electorates that have been deliberately disenfranchised. Use of these mechanisms will have to overcome countless laws, executive and judicial decisions, and practices — such as the use of strange antics like filibustering in the Senate — which lead to minority rule and legislative stalemates and paralysis. (See Levitsky and Ziblatt, How Democracies Die (2018).)
What can be done — and must be done — is to circumvent all of these entrapments by creating the Global Social Network for Voters I have been advocating. Its goal is to empower ordinary people and voters to build their own online voting blocs, political parties, and electoral coalitions around common agendas and slates of candidates that cross partisan lines. These blocs, parties, and coalitions can encompass multiple electoral jurisdictions, within and across nation-state boundaries. They can use this autonomous platform and its voting utility to vote on any propositions their members put forth, at any time, 24/7/365.
For example, people in Eastern Europe could creating voting blocs to conduct plebiscites to express their views about what is transpiring in and around the Ukraine, at any point in time. People in the Donbas region could give their opinions, pro and con, about Putin’s claims that they consider themselves to be Russians and residents of a Russian territory. Another unique possibility is that ordinary people throughout the Ukraine and contested territory could use the network to collaborate in devising non-militaristic peace plans that are workable, and after consultation with decision-makers, prove acceptable to the parties involved.
My thinking is that the time has come to override militarism and governmental authoritarianism by empowering ordinary people to take pro-active and decisive roles in governing themselves year around, via an autonomous platform for cross-partisan agenda setting, political organizing, and consensus building.
Voters’ blocs, parties, and coalitions hosted on the Global Social Network for Voters can use the network to set their own legislative agendas, and raise funds online to financially support and staff their campaigns to elect candidates of their choice to enact their agendas.
We are now confronted by impending threats to the lives and limbs of millions of people that have been created by chronic militarism in Eastern Europe and the Ukraine. Isn’t it time that ordinary people be empowered to take the lead in preventing and resolving conflicts, now that we are experiencing what happens when they do not?
Isn’t it likely that most people will vote to prioritize not military combat but fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, preventing future variants, and protecting themselves and their dwellings from climate disasters? Isn’t it likely that they will mandate lawmakers to implement voters’ priorities rather than squander scare resources on military exploits? What if overwhelming numbers of millions of voters convince lawmakers that they will call the shots in forthcoming elections, to elect lawmakers who will make peace instead of war?
For more information about the network I propose, here’s an infographic describing how it will work, and a link to the network’s website:
Author Nancy BordierPosted on February 22, 2022Categories Democracy
