GET YOURS

There is a disturbing pattern across the nation: excessive individualism combined with denial. People think that if they can somehow beat the odds, and get THEIR money, THEIR job, THEIR house, THEIR retirement, etc., that all can be well with them. Utter delusion. Not only are they tied to a government that is going into a swirling Charybdis, but their society is heading for one all its own. You will not escape, citizen. If those “others” go down, i.e., if there is not enough hope and basic survivability of the general population, YOU AREN’T MAKING IT EITHER. You rely on them far more than you know. Everything from your food, to your house maintenance, to your car, to your infrastructure, to your clothing, and a whole lot else.

It would be ironic that we have become, at a time when it is harder than ever for the individual to get by (let alone flourish), so maniacally socialism-phobic that the cooperation we so urgently need is swallowed up in selfishness and divisiveness. I don’t think it’s a coincidence, however; I think it’s by design. It serves certain power centers for us to be this way, and for us to think there can be no other way.

Those who think that they don’t need to attempt to do anything or learn anything about what’s happening to this society: What good is it going to do you to get all your retirements lined up, get your house all set, get your future all planned, if the general population you rely on to support that future can’t make it, and more importantly, the government itself implodes in some fashion from unsustainability or external forces gain inordinate leverage?

Granted, the dogs and cats aren’t raining yet, but when someone can demonstrate to me how our present course can lead to anything but deep pain and perhaps ruin, I will lift my skeptical assessment. Relying on fortunate unforeseeable circumstance (pure wild dumb luck) is no rational prescription, but right now, that’s almost all there is, and that’s moronic.

If the extended recession really did drive great changes that extended much beyond coping, I would be encouraged. As of right now, there's not enough sign of that.