This roundabout discussion begins with a strange revelation" that struck me earlier in the month. Question: why does almost nobody in either house of Congress appear concerned about a 23-trillion-dollar national debt (not counting unfunded liabilities that would run up the tab at least fourfold)? Some of our elected representatives cant count granted; and some are so deeply mired in graft and corruption that their interest in their fellow citizens future is equivalent to Marie Antoinettes. Yet I consider it obtusely cynical to consign virtually every member of both parties to one of these two categories. What about the members who can do addition without their fingers and toes and who have also graduated to a modicum of normal adult responsibility? How can they sit by and watch the dollars purchase power overheat and explode?
Answer (revelation): they must genuinely believe that the dollars collapse will be a good thing.
How can they believe this? Because in such calamitous circumstances the nations of the world would have to becomein a word much beloved of President Clinton whenever he discussed economic issuesinterdependent. All nations having grown equally insolvent various political rivals around the planet will have to patch up their differences and create a single worldwide system. Though I understand pitifully little about banking it seems to me (based upon my limited research) that the world banking industry has already taken large strides toward assuming control over everybodys finances thanks to digitalization and other initiatives". Baron Rothschild et al. for example have a very clever plan for transforming carbon credits" into a single world currency centrally controlled by… Baron Rothschild et al.
All the same would that be such a insufferably bad thingI mean one big clunking system? The truth is that we havent yet seen a World War III with over half a century having been run off the clock since the Cold Wars first dark days. China for all her saber-rattling obviously knows that she can bring us to our knees just by standing back and watching us collapse under the effects of our own moral flabbiness. No need for her to push buttons that may envelope the planet in radioactive dust for centuries: just let the Yanks continue to forget how to procreate to snarl at each other because of skin color and to medicate themselves with gateways to what Baudelaire aptly called artificial paradises".
Okay... I can see how some worldly-wise attorney whose understanding of human nature and history hovers at imbecilic levels would buy into this vision enthusiastically. No more war. No more borders. No more doctors for some but not for others. We know that Congresss membership now includes several genuine outspoken socialistsand many many more on the Republican side have imbibed of Socialism Lite and decided that they can get used to the slightly sickening aftertaste. Besides... well I no doubt drew too heavy a line earlier between the principled and the corrupt. You can endorse the no more wars no more borders" scenario in principle and also calculate in the back of your mind how you and your children are bound to enjoy certain privileges as members of the governing elite.
For the rest of us though... I ask sincerely: what would be the disadvantages of living under a one-world government whose citizens are now forced to settle their differences without mushroom clouds?
I suggest that we can effectively prophesy daily life in such a terminally safe" world just by looking closelyor even better viewing distantly for enhanced perspectivethe beams and joists rising all about us right now. Let this picture settle into focus. We would be fed constantly the soma" of the broadcast media to sustain our state of contented ignorance and somnolent amusement. We would be disarmed to ensure that the rare individual who went off his meds wouldnt pose much of a threat. We would be watched around the clock by indefatigable electronic eyes. If we strayed into a public expression of unproductive" criticism (and all criticism of the Unit of course would be classed as unproductive) Nanny Google would send us into time-out. (In the classic BBC serial The Prisoner the extreme form of time-oututter social ostracismfollows the Village Councils verdict that ones behavior is unmutual".) Intrusive oversight wouldnt stop at utterances either. Our very facial expressions and body language would be monitored and graded. The Peoples Republic" of China is already blazing the trail with ubiquitous surveillance cameras and a system of virtue points". Those detected in moody or uncooperative attitudes would see their credit score" docked sufficiently to deny them travel rights perhaps or to thwart their childrens entry into a good school. (Egalitarianism notwithstanding the right school" will remain a secret passage into the oligarchic elites corridors of power.) I believe the Trump Administration has nodded in the direction of allowing similar surveillance to influence Second Amendment rights. Nothing to worry about just yet just now... but if you pay attention to the sand vibrating under the soles of your shoes you can indeed discern the thump-thump-thump of some rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem to be born.
