Is Ochlocracy Next?

First, an apology. I failed to offer new year’s greetings in my first post of the year, “Flourishing Together.” Between the events in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and on the heels of the assassination of a CEO in midtown Manhattan, it seemed a gruesome and sad time incompatible with annual revelry even as most Americans—including in New Orleans and Las Vegas—partied on.

So, a belated Happy New Years!  Sort of? Hopefully!?

Whether 2025 proves to be a springboard to greatness, or a gradual slip-n-slide into madness, appears to be an even-odds proposition today. The early twentieth century Italian philosopher, Antonio Gramsci, might characterize this interregnum between regimes of order as a “time of monsters.” As the history of humanity illustrates quite clearly, although we often speak of sudden changes, like the “fall of Rome,” the reality is more subtle; we rarely recognize what has happened until its full manifestation is complete. We humans have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees. There are clear signs, however, that we might pay attention to—that suggest both monsters and madness are roosting on the rails of the front stoop.

It is becoming difficult to be shocked anymore. The outrage machine that has become our media, whether traditional or online, is having an increasingly difficult time creating any wide-eyed gasps from viewers and listeners which, of course, is their stock-in-trade for achieving their financial success. The psychological scar tissue we have built up over the last several years protects us, but also makes us susceptible to a slow degradation of social bonds that might just cause the collapse of civil society. We would be wise to realize that collapse in physical terms is when many little things give way until everything gives way at once. In social and political terms, it is characterized by institutional and systemic chaos (the little things) that precede the final fall.

None of what the rightwing media claimed about the attacker in New Orleans was true. Claims of “Middle Eastern national” that had “crossed the southern border” (FOX) prior to traveling to New Orleans to inflict evil were all false, as was Trump’s mimicking of same. Both of the events in New Orleans and Las Vegas were conducted by decorated American members of our military. Patriots who became terrorists apparently due to theological radicalization and mental illness. They were not others, they were us.

The fires in Los Angeles have, however, proven indeed shocking and offer a reprieve for news outlets that could only make so much of President Carter’s funeral or Trump’s musings over the invasion of Panama and Greenland as among his first conquests. The fires, which appear to have been both predictable and at least somewhat preventable, and which Trump and Governor Newsom have decided are best suited as an opportunity to extend their toddler bickering and blame game, are indeed horrific. Who knew that the emperor Nero strumming his lyre while Rome burned would be relevant again in 2025, or that the L.A. version would be a duet? But here we are. Ancient myths do occasionally mock current events. Our elected leadership and media are in a death-spiral clutching each other’s torsos as they fall symbiotically entwined, cascading into an abyss of sin, a la Dante.

The more important thing to understand is that each of these events—the assassination in Manhattan, death and destruction in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and the fires in L.A.—are evidence of social breach. Individually and collectively, they are screaming for our attention. They are like trees that define the forest that is under attack by pestilence. A few diseased trees don’t seem like a problem until the entire forest is destroyed. We need to pay attention to what is really going on: the destruction of the fabric that social contracts provide that make our societies, societies. Each breach becomes one tile in a mosaic depicting the final collapse; perhaps someday painted on the ceiling of the dome of a new society as a reminder and warning of what happens when you sleepwalk your way off of a cliff.

The concept of social contracts is hundreds of years old, written about extensively by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke in the seventeenth century, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the eighteenth. Essentially, social contracts are the quid pro quo of reciprocity. If those who rule/govern are given the authority and resources to do so, they must agree to serve the interests of the grantors—the people. Societies operate on a set of mutual expectations, both explicit and implicit. It’s a dynamic process, like assembling a jigsaw puzzle as the pieces continually change their characteristics, which is both maddening and invigorating. These expectations-cum-contracts form the glue that holds us together. They are that sticky stuff that keeps our civil web, webbed.

