Conservative solutions to Climate Change

The George Shutz and Ted Halstead op-ed (The winning Conservative climate solution. Jan 17, 2020) is a breath of fresh CO2 tainted air!   

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-winning-republican-climate-solution-carbon-pricing/2020/01/16/d6921dc0-387b-11ea-bf30-ad313e4ec754_story.html

But there are a few other essential mechanism conservatives could adopt “to reduce emissions”

in addition to the “three ways…regulations, subsidies and pricing” that they list.  They could stop breathing when they deny global warming exists.  Every word they use spews more CO2 as well as the misinformation and delusional concepts that their colleagues stick to. They could also convert their grass yards to native plant gardens, eat less red meat, help impeach a President 

that fails to accept the climate reality, and do what they can to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that provide the only real comprehensive solution to our environmental problems and most other threats we now face.   

Do the math!  It’s not all about money, markets and votes. It’s about justice, and conserving life as we know it and need it.

My shortest blog! I'm leaving for Haiti tonight ;-).

How hard would it be for N. Korea, Russia, China, or Al Qaeda…to frame Iran for an attack on the US?

Using biologicals or cyber, relatively easy…and either viral attack could take weeks if not months to attribute to a specific attacker… if it can be done at all.

Imagine the US response to even the ‘revenge’ assassination of a high ranking US General using any conventional means (truck bomb, sniper, home delivery of IED by drone…).  Iran could try to deny it…and I’m sure Trump would believe them.  NOT.  Just like they (or most Americans) wouldn’t believe ANYTHING that comes out of his mouth, tweet, or administration’s minions.  

Lets just hope none of the entities that dislike the US “Our way or the death way” tactic is smart enough (or has the capacity) to launch such a provocative attack using Iran’s fingerprint or leaving behind a personal ID.

War with Iran?

Maybe.  If so, prepare for greater losses of our nation’s freedom, security, prosperity, and what little congeniality we have left, than anything since 9-11 nearly two decades ago.  Why?


The personal, local, and global impact of the exponential growth of technology is nearly impossible to comprehend mentally.  So, more importantly, understand that it is literally impossible for our form of government to effectively respond to this profound growth.   The local and global implications of this indescribable pace of technological change should NOT be underestimated.  Nor the commitment and capacity of Iran to use it to their advantage given our unpreceded dependence on technology and our malfunctioning ‘sick care’ system to manage biological or cyber threats.


The Iranian general murdered by a US drone strike was a leap beyond the recent escalation of non-lethal tactics that both the US and Iran have been waging.  Funny thing about humans.  Killings have consequences.


Some rational for this killing goes back to the last Iraq war.  The targeted general was linked to Shiite elements attacking US forces using “the most-dreaded explosive devise” Americans soldiers encountered there - ‘high-tech IEDs” engineered by Iranian scientists.  These were “complex and difficult to produce” but slightly smaller than a coffee can and easy to conceal.  But they could effectively penetrate inches of armor and obliterate crews inside of our best fighting machines. These explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) “killed at least 196 US troops and wounded nearly 900 between 2005 and 2011.”
  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/01/03/soleimanis-legacy-gruesome-high-tech-ieds-that-haunted-us-troops-iraq/


In 2007 a “senior defense official told the Washington Post “We honestly did not believe that these guys were capable of doing this kind of stuff…we underestimated them.’”

Never underestimate Persians (or anyone, especially those with a grudge).  The most popular sport in Iran is wrestling.  Most Americans think wrestling is about strength or believe its a scripted tussle.  That’s understandable given how little real wrestling is covered within our nation’s sports pages - if its covered at all.  What’s vital to understanding the problem we are all wrestling with called terrorism…is that strength is rarely a deciding factor in conflict.  It’s useful, but more important in deciding victories is technique, tactics, strategy, and commitment.    Iranian’s dominate the Olympics and World Game competition in wrestling when the Russians aren’t doing it.   Neither should ever be underestimated.


