Individualized Empowerment
by Justin Dart
You have the power and the responsibility to defend democracy and
to create a society of individualized empowerment for all. Society
is not a magical super god that can give or withhold quality of life.
Society is nothing more than what you do and think everyday. You
are the society. When you speak, society speaks. When you change,
society changes. When you expose, turn off the ads, and boycott the
interests that support the far right, they are weakened instantly.
When enough people do it, their power is gone. They have little money
except what we give them.
Individualized empowerment leads to the empowerment society. However,
this will not occur through advocacy as usual. It is not enough for
us to meet the President of the USA or the Mayor of the city in which
we live; we must also vote, all of us. We must not only vote and
petition government, we must become the government, through official
positions, and through 365-days a year citizen advocacy. We must
create a social environment in which no person who requires public
support (elected officials, business owners in our communities, the
media) could afford to overlook individualized empowerment for all.
We need aggressive leadership to increase our passion and our tiny
empowerment society, one hundred fold. We need leaders who are ready
to live, and if necessary to die, for democracy.
You can lead. Unlike some leaders, you will not be able to buy multimillion-dollar
ad campaigns. But if you reach out constantly, repetitively with
love and truth, spoken and lived, to everyone in your personal universe,
you can be a walking, rolling, and talking ad for individualized
empowerment. No money can buy that. Your truth in action will change
the part of society that you are to empowerment society. The intensity
of your loving truthful action will be a powerful influence on others.
Here are ten ways to make
this democratic dream live:
1. Change life as usual. Turn
off escapist television and game shows. Stop time consuming and expensive
travel and recreation. Instead, devote the time to passionate advocacy
for individualized empowerment.
2. Give up politically and
socially correct conversations and become a single minded, repetitious
communicator of the message of individualized empowerment. Your message
must be so powerful and so repeated that it registers in people’s
minds even though you say nothing.
3. Speak to people with words
of love, giving them sincere, loving praise for the distinct positives
that everybody has. They will be glad to see you coming and be far
more likely to internalize your message of individualized empowerment.
4.
Recruit your family members and friends first. People from age one
to a hundred can be good advocates. Severely disabled people living
in nursing homes can be good advocates. Small babies and dogs can
carry buttons and signs with great effect.
5. Become a politician,
promoting individualized and societal empowerment everyday through
all political processes. Volunteer and contribute money to the campaigns
of politicians who speak and act with individualized empowerment.
Get into politics as if your life depended on it, because it does.
The lives of your children’s children depend upon
it too.
6. Become a media person— write
letters to the editors, participate in radio and TV talk shows, become
friends with media employees, businesses, and political staff. Become
a media professional.
7. Use electronic technology
to send out brief talking points on the issues. Make sure they are
100% accurate. Most political advocacy is obvious exaggeration. Individualized
empowerment is accurate and truthful.
8. Be an aggressive participant
in your local and national advocacy organizations from AAPD, LCCR,
CCD, NCIL, ADAPT, DREDF, People First, Psychiatric Survivors, and
People for the American Way to your local independent living centers,
disability and civil rights coalitions. If you support them, they
will support your advocacy for individualized empowerment.
9. If
there is no cross disability action group in your area, form one.
Empowerment happens when people come together.
10. Send your message
of love and truth with action. You will be surprised how small
demonstrations at political, media, or business offices can change
attitudes.
We have the ultimate powers
to change the flow of society: we have people, truth, and love. Together
with our own individualized empowerment, we can move society, be
society, and legitimize democracy for the people and by the people.
Reprinted with permission
from Yoshiko Dart, Justin's widow.