The breach of social contracts requires recourse, which is normally available when the contract is between a government and its people. Recourse is usually achieved through judicial and/or electoral consequences. Things are made right in some manner such that the web of social cohesion is restored. However, when any breach persists and festers—when it remains unreconciled—it can propagate in a manner that weakens society to the point of collapse. This reality highlights the critical value of consequences that both restore our confidence in the proposition of order and increase our capacity to properly assess risk—playing both a restorative and educational role.

In the case of the assassination in Manhattan, we see yet another situation apparently brought on by a lack of consequence—of any prospect of recourse. In the unique (in the developed world) circumstances of U.S. healthcare, the authority and resources granted a government by the people have been delegated or otherwise transferred from the public to the private sector, making recourse-upon-breach less available, or not available, at all. In the U.S., healthcare is a private/public good, rather than purely a public good.

Luigi Mangione (or those he ostensibly represented) was no match for United Healthcare’s carefully crafted systems that prohibit their customers from achieving recourse. Mangione couldn’t oust the CEO, Brian Thompson, but he could shoot him. His apparent frustration and anger—his rage against the machine—drove him to kill Thompson, which is evidence not just of a heinous crime (which it most certainly was), but also evidence of a breach of social contract for which Mangione’s recourse was sought through a Glock-styled 3D printed ghost gun. Like the soldiers in New Orleans and Las Vegas, the Ivy League educated Mangione was not a foreign-born terrorist. He is us, too.

In the case of the fires in L.A., although the issue of recourse is between the people and their government (and not the private sector), the magnitude of the loss makes recourse impossible. There is no way the government can answer for the consequences the people have endured, and the property insurers will undoubtedly behave as health insurers do. The gross size of the breach is irremediable. The integrity of the relationship between those who govern and the governed has been shattered. As the author and podcaster, Sam Harris, who experienced the fires himself, wrote this week on Substack, “We must rebuild, but we must also create a culture of competence and social cohesion‚and transform our politics in the process.” Due to a lack of leadership, the fires in L.A. may create more Mangiones. They are us, too.

Once consequences are marginalized or eliminated altogether, the restoration of meaningful and enforceable social contracts is obliterated along with the prospect of cooperation and compliance. This is when the Greek historian, Polybius, would suggest the existing democracy will slide into chaos and be replaced by ochlocracy: mob rule. In today’s America, consequences are largely reserved for the powerless and forlorn. In the Age of Deceit, fairness has been so severely compromised as both a concept and an application of equitable recourse that we should fully expect more people acting in a manner unthought of just two decades ago. We must not fall victim (as we did preceding the attacks of 9/11) to a failure of imagination. Assassins, murderers, and arsonists may become normative. Burning a person alive on the subway, as happened recently in New York City, combined these offenses into a trifecta. The monsters are us, too.

Now, let me illustrate what I believe may become the grand irony of the days to come. First, by acknowledging the substantial victory of the Republicans last November. Notwithstanding Democratic Party apologists who like to argue the defeat wasn’t so bad, what actually really matters is who Americans believe will serve their interests and who have the strength/power to do so. On these two dimensions—trust and commitment—the Democrats were routed. When asked which party was “on my side” “to fight for people like me,” working class Americans said Republicans over Democrats by 14 points (50/36). When it comes to strength, the Republicans increase their margin to 40 points (63/23). This, among folks who were once the foundation of the Democratic Party. And while many describe the next administration as a kakistocracy (government by the least suitable or competent citizens of the state), through our uniquely American version of democracy corrupted unintentionally by the electoral college, and intentionally by gerrymandering congressional districts, Republicans have won the right to govern.

The grand irony will unfold once the Trump administration is sworn in. Trump is the biggest, most prolific, and most powerful example of shattering social contracts—of violating norms and laws—to come along in the history of our nation. For many who celebrate his swagger as an avatar of their own disruptive and amoral ambitions, he is a (nearly) religious icon. For those same folks, who number in the millions, he has given them permission to behave in the same manner as he, as a morally-exempt and hyper self-interested lout.