So... theres your choice. Option One: life without fear of nuclear holocaust or immolation in Walmarts bread aisle when a psychos girlfriend splits at the cost of having your brow movements monitored as you brush your teeth. Option Two: risk of all the fears eliminated in Option One but with minimal cost of invisible surveillance and moralistic lecturing from Super-Nanny. The more elderly of us will resist the first choice as its popularity swells and well probably end up in a mass grave after we flunk out of Re-education Camp for the third time. The younger of us will be right at home with two-way mirrors everywhere they go since they actually invite such constant universal exposure into their lives already with their devices".
Die then old warhorses! Ye shall not by much precede the generation of asses who win but a few more years before the Committee on Social Harmony euthanizes them as they wait for a hip or knee replacement.
But is there really no alternative? Are not our so-called sanctuary cities" in fact pointing us in its direction? What if we created discrete communities wherein people could live by their own ruleswhat if we went in that direction rather than transforming the entire human race into robots with uniform behavioral programming? Let the West Coast for instance have marriage of species to other species or of one to three five or ten; borders that appear only on paper; one school curriculum one income one housing module and one doctor with one bag of meds for all and sundry; free weed; and elections modeled after Major League Baseballs All Star Game where you vote as many times as you like. Let those happy campers become a province of China for all I care: they already are for all I can make out.
On the other side of the continent let the Southeast insist upon postings of the Ten Commandments in all public places. Let her citizens be required to carry self-defensive weapons upon exiting the front door. Abolish school districts: let each school teach that curriculum which concerned parents approve. Let marriage exist only between a man and a woman and let vandals who deface monuments cool their heels for a few months in the calaboose.
Let residents of one area who flee its horrors" to a more congenial space be required to have settled in for five years before they enjoy full voting rights; and let regional legislatures be required to approve new law in two sessions with an intermission of at least two years between confirmations. Build in some stability some drag". Give customs and manners a fighting chance against George Soros and Mark Zuckerberg. Let cultures separate out according to their preferred values... and let surrounding cultures honor the shift of ethos that accompanies crossing a boundary marked on paper.
Why is this vision a pipedream? Idealistic critics will say We went through all this Tenth Amendment crap with slavery. If higher moral principle had not trumped regional special interests human beings might still be laboring under the whip in the Deep South." Well... the rude release of illiterate and unskilled slave populations into freedom" was in fact responsible for much of the misery that descendants of freedmen carried well into the next century; and the considerable opposition to slavery within the South would have expelled it even before the Civil War perhaps if national politics hadnt introduced a complex friction of economic interests (cf. Marc Egnals Clash of Extremes). May I point out too that many of our idealists who would raise this protest make no such noise when Muslim immigrants insist upon introducing the brutality of Sharia into their new neighborhoods?
The real obstacle of course is practical. What will keep regional equivalents of the insatiably power-hungry Chinese eliteor the Chinese themselvesfrom occupying Alabama if New Mexico becomes a convenient launching point? Should states (and I mean all political states not just the late-great united" ones) solemnly undersign a treaty that will require each to come to the rescue if a bully invades a weakling? But we know this wont work. Our current domestic politics show us nothing if not that progressive ideologues treat promises with contemptand why wouldnt they? Since reality is evolving" the circumstances involved in the promise you made yesterday are already irrelevant tomorrow.
The Chinese will lie as they always do (unless truth proves more expedient in specific instances); and their ally states from California to Washington will connive at the lying since their governing elite is more Machiavellian than that founding father of calculated duplicity. I see no alternative but for more principled states to bend their principlesnear the breaking point sometimesin the formation of effective counter-alliances. The Southeast for instance could team readily enough with Israel… but to muster the muscle necessary for browbeating China into retreat it might also have to pact with Putin. India is another obvious friend; but Indonesia? Some of the more stable adult-friendly Islamic republics?
This is a new pair of unsavory options. Do you lock arms with a neighbor who beats his wife as the pirates come streaming off their ship… or do you board up your own doors and windows hoping for the best? The survival of states where the individual may still be free to grope his way toward God will almost certainly depend upon alliances with other states whose god is not ours.
