the emperor has no clothes

After reading What America Needs Now: A Prophetic Social Movement that Speaks Moral Truth to Amoral Power by Andrew Bard Schmookler I wasn't sure whether to stand up and say "Amen!"... or yawn. Don't get me wrong. I like the fact that he said what he said. I think it needs to be said. It's important. But it has been said before. Alot. (And more eloquently in my opinion). It's just hard for me right now to see what the next step is going to be. Are people waiting around for some guy (or woman) in a bathrobe to come down from a mountain somewhere with stone tablets? Do we need to go somewhere and march? Sit-in? Demonstrate? sing? Maybe we should start the Spiritual Left Blogring (not a bad thought)?

What Schmookler says is:

By skillfully speaking the moral truth, we can help unite the good people of America, and end the polarization that our amoral leaders have worked to foster. With such “prophetic” speech, we can help America’s conservatives to remember how better to tell the difference between good and evil, and help America’s liberals to remember how absolutely vital—and real—that difference is.

Let us then speak to America, drawing strength from that ancient idea deeply embedded in the Western religious tradition: the idea that the material power of the bad ruler can be overcome by the power of moral truth boldly spoken. Let us launch, then, a “prophetic” social movement to re-establish the power of real righteousness in America.

And we definitely need to speak truth to power, but in order to succeed, any movement needs more than a catchy sloagan. They need a plan, and a willingness to follow-up on that plan.

For more thoughts from Schmookler, his blog is called None So Blind