Hawkish US policy makers and patriots understandably justify our nation’s assassination of one of their generals.  But if their memory goes back further than our insanely calculated invasion of Iraq, they may remember that during our alliance with Iraq the US provided both biological and chemical weapons precursors to Saddam during his war with Iran.   He used these WMD precursors and our assistance in targeting and inflicting tens of thousands of casualties on Iranian troops.

Why did we do that? Because US policy before that was motivated by the embarrassment of Iranians capturing our embassy there along with 52 American diplomats and citizens and holding them for 444 days.    

Why?  Because many Iranians were rightfully angered by US covert operations influencing the overthrow of their democratically elected Iranian leader, and replacing him with a brutal thug friendly to US interests.


Yes. Nation states often try to influence elections in other states.  (During the US Presidential election in 2004 I worked for MoveOn in New Hampshire.  A week before the election we were inundated with ‘insurgents’ from the surrounding states of Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts.)  Political borders do not stop the chaos that spread between borders (national or global) and narrow interests within any limited political boundary are impacted by all those around it.  Combine this local influence with the global influence of technology, economics, health, crime, and environmental factors and this ‘interference’ is understandable.  Legal?  Yes, within the US federation.  No. within a global confederation where the only real law is the law of the jungle.  The lack of enforcement capacity, or the protection of human rights or the environment, in international law leaves only war, sanctions, diplomacy, terrorism, or assassinations in an attempt to hold any real or perceived aggression accountable.  Revenge?  Yes.  And given the absence of any form of real justice between nations that’s what we are left with.


But in a world where everyone is left with increasing capacity for mass murder resulting in increasing government efforts and technological capacity to invade anyone’s privacy…don’t expect to stay safe or believe your other valuable freedoms will protect you or continue.


When drones or computers can deliver biological or cyber viruses that can catastrophically disrupt human or political bodies…with no affordable (or politically acceptable) means of stopping them before they cause damage, or even identifying their origins with absolute certainty, until after the damage, no one should be rationally optimistic about the future.


Studies show that optimists are more likely to overlook the barriers in achieving their goal.    Again, underestimation can be catastrophic.   Trump’s election is the best evidence of progressive optimism. 

His optimism regarding his assassination policy is unlikely to end well.  

We must urgently make the choice between the global rule of law...or nature's law of force.   If we fail to abide by the Laws of Nature's God...(the Golden Rule) expect hell on earth.

Nov. 24, 2019 National "Can we change? Day" (160th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s publication of “The Origin of Species”)

Exactly one year ago my blog post suggested Nov. 24 could be “World Money Day”.  Humanity needs such a day to examine our assumptions about money and its powerful capacity to maximize human freedom and security on our increasingly troubled planet.



We know that money does not make the world go around.  That’s done by natural forces.  Money is only a human concept (perhaps the source of all evil when greed becomes more valued than human needs or the environment) and like most things it has evolved.  Originally it was a mean of exchanging goods and services.  Not it’s a measure of value that we put on things regardless of their importance.  

For a humorous account of its evolution watch the first 4 minutes of the recent Netflix movie “The Laundromat” starring Meryl Streep.  It exposes money laundering and its ‘secrets’ linked to global economic and political corruption.   “Secret #1” is “The meek are all ‘screwed”.  If you are an individual unable to afford an offshore account (or one of the three US states where they legally exist) that legally values ‘privacy’ above ‘liberty and justice for all’ (and national security) you are one of the “meek”.  Welcome to the crowd.

The Bible suggests ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’.  Evidence suggest we’ve largely inherited both unprecedented wealth and comforts as well as increasing global chaos and potential for disaster.   And the meek helped create both.  Scientists, engineers, laborers, administrators, wise investors, and a relatively large legal system ensured the first.   A wealthy few and a majority of US policy makers (whom we have largely ignored) legally rigged the national and global economic system to their own greedy advantage, while ignoring or accelerating the global chaos.  Their advantage and the chaos continue to grow.  Meanwhile, the rest of us are so busy with other things (both meaningful and trivial) that we ignored this rigging.  We trusted our law makers to protect our best interests.  They didn’t. 

