Biology Trumps Government 101: Live can be sustainable. Existing governments are not: (Draft 11-10-22)
Even before Trump’s
election, a survey of US national security experts listed the “dysfunction” of
the US Government as the second greatest threat to national security. Terrorism
was first. Pandemics were not listed. Since then, disturbing trends (weather events,
energy and food security, cyber and biosecurity, declining trust in government,
truth decay, populism, loss of freedoms, illegal immigration, national debt,
mass shootings, drug overdoses, obesity, wealth concentration, economic
uncertainty, species extinction, hate speech, the evolution of weapons,
political polarization, hypocrisy domestically and globally...) have
increased. And they are all connected.
We need a global reality
check. And about a year after President Trump left office Jen Easterly,
Director of CISA (Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency) our nation’s newest
federal agency that he created, summarized it. “Everything is connected, everything is
interdependent, so everything is vulnerable.... And that’s why this has
to be a more than whole of government, a more than whole of nation
[effort]. It really has to be a global effort....” Cybersecurity and biosecurity are oxymorons,
making security itself is an illusion.
Freedom is real! And we are free to do whatever we want, but nothing, and
nobody will be free of the consequences.
The primary source of
these trends is the result of our primary governance institutional systems are
based on the illusion of independence.
Consider the US Constitution and the United Nations. Both remain founded on a faulty ‘core’ principle of independence - a
mental concept that exists nowhere in the known universe. This flawed concept has yielded other
delusional concepts like “peace through strength”, “democracy”, and “national
sovereignty”). Under these non-natural
human invented creations the global priority has been the protection of
governments and corporations while the protection of human rights and the
environment get mostly lip service.
Skeptical? Read the
Constitution’s preamble. Then grade each of its seven objectives. Read
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and grade the UN’s success.
It’s obvious that neither
of these flawed ‘independence’ based governing systems will change anytime
soon. This means making urgent
investments in halting, reversing, and preventing the symptomatic trends above
essential to every aspect of health globally.
Fortunately, rapid progress in preventing mass human deaths, diseases, disabilities,
and suffering is achievable with humanity's existing resources and
technologies. But ONLY if ‘we the
people’ generate sufficient political will with a genuine patriotic commitment
to ‘liberty and justice for all’. What?
Reread the first paragraph
of America’s “Declaration of Independence”.
It holds these profound yet mostly ignored words, “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God”. Our
nation’s founding ideals have been applied. Fortuitously nature’s
bountiful systems freely provided all of humanity's basic life support
infrastructure and our modern life. And now securing “the Blessings of
Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” will depend entirely on how well we treat
nature and each another globally.
Thomas Paine in his pamphlet Common
Sense stated "Here then is the origin and rise of
government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue
to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz., freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with snow, or our ears
deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our
understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right.”
He asserted “It is the
duty of everyman, so far as his ability allows, to detect and expose delusion
and error.” And, "We have it in our power to begin the
world over again."
Abraham Lincoln later wrote that ‘our
Declaration of Independence is our “Apple of Gold” and our Constitution its “Frame
of Silver”’.
Why do we ignore fundamental
principles? Gravity? Biology?
Sustainability? If we refuse to
re-engineer our political systems to codify the “truths” that we hold to be
“self-evident” the next best path is funding the 17 Sustainable Development
Goals. These are the best health plans for the three
most complicated systems in the known universe that have enabled us to survive
and thrive for thousands of generations.
Nature, our immune system, and our mind's problem-solving ability. For 3 billion years microbes have always been the higher life form's greatest threat. Pathogens change rapidly yet immune
systems kept up with them. Now our mind’s
concepts are failing to grasp the survival value of maintaining healthy immune
systems and the environment. Genetic diversity and adaptation of our minds to this
reality are our best survival values.
Hostility to diversity and ridge beliefs will not survive.
Human experiences and
perceptions originate via three sources. First,
our five senses (yet plants, other animals, and scientific instruments offer
vastly superior sensory powers). Second, our emotions/feelings (internal
experiences) - often depend on our limited senses or experiences with religious,
political, or cultural values we adopted.
Last, via mental concepts and our minds many profoundly powerful
capabilities. Problem-solving, creativity. capacity to believe
ANYTHING!, defending flawed ideas that damage relationships or lead to
violence, mass murdering others who look different or believe in alternative
concepts, ignoring wisdom and what we know needs to be done, codifying women as
lesser citizens, understanding root causes...
"We need more
understanding of human nature, because the only real danger that exists is man
himself. He is the great danger. And we are pitifully unaware of it. We know
nothing of man ... far too little. His psyche should be studied -- because we
are the origin of all coming evil." - C.G. Jung
Our linear thinking mind
struggles to grasp the power of technology’s exponential growth. Combined with
its affordability, speed, and spread of the distribution. anonymity, plus its multi-use
nature persistently dependent on the will of the users. And how the pace of
change in our government systems is glacial if not flatlined or going
backward. Static constitutions cannot
meet all three underlying human expectations: Freedom, Security, and Independence. We can only have two. Nearly every human problem is a
freedom/security dilemma. Because we
believe we are independent.
And, we have only two
fundamental means of resolving disputes. Fight or talk (the law of force vs
the Rule of Law.) Majority rules never
last. For the Rule of Law to function best
the laws must be made and enforced by a democratic process, applied equally to
everyone, and focused solely on protecting fundamental human rights and the
environment.
"A bill of rights is
what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or
particular, and what no just government should refuse." Thomas Jefferson.
The evolution of weapons
and war should make the creation of the global rule of law a non-negotiable if
governments refuse to fund and achieve the 17 SDGs by the year 2030.
"When shall it be
said in any country of the world, my poor are happy, neither ignorance or
distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets
of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes not oppressive; the rational
world is my friend because I am friend of its happiness. When these things can
be said, then may that country boast of its constitution and
government." Thomas Paine.
Thus humanity is left with
just two types of laws. The “Laws of
Nature and Nature’s God” and Human laws.
If not in harmony expect global catastrophic consequences.
There’s only one Truth
that will set humanity free. Our personal religious truth and
ad nauseum political truth are incompatible. The practical truth
is self-evident to all rational minds.
In a 1789
letter to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson said “The earth belongs always to the living
generation… Every constitution and then every law, naturally expires at
the end of 19. years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force and not
of right.”
Dr. Benjamin Rush (a
signer of the Declaration) suggested Jefferson edit its best-known
phrase “Life, Liberty and the pursuit...” suggesting “Happiness”
be changed to “Health”. Imagine how different we and the world might be
today if Jefferson had listened. And our constitution prioritized it.
Could the thousands of
organizations and billions of people in the world unite to build a ‘movement of
movements (environment, peace, and social/economic justice movements) that
Naomi Klein called for in 2014 Climate March?
A MoM so powerful it could create the political will to globally freeze
and seize the trillions of dollars stashed in offshore accounts by kleptocrats,
oligarchs, violent extremists, criminal cartels, and obscenely wealthy
capitalists avoiding taxes?
Woody Allen once said humanity
stands at a crossroads. One leads to utter
hopelessness and despair. The other, is to
complete annihilation. He hoped we would
choose the right path. He didn’t
understand that every crossroad offers three other choices.