But here is the rub—the anvil upon which irony will be hewn from the timber of corruption. Once you are in power your effectiveness is dependent upon the compliance and cooperation of the other side of the contract: the people must behave. Notwithstanding the other millions who will never bow to Trump, what happens when his toadies continue to follow his lawless lead acting in whatever way they please, right when he needs them to support, and comply with, his policies? Will he be willing to swallow his own medicine? Will he come to appreciate the value of social cohesion-by-contract? Of civil society? Does he even have the intellectual and moral capacity to do so? Will monsters and madness leave the stoop and breach the threshold of social and political order causing their collapse?

In next month’s issue of The Atlantic, Derek Thompson writes about this disintegration of social cohesion noting we have entered the “anti-social century.” Among other things, technology has allowed us to detach from each other and the real world. He illustrates that due to screens—first TVs and now smartphones—many of us have become “secular monks.” I wrote my own piece on this in December 2022 titled, “Digital Dementia.” We have replaced humans as a source of enrichment with technological artifice, even including AI-generated intimate partners. Instead of focusing on improving social cohesion, and the many social contracts that codify interhuman expectations, we are shoving off from the shore of society. The implications point to the prospect of ochlocracy (per Polybius) where order may no longer be possible. The techno-optimists would argue that in a perfect world driven by technologies like AI, such traditional regimes of order are no longer necessary. Until, of course, their own home burns down and they need help.

So, Happy New Year, indeed. 2025 may just prove to be a pivotal year when our destiny takes a sudden turn—one way or another.

By |2025-02-01T23:58:41+00:00January 19th, 2025|General, Recent|0 Comments
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Flourishing Together

Although Tonto did all the real work, the Lone Ranger is etched into American mythology as the white-hatted self-reliant epitome of how we independent do-it-all-ourselves Americans should model our lives—as highly idealized rugged and righteous cowboys. Especially those of us raised in the western states grew up with the ethos of pursuing a self-directed life tethered to as few others—whether people or institutions—as we could possibly manage. While we were taught to lend a hand, we were also taught to never ask for one. Go-it-alone was always preferred to go-together. Power and success were simply a matter of will. Joining others in a common cause was a last, not a first, choice.

As attractive and romanticized as this myth of the independent muscular and virtuous American is, it is as true as the claim that the Lone Ranger was lone. Without Tonto, or his horse, Silver, the Lone Ranger would have just been a guy who might have been a better fit for the Village People. The fact that Tonto was a Native American just added a little slice of poetic racism. The reality is that the American frontier was settled by people traveling together in wagon trains and working together to defend forts and raise barns. Cooperation and teamwork have been intrinsic characteristics of human culture since the hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic Age.

In the modern (post-Middle Ages) era, specialization and division of labor where we each contribute to a greater whole is a fundamental trait of capitalism’s model of economic efficiency. All economic systems require a high degree of cooperation. As for our political system, democracies are “of the people” as a collective voice, not of a person or deity (notwithstanding the delusions of our next president). The reality is that in America we employ different systems depending on which best suits our welfare. Every public good we enjoy—from security to education to transportation systems to insurance—are socialist schemes. Private goods are quite appropriately created through capitalist schemes, but our daily lives require both public and private goods. To advocate otherwise is just ignorant. Ayn Rand was only half right.

In our hyper-divided and increasingly isolated society in America today, with national leaders who unfortunately and inappropriately thrive on these conditions, it is more important than ever that we set a new course to affect our well-being—both individually and collectively. We need to embrace a new model of flourishing together. We need to write a new story—a new myth appropriate to an age of abundance where technology has shifted from enabling our well-being to replacing us as purposeful actors with algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI). We need to reinvigorate both our sense of personal and communal responsibility while asserting our agency as relevant members of society. It isn’t easy, but what is good seldom is.