I dare you to make a list of unsustainable trends that persist with virtually no chance of us stopping anyone of them without a serious crash happening first.    Laws could be passed to stop or prevent such crashes, but political party loyalty appears to be more powerful than sustainable public interests.  Advances in technology have only accelerated the globalization of money, environmental problems, health threats, a new arms race, the proliferation of WMD, mistrust in government, and the population of hateful/violent extremists.

Back to Darwin.  Most people without a science degree believe that the fundamental product of evolution is that ‘only the strong survive’.  This is a profound misrepresentation of the fundamentals of Darwin’s theory.  It’s likely that those wealthy enough to establish an offshore account - and stash their millions into it- believe that ‘only the rich survive’.  Or, at least have the most fun, freedom, and security before passing their mega wealth onto their offspring in hopes of enhancing their survival chances.  If these monstrously wealthy individuals really understood the acceleration of the wide range of threats to all humanity (including their own offspring) they might focus less on stashing additional wealth into the $32 trillion (2014 estimate) already stashed there.  Stashed by them, oligarchs, kleptocrats, drug cartels, and violent extremist groups, all protected by privacy laws.   

In evolutionary terms physical strength or economic wealth will ultimately be useless for anyone’s health or survival.  In reality we are all irreversibly dependent on one another for the health and essential maintenance of the multiple layers of vital systems and structures in our bodies, governments, and environment.  Systems and structures we all rely on every minute of every day for our ultimate survival.

In almost any likely future our dependence on each other and smartly engineered technologies will be essential to responding to or recovering from any catastrophic event.  Understanding this, it makes economic sense to adequately invest now in preventive measures as well as adequate preparation measures to empower our resilience.   

Given the pace of technological change and absence of any effective governance systems at the national or global level now, our local and state governments will likely be overwhelmed and unable to cope with most of the coming threats (pandemics, coronal mass ejections, debt sparked economic collapse, bioterrorism, AI, WMD proliferation, loss of our antibiotic arsenal, mass species extinctions, global warming, refugee flows, asteroids…) some of which are existential threats and some that are inevitable.

Our government rarely does what makes sense. It responds, if at all, to squeaky wheels.  Investments in prevention appear as un-American.  And ethics appears as something taught in places of worship and colleges but not government or business schools.  

Most damaging may be our comparatively sick culture that we as a nation has adapted to over the last few decades.  Our lethal obesity rate, suicide rate, debt, declining longevity, mass shootings, opioid deaths, and loneliness epidemic are some of the more obvious symptoms.  Uncivil political discourse, mistrust in institutions (political, economic, religious, educational…) and the belief that either disarmament or a stronger military will keep us safe, misses the fundamental truths.

We were supposed to hold certain truths to be self-evident.  We have frequently pledged before our flag, “liberty and justice for all”.  But we largely expect things to get better without investing time, money, intellect, and the American spirit” into building a more perfect union or applying the Golden Rule.

The fundamental survival principle that Charles Darwin offered humanity in ‘The Origin of Species” is the survival enhancing protecting of genetic diversity -  and its prime benefit of adapting to changing conditions.  We put too much emphasis on monocropping our diversity and adapting our natural environments to support ‘our kind’ and our comforts to the extent of risking our future.   Our sciences and engineering capacity yielded unprecedent power to change things for the better - or for the worse -- depending on our basic values and intentions.  Meanwhile, the world’s major religions offer us the most fundamental principle for cooperation and justice – the Golden Rule, another powerful (and I believe genetically coded) survival tool.

Unfortunately, our individual minds and bodies desire to defend flawed concepts, seek comfort and pleasure while ignoring the fundamental needs of others as well as the essential environmental processes that all of life depends on.   This mental tendency continues to divide us by nationality, ethnicity, sexual preference, religious beliefs, political ideology, and economic standing.

