We Boomers grew up at a time when lush green grass lawns and large expanses of concrete were the paradigm for our yards.
Yet many of us today, if we had the chance to do all this over and re-invent home ownership, would opt for something far more eco-friendly, perhaps sprawling vegetable gardens.
Things are moving very quickly at this point.
At this rate, government of, by, and for the people will be extinguished in fairly short order.
My wife and I had our kids in the mid-1990s. Bill Clinton, a sane human being, was the U.S. president, the economy was strong, the USSR had dissolved, the world was largely unaware of global warming, and the times were generally marked with a certain level of reason and rationality. Accordingly, having children made sense at that point in time.
Compare that with today, where Trump and Musk are taking an axe to American democracy and all things decent. The planet is baking, but the world, especially the United States, is doing essentially nothing about it. At this point, it’s understandable if young couples are unwilling to bring children into this world.
I just had the pleasure to meet a young couple from Norway. A couple of interesting elements from our discussion:
1) They live on the southern part of the country, and I told them about the fellow I met recently who lives “about 800 miles north of Oslo; 300 miles above the Arctic Circle, who experiences 67 days of darkness every winter.” (Of course, the summer is the precise opposite; there are people mowing their lawns at 2 AM.)
They mentioned that most of the Norwegians who live in the extreme north bear a distinct resentment towards those in the more hospitable climates. I replied that the same prejudice exists in the United States, where the folks in New England or the Northern Plains think that we Southern Californians are soft, in terms of both physical and moral constitution.
2) Because of a family business interest, they divide their time between Norway and California. Remarkably, they pay about 28% income tax in Norway, and close to 40% in the United States, because of our combination of federal and state taxes. Of course, this isn’t exactly “apples-to-apples,” since they get free education and healthcare in Norway, where they have to come out-of-pocket for these items in the U.S.
They concede, however, that it’s tough to become extremely rich in Norway, because, as a social democracy, they have higher taxes on very large incomes, and, more importantly, a wealth tax. Thus people who have inherited extreme amounts of money, or have made north of a hundred million dollars normally wind up in places like Switzerland.
I replied that taxing the rich is a “thing” here in the U.S., but it’s doomed to failure, as our rich and powerful essentially own our lawmakers. Corruption like this exists nowhere in Scandinavia.
It seems that we Americans are watching our president working hard to destroy as many of our most beloved and important institutions as possible.
Sure, most of these targets are in the realm of public health and safety, education, and the environment. But the Kennedy Center? Who saw that coming?
Thanks to the reader who sent me this, as it provides hope.
It’s possible that significant numbers of Trump supporters will come to realize that they’ve been conned, and that virtually nothing in this country is better under this administration than it was in the past.
The point this fellow is making is the reason that it’s incorrect to say that one “believes” in anthropogenic global warming (AGW, aka climate change).
We either understand science or we don’t. We have beliefs in things that are based on faith or opinion.
This, of course, opens up the discussion regarding the trend in the United States to base public policy on anything other that science. We don’t seem to have a problem with the fact that our Secretary of Health and Human Services is a crackpot.
The modern-day insanity in U.S. politics and the ways it’s covered in the media has allowed many Americans to realize something important: there will always be a way to spin current events in favorite of the Fox News “Trumpists” as well as the progressives on the other side.
The meme here is a great example. Trump and Musk and the right-wing news that supports them are reporting that they are saving taxpayers tons of money, where sources like MSNBC are pointing out that gutting/eliminating government programs that provide Americans real value is actually an extremely costly and cruel thing to do.
Carl Sagan said something similar to Orwell’s observation at left:
“Once a democracy is lost, it’s almost impossible to recover.”
A key tactic employed by the Donald Trump / Elon Musk duo is to inflict so much damage to our nation and the rest of the world that individual citizens like you and me are paralyzed by the sheer velocity with which all this is coming at us.
The closing of USAID is just one of dozens of pieces of destruction, but, as shown at left, it’s a mighty one.