In the uber-capitalist industrial era of the twentieth century, we Americans were trained toward objective-driven lives. Life was about striving, not thriving. Both the costs and benefits were high, although the benefits often preceded the costs and naturally received much more attention. Climate change is the most obvious evidence-based case of this reality. The costs eventually do arrive, regardless of our stubborn denials. Fundamentally, we Americans need to shift from an ethos of achievement to one of flourishing that assesses the totality of our endeavors including both the results of our actions and the intent with which we take them. The successful organization achieves objectives; the flourishing organization honors values. The trick, of course, is to be the organization that does both.

Balancing objectives and values isn’t easy. Conflicts between the two are a certainty. Most organizations structure acknowledgement and compensation schemes around objectives because they are more easily quantified and measured, which is both understandable and problematic. Many businesses view their nature as one of transactions that produce desirable financial outcomes. Some businesses and many other mission-driven organizations, however, see their nature as deploying resources in a manner to affect the fulfillment of a values-based proposition. The latter organizations often prove to be much more durable.

Values introduce a moral dimension into our endeavors, which is how the now-critical elements of responsibility and agency gain purchase. Values introduce the prospect of holism for the organization which recognizes the interdependence of its people and the role it plays in the marketplace and in society. Without values the organization is simply a mercenary vessel that is destined for premature dissolution. They skip from one sugar high to the next rather than operating from a healthy nutritional foundation.

So, what are some new shifts in values to consider for integration into our organizations to move from achievement toward flourishing in the next quarter of this twenty-first century? Here are six to consider; perhaps even to pin to your mirror, write on the conference room whiteboard, or engrave on a boardroom plaque.