What is required is the understanding that if we don’t change, we will not survive the coming chaos.  Rapid change is essential to preventing inevitable chaos (see unsustainable trends list), and best preparing for the chaos we cannot prevent.

Rapid change will require a well informed and well-organized citizenry who understand that voting is essentially useless if we stand back between elections and allow well paid lawyers and lobbyists to continue rigging the legal system that ‘we the people’ are fundamentally responsible for.  Both political parties have allowed this rigging and appear gutless to stop it.  That leaves it up to us (from every political party), to change the system, or continue getting screwed.

We need a holistic approach to the enormous list of problems now before us.  None can be prioritized except making rapid and sufficient investments in the preventive measures the world agreed to at the UN for the year 2030.  Lacking trust or enthusiasm in the UN is understandable.   But the fact remains, that our global interdependence demands we invest in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals before 2030.   Globally protecting human rights instead of continuing to defend the flawed concept of national sovereignty can we dampen the chaotic foreign forces walls won’t stop.   Tapping the corrupt global economic system that allows trillions in profits to be stashed in offshore accounts is the place to start.  

A movement of progressive movements could achieve a global ban on private ‘investment’ havens’ and then freeze and seize some of trillions stashed in them.   More than enough money there for creating a sustainable heaven on earth for all our planets inhabitants and their offspring.

Things change.  Can we?  Can we evolve?

The coming Race war?

The coming Race War… or war to save the human race:  It’s our choice.   And it needs to be made very soon!  

[This blog was inspired by today's front-page Washington Post story leading to two full pages of history and concern regarding the growing threat of a race war.]   “Hunting Black men to start a ‘race war’”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/local/race-war-murder-hate-crime

We have within our genes the capacity for genocide as well as the capacity for compassion, justice and the Golden Rule.  Our mind can engineer either outcome.   It’s vital for our minds to grasp the fundamental fact that the same technologies used to engineer a genocide can also enable us to create heaven on earth.  It is the concepts we hold dear in our mind that ultimately inspire our heart to love or hate. 


Biology is literally the science of the study of life.  Studying biology can empower either aspiration.  Studying the mechanics of biology alone can result in genocidal bioweapons or biosecurity threats that lead to the ‘war that ends all wars’…by eradicating our species.   A deep dive into the origins of life (from either a science or biblical perspective) however, can also yield the fundamental principles essential to the perpetuation of our species. 
  

What are those fundamental principles?  Abraham Lincoln convinced me that ‘framing’ principles in the context of “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” that are offered to us in the first paragraph of our Declaration of Independence, is our species greatest hope.   Not our Constitution.  To him the “principles” within “Our Declaration of Independence” are essential.  Our nation’s Declaration is our “apple of gold”… “and our Constitution” is “the picture of silver framed around it”.



FP #1.  Genetics do not determine our destiny.   Recent studies of epigenetics destroy the long held scientific understanding that the genes we are born with, we are stuck with.  In fact, various stressors outside our cellular DNA can alter how genes are expressed in both our bodies and our brains.


FP #2.  Genetic variability is our species greatest ‘strength”.    When Darwin coined the term “survival of the fittest” many people understood this ‘law of nature’ to mean ‘survival of the strongest’.  As a former wrestler I assure you that any strength you rely on can and will be used against you.   One’s capacity to adapt to changes is and will remain the greatest strength.  Genetic variability is profoundly enhanced by the exchange and recombination of genes through sex.   Hybrids can result in variations of life that can withstand catastrophic changes in the environment (nature, economic, social…). 


FP #3.  Earth has an expiration date.  White supremacists and other genetic ‘purist’ motivated extremists fail to comprehend our need for biological diversity within and beyond our species if life as we know it, is to ultimately survive Earth’s fate.   Earth and all of its precious life WILL be vaporized in a few billion years when the Sun ages.  Or we could all be vaporized next week by a planet killing asteroid or Gama ray burst originating ten thousand light years away when it finally reaches our tiny planet and obliterates any DNA/RNA based life forms. 


