How Do You Get Government Solutions When Government Fails? (Hint: You Don't. So Plan B it is!)

I am a politics junkie. I have always been drawn to and fascinated by the way government works and exploring how it can be made to work better and accomplish more for the people whom it serves. I was a lifelong Democrat because I always believed that good government can be part of the solution and not the problem. So it is with a heavy heart that I have to admit that at this point in history and in this country (the US), government has simply and utterly failed. What's worse, it hasn't failed by trying - that can yield useful lessons and have value in itself - but by, well, sucking at its job and just failing to act at all.

I could go on and on for pages and pages about the whys and wherefores and the whole sad state of affairs, but there's little value in doing that. Smarter people have written (and continue to write) reams and endless reams about the failure of government in 21st-century America. But I prefer to be positive and to turn this not into an admission of defeat but a call to action. The challenges of this century are just too staggering and pressing to sit around and wait for Washington to get its act together. The answer is no longer to write your Congressman, sign meaningless online petitions that no one reads, 'Like' clever soundbites on Facebook (you know, the ones only people who already agree with you will read anyway) and sit around talking about whether it should be the People's Front of Judea or the Judean People's Front. It's time for people of all political stripes and all backgrounds to roll up our sleeves and get to finding non-government solutions to the big problems of our day, especially sustainability and climate change.

In the next couple of months I will be getting more specific. There's a new group getting ready to launch worldwide soon and its aim is specifically to solve the biggest problems through smart, practical and immediate approaches. A friend of mine is the brainchild and prime mover behind it and I don't want to steal his thunder (since the group is still in planning stages), so I don't want to say much else for now. But watch this space for updates and, when the time is right, information on how you can get involved, no matter where you are around the globe.

Let me close by emphasizing one very important thing. Since anyone who reads this blog knows I am a fairly liberal fellow politically, one may assume that my enthusiasm for this new group indicates it will be left-oriented and political in nature. That is absolutely not the case. It's precisely because I recognize that the political route is (at least for now) a dead end that I am so looking forward to participating in what promises to be an entirely solutions-driven, action-oriented, apolitical movement.

Here's to Optimism!