  1. From certitude to curiosity. Healthy organizations know that having the correct answers depends on asking the right questions. Certitude is, however, a more common modality today for both people and their organizations. Divisiveness and isolation have produced this condition as much as any other cause. Zero-sum mentalities arise as a parallel scheme to righteousness. The underlying value of curiosity is based in the truth that every single person has something to offer that no one else does, that each person knows something you don’t know and can do something better than you can do it. Winning organizations that enjoy both success in achievement of objectives and the flourishing of values demand high levels of inquiry combined with a culture of listeners.
  2. From hubris to humility. In America, we are damn lucky. Yes, we are generally better educated and work more hours than most other societies, but we are also damn lucky. Among other things, we are blessed with extraordinary natural resources and a history founded in honorable virtues that has supported the development of institutions of governance and law found in few other places in the world. As I illustrated recently, in “America’s Arc of Moral Madness (and Hope),” we have, however, slipped from our tradition of humility to hubris and now teeter on sliding further into nihilism as our principal cultural identity. If we want to truly make America great again, we need to hoist humility back up onto its pedestal where it belongs. In our organizations, the best way to support humility is by recognizing and rewarding those who know how to say, “I don’t know,” and then endeavor to find better answers to perplexing issues. To moderate confidence with a sincere sense of authenticity that acknowledges that the best answers are seldom held by any one person; rather, that the best answers arise out of humble inquiry and inclusion of varied disciplines and points of view.
  3. From compliance and conformity to creativity. We need to widen the aperture with which we view the world and be willing to throw around ideas with reckless abandon. Further, every legacy convention and rule must be questioned, again. The great paradox of our embrace of new technologies (principally in the digital realm) that we have employed in the last thirty years has acted, over time, to narrow our minds rather than expand them. We are suffering from intellectual sclerosis: a hardening of our neural receptors and synapses. The promise of unbounded creativity due to new innovations in technology have instead resulted in the compression and regression of thought rather than the acceleration of our enlightenment. Current trends in the application of algorithms and AI may enhance productivity and speed decision making, but they do so by marginalizing the role of humans rather than expanding and empowering them. Yes, on the surface our lives may seem better (at least superficially), but a narrower more limited role in our destiny is not in the interest of humanity. Technology should empower us, not marginalize us; this is the fundamental flaw in the value proposition of AI. The creative realm of the human mind should never be sacrificed for the expediency benefits of technology. Organizationally, we must question the givens—all of them. Guardrails and limits must be pushed again to see if their boundaries remain valid. Those among us with wild ideas must be elevated rather than ridiculed.
  4. From delusion to clear knowing—clarity. Seeing things as they are rather than the way we might like them to be is perhaps the most valuable executive skill there is. Over the last twenty years or so—during America’s Age of Deceit—our capacity to live in a fact-based reality has been severely compromised. Gaslighting has become a basic modality in American discourse in all aspects of society. Deceit is the cancer on the soul of America. There may be nothing we can do to affect this condition among our politicians and media, but we still have agency for ourselves and within our organizations. So, vote for someone else and tune out the media sewer pipe, and in the meantime let us all commit to change the ways we deal with each other and our various constituents. We must reject grand complications often meant to support illusion in favor of the sublimity of simplicity. The power of honest simplicity—of aesthetic elegance—is the most durable construct in the history of humankind. Leonardo da Vinci illustrated this centuries ago. We would be wise to exalt the obvious, the honest, and the pure.
  5. From competition to coopetition. In an age of scarcity, which was the state of civilization until the late twentieth century, competition based in the predominant conditions of zero-sum, win/lose thinking, was an essential and appropriate modality of human interaction. In an age of abundance, when there are enough wealth and resources to provide for the welfare of all, coopetition—competing to cooperate—is a more appropriate and sustainable modality. Our current course allows for the continued concentration of wealth, resources, and power which inevitably causes collapse of the existing regimes of civilization. The Greek historian and philosopher, Polybius, mapped out these cycles showing that what follows democracy is ochlocracy: mob rule. Most historians (including Polybius) see catastrophic collapse as inevitable and many of the world’s religions (especially Christianity) claim redemption and rebirth are impossible without a severe reckoning. My hope is that we can be smarter than that; that we can preempt the need for redemption. That the Lone Ranger, Superman, and Batman might join forces to become the Three Musketeers, “all for one and one for all,” or as with the moto inscribed on the Great Seal of the United States of America, E Pluribus Unum, out of many, one.
  6. From contempt to compassion. Empathy and sympathy are not signs of weakness. Concern for the suffering of others and taking appropriate action to mitigate tragic consequences takes much more strength than the contempt and disdain we see spewed like venom today, especially from MAGA Republicans. Remember George W. Bush’s policies of compassionate conservatism? As a former Republican, I pine for those days when conservative meant, first and foremost, to conserve. Compassion conserves humanity. If that doesn’t resonate, how about the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians, “by the grace of God I am what I am …” Or how about Buddhism that has as its most basic aim to eliminate suffering in the world? Whether we like it or not, we are in this life and world together. In the organizations we participate in—regardless of their form or function—we must always endeavor to leave things better than we found them. Improving the spaces we inhabit and the lives of those we encounter leaves us all better off. Compassion is a win/win proposition.

Curiosity, humility, creativity, clarity, coopetition, and compassion. These are the values we need to focus on today. This is how we reboot the current trajectory of American culture to avoid slipping from hubris into nihilism. This is how we avoid catastrophe. This is the ethos we must celebrate with new heroes of the good; those who see the best in each other and realize that together we are much more powerful than we are alone. It is highly unlikely these heroes will come from our national leaders given the current roster of those now, or soon to be, in office. Of course, that would not have stopped the Lone Ranger from doing the right thing (if Tonto suggested it). Nor should it stop you. It is up to us, both individually and collectively, to make decisions and take action according to these values. We can allow nihilism to manifest as reality, or we can move aggressively to prevent it.

The Greeks had a word that illustrates the fundamental aim here: eudaimonia, which simply means a positive and divine state of human flourishing. Humans have sought eudaimonia for centuries. At times succeeding and at other times, failing. (We humans do have a perplexing propensity for self-destruction.) The good news today, however, is that for the first time in the history of humankind, we have the knowledge and the means to save ourselves. We simply have to take responsibility for ourselves and each other and protect our agency to act according to our objectives as informed by our values.

