Renewing the Commons: University Reform in an Era of Degraded Democracy and Environmental Crises
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Date
2006
Authors
Bowers, C. A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ecojustice Press
Abstract
Abstract
What is Unique About the Themes Addressed in the Book: The initial question that
prompted the writing of this book was: What is there about an American university
education that enables so many graduates to make the seemingly seamless transition from
the classroom to becoming advisors and supporters of President George W. Bush’s
policies? Further investigation led to an examination of the three main themes that set
this manuscript off from other critiques of the policies of President Bush. First, the entire
analysis, as well as recommendations for reforming universities, address how the current
misuse of our two most prominent political terms of liberalism and conservatism leads to
a basic misunderstanding of the policies that are being pursued under these two labels. I
point out that the domestic and foreign policies of the Bush administration, as well as
such think tanks as the CATO and American Enterprise Institutes, are based on the
market-liberal thinking of John Locke, a partial reading of Adam Smith, and more recent
libertarian thinkers. Thus, to refer to the policies that give corporations a greater
influence over legislation in the areas of health care, energy, and the role-back of
environmental protection as examples of conservatism is a problem that has its roots in
the failure of universities to expose students to the history of conservative thinkers from
Edmund Burke to Wendell Berry, and to the history of liberal thinkers from Locke,
Smith, and Mill to current libertarians. I also provide an explanation of how the misuse
of our political labels leads self-identified conservative students not to understand that
they are actually proponents of market-liberal policies, and that many of their professors
are in the social justice tradition of liberalisms—and that both share a number of the deep
cultural assumptions that give conceptual direction and moral legitimacy to the
industrial/consumer culture that is now being globalized. The failure of social justice
liberal faculty is in not introducing students to the history of liberal and conservative
thinkers in the West, thus leaving most university graduates without an understanding of
what separates the classical liberal theorists from the philosophic conservative thinkers
such as Edmund Burke and environmental conservatives such as Wendell Berry and
Vandana Shiva. The irony is that the ideas of Burke and Berry are essential to
understanding the importance of revitalizing the world’s diverse cultural commons as
ecologically sustainable alternatives to the hyper-consumerism promoted by market
liberals.
The second theme is that the fundamentalist Christians that are part of the president's
base of political support hold the view that they know the will of God and that their
political mission is to be "God's regents" until the Second Coming. Their theology,
which is not shared by evangelical Christians such as Jim Wallis, leads them to adopt a
friend/enemy approach to politics that contributes to undermining what remains of the
traditions that support a democratic, open, pluralistic society that is able to move forward
through compromise and negotiation. I also point out that conserving the traditions of
separation of church and state, an independent judiciary, the separation of power between
the main branches of government, is not part of the political agenda of these
fundamentalists who now number in the millions. I also point out how the fundamental
Christians view the destruction of the environment as yet another sign that the rapture and
the end-of-time is near. As self-identified liberals are not comfortable using the language
of conservatism, they continue to emphasize the importance of the autonomous individual
and of representing change as progressive in nature. Consequently they are not speaking
out on the importance of conserving the traditions that are the basis of our civil liberties
and the social justice issues that are still to be addressed. Thus, they are caught in a
linguistic double bind. An example of this linguistic double bind is George Lakoff’s
reference to “progressive environmentalism.”
The third theme is the need for educational reforms that address what university students
need to know about the nature and importance of the cultural and environmental
commons (aspects of the culture and environment that have not been monetized and
incorporated into the industrial and consumer-dependent culture). A knowledge of how
the world’s diverse cultural commons represent sites of resistance to the further spread of
a market economy that leaves increasing numbers of people in America vulnerable to the
loss of jobs, of health benefits, and of pensions takes on special importance today. What
remains of the world's diverse cultural and environmental commons (and they still exist
across American, even in urban areas) hold out the possibilities of a more communitycentered
existence that involves reliance on intergenerational knowledge and skills that
lead to mentoring, mutual support systems, and self-reliant activities that reduce
dependence upon a money economy. The manuscript contains a chapter that explains
how courses in existing disciplines can be used to help students understand why the
importance of the intergenerational knowledge was marginalized by Western
philosophers, the history of cultural forces that have contributed to the enclosure of the
commons, how different technologies impact the commons, the economics and
environmental impact of the cultural commons, and the connections between conserving
the linguistic diversity of the cultural commons and conserving habitats and species.
The last chapter examines the similarities between the theocracy/market-liberal oriented
policies and the characteristics of fascist societies that came to power through a
weakened democratic process between the two world wars. While we are not there yet,
the nearly forty percent of hard-core Bush supporters, as well as the nearly fifty percent
of adults that think that evolution is a liberal-inspired myth suggest that we are further
down the slippery slope than many people realize. If we continue to move down this
slippery political slope, the future of the environmental movement will be further
weakened. Indeed, any major environmental crisis, such as the topping out of oil
production and its subsequent decline, may lead to the kind of social unrest that preceded
the rise of earlier fascist governments.
Table of Content:
Preface
Chapter 1 The Convergence of Crises: Challenges Facing Higher Education
Chapter 2 The Anti-Democratic and Anti-Social Justice Record of
Powerful University Graduates
Chapter 3 How Liberal Faculty are Complicit in the Education of President George W.
Bush’s Political Base
(At first glance this may seem an outrageous claim. Reading the short piece on my
website that has been incorporated into this chapter, and that is titled the “real
failure of liberal faculty”, will clarify the basis for the
claim…<http://cabowers.net//>)
Chapter 4 The Role of Education in the Anti-Democratic End-game of the Christian
Right
Chapter 5 Revitalizing the Commons as the Focus for Reforming Universities
Chapter 6 The Slippery Slope: Will We be too Late in Recognizing Where It Leads?
Chapter 7 Disillusionment and Resistance: Will it be Enough?
Notes
Description
189 p.