“We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For”. ²⁴

Human nature is ironically consistent whether you are a conservative or Progressive. It is human nature to say, “I know the best way to proceed,” and then try to dominate the public discussion, whether for selfish reasons or those in the public interest to institute that point of view. For most traditional males, “I think, therefore I am right,” is their version of Cartesian logic that has obstructed many creative alternatives. It is ironic that such arguments occur in democratic nations where the “we” seems to get lost in the discussions and arguments. Finding the “we” of the most rational solutions is a process that must become a major part of the discussion and pitch to the public by Progressives.

Progressives have an incredible opportunity that has been handed to them in current public, social, political, and financial-economic circumstances.

• There are probably 200 million people in the middle between the polarized ends of the political spectrum in the US who are waiting for rational leadership, asking, “Who will lead us?” 
• Because the values and principles of social sustainability are universally organic to every person of every race, culture, ethnicity, nationality, and gender, citizens are innately “wired” to understand the language and programs of Progressives when their programs are framed in the values of social sustainability. In other words, there is a ready and eager audience to hear what Progressives have to say in the terms that the audience already understands. (See, “Characteristics of these Values,” page 26.)
• Public issues can be viewed and discussed in rational, integrative terms when they are seen through the frame of the six values of social sustainability; 
• These same values can be used by the Progressives to bring unity to the disparate aggregation of their pet projects, which would help Progressives “come together under one tent” to become far more effective as a whole; 
• Progressives, using the six values of social sustainability, can now discuss “the common good,” “what is fair,” “social justice,” and “social equity” in definitive terms that citizens can understand. 
• Discussion of proposed legislation will become transparent to the public when they are framed using the values and principles of social sustainability that are innate to everyone. No more “smoke and mirrors” to fool the public in supporting legislation that will injure their ability to become sustainable. 
• Progressives can now reframe the political dialogue with conservatives using the values of social sustainability to create a conversation the public can easily understand. Using the six values of social sustainability, empathy, compassion, and the “Love” of humanity become a real part of that dialogue. 
• The key to reframing all future political dialogue will be the ability of Progressives to reframe/respond to each public issue in terms of the timeless, irreducible, and universal values of social sustainability. Because these values are innately relevant to every person in a democracy, a political dialogue using those values makes the democratic process personally relevant to each person.

For Progressives, arguing issues using the value system and language of conservatives, even in denial, is a supreme cause for arguing yourself into irrelevancy. When you do, Sun Tzu says you will be easily defeated. Simply state what you believe, not what you don’t believe.

What Progressives have not had available to them until now is the capability to argue the direct connection between “liberty” and “freedom” with the values that have sustained our species for tens of thousands of years. Now Progressives can change the culture of political dialogue.. As Progressives, you not only want to argue your special interest project in a continuum of Progressive ideas and projects that make sense in a socially sustainable Progressive agenda, but to help all citizens reframe ALL political and social issues when they dialogue with friends over the Internet or over a couple of beers.

Doing so will create a strategic advantage for Progressives for all time. Who possibly could be against the sustainability of their democratic nation, state, county, city, town, community, sub-division, or school district? Who could possibly be against rational programs that will support future generations? Doing so, using the value system that has sustained our species, you will be able to rationally argue your position.

Some Open Thoughts —

• Maybe it is time to start a “Progressive School for Sustainable Democracies.” 
• Social sustainability values, principles, and agenda could become the “ideology of the middle” that offers a rational morality for viewing the future of all social, political, and economic issues.
• Such an ideology does not argue against anyone! It argues for that which works to sustain individuals, families, communities, and society. 
• It provides a real means for citizens to engage social programs with compassion, stemming from the empathy that is natural to our species. 
• By using the same language of social sustainability, the message of Progressives will be uniform and repeated many times daily in all areas nationally, and eventually internationally. 
• By reframing the values of democracies, Progressives will be able to take ownership of “freedom” and “liberty” by connecting them to social responsibility through the six core values. Spouting the values of democracies becomes frivolous and irresponsible when they are NOT reframed in the responsibilities of the symbiotic relationship between individuals, families, and society. 
• Candidate selection has every possibility of becoming a public demonstration of competency using the values, principles, and language of socially sustainable Progressive politics. Who then rises to the top of the selection process? 
• The advantage of reframing political dialogue and the values of democracies with the values of social sustainability is that it also re-frames the values of contemporary public issues in terms of the value system that has supported the sustainability of our species for tens of thousands of years. 
• Thoughtful, creative, and inventive Teamwork by Progressives has the possibility of producing a view of the future in terms of staged developmental evolution through programs that are successively linked by these six values. 

By looking through the history of social, political, and economic progress, Progressives will be able to fairly well chart out the next evolutionary stages that democratic nations must work through to assure a continuing future of social progress. Citizens who come to understand the basis for the existence of their nation and communities will surely empower themselves as a great majority. Perhaps do so is the only rational and peaceful means to counterbalance the self-empowerment of the vastly wealthy 1%.
                                                                ♦ ♦ ♦

“The responsibilities of social sustainability are not silly expressions of philosophic idealism but opportunities that assure that future generations will continue our democratic traditions of an improving quality of life, with even greater opportunities to grow into their individual potential, and the potential of their society. Faithful fulfillment of our responsibilities today to our children’s great grandchildren will assure that there will be a better society, better democracy, and better economy for them than we enjoy today”.

²⁴ - Variously attributed to Alice Walker (2006) in her book by the same name; A Hopi Elder Speaks; and numerous other public figures.