Vision Binary

     The greening of America is a reflection and prediction about revolution in America, which envisioned by Charles A. Reich. This Book was written in 1970, when the time “green” didn’t exist as a word about the environment, but used as metonymy of the word “growth” or “change”. Reich looked back and foresaw the changing of people’s consciousness stages, and demonstrated how it did and will change American’s political structure.

       In his book, Reich structure his argument in three stages of consciousness.

       Consciousness I:  Under the influence of industrialism in the nineteenth century, it transformed all men into competitors in order to get them more productive, gradually shifting people from the very beginning desire- each having the right to seek his own happiness, freedom, no arbitrary power over people’s lives, into the a dreams about narrow materialism. Reich further point it out that the market and technology, the rules, took away the simple happiness which Old Americans used to pursue. The powers started to be established in US alone with the economic grew. Betrayed the old believe that all powers corrupts and should not be over individual lives. Hence the Consciousness I people formed, they are the traditional outlook of the American farmer, small businessman, and worker who is trying to get ahead, but lost contact with reality, blame without seeing the true root causes, thinking with no fundamental depth, failed to comprehend the transformation of America, and easy to be manipulated by great powers.

       Consciousness II: rise in the beginning in the early part of twentieth, some people start to seek government and social reform as well as a new way of life. Reformers trying to controls powers by creating regulations, laws, technologies, which later all those efforts on changing help to established specialized government agency, one new power trying to restrict the other. Yet things didn’t get better, the power transfer from the man in the street to the man from Harvard law Review, eventually Consciousness II people failed to produce what their originate idea, and waned. They were the lawyers, engineers, government agent, people who learned advanced knowledge and great skills, with the purposes to protect the true American dream in order to protect people who might be the at weak side, like farmers, small workers, blue collars, and what was worse – they start looking down on the in educative, less intelligent, whom they promise they will fight and stand for. Once they got the power they wanted, and the depression was a thing of the past, their enthusiasm for reform just gone. The failure of this transform was- the neglect of the two powers might join and the possibilities that amalgamation eventually will lead to the final tragedy.

        Consciousness III: Seeing the parents, the young began 1960 choose to betrayal, they didn’t want to live in meaningless, would not be lured by the thing they valued. They are called the new generation. Reich sees III as the hope for significant cultural and social change. III is sick of the Corporate State and the artificial reality it forces upon them, they recognized happiness from spirit freedom, honesty, caring, manners, and understanding, no guilty for the commitment and value for the society. They are more family oriented, anti- materialism, pro-human beings. The America becomes greater than ever.

        Over 40 years of the book was published, and republished many times, what Charles A. Reich describe in the past, about circumstances of consciousness I and consciousness II merged and how they transform the America, pushing this country into current political, social and technology status, is very reasonable. Yet the prediction of the third Consciousness III people, who will transform the America and make it “Green” is too advanced and selfishness-less to be seen. It’s a world with shortage of oil, resources, corruption, wars, illness, and poverty. There indeed used to be many consciousness III people, and there still are, but a theory/concept is easy to be said than be implemented, as virtual merits are good qualities but need to be consistently and continuously inhabit inside people, it is very hard for any individuals only has good qualities, also hard to keep the good qualities in any situations unconditionally. The reality that to be very detached to the physical materialism world we are living in, isn’t suitable for majorities. A man can’t be totally care free, as at least he has to feed himself, also a job and a shelter is still necessary for most of human beings. Even communism, it still needs everyone contribute to the society he is living in. it is believed that the greening of America, if totally depend on the consciousness III young pioneers, won’t happen any soon. The Revolution still need generations of people contribute the hardship of work on finding a green energy resources to substitute what we are currently using, eliminated the monopolies, restructure the government agency and economic, and what’s the hardest part is -radically uproot the humans’ greediness about affections, material, the eager of to be recognized, etc., which are the initial settings in humans’ nature, just seemingly impossible.