Collective Action

Today in Copenhagen, President Obama said "I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt." He was, of course, referring to the inability of nations to agree on a global climate change strategy. However, it also captures a greater reality that is hindering the United States. Domestically, we are also failing at our efforts for collective action. We can't get good health or financial reforms passed, and we are equally unable to collectively solve the unemployment, foreclosure, and poverty crises.




What makes collective action so difficult is that we have based our global cooperation (you can also call it trade, if you like) on individual competition. Nationalism and property rights will always trump human rights in this system and expecting a different outcome without modifying the behavior is insanity. 


All economists agree on the loss of productive power brought on by a recession, but so far none has provided a method for avoiding the regular periodic collapses of capitalism. I'm dissatisfied that we don't seem to want to look further into the real causes of these collapses. Is it fear that holds us back? Are we scared that we might glimpse some awful truth that once discovered is impossible to ignore?


Yes. The answer is yes. We have indeed discovered many truths about our system (in both recent and not so recent history.) Some have been forgotten, others obscured, and many have been hidden or ignored to prevent changes that would alter the distribution of wealth and power. 


Simply put, we do not want to be believe or accept that we (humans) are a collective. We want to believe above all things that our individuality defines our being. This is not untrue, we are individuals. But all of our greatest achievements are impossible without cooperation. Without the human collective, almost nothing we take for granted today would even exist. 


So while humanity forms an indisputable collective, concepts of nationalism, private property, and individuality are favored by such a wide margin that the reality of the collective is often challenged and denied. It will be nearly impossible to endeavor in convincing collective global action if as countries and local constituencies we have little recognition of the collective nature of our relationships.


We don't recognize our collective because we'd have to also accept the massive inequality and injustice that exists therein. It's easy to call yourself an American, but much more difficult to understand the collective that is the United States. And the greatest difficulty is to comprehend the idiosyncrasies at work in our society and the effects of the mechanics of our systems on the American people and the people of the world.