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'31DEVELOPMENTS PROPELLING US TOWARD A NEW 'POLITICS OF TRUST'

A - HERE IS OUR GIFT OF EMPOWERMENT FOR YOU:

1. Our situation is perilous: Our elections are over, yet our divisiveness and paralysis continue.

2. So far (so far as we have discerned), no (major) political leader has given even a hint that s/he has any clue as to what all has been transpiring in our society that accounts for all of our seeming dis-integration and unraveling, our politics become so divisive, our governments so dysfunctional.

3.In these troubled times it is time we take responsibility for attending to that gap.

B - OUR BASIC PRINCIPLES INFORMING OUR EFFORT:

1. We have first to identify the root causes of our problems: absent such, we have no possibility nor hope for coming up with fitting, effective, sustaining solutions.

2. Our future belongs to those who recognize signs of apatternemerging, thenbecome and create vehicles forconverging and unifying suchpatternsintobecoming new basic operating systems.'

3. Increasingly, in our world of round-the-world-round-the-clock communications, it becomes more likely that 'Those who 'Win the Story Wars Will Rule the Future' (credits to Jonah Isachs).

C - RECOGNIZING THEFLOW OF OURHISTORY

1. IN1943

Abraham Maslow in his paper"A Theory of Human Motivation," proposes his 'Hierarchy of Needs'to be followed by his delineation re our peak experiences& our self-actualization.

2. IN 1946

Austrian Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's publishes his memoir, 'Man's Search For Meaning' - whichsold over 10 million copies and was translated into 24 languages, andriveted generations of readers with its depictions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons or spiritual survival:that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose.In 1997, psychotherapist Michael Lerner published, 'The Politics of Meaning:Restoring Hope and Possibility in an Age of Cynicism.'

3. IN 1954

The United States Supreme Court opines in the landmark case, 'Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas' that segregation in our American public schools is unconstitutional, opening the pathway toward our ever broadening Civil Rights Movement.

  1. 1955 - NAAACP member Rosa Park refuses to give up her seat at the front of the 'colored section' of a bus to a white passenger, launching the bus boycott.
  2. 1962 -James Meredithbecomes the first black student to enroll at the University ofMississippi, withviolence and riots surrounding the incident causingPresidentKennedy to send 5,000 federal troops.
  3. 1963 -(200,000 Americansjoin theMarch on Washington, D.C., congregating at Lincoln Memorialtolisten as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream " speech.

4.INOUR 1950'S, '60'S & '70'S

Our severalliberation movements(women inspired by Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem et al), Black (inspired by Martin Luther King and Malcolm Xet al),andLatino (inspired by Cesar Chavez et al), yellow, gay and lesbian, old/er and/or dis/abled, even left-handedbegin breaking out:

  1. Each andall of them unified in their common foundation in ourenhanced sense ofour own personal uniqueness,worth, and potential;
  2. Providingeach of usanenhanced sense ofourselves: ouridentities, rights, and responsibilities, and;
  3. Providingall ofus a greater openingdeepening of oursense of our uniqueness andworth.

5. -IN 1960

The Syntex corporation produces(per the work of Carl Djerassi)thefirstcombined oral contraceptive pill(COCP), often referred to as thebirth-control pillor as "The Pill." Followed by the following advances:

  1. 1964:Dr. Mary Steichen Calderone (one of America's first female physicians) becomes known as 'The grandmother of sex education' by creating SIECUS - The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States- whose published materials proposing widespread education regarding sexuality are legally banished from use in our schools by the Legislatures of several states.
  2. 1969: The Stonewall Riots erupt in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, giving rise to the ever-since growing LGBT liberation movements.
  3. 2012: The people of 3 states (Maine, Maryland, and Washington) vote approve the legalization of same sex marriage, bringing to 14 (?) the number of states which have now legalized same sex marriages.

6. IN OUR EARLY 1960'S

Famed UCLA Chancellor Franklin Murphy characterized our outbreak of the 1960's as our revolution from'I think therefore I am!' into 'I feel therefore I am!'Mexican politician and philosophy and founder of Mexico's public school system proposed a new and contrary epistemology: ''Our senses gather the data, and our intellect sorts them into boxes (categories), and then our emotions decide for us what we are going to do.'

