Where Is The Activist Threshold?

I wonder what ingredients will be necessary to reawaken the activist spirit in America.  We could sure use it.

It seems like we’ve had a secular bull market in apathy since the end of the civil rights movement and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, our government has been broken for a long time and has proven itself incapable of making difficult decisions much less steering us back onto the industrious course we’ve tradionally held as a nation.

So its going to have to be the citizens who catalyze change in the U.S. via activism and protest.  We can’t count on our leaders even as we share responsibility for having elected them.

The following are critical factors relating to the emergence of a significant activist movement in the U.S. Please add to the list in the comments below.

1. Further deterioration in the standard of living – We’ve had plenty of bread and plenty of circus and we are fat and tv addled. Disruption in the food abundance we’ve grown accustomed to would spur activism. Persistent high unemployment is moving us in this direction but nowhere near threshold yet.

2. An Event – An event must occur which outrages and/or empowers and which captures the imagination of the people.  This will come out of left field and will carry symbolic meaning for the activist movement to rally around.

3. Communication Tools – Social media already exist which can be used to organize a movement and spread information incredibly quickly. We saw it this Spring with the role Twitter and Facebook played in the Middle East uprisings.

4. The Inspiring Leader – A leader must emerge who inspires the people and I’m not talking about a Ron Paul type.