We are living in an age where the consequences of past mistakes
and excesses are coming to account. We have squandered our resources
and attempted to hand the debt to future generations but the bill is
due now and we can only pay by suffering foreclosures, bankruptcies,
homelessness, foregoing medical care, on and on.
We have
filled our atmosphere with the toxic wastes of the industrial age and
now we suffer an endless chain of "natural" catastrophes from drought
and fires to hurricanes and tornadoes, on and on.
We have
globalized the economy without globalizing the rights of labor and now
we watch the decline of the working class both here and abroad – a
decline that is in turn the decline of the consumer, which inevitably
drags down the corporate beast responsible for the self-perpetuating
disaster.
We have foolishly gone to war for oil and failed to
capture the booty, accelerating a rise in the price of gas, the price
of food, the price of everything that requires fuel to produce and
deliver goods to market. On and on.
We have lived under the
delusion that our debts could be passed on to our children and theirs
but the Age of Reckoning has arrived. We cannot escape it. We must pay
and future generations will pay as well.
It is time to hunker
down and clean out the refuse. Out with the old ideas: Our leaders
will not save us in this crisis – a crisis they have created with their
own blood stained and corrupted hands. They are building their own
bunkers to shield them from the coming storm. They are of the ruling
class, the elite, the chosen, and they will only save themselves.
We
need to become the change we desire and the leaders we imagine. We
need to find new ways of pooling our resources: community based
cooperatives not just for food and security but also for solar energy,
recycling, transportation and health care. We need to form political
cooperatives as well with spokespersons to communicate our concerns and
demands to local governments. We have to be willing to rally in
support of local officials who address our concerns and we have to be
willing to replace those who do not.
In anticipation of the
hard times to come, we need to be thinking of water conservation and
establishing neighborhood gardens where lawns and vacant lots used to
be. Wherever possible we should build community centers where people
can gather together for meals and entertainment to conserve electricity
or heating oil.
In anticipation of desperate times, we will
need to exercise our second amendment rights by organizing able-bodied
men and women into armed militias. We will need arms and ammunition
sufficient to protect the community’s interests. The community center
may serve as an ammunition depot as well as provide training for the
proper use of modern weaponry.
The outside community (those
who have not taken sound measures in preparation for hardship) will
want to seize the community’s resources and will do so by all necessary
means. The community must be prepared to dissuade intruders and
protect its grounds by erecting a security barrier – if not a wall then
a defensible fence.
As any responsible owner of firearms
knows, those who chose to take up arms must be prepared to use them –
even if it means shooting someone who was once perhaps a trusted
friend. Once the community is established and secured, it becomes a
fortress against the world: us against them. Anyone who would invade
our territory should be perceived as an enemy and a lawbreaker, not a
fellow citizen.
These are the times we are headed for at a
rate beyond anticipation. Like times past (The Great Depression or The
Plague) they will require us to look at the world, including our former
friends, churchgoers and family members, with new eyes. Only the
strong and united will survive.
Changes will be necessary.
There will be no individual rights, no privacy and no freedom of
expression. Only the community will matter and only those who
contribute to the community will be protected.
If this is the
world you want to live in, if this is the kind of challenge you enjoy,
then by all means ignore the political process. Elect the same old
leaders. Make no demands of those in authority. Accept that the rich
and powerful have all the answers. Trust them to save the day. Remain
silent. Belittle those who rise up in protest. Sit on your suburban
porches and laugh at the fools who ask you to get involved.
There
is no crisis. It is all well in hand. Obama knows what he’s doing.
McCain is a man you can trust. Take it to the bank. They know what
they’re doing over there in Iraq. There’s nothing we could do about if
we tried. You think you can make a difference? I served my time.
It’s just a cyclical change. Nothing to worry about. When was the
last time you cut your hair? Get a job. Worry about paying the rent.
Like
it or leave it alone, we are in the Age of Reckoning. The sooner we
get used to the idea, the better. The sooner we appreciate the gravity
of the situation, the sooner we will reach the point of mass outrage
that will affect real change.
Obama alone cannot do a thing. McCain can only do harm.
Democrats are a holding pattern. Republicans are destroyers.
The
only members of Congress that seem to have a clue are Russ Feingold
(who has promised to filibuster for a citizen’s right against
unwarranted spying) and Bernie Sanders (who has proposed the first
significant solar energy bill in this millennium). The rest of them
are a bowl of jello.
The real deal is up to us.
Jazz.
Writings 
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