I Believe.....

     that in our modern liberated society it is common for individuals to give up their life toiling to fulfill the instinct driven expressions of their pet animals.

Understanding the Trump Voter

     Many of us who identify with the various "liberal tags", democrat, progressive, globalist, alt-lefrtist, etc. still have not quit shaking our heads at the, what we though unimaginable, fact that Trump is President.  There is damn little that can now be done about it, and as such, we pass this political alienation searching for a decent answer as to WHY & HOW.. 

     A West-Texas friend, like so many Conservative Fence-Walkers who seek to separate the GOP from TRUMP, offered an American Scholar Lead Article purporting to explain, Phi Beta Kappa style.  It did deliver a perspective, namely the single minded insight of a near 90 year old liberal Jewish academic speaking from his pulpit as the "champion of communalism".  Etzioni offered that "sociologists have pointed out that modernity has threatened the communal bonds that are essential for a person's sense of identity, emotional stability, and moral codes." As such, he explains that the really discerning progressives like Jonathan Haight have recognized that, while a more rapid expansion of personal freedom is certainly desirable, it is dangerous to advocate any new  moral paradigm, no matter how enlightened.  His core insight is that disrespecing the communal underpinning of local tribes, i.e., "basket of deplorables", always brings forth retribution....  our retribution be named Donald J.   

     No, Etzitoni does not end on the despair of "dont tread on me".  He offers the salvation of democratic communalism, an idealized democratic state in which local diversified tribes nestle satisfied and appreciated within a national unity context embrasing the really big concerns like, nuclear war and global warming.  Sounds good to me, except that his speculation as to how this post-dialectic society might come to past, is no more than a plea for the liberals to be more patient and the traditionals to evolve more quickly.  If you read Etzioni's story, it is encouraging that he is, at 90,  still hopeful.  At a decade less, I am not so much, but alas, I live in "deplorable mecca".

Monopoly Capitalism...a funny thing happened once we got to Walmart

     At least for the most recent few thousand years, humans have always organized according to the "many followers/few leaders" principle. Here we are, so I guess it works.  For a long time it seemed a though a corollary aspect of this principle was that the respective groups periodically reversed roles, i.e. the French Revolution.  As the rate of change has accelerated over time, many have speculated as to whether this group reversal/instability will continue or whether we will reach some optimized pattern/form.  This presumed form is, of course, the planatary adoption of global capitalism expressed in it's present monopoly configuration.

     Perhaps it will prove true that, classical distributed capitalism, energized by the extraordinary benefits of modern technology, will morph into John Galt's perpetual motion machine.  Well, at least it kinda looks that way, when generation after generation  the "rich and famous leaders" and the "main-street followers" continue to enthusiastically play their respective roles.  The monopolizing leaders authoritatively manage the followers appetite for goods and services, offer a living wage to the followers to produce the goods and services, and then reap the margin benefits of the followers purchasing the produced goods and services at monopoly enabled prices.  The derived margins produce low risk profits for the leader class who carefully constrain reinvestment options to protect against any erosion of their monopoly status. 

     True, historical capitalism sans cyber, the wonder of Western Civilization did pull humanity out of the mass deprevation and oppression of antiquity.  Now, however, in todays technology enabled consumer driven world, we, the freed, have constructed an economic prison from which we may never escape.  Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, if off to Walmart we go! 

     Of course that is the bad news, at least ontologically speaking.  In fairness, the good news is that, although we are doomed,, at least now we all have a 4K-TV........ and we have fulfilled the prophecy that "the poor will be with us always"..

Take the Blue Pill....

     Living here in Trump Nation, we are presently being admonished to think about our “moral profile” hundreds of times a day.  From the Bleeding-Left to the Alt-Right, every preacher, pundit, prosecutor, professor, and promoter is selling his/her own brand of “commodified virtue”.  Yes, it may be semi-science true that we, the audience, are assigned our "DNA Moral Marker”, at the Conception Lottery, but.....
     No problem, our culture has varigated the Universal Golden Rule Morality to resonate with as many as a dozen distinct identity groups.  For we post-moderns it doesn’t matter whether we are exploring the nuances of Charlottesville, Global Warming or Apple Pie, we can be damn sure that there will be legions of polarized devotees pleading their divergent truth, all claiming the high moral ground.  
     When I  think about it, it is extremely complicated, such that I quickly realize that it’s best not to think about it.  Probably it’s best to just be a "believer" and auto-subscribe to the folly of whichever identity priest pushed our button back about our 14th year.....not!

I BELIEVE.......

.........that in the eighth or ninth inning of life, most people stop misrepresenting facts and feelings.  Only the irrationally arrogant few continue to be controlled by ego expectations as they avoid befriending their impending expiration.  My personal experience has been that this “no future" consciousness yields remarkably happy “todays”.