A Call To Action

A Call To Action

Wake up, America! How bad does it have to get before people who do know better come out of where ever they have been hiding, rise up and demand meaningful change? Fear not, you cowards and malingerers, if you continue to do nothing (talking, writing, presenting clever arguments, and other typical “Liberal” tactics are a waste of time – only organized action has any chance of making a difference) I can assure you that things are going to get worse. A lot worse.

First, there will never be enough good jobs again. Never! The economic models that got us into this mess will never get us out of it. As Einstein said, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. More about new economic models later.

Second, the opposition is getting organized, and is taking action. The Tea Party is only the beginning. As history has demonstrated repeatedly, ignorance and insecurity are exceptionally fertile ground for the worst kind of demagoguery. And both are pandemic in America right now. Frightened, angry children everywhere in apparently adult bodies. And no dearth of dangerous demagogues eager to exploit them.

So far, they are still a minority, no matter how they may dominate the 24-hour News Media. But the absence of strong, motivated, organized opposition portends disaster, for our country, if not for the planet. Our Founding Fathers, and the Philosophers who inspired them, recognized the risks inherent in democracy. They tried, while creating our Constitution, to prevent the two greatest risks: the tyranny of an unenlightened majority, and the corruption of our Representatives by a Commercial Society. Their worst fears have been realized. Our putative democracy is on life support, and there is no “Living Will.”

The last time we were in the throes of a crisis like this one, in the 1930's, during the Great Depression, we had the exceptionally good fortune to be in the hands of a leader who was prepared to do whatever was necessary to get us out of it. FDR was not a “small d” democrat. He was a benevolent dictator, right out of Plato's Republic, and his goal was to save Capitalism from its own stupidity. And he succeeded. He did it by using his powers of persuasion, his eloquence, and the new technology provided by the wireless radio to galvanize the American people, by saying, in effect, “You know what we need, and we're going to do it together, whether they like it or not.” Lest there be any doubt, “they” were Congress and the Supreme Court, and the Federal Reserve, and the Financial Titans who got us into the mess.

Let's look honestly at our present predicament. If your family or mine could not provide basic necessities nor pay our debts, we would be forced to file for Bankruptcy. Well, my city of San Francisco (and many others around the country), the state of California (and many other states), and the United States of America have been starved by the anti-tax policies of the last three decades into a state that can only be described as Bankruptcy. All that is missing is the resolution. And, how is Bankruptcy “resolved?” By wiping out debt. Period. The result is that usurious creditors end up holding toilet paper. Then maybe they can try to find a job. Clipping coupons and living off interest is not a “job.” It is parasitic behavior. The truth is that the whole world would be better off if all debt, personal, corporate and public, were summarily eradicated. What a relief! You mean our income can be used to meet basic human needs? Now there's a concept! Of course, the consequence is that no new debt can be created, if not forever, at least for a good many years.

If this seems a little drastic, consider this: we are also morally bankrupt. Millions of people, including children, for God's sake, in the world's richest country go to bed hungry every night.Millions more have little or no access to even minimal healthcare. Our educational system has been cut to the bone, teachers must spend all of their time teaching children how to take uniform tests of math and reading abilities, subjects like history, social studies, art and music get short shrift. Ladies and Gentlemen, the business if education is not to shove facts down the throats of children so they can spit them up on command, it is to teach them how to think, how to develop and use intelligent judgement.

So, ultimately, we are both economically and morally bankrupt. Is there anyone else out there ready to do something? If you are, let me know.