FP #4.  The inability of human “moral virtue to govern the world”.  Given the unlimited variations in human bodies, languages, and beliefs; our capacity to create new tools and concepts; and our mental ability to believe ANYTHING -- and then kill or die for that cherished but flawed belief -- disastrous tensions/passions can be expected.  And humanity must engineer an effective means (systems and structures) for governing them.  This should be obvious.  Thomas Paine expressed it most succinctly in his pamphlet “Common Sense”.   The need for a “form of government from a principle in nature” to ultimately maximize human “freedom and security”. 


FP #5 ‘United…We stand’ a chance of surviving human tensions and inevitable natural events.  Given the evolution of weapons that we continue to engineer for maximum human destruction -- divided, we will likely destroy ourselves before nature does.   Or, deplete our natural resources before we can learn and incorporate all of nature’s wisdom it has generated since the beginning.   There is a biological reason for “the Golden Rule” underlying of every major religion.  Any species lacking the will or the capacity to defend its kind, procreate, and defend its own would have likely perished long ago.  Survival is a fundamental principle of all life and fairness (justice for all) helps insure it.  


As we end this decade and 2020 begins, we must quickly learn that there are ‘self-evident truths’ that fake news and deep fakes will never spoil.   Nearly two decades ago the “Global War against Terrorism” was launched.  It continues in a low-profile version today in over 90 nations.  There are more ‘extremists today and they are not going away from fear of military force.  They only go deeper into hiding and tactics we will not be able to defend against.  Our collective failure to invest in prevention instead of preemption, assassination, kinetic violence, and containment is fulfilling Osama Bin Laden’s original two goals – breaking us economically and dividing us politically.  We didn’t need any help with either but we do need to change how we respond to ‘terror’.  


‘We the people’, social media, big data intelligence, robotics, and the most powerful and wealthy nations, corporations, or tech giants in the world --  must remember that technology and economic theories are only tools.   We ultimately decide how they will be used and must understand the consequences of abusing them.  Unless we recognize and act on this humanity may yet lose the right to survive and the opportunity to thrive. 


The one thing we can do this decade to ensure we make it to, and well beyond 2030, is fund and achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.   These are the closest thing we will get to the ‘Golden Rule”, enforcing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and codification of our Declaration of Independence. 


The human race is worth fighting for.  Compassion and cooperation in achieving ‘liberty and justice for all”… our best weapons we will ever have to win this war.   

November 9, 2019: The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

November 9, 2019:  The 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Contemplating this historical event, I’ve read some informed opinions regarding it’s significance.  One rational view I’ve heard started with a question.  Did we really win the Cold War?  He answered, ‘not really’ and went on to document why.   Essentially, it was not.  Not if 'the fall' it was viewed as a turning point for a better world to come given the human aspiration for freedom.  

Here's my own twisted perspective.  It was certainly evidence of an aspiration for freedom.  Unfortunately, most of us in ‘free’ nations, squandered that jolt of reality.  And after that we failed in our roll in building that better world of ‘liberty and justice for all’.   I'll assert that our primary reason was in believing democracy was the key to maximize humanities freedom and security.  That democracy was more important than 'justice for all" and the protection of human rights.

The recent historical outbreak in democracies of populism and protest should have quashed any such belief.  Anyone studying and fully grasping the flaws in this human created principle we call ‘democracy’, would certainly recognize that the benefits of ‘democracy’ are far from any inevitable positive outcome without a transformational change in governing systems.   

Over the ages many minds far wiser and smarter than most of ours have warned against such optimism of yielding power to the ignorant masses.   It appears most of our ‘modern’ minds remain opposed (or ignorant) of the consistently reasoned wisdom of old.  Popularity does not fix problems.  Neither does optimism.  Abiding by fundamental principles can.   We should adopt those offered in our Declaration of Independence and codify them.  They were known by those who drafted our U.S. Constitution. Then largely ignored (I’m guessing) for economic and populace reasons.   They (our founding fathers) should have walked their talk.

