8 Quotes by Gar Alperovitz

… our nation's truly critical problems are built into the very structure of the economic and political system; they are not something passing in the night that will go away even when we elect forward-looking leaders and actively pressure them to move in a different direction.

The institutional requirements of community pose fundamental issues that neither corporate capitalism nor state socialism ever took seriously. The critical point of departure is the question: Can you have Democracy with a big D in any system if you don't have democracy with a small d in the actual experience and everyday community life of ordinary everyday citizens?

We are not "merely" talking about nurturing democratic community practice; we are talking about community practice as the basis of fundamental experiences of critical importance to the nation as a whole and of democracy in general. The answer to the question "Can you have genuine Democracy with a big D in a continental nation if its citizens have little genuine experience of democracy with a small d in their own lives?" is simple: No.

But if the system is the problem, the truth is that there will not be satisfactory answers in the here and now for lots of people.That is one of the (painful) ways you know that the problem is systemic.Which means that either you build forward no matter what, or you lose. Period.

The federalism term is a good term, but it’s just below the surface; it’s just about to come up into wider public understanding that these practices are happening and are politically viable.

The top 400 people own more wealth now than the bottom 185 million Americans taken together. That is a medieval structure.

If you don’t have a way to speak to ordinary Americans, you’re not in the game.

Internationally, there are countries going well beyond the course, with airlines, transportation. There are systems around the world that have explored mining, rail transport, television, communication, Internet service – there very common examples around the world that we can draw examples from.