Mark Major (editor) - Where Do We Go from Here?: American Democracy and the Renewal of the Radical Imagination

Where Do We Go from Here?

Logos

Perspectives on Modern Society and Culture

Michael J. Thompson, Series Editor

The books in the Logos series examine modern society, politics, and culture, emphasizing the connections between these spheres rather than their academic separateness. Skeptical of what current intellectual trends call interdisciplinary, titles in this series explore the ways that politics, economics, and culture inform one another, overlap, and weave the complex fabric of modern life in a global context. By putting forth bold ideas written to appeal to a broad range of interests, the series situates itself within the long tradition of intelligent social critique.

Islam and the West

Critical Perspectives on Modernity

Edited by Michael J. Thompson

Maverick Voices

Conversations with Political and Cultural Rebels

Edited by Kurt Jacobsen

Planetary Politics

Human Rights, Terror, and Global Society

Edited by Stephen Eric Bronner

Communicative Action

The Logos Interviews

Edited by Amy L. Buzby

Where Do We Go from Here?

American Democracy and the Renewal of the Radical Imagination

Edited by Mark Major

Where Do We Go from Here?

American Democracy and the
Renewal of the Radical Imagination

Edited by Mark Major

Published by Lexington Books

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Copyright 2010 by Lexington Books

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Where do we go from here? : American democracy and the renewal of the radical imagination / edited by Mark Major.

p. cm. (Logos : perspectives on modern society and culture)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7391-3717-8 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7391-3718-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. United StatesPolitics and government1989 2. DemocracyUnited States. I. Major, Mark, 1980

JK1726.W44 2010

320.973dc222010001602

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Mark Major

Stephen Eric Bronner

Ron Hayduk

Anja Rudiger

Henry A. Giroux

John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney

Robert Fitch

R. Claire Snyder-Hall

Sheila D. Collins

Stephen Steinberg

Michael J. Thompson

I am grateful to the contributors for their interest, enthusiasm, and generosity with the project. In addition to the contributors, this edited volume benefited from conversations with Erin Heidt-Forsythe, Rebekah Amos, Robert Jensen, Donald Leonard, Dave Lindorff, Michael McGandy, Ben Pauli, Frances Fox Piven, Kevin Watkins, and my parents. Erin deserves extra praise for reading numerous drafts of the manuscript and serving as an excellent sounding board. Also, many thanks to my editor, Joseph Parry, and editorial assistants, Tawnya Zengierski, Jana Wilson, and Abigail Graber, as well as Victoria Koulakjian, Sarah Caldwell, and Michael Wiles in production, for their help and patience. I owe a big thank you to Gokce Baykal for compiling the index. Finally, special thanks to Michael Thompson for his encouragement throughout the entire process and making this edited volume a reality. Much obliged.

Mark Major

More than seventy years ago, the economist John Maynard Keynes remarked that the ideas of intellectuals were more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. As technology continues to enable greater access to ideas around the world, the power of intellectuals is greater than ever. And given that the world is full of crushing poverty, sexism, uneven development, environmental degeneration, religious fanaticism, racism, and imperialism, the need for intellectuals to inspire the radical imagination by championing principles of economic and social justice, democracy, and universality is also greater than ever. Frederick Douglass correctly asserted that power concedes nothing without a demand because progress, in any form, requires work. However, political visions are required to guide that struggle. This is the aim of the book.

Imaginations and visions matter. They point forward. They provoke thought and challenge underlying assumptions. The current political landscape in the United States consists of rampant economic, gender, and racial inequalities, shoddy infrastructure, declining public engagement, hyper-consumption and individualism, and politics that emphasize the trivial. Much of this is a product of the corrosive effects of neoliberalism and the new conservatism. While the 2008 presidential campaign seemed to indicate disillusionment with this public philosophy and political project, it certainly did not translate into immediate success for progressives. In fact, the current political environment is, in part, a consequence of the Lefts inability to forge new paradigms for democratic life. As a result, we are experiencing the decline of the radical imagination.

The paucity of the radical imagination should be viewed as a crisis to those who value substantive democratic politics. The Left has yet to understand the consequences of defining itself solely by what it is against rather than what it is for. Unquestionably, identifying problems is crucial. However, locating the problem does not necessarily render the identification of solutions. The failure to search for solutions is irresponsible and dangerous as it negates agency for action and leads to a society of cynics. Though recent criticism regarding the value of social sciences is superficial, there is a legitimate concern relating to the degree of scholarly engagement with politics. In the classic essay, The Responsibility It is in that spirit that this edited volume seeks to revive another responsibility that academics have largely neglectedinspiring the radical imagination. This collection challenges leading thinkers and practitioners to put forth a new political project for democratic life.

Recent literature on radical politics and policy solutions is few and far between. Commentators usually focus on a single issue, especially economic reforms. While these contributions are invaluable, they are limited in that people do not lead single-issue lives. Thus, this edited volume presents a multiple-issue approach to the future of radical politics, speaking with many voices and from numerous vantage points as the Left is anything but monolithic. Furthermore, these radical policies are situated in the context of the current political environment to deal with real-life problems.