More of the same? Really?

I’m finding it increasingly difficult to really give a damn about national affairs. There seems to be no effective way to eliminate Republicans incompetent at governing, nor does there seem to be an upwelling of voters with torches and pitchforks ready to descend on Congress in order to force effective compromise. I doubt very much that the Founders envisioned a situation such as the nation faces today.

Perhaps the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will reawaken a strain of Luddites to bring some sanity to that sector before it does too much damage. In the process, maybe we will see a third major political party based on some version of democratic Anarchy. If we got lucky, significant progress along those lines might do much to diminish (eliminate?) global neoliberal capitalism, destroy global corporatocracy, and thereby eliminate ecocide.

“The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today
for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” ― Gaylord Nelson

Photo by J. Harrington

Look about and tell US how it is that perpetual growth producing more, bigger, faster, with little, if any, effective recycling or related activities is producing a world that functions well, makes people happy, and meets human needs. Perhaps next session, the Minnesota Legislature could, and should, establish a Task Force to study and report on the benefits of adopting a system like Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) instead of studying metro governance with few, if any, clear performance objectives in sight. On the other hand:

According to the Bhutanese government, the four pillars of GNH are:^[13]

1. sustainable and equitable socio-economic development;
2. environmental conservation;
3. preservation and promotion of culture; and
4. good governance.

The nine domains of GNH are psychological well-being, health, time use, education, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards.^[14][15][16]

As the old saying goes, “you ain’t lost if you don’t care where you are.” That’s about the only reason I can think of why we haven’t been declared yet another Lost Generation. The list of countries reported to hate each other seems to be growing. Respite is needed.

Happiness

By Jane Kenyon

There’s just no accounting for happiness,

or the way it turns up like a prodigal

who comes back to the dust at your feet

having squandered a fortune far away.

And how can you not forgive?

You make a feast in honor of what

was lost, and take from its place the finest

garment, which you saved for an occasion

you could not imagine, and you weep night and day

to know that you were not abandoned,

that happiness saved its most extreme form

for you alone.

No, happiness is the uncle you never

knew about, who flies a single-engine plane

onto the grassy landing strip, hitchhikes

into town, and inquires at every door

until he finds you asleep midafternoon

as you so often are during the unmerciful

hours of your despair.

It comes to the monk in his cell.

It comes to the woman sweeping the street

with a birch broom, to the child

whose mother has passed out from drink.

It comes to the lover, to the dog chewing

a sock, to the pusher, to the basketmaker,

and to the clerk stacking cans of carrots

in the night.

                     It even comes to the boulder

in the perpetual shade of pine barrens,

to rain falling on the open sea,

to the wineglass, weary of holding wine.

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