Action Left

As you know, Action Left is not the only blog hosted on Reviving Liberalism. Its partner blog is Rants and Reasons, which is dedicated to exploring political philosophy and advancing a culture of care through Rootstock Liberalism. Its pretty badass and I recommend it, even if you’ve never gotten into Philosophy before.

Two posts in particular on Rants and Reasons recently caught my attention. “Hellhole and the Politics of Punishment” reports on a recent NPR interview about the effects of solitary confinement. The second, “Obama’s Vision,” reflects on President Obama’s recent promise that the United States will lead fight the to abolish nuclear weapons.

What connects these two seemingly unrelated posts in my mind is that they represent and encourage new ways of thinking about some really important issues.

Obama’s speech calling for an end to nuclear weapons represents a fundamental shift from the perspective of previous administrations. He is open about the fact that the U.S. is the only country to have used a nuke before, his language indicates that he intends for both the U.S. and Israel to get rid of their nuclear arsenals, and he characterized the issue as a moral one, compelling the U.S. to act. It has been a long time since I’ve heard a U.S. president invoke morality in a way that holds the U.S. accountable for fixing its past wrongs and furthering peace as the absence of weapons and aggression. This is a fundamentally different way of using Presidential power than we have seen in the last eight years.

Similarly, in “Hellhole and the Politics of Punishment” we learn that some prison commissioners are interested in ending the inhumane practice of placing prisoners in solitary confinement. In fact, according to Atul Gawande, these commissioners often feel pressured by the public to continue the practice, even though evidence suggests that in addition to being inhumane (or precisely because of that), it exacerbates violence within prisons. When I read the post for the first time, i found myself wondering if thls view was characteristic of most commissioners and if the pressure is really great as they say or if that’s being exaggerated. But looking at things that way misses the most important point, which is that arguments in favor of humane treatment and changing the way we look at “criminal justice,” are not only valid, but are being paid attention to by people with influence.

We are working in a changing political landscape; one that, for liberals and leftists, is poised to listen to us. The decades of agitation and persuasion are paying off because a lot of what we’ve been saying is true. Making and using weapons that could destroy all life on this planet is dangerous, no matter the reason for wanting to develop them. Forcing prisoners to spend long periods of time separated from all human contact contributes to mental illness and violence within prisons. While many people in leadership positions are too beholden to party affiliations, money or a love of power to denounce old practices and seek new ways of leading, both of these posts demonstrate that this is not the case for all of our leaders and administrators. The question is how do we nurture this departure from authoritarian and imperialist rule and encourage leadership that is beholden to the health and well-being of the world’s people above all else? I’m not sure where all the answers are, but reading Reviving the Left: The Need to Restore Liberal Values in America is a good place to start looking for them.