I was on the Marc Steiner show on WEAA 88.9FM (Baltimore) Monday evening talking about the prospect of Maryland expanding its gaming options to include casinos. As predicted by many of us who were decrying slots in Maryland; state lawmakers are now teasing the idea of casinos in an effort to deal with the budget shortfall in the state. We knew that once slots got into the state, it wouldn’t be long before the door was widened for more gambling. But I had no idea that it would be this soon. Not a dime of revenue has come in from slots and already there is a growing chorus of state lawmakers who are championing table games in Maryland – including the brand new Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
Apparently, Maryland isn’t the only state opening the door for more gambling. Check out this piece from CNN:
It’s situations like these that remind me of the fact that politicians are generally not the ones who come up with progressive ideas to engage challenging or transformative times. Elected officials all around the country are pushing this “old idea” in a time where many people are searching for a new vision for the future. As the world’s social structures continue to crumble, people are realizing that the kingdoms of this world have long been promoting a way of life that is at best unsustainable and at worst criminal. The gig is up.
While the national and state governments continue grasping for straws; the truly progressive and sustainable ideas are coming from everyday people. That’s right. Not the corporate heads, not the TV talking heads, and not the politicians – but the people.
Even a surface study of contemporary American history will reveal that many of the best and most progressive ideas were NOT born in the halls of Congress or in the committees of City Hall. But the best ideas were often born in the bosom of the community that was most directly impacted by whatever the challenge was at that time. Our celebrity culture helps to mislead the masses into believing in their own inferiority when it comes to proposing ideas for the now and the future. However, it is everyday folks that have what it takes to lay the groundwork for what tomorrow needs to look like. Everyday folks need only have two important ingredients: imagination and at the very least an ambivalence toward the existing political arrangement.
Take for instance what’s going on in Ohio. The CNN video above spotlights the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dan Gilbert, who along with his partners spent $50 million to convince voters to put another casino in Ohio – using the same ol’ tired casino-justifications: the money will be used for public education, horse racing, and will bring in jobs.
Now in that same state, while Gilbert and his guys are pushing the old idea, the community has come together to give birth to a progressive, forward-looking idea: Evergreen Cooperatives; a new model of economic development that created a network of employee-owned businesses.
As the Mayor of Cleveland, Frank Jackson, said at the end of the Evergreen video, “Cleveland wants to be where the world is going, not where the world is.” That’s the type of visionary ideas and ideals that we need in Baltimore, Detroit, and many other cities as well.
As Mario Osava says in his article – Another Kind of Economics is possible. And it’s up to us – regular folks to organize, become more informed, and transform our communities from below instead of waiting for help to come down from the top of the political hierarchy. (Here’s a secret: most of them don’t have a clue!)
For more ideas and stories about how communities are coming up with democratic, community-based, economic development options, check out this resource-rich website: Community-Wealth.org.
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