Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later

What is needed now, more than ever, is leadership that steers us away from fear and fosters greater confidence in the inherent goodness and ingenuity of humanity.

President Jimmy Carter

President Carter goes on to say that, in his opinion, the world is at a turning point. I share that opinion.

In a recent interview President Carter stated that the United States of America has become the most warlike nation in the world. That statement in incontrovertible. It is time that we ask why it is that our nation, which we describe as the greatest nation on earth and a refuge for the downtrodden, is that way.

Here, within our own borders, we have millions who do not have adequate access to health care, we have food insecurity, violence that we seem to be unable to stop and a general lack of the comity that once held us together in the darkest of times. It is not that we lack the resources to meet these needs but that we lack the political will to make some hard choices. The divide between the haves and have-nots grows wider by the day. We know what to do about it but the inherent corruption in our political system plays to the strongest and wealthiest.

We are the world's largest manufacturer and vendor of the mightiest and most deadly weapons the world has ever seen. Once we acquired the corporate power and technology to develop them then it became necessary for there to be markets for them to be purveyed.

In a country with less than 1/10^th of the worlds population we consume on average 25% of the world's resources but China is coming on strong. The United States remains the only global superpower but that does not mean we are invincible. We would do well to remember that our military expenditures during the Cold War forced the Soviet Union into bankruptcy. Depending on who you ask, we spend some 25% to 60% of our budget in the defense department, a misnomer if ever there was one. We have not been threatened in any significant manner since WWII. 9/11 was a blow to the national psyche but from a military and economic standpoint it did little damage. We have damaged ourselves much worse than that tragedy did by ill advised military adventures that accomplished nothing but to engender hatred for us around the world and now we have insulted and disregarded our allies so that they have decided they are better off without us.

We have also been one of the big 3 in contributing to the greenhouse gasses that bring climate change which has the ability, if left unchecked, to not only destroy our nation but to bring to an end the human species. We are not alone. China, Russia and India are also huge contributors to Climate Change largely due to the use of coal as an industrial fuel and, to a lesser extent, oil and natural gas. The disturbing thing is that we possess, right now, the technology to bring those contributions to a halt. We have to ask ourselves why it is that we do not take advantage of those technologies to save an Earth for those who will come after us to reach for horizons we have seen only dimly.

What should we do? The obstacles seem insurmountable but, as with all things related to our species, nothing is beyond our reach if we unite in the pursuit of a common goal. It will take time and things will and must change. The threat of Climate Change is here and present. We will not be able to avoid it now that we have wasted the time for reasonable and painless efforts but we must change our definition of reasonable if we are to go forward.

Our political system is corrupt to the point that nothing that is difficult or causes pain can be done. The influence of money in our system is a cancer that must be excised or we will have no hope of remaining a republic. We will degrade into an autocracy that has classes that do not receive the benefits of our wealth. We must bring to heel our warlike nature and the machines that provide the instruments of death. This will require a massive diplomatic effort which we are currently unable to provide. For it to succeed we must have assurances that those machines of war will not be required. (I know that many will dismiss this out of hand but we will do this, one way or the other).

The world must invest in those technologies that produce energy but do not pollute. There are small nations and island nations that will require assistance which should be available from the richer ones. Yes, the economic disturbance will be significant if we dramatically curtail the industries that rely on the production of obsolete products. Their time has come and passed.

We are already seeing the results of Climate Change in the migration of people. It is expected to become tens of millions of people moving to find a place they can survive. Water is becoming a scarce commodity in places that are home to millions. We are likely to see much of the land that is our bread basket become arid and non-productive. The Ogallala Aquifer that waters much of the mid-west is being drawn down at rates that are unsustainable. We must learn to use our food resources with less waste. It is estimated that as much as 1/3^rd of our food production is wasted. To have such waste while people are starving is inhumane.

Most importantly, we must have leaders who are able to take us to a future in which cooperation is the norm and strife becomes rare. My Take is that the human species is at a crossroads where we must decide if we want to be present for an unlimited future or fall into the geological history where our existence is known only by the remains in the rock.

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one.

John Lennon