For those who do not have time to read “AntiPartisan Voters Guide” as revised, here is THE BOTTOM LINE in 500 words, more or less.
Over the past 200 years human’s have evolved economic, social and physical systems that depend on competition and consumption in the pursuit of safety and happiness.
The practical result has been to maximize consumption (aka, Mass OverConsumption) in order to optimize short-term profit. This strategy is justified on the assumption that it assures citizens access to HEALTH, SAFETY and WELFARE.
How has that worked for Homo sapiens?
For the most materially fortunate humans to every walk the Earth, especially those living in the most powerful and consumptive nation-state that has ever existed, the answer is:
NOT WELL.
HEALTH – Not well based on performance and cost of the health delivery system as measured by treatment outcomes, longevity, benefit distribution equity and citizen actions in support of their own health.
SAFETY – Not well based on ongoing wars, global terrorism, crime, incarceration rates and random aggression or based on food security, water quality, drug resistant pathogens and other parameters.
WELFARE – Not well based on the widening Wealth Gap and on measures of happiness compared to other nation-states that consume less per capita and rely less on unregulated competition.
Globally, the sustainability of human activity does not look promising when judged by parameters such as:
● Resources conservation / consumption (depletion) – humans are reaching or exceeding Peak Supply of petroleum, rare metals, rare gases, marine animals and other resources
● Energy consumption – dysfunctional generation, distribution and consumption
● Food production – topsoil loss, fossil water depletion, mal-distribution and waste of fresh water
Of primary concern is dysfunctional human settlement patterns which drive Mass OverConsumption and are the root cause of:
● The Mobility and Access Crisis
● The Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis, and
● The Helter Skelter Crisis
THE BOTTOM LINE
On a small planet with Global economic, social and physical interconnections, GROSS INEQUITY at the Community-, SubRegional-, Regional-, MegaRegional- and continental-scales OR between ethnic and religious groups is NOT sustainable.
All citizens must have the opportunity to prosper based on effort, ability and acceptance of responsibility for their actions – individual and collective. Success cannot be based on gambling, happenstance and inheritance or on inequitable distribution of resources and opportunity.
Avoiding Collapse of civilization as-it-has-evolved and the survival for Homo sapiens comes down to understanding that:
In a ‘flat’ world with:
● wide-spread literacy,
● Instant communications / information dissemination, and
● Wide distribution of weapons of mass destruction / massive stockpiles of weapons of conventional destruction / ubiquitous access to weapons of inter-personal destruction:
There is no alternative but to make Fundamental Transformations of governance structure. These transformations can facilitate evolution of Fundamental Transformation of humans settlement patterns and of economic systems. These three Transformations are imperative if citizens are to achieve a sustainable trajectory for their civilization.
The question remains:
Will the genetic proclivities toward competition, acquisition, consumption and xenophobia that got Homo sapiens to this point in their evolution prevent the emergence of an Urban society with a sustainable trajectory?
EMR