Psychologist Daniel Goleman published his book, 'Emotional Intelligence,' 'The Groundbreaking Book That Redefines What It Means to BE Smart . . .'why It Can Matter More than I.Q.'

New York Times Conservative editorial columnist David Brooks publishes, ‘The Social Animal,' proclaiming the centrality of the emergence of the dimension of our human emotions as a major historic development that will have profound impact upon our social and political realms.

7. IN 1962

The Esalen Institute (now commonly known as Esalen) was founded in Big Sur, California, as a residential community and retreat center, which focuses upon humanistic and alternative experiences and learning. It is a non-profit devoted to the advancement and realization of human potential, offering various practices for personal growth and self-actualization.Over the years Esalen hosted a notable influx of philosophers, physicists, psychologists, artists, and religious thinkers. It became the model for many other such centers across our nation.

8.IN 1962

Rachel Carson publishes her 'The Silent Spring,' and along withSheridan Rowland (discovererthe depletion of our ozone layer)gave rise to our ecological movement.

9. IN 1964

The Beatles, with their Edwardian suits and mop top haircuts, made their first American television appearance—LIVE—on The Ed Sullivan Show- to be followed by The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Judy Collins, Carlos Santana, and then Peter, Paul & Mary.

10.IN 1965

Intel co-founder Gordon Moore announces his discovery of 'Moore's Law,''Over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles and the cost halvesapproximatelyevery 2 years' -describingthe driving force of ourtechnological and social changesthese past 47 years.

11. IN 1967

Rollo May in,'Psychology and the Human Dilemma'proposes that'The person who is totally free is spontaneously responsible.'

12. IN 1970

Prescient futurist Willis Harman inhis essay, 'TheNew Copernican Revolution,' recognizes and names that and the later Darwinian and Freudian revolutions - as serving to subvert the tectonic plates which undergird the entirety of our society, culture and institutions - and then sets forththe then just emerging 'new such revolution - a shift in ourvision of ourselves, our human nature and potential- from negative (evil and dangerousand to be controlled) to positive (good andsafeand to be liberated and integrated).

13. IN 1970

The 'Resurrection of our Bodies' is kicked into high gearby philosopher Thomas Hanna publishing his,'Bodies in Revolt: A Primer in Somatic Thinking'- transforming our recognition and appreciation of our bodies: from being the object of our control - toward becoming the subject of all our experiencing.

  1. In 1974 - UC Santa Cruz Professor published his 'Life Against Death' - 'The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History - elaborating proposed downsides of the repressing of our human bodies and sexuality (including most likely our addition to Greed, and perhaps our addictions to Violence, even to 'Ego.
  2. In 1978 Bioenergetics therapist Stanley Keleman proclaims a further revolution into, ‘I am my body! Inspiring a broad range of movements toward healing our long-standing traditional 'Mind/Body Split.'

14. IN 1976

The Apple Computer Company (now simply known as Apple) is founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Silicon Valley, leading the way into the democratization of the Internet and more ready communications. It grows on to become the fount of major inventions advancing those causes, and is nowthelargest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization, with an estimated value of US$626 billion as of September 2012.

There follow a broad array of further visionary companies and inventions and technologies advancing the age of technology into a global economy, includingCisco Systems, Google, Facebook and Twitter, altogether largely transforming much of the way humans communicate and learn and work.

15. IN 1977

Hewlett-Packard’s David Packard asks a number of his fellow CEOs to join him in creating a proactive voice for Silicon Valley businesses. The result is the formation of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, which he foundson the premise that local employers should be actively involved in working with government to find innovative solutions to issues confronting all segments of the community: private and public and non-profit.In March 2005, the name is changed totheSilicon Valley Leadership Group to better reflect the work of the organization.

Shortly thereafter the California State Assembly creates A.D.E.P.T. (the Assembly Democratic Economic Prosperity Team,which concludes its tenure with a report calling the attention of the State of California to its being time for abandoning both the traditional models - 'Laissez Faire' and/or 'Command & Control' - in favor of a whole new collaborative model of partnership of all the three sectors altogether constituting the State of California.

