Although it was expected, it was a shock to wake up to the impending results of the Presidential election in the USA which prove again the primitive values of our world.
America is considered by a majority of people to be the world leader since the Second World War, during it which it supported Germany before choosing to support the Allies rather late in the game and emerged victorious. Having suffered no damage to its land or infrastructure during that war it was in a powerful position to extract concessions it demanded. And it grew quickly to dominate the global market place for weapons, money and oil.
Despite its wealth, the people remain poor. Half of all Americans own nothing and exist hand to mouth, day to day. The emergent human character of altruism has been smothered by the culture of oppression which has imbued America since it was a colony and its subsequent founding. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are held up as examples of popular enfranchisement, but that perception obscures the plutocratic and unethical culture in which the country established. The Constitution established the right of slave-owners to chase down slaves and gangs of mercenary slave chasers evolved in to the police forces of today. They were established to hurt not protect people. Externally, America has not dealt with international conflict on its own soil so people so not appreciate the costs of the bombs and bullets to the people who suffer them.
While America offered a choice of freedom, supported by its bounty of natural resources and an indigenous culture of integration with nature, the colonists and our descendants have chosen to regress to command and control approach of its founding empire nations and a plutocracy of racism, misogyny and ignorance. The evidence is in the results of the Presidential election emerging today. While many people are progressive and seek to share the wealth of the country, more people are afraid, defrauded and angry so want to stand with a strong man. While the majority of people are complacent.
America and the world will suffer. America will become more unequal, as those with wealth take more. It will become poorer as the people who do the real work, like growing food, fixing roads, delivering mail and teaching, are asked to do more for less and so social systems weaken. The world will become more divided, more violent and hotter as guns, oil and money are wielded to acquire Middle Eastern resources, influence elections, and promote wars in other regions like Europe, Africa and Asia. Meanwhile our minds are polluted with unfiltered noise on social media and insidious apps run by monopolistic data companies.
Do not look for hope. That is folly. Hope is the expectation of a positive outcome despite evidence to the contrary. Instead use reason. Reason has allowed humanity to enjoy the possibility of finding enlightenment. It is reason that has led us to collaboration, tools, and a real perspective on the phenomenon of existence. The emergence of understanding over the few hundred thousand years of homo sapiens’ existence has brought the species the opportunity to choose a way of life beyond survival, which thrives on the altruistic potential of humans. Unfortunately, as the results of the American election indicate, the richest country in the world has chosen a survival meme, a command and control society, an unnatural pyramid of power which debases morals for the love of power. This reflects that humanity’s focus remains on the basic elements of survival and self-interest, instead of the values which we enjoy like love and sharing.
Is there a positive way forward. Of course there is. We see that choice of peace, community and living with nature in the background because many people seek it. However, it is not inevitable that it will remain as regression is happening and the disintegration of the web of life, of which we are a part, is happening quickly. The wars and accelerating consumption of Earth’s resources are narrowing the opportunities that have come from the emergence of consciousness in this biosphere.
If you are overwhelmed, step back and take solace from the knowledge that there are better choices and we can still choose them. But do choose them. Perhaps our little guide to changing the world might help. And do not be sad at the disintegration of our world. It is inevitable. We must move on. Whether we choose a positive future or continue to build pyramids of power to Feast upon the Earth remains our decision, individually. But we still have the choice to step back and change our minds to change our world.
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