Putin at least claims to be Christian and at least makes an outward show of valuing the nuclear family and a modest level of public decency. He sent the obscene Pussy Riot crew to prison for a year: not an act that sits well with an American constitutionalist but vastly preferable to Ted Wheelers allowing Antifa to bludgeon harmless bystanders. Aleksandr Litvinenko was probably poisoned on Putins nod… yes and Vince Foster probably didnt commit suicide. Putin seized Crimeaafter a public plebiscite overwhelmingly approved the annexation. Putin silences dissident reporters we hear; ministers daughter Angela Merkel silences them at least as well with the help of former East German propagandists policing the Internet and wielding hate speech" like a Stasi thugs choke-hold. Our Pythoness Wikipedia warns that Putins trusted advisor Aleksandr Dugin is a fascistbut Dugin seems very confused himself about his pedigree: an anti-communist who admires Lenin and a Russian nationalist who treasures culturally diverse traditions.
When the most important thing is at last to have co-signatories in the mutual defense pact who keep their word it may be that belief in Godsome immortal god any creator-godis the only relevant factor in resisting the aggressive holy war of Secular Utopians whose god is tear-it-all-down Whimsy. Societies whose members hold something immutable and sacred beyond this worlds terms are under vast attack. (Im not keen on the Koranbut we Islamophobes" should notice what the Chinese are doing to the Uighurs.) While not all such believing" societies encourage the individual search for the divine the alternative is an annihilation of the divine in bursts of individual petulance that soon settle into an animal sameness (lust fear envy and the rest).
Of course if our critical requirement for alliance is a belief in a higher power that postpones utter joy and perfect justice to another dimension then a good many of our Christian" ministers and priests will have to ally themselves with our adversaries. We would have to banish them to California if they arent already there.
In summary I would dare to say that a realistic hope for humane civilization is possible… but only if we dont hope for too much humanity from our military back-up.
This roundabout discussion begins with a strange revelation" that struck me earlier in the month. Question: why does almost nobody in either house of Congress appear concerned about a 23-trillion-dollar national debt (not counting unfunded liabilities that would run up the tab at least fourfold)? Some of our elected representatives cant count granted; and some are so deeply mired in graft and corruption that their interest in their fellow citizens future is equivalent to Marie Antoinettes. Yet I consider it obtusely cynical to consign virtually every member of both parties to one of these two categories. What about the members who can do addition without their fingers and toes and who have also graduated to a modicum of normal adult responsibility? How can they sit by and watch the dollars purchase power overheat and explode?
Answer (revelation): they must genuinely believe that the dollars collapse will be a good thing.
How can they believe this? Because in such calamitous circumstances the nations of the world would have to becomein a word much beloved of President Clinton whenever he discussed economic issuesinterdependent. All nations having grown equally insolvent various political rivals around the planet will have to patch up their differences and create a single worldwide system. Though I understand pitifully little about banking it seems to me (based upon my limited research) that the world banking industry has already taken large strides toward assuming control over everybodys finances thanks to digitalization and other initiatives". Baron Rothschild et al. for example have a very clever plan for transforming carbon credits" into a single world currency centrally controlled by… Baron Rothschild et al.
All the same would that be such a insufferably bad thingI mean one big clunking system? The truth is that we havent yet seen a World War III with over half a century having been run off the clock since the Cold Wars first dark days. China for all her saber-rattling obviously knows that she can bring us to our knees just by standing back and watching us collapse under the effects of our own moral flabbiness. No need for her to push buttons that may envelope the planet in radioactive dust for centuries: just let the Yanks continue to forget how to procreate to snarl at each other because of skin color and to medicate themselves with gateways to what Baudelaire aptly called artificial paradises".
