It is sad to watch as special interests and passionate extremists (left and right) vaunt their causes and perceived needs at the expense of the continued existence of the United States of America. We have so many "my way or the highway" factions in this country threatening and pulling at each other such that one really has to begin to question whether the United States can survive intact under such strains. We've fractured before, and it took a bloody Civil War to put it back together, but the next time, we might not be so lucky.
UCLA's Jared Diamond, writing in his book Collapse, notes why many reasons social and governmental structures fail: disease, irreparable environmental damage, climate change, economic chaos, etc. Hitler's infamous "10,000 Year Reich" lasted from 1933 to 1945, and there are very few continuous social structures that have lasted more than 400 years. We've been around 234 years, one of the oldest, currently-existing continuous political systems on earth. And we seem to take our continued existence for granted, a very, very dangerous assumption. We need to appreciate what we have… and how so many of us are contributing toward the possibility of ending that wonderful experiment we call America.
Polarization: Special interests in corporate America have managed to influence the rule-making at all levels to tilt the playing field in their favor. Whether it is favorable tax treatment that only impacts the rich, loopholes in corporate taxation, bailouts for major industries (primarily financial), the lack of sufficient regulations on powerful segments of our society, America is becoming a plutocracy where moneyed classes are replacing the British peerage system we found abhorrent when we broke away from England in 1776; the result of privilege has become equally corrosive. There's a lot of unrest – from Tea Partiers to socialists – who are unhappy about the way life is, but they differ in understanding the root causes. Bottom line: there are fewer folks in the middle class, the top 2% are richer than ever, and the poor are swelling in numbers as people drop out of the economic middle: "The percentage of Americans struggling below the poverty line in 2009 was the highest it has been in 15 years, the Census Bureau reported [September 16th], and interviews with poverty experts and aid groups said the increase appeared to be continuing this year… With the country in its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, four million additional Americans found themselves in poverty in 2009, with the total reaching 44 million, or one in seven residents. Millions more were surviving only because of expanded unemployment insurance and other assistance… The share of residents in poverty climbed to 14.3 percent in 2009, the highest level recorded since 1994. The rise was steepest for children, with one in five affected, the bureau said." New York Times (September 17th). With fewer and fewer people feeling enfranchised by this political system, unrest will only amplify; wars are often fought with lesser provocation.
Environmental Impairment: As sea levels rise, sooner or later, every coastal community is going to have to deal with the consequences. We've seen what happened in the Gulf Coast when Hurricane Katrina created storm surges that were no longer repelled by the mangrove and other swamps that once deflected such waves. Likewise as major water supplies run dry from overuse – like the huge Ogallala Aquifer (once the size of Lake Huron) that supplies crop irrigation to states from the Dakotas to north Texas that will run out of water within three decades – once fertile lands will become economically impaired dust bowls. Climate change will also render once temperate, crop friendly regions into arid plains or insect-attracting areas where disease may follow. Depletion of petroleum reserves and excessive dependence on importation of this increasingly scarce resource (and hence increasingly expensive) will drive many economic activities out of existence. Picture the rescue-relief demand placed on the federal government, from disaster aid to economic bailouts, as each of these catastrophe's becomes an increasing reality. Will states without problems really want to pay for entire regions with massive and very expensive problems? Or will be in some states' economic interest to withdraw from the Union or form new alliances with similar states and push away from the rest?
Infrastructure Collapse: With much of this nation's plumbing and sewage systems reaching well beyond the century mark, with massive dams silting up and developing structural issues, similar problems with levees, potholes and over-crowded streets and highways grinding traffic to a crawl if not a stop, it's clear if the infrastructure that holds us together fails, that is one more incredible force that will drive us apart and make use less competitive. In a strange way, the failing of our national educational system is another facet of this decline.
External Threats: Whether the threat is from a smuggled al Qaeda nuclear device or the growing economically competitive forces in countries like China, India, Brazil and Russia, the United States, debt-ridden and facing an indefinite period of economic malaise, is no longer a sleek battleship cruising the oceans without challenge. We are completely vulnerable to the vagaries from the outside, many unpredictable. New superpowers are emerging to challenge our preeminence in all things global; the dollar may soon no longer be the reserve currency (at least not by itself, possibly only in a blend with other currencies) for global trade.
In the end, we need to band together as Americans, look at how we can support each other, maximize how our country can survive and prosper, re-commit to a new a reinvigorated United States and take personal steps, each of us, to create a better nation. "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." President John F Kennedy. If we don't stop bickering among ourselves, we can choke on the dust of the world passing us by.
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