There follows in 1976 the creation of the C.E.S.P. (the California Economic Strategy Panel) which is charged with leading the practical application of that new partnership philosophy, and then the creation of California Leadership, and more recently (2012) the 1st Statewide Summit of the several California economic regions for collaboration and prosperity.

16. IN 1985

At the opening of a 600-person workshop at UC Irvine pioneering humanistic psychologist Carl Rogersproclaims:'I've been doing psychology for 60 years, and I come to believe that we human beings are innately inclined toward becoming life-affirming, constructive, responsible and trustworthy.'

17. IN 1986

Ken Dychtwald notices, names & pronounces in his,'The Age Wave,'the emergence andimminent arrival of an enormous shift in our age demographics.

18. IN 1987

The State ofCalifornia creates 'The CaliforniaTask Force to Promote Self Esteem and Personal & Social Responsibility'(whose membership includes Virginia Satir and Jack Canfield). In 199O, after 3 years of hearings and discussion, the taskforce publishes its report,'Toward a State of Esteem.'It opines that while research on the topic is still scanty, there is enoughto suggest that healthy self esteem might trulyamount to a 'social vaccine' (term approved by vaccine creator Jonas Salk).

19. IN 1987

The prediction of Willis Harman regarding the coming 'New Copernican Revolution' has deepened and exploded to the point where Stanford University's Hoover Institute's political economist Thomas Sowell publishes his book,A conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles– in which heproclaims that 'Beneath just about every hot button social and political issue of our times is to be found a profound 'conflict of visions' regarding ourselves, our human nature and potential."

20. IN THE 1990'S

We boast of our 'New Economy,'wecherish our 'New Demography, and we relish our 'New Consciousness.'All the while we find ourselves 'stillstuck in the same old politics: cynical and controlling,top-down and condescending, altogetherdivisive and dysfunctional!'

21. IN 1995

Pierre Omidyar andJeff Skoll co-create E-Bay in their effort to provetheir belief that 'We humans are really good-natured and trustworthy,' and that'We could therefore make money in the course of trusting each other.'

In 2009,E-Bay co-founderJeff Skollcreates (seeds with $100 million) his'FiveGlobal ThreatsFoundation.'Regarding whichhespeaks of our need to empowerourselvesto effectively addressandovercome themandof our needto learn a lot more about 'consciousness raising'(or 'deepening')and'character developmenteducation.'

22. IN 1999

The New America Foundation isfounded by Ted Halsteadet al- with James Fallows as its initial chair - as a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy institute whose stated mission is to "Invest in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States'.

In 2007,Steve Coll (former managing editor of the Washington Post) becomes President of the New America Foundation with Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, becoming Chair of the foundation's board of director. Its leadership council includes Craig Newmark (founder, Craigslist), Noel Perry (founder of Next 10), and Laurene Powell Jobs.

23. IN 2003

Venture capitalist/entrepreneurJoichi Itopublishes his paper,'Emergent Democracy,'which claims that the advent of the Internet will hopefully lead to the egalitarian empowerment of just about every human being on the face of planet earth. In 2011, Joichi Ito is named Director of theMIT Media Lab(still being chair of 'The Creative Commons').

24. CIRCA2010

Publishing begins of a spate of learned tomes (from both left and right) regarding emergence of a new culture based upon an enhanced/expandedvision of ourselves and ourhuman natureand potential, including:

  1. Senge, Peter et al: 'Presence - Human Purpose and the Field of the Future,'
  2. Rifkin, Jeremy: 'TheEmphatic Civilization,'
  3. Lehrer, Jonah: 'How we Decide,'
  4. Pinker, Steven(Harvard) 'The Better Angels of our Human Nature,' and
  5. Brooks, David:New York Times conservativeeditorial columnist ‘The Social Animal.'

25. IN 2012

George Soros notes, ''The very foundations of economic thinking are coming under pressure' - so we ought be looking for alternative ways of looking at financial markets' 'because there is a fundamental difference between the scientific world and its laws of nature, and the laws of economics, which are instead founded upon the state of us humans.' He creates andinvests $50 million to support the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) with an advisory team of 20 internationally noted leading economists:

INET''s CEO, Robert Johnson, recently signs off on creating a subsidiary 'think tank' unit composed of 'non-economistswith 'varying visions and viewpoints regardingourselves, our human nature, and potential'on the premise that the seeming systemic failures of most all our economic systems and models in our world today may be attributable to our still utilizing antiquated visions ofhumannature.Psychoanalyst Doug Carmichael serves as a senior adviser to thisendeavor.