Okay... I can see how some worldly-wise attorney whose understanding of human nature and history hovers at imbecilic levels would buy into this vision enthusiastically. No more war. No more borders. No more doctors for some but not for others. We know that Congresss membership now includes several genuine outspoken socialistsand many many more on the Republican side have imbibed of Socialism Lite and decided that they can get used to the slightly sickening aftertaste. Besides... well I no doubt drew too heavy a line earlier between the principled and the corrupt. You can endorse the no more wars no more borders" scenario in principle and also calculate in the back of your mind how you and your children are bound to enjoy certain privileges as members of the governing elite.
For the rest of us though... I ask sincerely: what would be the disadvantages of living under a one-world government whose citizens are now forced to settle their differences without mushroom clouds?
I suggest that we can effectively prophesy daily life in such a terminally safe" world just by looking closelyor even better viewing distantly for enhanced perspectivethe beams and joists rising all about us right now. Let this picture settle into focus. We would be fed constantly the soma" of the broadcast media to sustain our state of contented ignorance and somnolent amusement. We would be disarmed to ensure that the rare individual who went off his meds wouldnt pose much of a threat. We would be watched around the clock by indefatigable electronic eyes. If we strayed into a public expression of unproductive" criticism (and all criticism of the Unit of course would be classed as unproductive) Nanny Google would send us into time-out. (In the classic BBC serial The Prisoner the extreme form of time-oututter social ostracismfollows the Village Councils verdict that ones behavior is unmutual".) Intrusive oversight wouldnt stop at utterances either. Our very facial expressions and body language would be monitored and graded. The Peoples Republic" of China is already blazing the trail with ubiquitous surveillance cameras and a system of virtue points". Those detected in moody or uncooperative attitudes would see their credit score" docked sufficiently to deny them travel rights perhaps or to thwart their childrens entry into a good school. (Egalitarianism notwithstanding the right school" will remain a secret passage into the oligarchic elites corridors of power.) I believe the Trump Administration has nodded in the direction of allowing similar surveillance to influence Second Amendment rights. Nothing to worry about just yet just now... but if you pay attention to the sand vibrating under the soles of your shoes you can indeed discern the thump-thump-thump of some rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem to be born.
So... theres your choice. Option One: life without fear of nuclear holocaust or immolation in Walmarts bread aisle when a psychos girlfriend splits at the cost of having your brow movements monitored as you brush your teeth. Option Two: risk of all the fears eliminated in Option One but with minimal cost of invisible surveillance and moralistic lecturing from Super-Nanny. The more elderly of us will resist the first choice as its popularity swells and well probably end up in a mass grave after we flunk out of Re-education Camp for the third time. The younger of us will be right at home with two-way mirrors everywhere they go since they actually invite such constant universal exposure into their lives already with their devices".
Die then old warhorses! Ye shall not by much precede the generation of asses who win but a few more years before the Committee on Social Harmony euthanizes them as they wait for a hip or knee replacement.
But is there really no alternative? Are not our so-called sanctuary cities" in fact pointing us in its direction? What if we created discrete communities wherein people could live by their own ruleswhat if we went in that direction rather than transforming the entire human race into robots with uniform behavioral programming? Let the West Coast for instance have marriage of species to other species or of one to three five or ten; borders that appear only on paper; one school curriculum one income one housing module and one doctor with one bag of meds for all and sundry; free weed; and elections modeled after Major League Baseballs All Star Game where you vote as many times as you like. Let those happy campers become a province of China for all I care: they already are for all I can make out.
On the other side of the continent let the Southeast insist upon postings of the Ten Commandments in all public places. Let her citizens be required to carry self-defensive weapons upon exiting the front door. Abolish school districts: let each school teach that curriculum which concerned parents approve. Let marriage exist only between a man and a woman and let vandals who deface monuments cool their heels for a few months in the calaboose.
Let residents of one area who flee its horrors" to a more congenial space be required to have settled in for five years before they enjoy full voting rights; and let regional legislatures be required to approve new law in two sessions with an intermission of at least two years between confirmations. Build in some stability some drag". Give customs and manners a fighting chance against George Soros and Mark Zuckerberg. Let cultures separate out according to their preferred values... and let surrounding cultures honor the shift of ethos that accompanies crossing a boundary marked on paper.
