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CAUTIONYou are now leaving the calm and responsible Isthatlegal.ca world of Simon Shields, lawyer - and entering the overtly political Something Big world of Simon Shields, citizen. Don't get excited, they're both boringly law abiding (... probably ;-).
Something Big ...?'Something Big' isn't a legal topic, it's a quixotic blue sky socio-political project. It is (or will be) an ever-growing accumulation of brief essays - years in the mulling - on legal reform, ethics and more - with a focus on radical democracy and individual empowerment. At heart I'm a fundamentalist green-anarchist - ran for the Green Party twice (before they became conventional) when they started out in the 1980's (you're warned ;-).
A strong secondary theme will be the self-flattering (this is where Don Quixote comes in) suspicion that the problems we face aren't all that difficult, they just seem that way because of the many traps that lay to ensnare us into complicity with perverse social and economic dynamics. In short, the main political solution is (usually): "STOP IT!" - the tough part is what/where/how/when to stop.
More seriously though, the solutions to our problems should be obvious: ie. freeing ourselves from these dynamics and replacing the present role of dysfunctional institutions with alternate processes.
In other words, 'saving the world' is likely possible, in many of the myriad permutations that can take. Most of our problems are dumb things we're doing to ourselves out of habit or dependence (usually financial) - many of which can be alleviated by just realizing that we're doing them, and the balance by some novel thinking and experimentation.
If we can do all the remarkable things that we do now, surely we can run an advanced human culture peacefully, fairly and sustainably. It's just another complex problem, and humans are past-masters at difficult problem-solving
Brief Essays
Shifting Our Political Focus
Realize Where We Are in History
The Next Successful Revolution Will be Gradual
Forgotten Forgiveness
Progressivism, Identity Politics, Law and the End of the World
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