“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everyone knows things are bad”1. And I could tell you how things are getting worse, e.g., with our, in Matt Taibbi’s words, Orwellian Totalitarian Fascist “censorship-industrial complex” which elevates on a global scale the “Follow-the-Science” Religion over real Science; or, in a broader sense, Propaganda and Narrative over Reality.
Well, that’s a (“the"?) Narrative. What do the DATA show ?
I love to disappoint all you pessimists, but the DATA show, despite our corrupt governments and psychopathic leaders, that things are good, in fact, never better, and still getting better — a general trend, with ups and downs, that has been happening since the beginning of history, and if anything, is accelerating:
And, in my opinion, this is despite our corrupt governments and psychopathic war-mongering leaders. Some people think that all the laws passed (e.g. in CA) to restrict our freedoms in order to promote ESG and DEI etc. are the cause of this progress, but I think not. The following is a short-list of things that did NOT happen because of legislation passed by elitist politicians:
Replacing the slaughter of whales for blubber, and instead using more cost-effective refined oil (for fun read Moby Dick);
Solving the animal waste problem on the streets of NYC by replacing horses with cars;
Replacing 10 acres and a mule subsistence living with 1000’s of acres and a Tractor2;
What laws mandated the use of the cotton gin and what did it replace ?
Replacing ice boxes with refrigerators;
Replacing coal bins with piped natural gas;
Replacing axes with chainsaws (something even I could figure out after cutting down a single tree with an axe);
Replacing candles with oil, then gas, and then electric lighting;
And then replacing incandescent light bulbs with much less expensive LED Bulbs.
And so too, when Solar is by far the least expensive method to generate electricity, as is becoming true today, Solar will happen Big Time. Not because of legislation, but because, though mass production, it became the least expensive form of unlimited energy on the planet, and just made sense.
I’ll even make the following bold predictions:
Someday people will take it for granted that it is a lot less expensive, and makes a whole hell of a lot more sense, to ship energy around the globe through DC (perhaps someday superconducting) MV transmission lines, rather than in oil and LNG tankers. And looking back, people will think that we, with our tanker fleets, must have been just CRAZY, or perhaps as backwards as those people with their whaling fleets. And it won’t be because some elite politicians in California mandated it.3
And someday people will stop getting their illusionary Orwellian worldviews from the Network (Mainstream Media) Propaganda outlets, and instead get their worldview from looking at and interacting with the beautiful world and people around them; and people will un-subscribe from their cable “news”, and instead subscribe to alternative outlets such as Substack to get their worldview, or Zeitgeist4.
OK, that last bold prediction might be on par with believing in Unicorns and Fairy Dust, and thinking people just might hit that button below !
Timeless, perhaps, from the 1976 movie Network — someone could say this today.
And of course, some of these advances lead to extreme short-term misery for many, e.g.:
Re-read Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath;
Or look at today’s industrialized poison-laden GMO “corn deserts” and CAFO’s.
Of course, we will all have to agree not to condone terrorists (i.e., the U.S.) that blow up other people’s pipelines or transmission lines to give their less-competitive industries (e.g., LNG) an “advantage” over other’s much less expensive industries (e.g., pipeline Natural Gas).
I've expressed it before, Tim, but it must be said again. In the words of Alexander Hamilton: "the masses are asses."
Nothing can change that.
You can choose a Platonic philosopher king, a Confucian meritocracy, a Roman emperor or something novel. But democracy is not an option. In fact, it is nothing more than a vehicle for criminals to corrupt, pervert and exploit society.
Expanding on this to help others arrive at my conclusion, please consider the degree to which Earthly civilization during the Age of Enlightenment differed characteristically from present day. Mass media was organic. Industry was mostly agrarian. Civic mechanics and institutions were easy to grasp, intellectually.
Civilization in the Information Age is difficult to understand, even for the most intelligent and wise academic policy think tank professionals who have devoted lifetimes to the pursuit.
Democratic government was noble, just and well-reasoned at its berth. Today, it is a vestigial burden.
Imagine if our leaders had to stick their necks out and stake life, limb and fortune on the welfare and advancement of their nation. Imagine if they weren't party to an invulnerable international criminal cabal. Imagine if the narrative and the propaganda were transparent to the masses in the face of national failure.
Imagine sharing a sense of purpose with your family, friends, colleagues and countrymen living hundreds of miles away.
Imagine spiritual unity.