I’ve been
accused of being a doomer. Perhaps.
Allow me to
state my case. I fully expect my argument to anger some of you. (Wonder how
many Facebook “friends” will disappear? Oh well…)
Strauss and Howe’s
The Fourth Turning alerted me to
something I hadn’t considered, that the atrophy I witnessed was cyclical and as
predictable as the changing of the seasons.
I’ve written
about this before, so I won’t go into all the details.
Suffice it to
say that we are well into a crisis period that typically last twenty years,
more or less. These periods typically culminate in major wars.
Strauss has
died. Neil Howe thinks this crisis began in 2007 putting us about a third of
the way through this stage of history.
I think he’s too
close to his own subject to see current history with the clarity with which he
views the past.
I think the
crisis began earlier, perhaps late in the year 2000. (I find it odd that all of
those waiting for some cataclysmic event with the coming of the new millennia hardly
noticed its passing).
Consider the
formation of a cancerous tumor. Early stages go unnoticed, but in time, the
magnitude of the event becomes apparent.
The illness
begins with individuals. It later manifests in institutions, but without the
failure of individuals, it cannot run its course.
Believe me when
I tell you: we failed.
Events serve as
sign-posts along the way, markers if you will, that gauge our descent into
darkness.
A few that come
to mind:
In late November
of the year 2000, Al Gore was elected president by the slimmest of margins.
This may or may not have been a good thing.
Whatever the
case, the election was stolen.
George W. Bush
was installed as president by the Supreme Court of the land.
September 11 of
2001 brought an attack on the two buildings of the World Trade Center in New
York and of the Pentagon in Washington D.C.
A rush to judgment
took place: Osama bin Laden and 19 accomplices were branded as sole
perpetrators of the event with little evidence to back these claims.
The crime scene
was secured without a thorough investigation and then disposed of as quickly as
was humanly possible.
Book closed.
Waves of fear
and anger were then channeled toward Iraq, a nation that had nothing whatsoever
to do with the attacks.
False evidence
of weapons of mass destruction and potential imminent demise was presented.
Those offering
counter arguments to this evidence were marginalized or vilified, some removed
from their jobs, some imprisoned, some even killed.
The Patriot Act
was installed.
Surveillance
techniques were devised and implemented to spy on the entire world, including all citizens of our own nation, in clear
violation of the constitution of the United States of America.
Multinational corporations
(often bearing names once thought of as American) off-shored manufacturing jobs
to countries with less stringent environmental practices. Workers in these
countries serve as modern day slaves.
We paid for
foreign goods with Dollars, created out of thin air, but backed by the threat
of attack by the world’s most powerful military machine.
America went
from being the world’s greatest lender to the world’s most indebted nation.
Our citizens
became fat, lazy and sick.
Addicted to
drugs, shoveled at the people by doctors which act as agents for giant pharmaceutical
corporations.
Addicted to time
wasting devices.
Meanwhile, the
war on drugs not owned by these pharmaceutical companies grew to the point that
America became number one both in total numbers and per-capita at incarcerating
its own citizens.
George Bush was
(re)elected in 2004.
Mid-east wars
lingered, further bankrupting our nation.
Etc.
The stock market
crash of 2008.
Rather than
bailing out citizens with a debt jubilee, the government bailed out corrupt
banks and Wall Street institutions.
The more I
write, the more that comes to mind and I don’t have room or time for all of
this shit. There’s torture, more lies, more deceit.
Then we elected
the great savior, Barack Obama.
The Liar in Chief.
(This motherfucker will lie to you and make you like it).
Obama ran on a
program of change.
Those that
opposed the bush administrations mis-steps suddenly went silent, despite the
fact that obama took up where bush left off.
More lies, more
wars. More off-shoring of jobs. More bail-outs of corrupt banks and
institutions. More and greater drugs wars, more fucking prisons.
Obamacare sold
as socialized medicine when in fact it’s forced participation in privately
owned insurance scams complete with penalties for those that refuse to
participate.
Yet more wars.
More fabrication
of evidence. More lies.
Now we’re
jabbing the Great Russian bear with a sharp stick….
Can you say dumb
ass?
Doomer?
Damn right. This
looks, smells, sounds, tastes and feels like doom to me.
Pull your head
out of your ass and take a look around.
This ain’t over.
