We the people of the United States are on a course gradually unfolding that will bring upheaval and that will challenge our own and our children's survival. We are being guided by well-meaning men and women who are blind to the warnings of sustainability both Economic and Ecological.
We have evolved a system over generations of time that's success comes at extracting, and developing our communities resources and the resources of our Ocean's and lands as if all was just an Economic Commodity. This enduring drive to create wealth, without guidelines or an overarching
basis in responsibility is gradually impoverishing us. We have developed a system that rewards the few and degrades the many.
In the year 2016 the 'Economic Boom' of the last 6 years places us at the beginning of this year in a precarious state. Despite 6 years of 'boom' our elected Federal governance has still not found a way to balance a single budget. Despite the unease of the population the national Debt grows even as ' responsible ' leaders now talk (if they talk at all) about how they will make future generations sacrifice to pay for the irresponsibility manifest in both political parties that vie for leadership.
If we wish to find ourselves living a life that clearly manifests opportunities, that does not degrade a community but enriches it, we have to set our aim for a different course than the one we are presently on. Genuine progress can take place, what is called progress now is merely the glamour of wealth, the shiny exterior that hides the inner lack of substance. The self-evident destruction of our environment and the fragile state of our Casino dependent Wall Street lifestyle bodes accurately of the impending future. But through hardship, loss and necessity our path of transformation will manifest more clearly. Survival through tough times will generate the structure and means to build our society on a solid and sustainable footing.
The dependence of our Global and National economies on the buying and selling, trading of 'shares',
by all of us undermines our own wellbeing and that of our communities. The short term promise of easy money will not pay off in the long term. Have we come to the point where we can see the loss of freedom and the loss of personal well-being as we have become a country of Corporations instead of independent businesses? 'The margin must be increased, stocks must rise, shareholders demand it. ' How does your corporation do? You centralize and consolidate power and you build a ... ' buy low and sell high '.. all within the natural parameters of what you can get away with.
There is not an instant cure, there is a thousand ways in which large scale enterprises work and many more that small scale localized businesses can do the job better. The Ecological Lessons of Life have
their social and economic side. We have to work with the way things are but we have to build a consensus and a vision to guide our transformation.
Economic growth based on population growth is not sustainable. The population of the Earth is reaching levels that exact a major toll on on our Environment. The population has doubled in a baby boomers lifetime, to double again is a loss of freedom and quality of life for the next generations. We must now chart a course for a steady state population. Housing starts need to be removed as a benchmark of economic health, as Brave New World author, Aldous Huxley, warned this country and the world unrestrained population growth will lead to tyranny.
Policing America has reached inhumane levels that shock all of us, Conservative or Liberal. The death of citizens by our Armed local Police forces, whether mentally ill, caught in minor crimes, or simply being held guilty by the color of their skins has got to come to an end. Every town, city, state, county, every police officer and police force needs to be held accountable. Mental Health testing needs to be a prerequisite for obtaining the honor of being a Peace Officer. The ability to disable
a human with non-lethal force is the bottom line. Any Police Officer who cannot place a bullet in someone's knee or leg is in need of a new job.
Violence, the epidemic of mass killings, is a manifestation of the lack of value placed on life in an overpopulated society... To be continued.
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