John Walker
Opinion Editor
I believe there are many reasons to give up on our current political system, and no, I am not writing about a failure of democracy. I am writing about the failure of our bi-partisan political sytem coerced by the financial industry. This nation no longer holds public interest over corporate profits. Skyscrapers are temples and Wall Street banks are denominations. I don’t know about you, but I grew up in a split family. My father was raised in Bank of America and my mother Citigroup. It was a conflicted childhood to say the least.
Does this sound absurd? Reality usually does. But 10 years from now this generation is going to wake up with more problems than even our current dreams can imagine. The fossil fuel crisis will be in full swing at that point, driving up energy prices. The economy will be worse than it is today. Our geopolitical standing will be on the decline after a decade of diplomatic negligence.
Even after this reality takes hold there will be no progress because of bitter fighting between the two parties. Of course this is only a problem for the majority of the country. Those with the most to lose need the chaos to keep the status quo. Without the left and right screaming at each other the world may get quiet just long enough to hear the bankers laughing their asses off.
When we look back at the world we have created let’s not fool our children. When they ask how we lost this battle to create a better world do not do as our parents did and pass the burden onto them. Just make sure to tell them the truth. The truth about how you did nothing. When the American Autumn began you could only criticize it because of its diluted message. Tell the truth about how you were busy at playing your favorite video game or watching the next episode of a show with no quality. Above all else, make sure to at least tell the next generation it is all your fault. Your lack of action is what brought this country to its knees. Not from an outside force, but from a virus within.
And while waiting for the perfect vaccine to come take care of the multitude of problems facing us today there was never once the realization of our own capabilities. We are the cure to the ails of this country. Our collective force of direct democracy and community welfare is the only cure there ever was to the sickness known as unchecked capitalism.
The social contract we deserve is not the same as the one envisioned by the Enlightenment thinkers. Our world is wholly different from any one they could have imagined. Their ideas are only as relevant as the issues they addressed in their own time and are not applicable to our current situations. Until we recognize this, there will be no progress.
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