26. IN 2012

Leading humanistic psychologist Maureen O'Hara (a major protégé' of psychologist Carl Rogers, former President of the Saybrook Institute, and of Division 32 of the American Psychological Association) issues a call for creation of a cutting edge diverse group of leading visionaries 'For the purpose of examiningemerging divergent visions of ourselves, our human nature and potential.Aswell as supporting our clarifying and advancing a whole new politics founded upon the faithful vision of ourselves, our human nature, andpotential.'

27.IN 2012

Pioneering 3rd force business leader Elliot Hoffman enlists in an emerging team of top level military and business leaders with ‘The New America Foundation'who arealtogether:

  1. 'Sorely impatientwith obsolescent (obsolete?) top-downcontrol operations in oursociety and
  2. 'Committed to comingup witha whole new vision for a comprehensive globalinitiativethatismore about good news, vision, hope and healing.'

28. RECENTLY

Political economist Thomas Sowell (a self-styled conservative) publishes his book, 'A Conflict of Visions,' in which he proclaims that, 'if you look beneath just about every hot button social and political issue of our times, you are going to find 'A Conflict of Visions,' between those of us who believe that we human beings are innately inclined toward becoming evil and dangerous, and those of us who believe that we human beings are innately inclined toward becoming good and trustworthy.' Thusly recognizing that what only 40 years ago Willis Harman had recognized and predicted, has now grown so broadly and deeply that it becomes the fulcrum of the profound (are they irreconcilable?) differences we are so vividly experiencing today.

29.2012

'The Millennials' (more in number than 'The Boomers') confirmed their commitment to politics.

30.NOW

We invite and offer you the opportunity to select (at least) one other transformational event of our past four decadesthat most profoundly touched, and engaged, and changed your own sense of yourself, your own human nature and potential, and your sense of enhanced possibilitiesin every field.

31. FROM NOW ON

Enlist yourself in sustaining efforts to transform our politics so that it fits ourselves and our times.

D - TOWARD A NEW POLITICS BEFITTING WHO WE ARE BECOMING

1.NOW

Let's recognize that each of these happenings during the course of our last 1/2 century is:

  1. In fact, irreversible;
  2. All by itself of sufficient import & effect that it changes the course of our human history;
  3. Altogether enough to account for our disintegration and divisiveness.

2.PRESENT

Let's recognize the enormous incongruous unsustainable imbalance we find ourselves living in today. We boast of our new economy, we cherish our new demography, and we revel in our new consciousness. All the while we are finding ourselvesstuck in the same old traditional politics: cynical and controlling, top-down and condescending, divisiveand dysfunctional.

3.FUTURE

Pull them altogether, and recognize with regard to our times and future:

  1. Altogether leading us into (at least these 7) revolutions in age, gender, race, technology, economies, communications, and our own sense of ourselves, our humannature & potential.
  2. All together continuing to operate inter-actively, and exponentially, altogether providing us a profoundly changed (and ever more rapidly changing) world in which to live, work, and play.
  3. Each of us according to our own sense of our selves & each other, of our times & future.

E - OUR NEXT STEPS

1. Isn't ittimewe recognize our desire and need, our longing and commitment for 'Creating anemerging down-to-earthorganization that has the vision and the presence, the insight and commitment, for becoming both:

A coordinating agency for facilitating the convergence (ultimatelyeven fusion) of all these profoundcomplementary developments in the flow of our human history and leading facilitator for the development and advancement of a consonant vision,agenda, adoption and practiceof a new ('faithful') "Politics of Trust, healing and hope?

2.RIGHTNOW

So It's almostno surprise that at this most crucial turning point in the entirety of our human history along comes 'The Vasconcellos Legacy Project' withits proposal for generating'a new 'Politics of Trust'characterized by a"knowing expert' as, 'The most complete - both comprehensive and coherent - package of all the components essential for launching a wholenew Politics of Trust!'