The 30-day Gandhi challenge is a stand-alone program that I’ve developed based on my studies of his life and lessons. It draws on my personal experiments in self-improvement, inspired by his autobiography, My Experiments With Truth. On January 1, 2023, the first cohort of participants will begin a largely self-guided tour of a Gandhian mindset.
In its most basic form, the challenge requires abstaining from alcohol for 30 days, with a 24-hour fast at the end. There are stackable options like extra fasting, walking, or going vegetarian to ensure everyone has the opportunity to step out of their comfort zone. I'm trying vegan January. If you don't see a challenge you like, you can make up your own or suggest one for a future month.
This Substack will provide short, regular blog posts highlighting lessons from Gandhi’s life, with discussion questions prompting reflection in the comments. To further encourage conversation and community building, Zoom calls are held on the 1st and 15th of every month at 7pm ET. These fall on Sunday nights in January and Wednesdays in February with agendas as follows.
January 1 - short presentation with an overview of the 30-day Gandhi challenge, and its place in a larger framework. Discussion of challenges selected for the month, and expectations.
January 15 - short presentation on the fast for peace, and its place in a larger framework. Discussion of challenges, and evaluation of how they’re going at the midpoint.
February 1 (optional) - short presentation on the upcoming 30-day challenges for February 15 and April 1, and how some of the longer fasts direct support toward specific goals. Discussion of people’s data from their experiments, and how it compared to expectations.
That’s the basic program - virtually everyone would benefit from 30 days of sobriety and a 24 hour fast. Like many things, self-improvement is easier in groups.
Subscribe to my Substack [BELOW] to read day-by-day accounts of historic events and the nonviolent tactics that made them that way, along with general observations about self-improvement in the 2020s.
If you’re ready to move beyond reading and take action, use the Sign Up button [ABOVE] to join in for January. Select an optional challenge and ponder what being uncomfortable might be like. (If you missed this one, the second cohort starts February 15.)
SPECIAL OFFER FOR NONVIOLENT REVOLUTION
This challenge is one fourth of a Gandhian constructive program, positioned to deliver radical social change in America during the 2024 election cycle. It offers a new political paradigm, one I’ve developed based on my years of activism, work with third parties, and service in the legislature. Transformative results can be produced by channeling a self-improvement mindset through principled nonviolence in this four-step process.
This positive program of self-improvement for individuals and communities contains a unified approach to addressing social, cultural, electoral, and legislative problems.
The holistic set of solutions is built on principled nonviolence. The 30-day Gandhi challenge offers a deeper look at the substructure for supporting a healthy culture, and likewise forms a philosophical base for the larger campaign, which is outlined briefly in the following paragraphs.
The hub of the program is the fast for peace. Observed for a 24-hour period on the 15th of each month, the event is a traditional water fast; no food and only drinking water. The shared self-sacrifice creates the moral authority to leverage political power for broad changes to the American way of life.
The political demands fall into three broad categories. Ending poverty is done with universal basic income, issued digitally by the US Treasury. Ending mass incarceration includes police, prison, and prosecutorial reforms, and an end to the federal war on drugs. And ending the endless wars contains both military downsizing and specific changes in foreign policy.
The American Union is a union of swing voters and the electoral vehicle for delivering this upgrade to our social contract. Members contribute $5/month to the PAC, which funds outreach efforts to recruit voters in sufficient numbers to control the outcome of the 2024 election. To steer policy, all members get votes to cast in the citizen’s legislature, which can be delegated to individuals or groups via liquid democracy.
Crowdsourcing Washington’s work is a people’s congress. This unicameral legislature oversees the details of the 2024 legislative package which will represent the good faith demands of the American Union. The members have committed to vote together on November 5, 2024, as a national bloc of swing voters, to deliver the varying election results needed to determine control of the House, Senate, and Oval Office. Final endorsements in key races will be held until the last week before the election, pending the president’s signature on the legislative package.
To expand on those details of the intersection of self-improvement and political reform, additional Zoom sessions will be held on January 8, 22, and 30, at 7pm ET, with the following agendas:
January 8 - short presentation on how a 3.5% union of true swing voters can exercise control over national outcomes, and the specific races and battleground states to target in 2024. Discussion will be about challenges in deescalating partisan hostility, and opportunities to encourage candidates and constituencies to join the fast for peace as a sign of a willingness to negotiate details toward a consensus-driven election.
January 22 - short presentation on the functions of liquid democracy on the legislative process, and the monthly rotation of the fast for peace as a mechanism for voting. Discussion will include details of a digital, unicameral legislature, a potential timeline for the legislative process, and ways for new issues and amendments to be brought forward.
January 30 - short presentation commemorating Gandhi’s assassination 75 years earlier, and noting the similarities between the political landscape he faced and the one we’ll occupy in 2024. Discussion will include the benefits and controversies attached to Gandhi, and how criminal justice reform and foreign affairs are impacted by an upgrade to our moral code.
The policies and strategies contained within this nonviolent revolution will make people uncomfortable. This is intentional - fixing America will require stepping out of our comfort zone, both individually and collectively. One of the purposes of the 30-day Gandhi challenge is to give individuals a way to demonstrate a willingness to be uncomfortable, especially to advance other parts of the program.
Join the basic January 1 challenge at the Sign Up link [BELOW], and decide how you want to challenge yourself in the new year. Building a better America starts with ourselves; join in the extra political discussions and policy setting. The self-improvement program built on studies of principled nonviolence will generate new connections and decentralized cohorts of organizers, growing the union of swing voters until it reaches critical mass. If you’re not ready, subscribe to the Substack and see how you feel around February 15 and April 1.
I’ll close out my proposal as I often did during my years in the legislature; with a parliamentary inquiry. To figuratively, concisely, and persuasively make the argument, that is the question:
Madam Speaker, if I know that insanity is trying the same political strategies over and over again but expecting a different result;
And if I know that a radical revolution of values as a unifying force is preferable to other, potentially violent, methods of reshaping America’s political structure;
And if I further know that it takes less voters to swing the national balance of power than it does to fill a football stadium;
Would I now use the orange button?