Today I read a book review on “Paradise Lost”.  A best seller about 400 years ago.  The review suggested it contained the answer to most of the important questions humans have wanted asked.  I was stymied by finding out it was poetry, in blank verse no less, and not easy to understand.  So I read the cribbed notes version.  And the first four line intro hit home.  Essentially, the origins of all human suffering is because Adam and Eve didn’t listen.  They ate from the “fruit of the forbidden tree”.   

According to the crib version Paradise Lost is as much about hierarchy as obedience.  And the “spatial hierarchy” of “the universe” puts “Heaven above, Hell below, and Earth in the middle” forming a “social hierarchy of angels, humans, animals and devils.”  “To obey God is to respect this hierarchy.”  And, “humankind’s disobedience is a corruption of God’s hierarchy.” 

When thinking about the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” I can’t help but believe that the protection of human life and the environment (God’s creation) would be respectful to “God’s hierarchy.”   Yet, it seems ‘self-evident’ that most voters of every religious denomination, most policy makers from every political party, and most leaders from every nation, persistently fail to abide by this hierarchy.   And then we the governed, who elected them, wonder why things aren’t going so well.  Or, that nearly every aspect of our comfortable civilized lives is simply unsustainable.  Economic debt, global warming, extinction of species, income inequality, the evolution of weapons and war, and the persistently acceptance of corruption as part of both our economic (capitalism) and political (financed) systems.  Systems that were rigged by the wealthy under our democratic masses noses because we were too comfortable to care.

In summary the majority of voters have simply allowed this corruption of God’s hierarchy.  We were/are free to believe that democracy will cure this corruption.  But as long as a majority of US voters (or humanity) remain ignorant of the survival value of the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” we will be as free as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  And just as foolishly never be free of the consequences of using our freedom irresponsibly.

I’ve yet to grasp the conclusion offered by the crib notes author - that Milton (the poem’s author) wanted to show that the fall of humankind was part of God’s greater plan, and that God’s plan is justified.    https://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/paradiselost/

But I do arrogantly suggest an alternative future (and value system) is possible.  One that enables humanity to find the Paradise we lost.   Science has provided us with the tools needed to create heaven on earth.  Never has humanity had the comforts now afforded by such powerful and increasingly affordable technologies.  Yet comfort is not what our creator (God or evolution) made us for.  We were made for greatness. And unless we globally honor the Golden Rule and use our politics, science, technology, and economy to abide by the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” we will never engineer the capacity to survive beyond our earthly paradise.  To physically reach the heavens, before the inevitable expansion of our Sun incinerates all God’s creation and wisdom multiple prophets have offered.

Our first step in a different direction would be to invest sufficiently in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  Goals that target the underlying causes of so much suffering, injustice, violence, and multiple environmental degradations.  Anyone connecting the dots will see the web of life and the need for global justice.  Failing this we can only expect further chaos and human suffering. Perhaps the end of human life on earth. 

Note to Trump and his supporters on the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Walls do not keep us free or secure.

Note to voters.  Unless we change our current Constitution to codify the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” just voting for your favorite candidate simply won’t matter to your children or grandchildren.  Given the evolution of technology’s exponential growth (fueling the evolution of weapons and war) time is not on our side.

I’ll end with one short poem I love with written by Dr. Benjamin E. Mays.  The late Eliza Cummings read it his first day of Congress. And it was read recently at his eulogy. 

I have only just a minute,

Only sixty seconds in it.

Forced upon me, can’t refuse it.

Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it.

But it’s up to me

to use it.

I must suffer if I lose it.

Give account if I abuse it.

Just a tiny little minute,

but eternity is in it.

Power to the People used to promote democracy. It can now become a lethal threat to governments.

