The Human Experiment is facing its greatest challenge. It is a paradoxical situation. It defies logic and precedent and it will demand revolutionary thinking. Technology has brought us great systems of tools and communication media, but our mental mastery lags behind. The unintended consequences are overtaking the benefits. We have crossed a threshold in the progress of civilization, but the speed and complexity of the changes defy our ability to see or understand. Our minds are not prepared for the level of risk we have built into our immediate future. The rules have changed and we have not noticed. The planet will no longer support our numbers, will not tolerate the war, waste and corrupt power of wealth on which our economy is based. The global economy must be re-organized to the principles of sustainability and human rights. And because the U.S. creates the direction and momentum of the crisis, change must start here, and soon.
Now at the moment of crisis, democracy is undermined by the same obsolete mindset that brought us the crisis. We are caught in a vicious cycle of lies, corruption and denial. The momentum of the war / waste economy generates enough profit to hide the information we need to make democratic choices, AND enough to buy the politicians who should be working for us. The military-industrial mindset cannot be questioned from inside the corporation, or by the politicians, or by the information media. Our own fear, silence, apathy and bewilderment are essential side effects. They keep us from questioning the mindset and prevent us from imagining or demanding change. There's an unstated and false assumption that our "prosperity" and our "security" require war and waste. It's paradoxical yet typical of this predicament: that very assumption allows the theft of our real prosperity and security. But this message won't sell cars, or gas, or anxiety drugs, or beer.
