By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
It’s easy enough to fall prey to the thought that the world is devolving, that our species is on the brink of existential crisis, given the headlines around the world and the inability of the principals of American governance to break through the corporate coup that has nibbled away at our democratic model for decades, rendering our system in shambles. It’s a hard truth, but evident on all levels, that politics in America is broken — tainted by money and corruption — seemingly beyond repair. Certainly politics is due an overhaul if democracy is to survive, either by revolution or evolution, perhaps both.
A tense public looks on, waiting to see what will happen next. While many object to the remarkable dearth of progress in Washington, most of us are no longer shocked that the majority of our store-bought politicians devalue human life in pursuit of profit and power, much like their corporate masters. If we question why the public doesn’t react with outrage, we don’t have to look farther than the decades of programming to want more, more, more of everything without looking at accountability to the planet or to each other. We cannot demand from our leaders what we don’t expect from ourselves.
A surprising number of us have continuing sympathy for the “greed is good” meme, hoping that the next Lotto ticket brings us a chance to experience a bit of that good life we hear so much about. In fact, polls show that most of the lowest wage earners consider Lotto purchase equivalent to retirement planning. That, and stalled earnings since the mid-70s, may contribute to the fact that fully half of our retiring seniors have nothing to depend on in old age but a meager Social Security allotment. This kind of wishful and disastrous thinking could be managed by better education, but we don’t fund that; some states, most of them Red, seem to like it that way.