As I read euphoric diaries about how the conventions proved what we have been saying all along and the response "out there" seems to actually reflect that for a change, my academic, scientific, whatever side comes to play. Please forgive an old man for wanting to try to find where "reality" actually is in all this. I remember too clearly the same feeling that we were "winning" in the 60s and the disappointment afterward. Need I mention a similar mood swing for so many of us after Obama took office? Clearly we can take nothing for granted. But there is more than that trite observation to think about. I have written diaries in the past where I dream about a big sweep in November and then ask the inevitable question: "Then what?" At 76 I really don't have much personally at stake anymore. I got my fall garden in and look forward to eating mostly unpoisoned food for a while longer. I can worry about my grown up kids and grandkids but they made it clear that they can handle things on their own long ago. So what is it that makes me uneasy? Read on below and I'll share my "wisdom" (lol) with you.
Those of you who know me know that I am, among other things, a "systems scientist". I have many diaries about this here and one latest one that discusses our forthcoming book:Book review and book preview: All about "Global Insanity" You see I am arrogant enough to have written a book about how bad things really are and how they got so bad. That means my life as a scholar has led me to some conclusions about where we are. So the answer to the question in my title for me at least is "yes".
But then that makes this diary a "set up" doesn't it? Why not? For the resources we are using to hold off an either real or feinted step toward fascism are resources that do not get used to do what meager things we might do to ward off the forthcoming non-linear phases of climate change and and resource depletion.
Guess what? If you step back and look the threat from the fascists, bad as it is, is meager compared to what is coming that is the result of past human neglect rather than a bunch of very sick republicans. It may be that they too on some level sense the future I am outlining here. It may be that their lame response comes from not having a clue about how to proceed from here.
But we know don't we? Or do we? The change of direction necessary compared to ANYTHING in our platform makes this discussion a joke! And there is little time to make the necessary changes.
President Obama's biggest hurdle was explaining the legacy of the past he was saddled with. There he barely could scratch the surface without getting into "doomsday" scenarios. He is up against something "invisible" to the mechanistic mind of today. There is a system in place. The illusion is that we control it. Yet the overwhelming evidence, if you step back and look, is that it is in control. No, nothing "mystical" here. Simply the recognition that there are nested systems much more complex than we can hope to understand let alone control. Even our best scientists are gasping at the way the planet is adjusting to what we let loose. The economy is slow to recover. Recover to what? the same errors that got us here?
Step back. Wipe your "eyes" Look at the world around you. It is never too late. But it get later and later as you put it off. What happens after the election? I have no clue. I do know it is time to think about it now!