I've not yet read Elinor Ostrum's Governing the Commons, but recently came across a very useful graphic of the fundamental principles involved. It seems to me that one of the problems we're grappling with is that our democracy is, essentially, a commons, but we aren't governing it as such. Does that make any sense to you? I hope so. It seems to me that we have chosen, more and more over the past several election cycles, to let politics and politicians erode our strong group identity and understanding of purpose; to destroy our sense of fair distribution of costs and benefits; to minimize fair and inclusive decision making; while avoiding sanctions etc. We may have brought ourselves to the point that we need to do a major reset or else forego the ideals that were intended to underly this United States of America. Doesn't it seem to you that we have drifted quite far from fast and fair conflict resolution, to the point that nothing ever is resolved?
What Kind of Times Are These
There's a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphilland the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadowsnear a meeting-house abandoned by the persecutedwho disappeared into those shadows.I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don't be fooledthis isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,its own ways of making people disappear.I won't tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woodsmeeting the unmarked strip of light—ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.And I won't tell you where it is, so why do I tell youanything? Because you still listen, because in times like theseto have you listen at all, it's necessaryto talk about trees.
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