Why is this vision a pipedream? Idealistic critics will say We went through all this Tenth Amendment crap with slavery. If higher moral principle had not trumped regional special interests human beings might still be laboring under the whip in the Deep South." Well... the rude release of illiterate and unskilled slave populations into freedom" was in fact responsible for much of the misery that descendants of freedmen carried well into the next century; and the considerable opposition to slavery within the South would have expelled it even before the Civil War perhaps if national politics hadnt introduced a complex friction of economic interests (cf. Marc Egnals Clash of Extremes). May I point out too that many of our idealists who would raise this protest make no such noise when Muslim immigrants insist upon introducing the brutality of Sharia into their new neighborhoods?
The real obstacle of course is practical. What will keep regional equivalents of the insatiably power-hungry Chinese eliteor the Chinese themselvesfrom occupying Alabama if New Mexico becomes a convenient launching point? Should states (and I mean all political states not just the late-great united" ones) solemnly undersign a treaty that will require each to come to the rescue if a bully invades a weakling? But we know this wont work. Our current domestic politics show us nothing if not that progressive ideologues treat promises with contemptand why wouldnt they? Since reality is evolving" the circumstances involved in the promise you made yesterday are already irrelevant tomorrow.
The Chinese will lie as they always do (unless truth proves more expedient in specific instances); and their ally states from California to Washington will connive at the lying since their governing elite is more Machiavellian than that founding father of calculated duplicity. I see no alternative but for more principled states to bend their principlesnear the breaking point sometimesin the formation of effective counter-alliances. The Southeast for instance could team readily enough with Israel… but to muster the muscle necessary for browbeating China into retreat it might also have to pact with Putin. India is another obvious friend; but Indonesia? Some of the more stable adult-friendly Islamic republics?
This is a new pair of unsavory options. Do you lock arms with a neighbor who beats his wife as the pirates come streaming off their ship… or do you board up your own doors and windows hoping for the best? The survival of states where the individual may still be free to grope his way toward God will almost certainly depend upon alliances with other states whose god is not ours.
Putin at least claims to be Christian and at least makes an outward show of valuing the nuclear family and a modest level of public decency. He sent the obscene Pussy Riot crew to prison for a year: not an act that sits well with an American constitutionalist but vastly preferable to Ted Wheelers allowing Antifa to bludgeon harmless bystanders. Aleksandr Litvinenko was probably poisoned on Putins nod… yes and Vince Foster probably didnt commit suicide. Putin seized Crimeaafter a public plebiscite overwhelmingly approved the annexation. Putin silences dissident reporters we hear; ministers daughter Angela Merkel silences them at least as well with the help of former East German propagandists policing the Internet and wielding hate speech" like a Stasi thugs choke-hold. Our Pythoness Wikipedia warns that Putins trusted advisor Aleksandr Dugin is a fascistbut Dugin seems very confused himself about his pedigree: an anti-communist who admires Lenin and a Russian nationalist who treasures culturally diverse traditions.
When the most important thing is at last to have co-signatories in the mutual defense pact who keep their word it may be that belief in Godsome immortal god any creator-godis the only relevant factor in resisting the aggressive holy war of Secular Utopians whose god is tear-it-all-down Whimsy. Societies whose members hold something immutable and sacred beyond this worlds terms are under vast attack. (Im not keen on the Koranbut we Islamophobes" should notice what the Chinese are doing to the Uighurs.) While not all such believing" societies encourage the individual search for the divine the alternative is an annihilation of the divine in bursts of individual petulance that soon settle into an animal sameness (lust fear envy and the rest).
Of course if our critical requirement for alliance is a belief in a higher power that postpones utter joy and perfect justice to another dimension then a good many of our Christian" ministers and priests will have to ally themselves with our adversaries. We would have to banish them to California if they arent already there.
In summary I would dare to say that a realistic hope for humane civilization is possible… but only if we dont hope for too much humanity from our military back-up.