Speaking in Kingston, NY on April 16

Ignore this post if you don't live near there :)

Hey Everyone, I’m going to be speaking in Kingston, NY on Tuesday April 16 on the topic, “The America that Almost Was, And Yet May Be.” It is a Kennedy campaign sponsored event, although I will express my views on things fully and honestly. Here is the event description as I originally conceived it. But as usual, it might become something different when I’m actually on stage.

The America that almost was, and yet may be

In the early 1960s, the United States of America was at a pinnacle of global prestige and power. Under John F. Kennedy, it was finally addressing its civil rights and environmental problems as the President attempted to steer the country onto a pro-peace, anti-imperialist path. Sadly, it was not to be. The assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK launched America in a different direction. America pursued a vision of world domination, while its economy and civil society slowly decayed.

Yet the America that almost was is still possible. The world is on the verge of a profound phase transition, not just in politics, but in all aspects of life, from the personal to the political to the ecological. In that transition, the United States has a special role. Part of that is the voluntary relinquishment of empire and acceptance of a multipolar world. On a deeper level, it is to let go of the idea of the hero nation, and the habit of seeing the world in us-versus-them terms. This too carries over into domestic politics, where us-versus-them thinking has taken the form of corrosive divisions that paralyze the nation. At bottom, it requires a shift in consciousness, as so many of us carry habits of us-versus-them in our personal relations to others and even ourselves.

In this presentation, Charles Eisenstein will map out the recovery of the timeline toward peace and liberation that was diverted in the 1960s, and what that reclamation looks like on a personal, social, economic, and political level.

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Here is the registration page. There is a $24 ticket option and a free ticket option. Would love to see some of you there! Best to RSVP and not just show up, since space is limited. Doors open 6:30 (4:30 for volunteers), speech starts at 7:30.