Some individuals still believe that a sustainable global society with “freedom and justice for all’ is attainable with an integrated global economy underpinned by the rule of law.  And this is our only way to sustainably maximize all of humanities freedom and security.   

Some are now suggesting that the arc of history may soon turn back onto a democratic pathway where a majority of humanity champions ‘liberty and justice for all’, and call for a new and accountable global political system that puts the protection of human rights that former generations championed and acknowledged with Universal Declaration of Human Rights, superior to the rights of nations, which is now supreme to anything else.   While this future is not likely -- it is possible.   And it may now be in its birthing stage in the protests sparking up around the world.  Could this be a backlash to the nationalism, anti-globalism, and populist politics that the world has been spiraling down into for more than three decades? 

Two Washington Post articles (one Sunday and one today) may be evidence it is.  

Global protests share themes of economic anger and political hopelessness

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/10/25/global-wave-protests-share-themes-economic-anger-political-hopelessness/


From Hong Kong to Chile, 2019 is the year of the street protester. But why?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/from-hong-kong-to-chile-2019-is-the-year-of-the-street-protester-but-why/2019/10/27/9f79f4c6-f667-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html


And, governments should pay very close attention to demands these people are making.  Why?

Because governments should rightfully fear “People Power”!  It is no longer just a democratic slogan. With technology in the hands of disgruntled citizen it’s increasingly a physical threat.  A serious threat that those in control of a corrupt, repressive, or dysfunctional government should rightfully fear.   They would be better off providing and paying attention to the ballot box. 

But the people need to be aware that ‘democracy’ alone is often the cause of problems.  It can rightfully be blamed for bringing us nationalism, populism, and even anti-globalism.   For democracy to work in a progressive direction (global governance prioritizing the protection of human rights and the environment) an educated populace is required.  Relatively comfortable citizens who cast ballots based on logic and long-term self-interest…instead of emotions and short term interests which is the past and current norm, is simply unworkable.

What is workable is the fact that every technology is now weaponizable by individual people as well as their governments.   The global outbreaks of people power in mass protests are not new.  But the exponential growth, affordability, and power of technology is.  And, this year’s outbreak of unrest is a result of its relatively non-violent use, so far.   Combined with the growing mass discontent that anti-globalism, populism, and nationalism can never solve, or prevent, a new politics of ‘liberty and justice for all’ may await.  Or, Armageddon, if governments continue to ignore the fundamental needs of all their people.    

Hong Kong has had 20 consecutive weeks of mass protests with violence escalating.  Middle East demonstrations in Lebanon, Algeria, Sudan, Egypt and Iraq have also been bloody. In Latin America, large protests in Ecuador, Argentina and Honduras were followed by riots in Chile where economic conditions have recently been good, and people have now been killed. Eastern Europe’s, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Georgia have also seen mass protests.  And Russia’s Vladi­mir Putin is now coping with the largest street protests in Russia since 2012.  And there’s others.

Why now? Global poverty is declining! But with it, economic comforts of the middle class and optimism about the future are also in decline. 

Bottom line:  Governments are failing their primary function of protecting human freedom and security.  Street protestors see them as unacceptably corrupt, repressive, and/or dysfunctional.  And, most important, unresponsive.  Discontented youth have been empowered and emboldened by their savvy use of social media platforms.  It’s a small jump and affordable jump to weaponize anything from computers, to drones, to chemicals in our garden sheds. 

Technology has empowered motivated youth to mobilize mass action in angry response to small issues.  Issues which quickly connected to a mass of discontent on other issues that had remained unexpressed.

Government’s are taking notice of the epidemic of protests but any government that responds with abusive force would be making a huge mistake.

The evolution of technology, which can always be weaponizable, combined with its ubiquitousness, increasing affordability, and anonymity…means that governments are no longer immune to the use of force by its angered and motivated citizens.   

Computer hacking, drones, and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) are prohibitively hard and expensive to defend against.  The US continues to learn this the hard way. 

Somehow our Christian nation never got the memo to follow the Golden Rule.