How To Make a Difference
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
Plato
How can any of us have an impact on the issues we care about? Where do we even begin? This class offers an orientation in politics and power. We will draw on some of the great political philosophers to guide us through an outline of the workings of power. What is power? How does it work on us? How, and when, should we try to make it, get it, and use it?
In this class we will ask idealistic questions and offer realistic answers. If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? And now for the tough part: how would you do it? We look at examples of successful political change made by the reformers and revolutionaries of the past, and ask how political change – both big and small – might most effectively be brought about today. Throughout the session we proceed with two assumptions: that it’s better to be a participant than a spectator, and that is indeed possible to effect change.
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