IN HIS ARTICLE "A Gaian Politics" (WER #53, p.4), historian William Irwin Thompson asks: "What would be the slightest and subtlest of moves that could transform our present political environment from one of terror to a life-centered polity of compassion?" He goes on to say that the martial arts teach us to appraise the situation as given and look for ways to redirect the energies manifested toward positive goals. As an example, Thompson suggests that the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) could be transformed into a transnational program for the exploration of space.
But would the mysteries of Mars provide sufficient cement to bind opposing parties long enough for their mutual paranoia to wane? Thompson laments that, even if desired, transformation is difficult for a nation with an economy built around preparation for war. The military component must be reduced slowly as employment is shifted to other areas--a task next to impossible without government subsidies. The problem, he states, "is that citizens and politicians will only vote for subsidies under threat, and so there always has to be a threat from the enemy or the environment to mobilize a society."
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