The blind faith in the ability of our current systems of government and economics to respond rapidly and sufficiently to save us from the onrushing catastrophe of global warming is irrational.
The common, mistaken belief that our national government is a democracy is the most egregious of such articles of blind, irrational faith. We have to have deep control of our systems in order to effect change of the order required by our present predicament. Our current systems are almost perfectly designed to stop change! We don’t have to have control of the government in order to stop the government. And the people who oppose change understand that.
When we Democrats win this election, we will find that our opponents will block needed legislation. Even if we occupy, control, our present systems we must be able to force great change quickly, and all the opposition has to do is slow things down. Time is not on our side. As things are now structured our government systems will not be able to respond to changes that will just mitigate somewhat the chaos and immiseration, much less reverse the ongoing damage. That is all that is possible now—but if we manage to initiate changes that will actually produce mitigation, SCOTUS can, will, keep that from happening. The SCOTUS deck is stacked against us.
Immense damage has been done and, as time passes, ever more serious evidence of that damage will become evident. So, we should be planning and preparing now for emergencies that will come years into the future. Every day that passes without pulling back the amount of carbon introduced into the atmosphere will multiply the effects, not just add to them in some incremental way. In other words, with each passing day we are pushing a lighted match into a worldwide container already rich with combustibles and oxygen. When that bomb explodes it will seriously harm lungs, eyes, plants, water supplies, food supplies, etc. to a degree we have not yet imagined.
We need to stop using automobiles as soon as possible.
And all the while our tragic systems of government and economics will be in the hands of people who don’t care about the future, but care only about their personal, immediate power and wealth. To Hell with everything and everybody.
Even if we place the people we prefer into offices of power, the victories will not be complete and those who oppose change understand that. They will be relentless and our systems will respond to their attempts to prevent, or at least sabotage, the implementation of whatever corrective measures we try to put into action.
Obama Care was a minor miracle. Cutting back sufficiently on the burning of fossil fuels will be as miraculous as the Resurrection.
We have to replace our present unresponsive systems with those that will respond to the biological needs of all forms of life. The entire ecosystem of our planet must be addressed. It all fits together and we are not smart enough to make changes here and there and ultimately solve the problem. Our changes must be on a vast scale, and will greatly disrupt our ways of life.
Today, our systems of government and economics are not responsive enough, are not sturdy enough, to do what we need. They must be changed so the people can command them. Imagine a Congress made up of 3,000,000 citizens and you will be taking the first step toward realizing what we have to do, and do it now.
What should be obvious to every living American is that if our current systems of government and economics were going to save us from our colossal arrogance and galactic stupidity, they would already have done so. Our present systems are failed systems and are not up to the job.
The two best, worst, examples of where we stand and what we must do occurred during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt.
First was the Great Depression. FDR saw that people were starving and Hoover had already used military force to break up a large Hooverville in Washington that threatened to spread everywhere and lead to overthrow of the government. So, Hoover called out the military and Douglas MacArthur led tanks and troops to scrape the earth clean and push the fragile, starving, ill human beings into the streets.
So FDR instituted programs that put food on the tables of homes all across the nation. He created work programs for young men who would leave their homes, go to national parks and other places, and build roads, showers trails, toilets, school buildings, gyms, school cafeterias, city halls, etc. The young men got a place to sleep, clothing, food, haircuts, and a small amount of money to send home to their parents and siblings who were on the verge of starvation. FDR tried to get Democrats in Congress to pass needed legislation, they didn’t, he tried to get SCOTUS to give him some favorable rulings, they didn’t—the story of his efforts to help the American people keep body and soul together is one of amazing resilience on the part of our people, but tragically it is also a story of how our systems of government and economics worked overtime to defeat his initiatives. They literally did not care about the life and death circumstances of millions of Americans. Our systems, as designed, enabled evil men to do more evil. THOSE SYSTEMS HAVE NOT CHANGED!
Then, while the Great Depression was still underway, evil men tried to keep FDR from supporting England as it gave everything it had to stop Hitler. If Hitler had been able to occupy England Europe today would not be our friend. And, because Hitler was close to building atomic weapons, the entire world might not be a friendly place.
Congress opposed FDR’s initiatives but he managed to keep doing the right thing. When Pearl Harbor happened Congress had to follow FDR’s lead, and here we are today, standing in a world where the future of civilization is at stake, where the survival of life on Earth is at stake, and we have people and systems who are opposed to saving life on Earth. Through sheer force of personality and intellect, with the help of a few brilliant thinkers, FDR pulled us through. He bypassed our systems, he forced them to bend to his will. LBJ did the same thing with the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act, and with Medicare. He personally kicked Congress into obeying his will. But those events centered on passing single acts of Congress. Combating global warming will require the largest human effort ever, and our systems of government and economics are not designed to respond properly, or in time, or even at all. They must be changed in ways so that the people will become Congress, they will become the office of the President, they will become SCOTUS. We must finally become a democracy.
I can hear people say that such a change can’t be done. If those naysayers are right then all will be lost. But, what if they are not right? And what if we don’t try? So, I ask those people who think we cannot save ourselves from our colossal arrogance and galactic stupidity, to please lead, follow, or get out of the way.