It’s Leap Day. You ready to Leap Forward? You think we can dramatically improve life for those who heretofore have been held back?
I understand why you wouldn’t think it possible. For two generations, we’ve been convinced there is not enough to go around. And we’ve been left to fend for ourselves. The people who ran our government did not believe in government. Worse still they’ve instigated us to fight among each other for crumbs. Shamefully we took the bait.
We’ve struggled through an age of cynicism, fear, and austerity.
Yes, it is a sad history. Perhaps we might better think of it as an age of unrealized possibilities. There is in fact more than enough to go around. And the way economics works is the more you have, the more the rest of us will have. Rather than fighting with each other, we need to turn to each other.
We live in a fabulously prosperous connected economy where we all rely on each other. Yet we still refuse to recognize that great truth. We still insist that those who sell us our stylish clothes, who scrub our floors, who whip-up our meals, and who care for our kids and parents deserve less.
Our economy is prosperous. But that prosperity is fleeting so long as it is not shared with everyone that makes it possible. The 1 percent cannot drive our economy forward. Businesses to prosper need lots and lots of well-paid customers. They need those who have been held back to finally be allowed to move forward.
Enduring prosperity is dependent on our moral progress.
Like many of you I’ve been blessed to be a part of work this great work. Here in California, janitors – mostly Latino immigrants – banded together in a union, stepped out of the shadows, and took big strides towards a decent wage. These janitors progressed because office building owners and tech firms accepted that they were responsible for the economic struggles of their contracted workers.
So are we ready to Leap Forward? We are. We need to tell our stories of the progress we have already made. And we need to inspire people by telling the story of the progress we can make in the years to come. And most of all we need people to see how our lives are connected to each other.
Tweet your story to #LeapForwardStory or join the conversation on our Facebook. Inspire us all to Leap Forward!
The ideas expressed on the Haas Institute blog are not necessarily those of UC Berkeley or the Division of Equity & Inclusion, where the Haas Institute website is hosted. They are not official and not of one mind. Thoughts here are those of individual authors. We are committed to academic freedom, free speech and civil liberties.
