A Nagging Suspicion

Optimism is one of the foundational values* of this great land of ours.

You know, the whole "tomorrow will be better than today" bit.

After all, the first few generations of Americans were screw-ups who had to leave wherever they were for one of several reasons: Religious, political, legal, or maybe just that they had failed to achieve any kind of success in their native lands.

So they came here, to the Land of Hope and Dreams, like it says on the brochure.

And for many people and many years, it was just that...

Recently, though, I've had this nagging suspicion that maybe, just maybe, we've already seen the best of it. The good times are rapidly ending and it will be all downhill from here.

Probably not a Cormac McCarthy dystopia in my lifetime; but certainly unpredictably unpleasant times ahead for my children and grandchildren.

Let us list some of the many things that will queer the deal for the generations that follow us:

Climate change. For a "Chinese hoax" it's amazing how wide spread and enduring it is. I don't want to go too far out on a limb here, but I think the 98% of climate scientists who agree that it is man made and therefore men can do something about it might be right, and the 2% or so that argue against human causes, and who, by the way, are usually bought and paid for by oil and other extraction industries, might be wrong. When California burns to the ground, Miami is completely underwater, and bits of New York City, too, maybe the 2% will finally come around--if the checks from the Koch brothers and the oil companies stop, that is. Until then, by all means let's Drill Baby Drill!

Antibiotic resistant diseases. All those goodies they shoot into our chickens and cows and pigs to make them healthy enough so we can eat them, have several "unintended consequences". One is that strains of microbes pop up that fewer and fewer drugs can combat. We are nearing a pandemic of some unknown origin, and there may not be anything we can do to stop it. Oh well, you didn't want to live forever anyway, did you?

The worldwide lurch to "strong men" leaders. All dictatorships are essentially the same: one man in charge; his family and a few trusted people making out like bandits, literally; and much suffering for the masses. Everything for sale to the highest bidder, including the right to pollute the air and water. And you either acquiesce, or are labelled an "enemy of the state." There have always been a handful of dictators scattered across the planet, though in the latter part of the 20th century they were usually isolated in inconsequential backwaters. These days, however, it is extremely discouraging that many millions of Americans seem to be fine with this approach to governing.

So, here we are. The optimist in me says there's still enough time to "fix" things. The pessimist says we won't.

It was fun while it lasted.

 *(That and an amazing ability to gloss over all of our failures--but that's another story.)