Social Change and the Powers that Be

From my experience, many people raise the argument that the 'powers that be' will not agree to implement the many changes that are needed to achieve a global culture of peace and unity, and will try to oppose efforts in that direction.

On the one hand, I have found that these arguments are most often used by people who are looking for excuses not to do everything that IS in their power to achieve the necessary changes. It is very easy to place the responsibility for the world's problems on others and wash our hands by saying it is impossible to achieve.

On the other hand, the history of humanity has shown repeatedly that this type of argument is not true. When it was time to unite various clans into tribes, people thought that the clan chiefs would never agree to losing their unquestioned authority, yet the new political and economic arrangements needed were achieve, in part by proactive choice, and in part because they were unable to solve the many problems that lack of unity was creating.

When it was time for the tribes to unite into city states, people thought that the tribe leaders would never agree to that, either, and yet it was achieved. Then they thought the kings of the city states would never agree to sacrificing their power in favor of the democratic institutions required to administer a nation-state. There were even weighty philosophical and scientific treatises written to support the need for monarchy as part of the natural laws of the universe. And yet, the nation-state is now the norm.

Now it is time for the nation-states to unite in a world-state, and there are many who claim that the national governments will not allow that to happen. And yet, we can clearly see a global trend in that direction, from the League of Nations to the United Nations, the formation of continental blocks and the innumerable international organizations that are working day and night to achieve the international integration of every aspect of human life, from trade to communications, from health to the environment.

So next time someone says they agree change is needed but others will not let it happen, we can say that those "others" are doing their part, but that we must concentrate on our part--not on the few things we can NOT do (yet), but rather on the many things we CAN do, here and now, to make a difference in the world.