By |2025-01-19T02:27:18+00:00January 5th, 2025|General, Recent, The New Realities|0 Comments
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Natural Law and Destiny

Natural law—those rules and conditions that are validated by nature and resistant to human manipulation—suggests that the destiny of any civilization is determined within an impervious web of complex variables, which interact in a rhythm beyond the sensory capacity of man.  Among other things, they suggest we control much less than we believe we do.  But, there are some natural laws that include us as actors and offer guidance (if not inspiration) as to how we might succeed.  Ironically (and also naturally), they are ignored under the weight of egotism during times of prosperity, only re-emerging during crisis.  This group of Homo-natural laws (H.naturals) includes a navigational set that offer clues as to how we might better set a course toward success. They include maxims like “You are what you eat,” Your bike, car, motorcycle, plane, (etc.) will travel in the direction you are looking,” and “You will become what you talk/think about.”  They are the fiber in our concept of will.

As the current political, economic, and social crisis unfolds, those who understand the H.naturals will do well.  Those trapped in the egotism of yesterday will fail.  What we consume, where we set our sights, and our prevailing narrative will define an identity that will ride H.naturals to a new destiny.  As orator and perennial Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan claimed, “Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.” Notwithstanding its inherent Homo-centrism, Bryan’s claim recognizes the role man plays within the reality of H.naturals.  He offered these words in the late 19th century when America emerged as a player on the world stage—after another crisis: Civil War and Reconstruction.  Like then, H.naturals will prevail today; and they apply to all of us, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or national allegiance.  In other words, H.naturals don’t play favorites; the myth of American exceptionalism provides no surety of success.  Those societies who understand this will be the next great powers.  Those that don’t won’t.

It is critical then that we Americans consider carefully those matters that define us—that will conflate with H.naturals to set our course.  Here are some suggestions to consider as we re-design our future—our ameritecture.

  1. In the future, national power will be gained referentially; attraction will prevail over coercion.  The United States has the sole capacity via its military might to destroy any and every adversary.  This is a good thing, as long as we don’t use it—as long as we protect the myth behind the curtain of Oz.  Given this perception-cum-reality, it should not be surprising that our adversaries will choose alternative modalities to compete.  As we have seen, some will continue to choose violent means, albeit asymmetrically, through terrorist networks using improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers.  Others will buy our debt and subvert quasi-American institutions by offering more attractive alternatives to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Still others will look to exploit the weakness of our critical infrastructures through cyber-warfare to compromise our communication, power, and water systems. Boots on the ground, bombs in the air, and nation building, will not defeat these efforts.  Ironically, through our predominance, we have rendered them obsolete.  Today’s threats must be met by new means of power.  We can succeed if most of the world sees America as its advocate—as a critical factor in its success.  What Harvard’s Joseph Nye calls “soft power” must be applied through what I have termed enlightened altruism to defeat our adversaries. The people, from Xinjiang, to Naypyidaw, to Peshawar, to Abuja, to Caracas must all believe their future is better assured by having a positive relationship with the United States.  They must have a basis of attraction to grant power to America referentially. They must be our new advocates—they must have a vested interest in our security.  Every time we destroy another village, temple, or city our effective power declines and our national security is compromised.  This is not peacenik talk. This is the new global realism.
  2. Government is not the answer, people are.  Reagan had it half right: “government is not the answer,” but neither is it the problem, unless we allow it to be.  We make it the problem by the abdication of personal responsibility.  We ask it to do for us what we should be doing for ourselves.  Government’s role should be re-cast—limited—to providing basic public goods like security and the rule of law; to protect us from external threats and internal mischief.  While some government programs are arguably public goods, they diminish and at times subvert people and their communities.  And, they collapse under the corruption of government operatives.  Moreover, too many laws protect civil predators like health insurance companies and Wall Street grifters.  We must reject the constellation of false choices partisanship promotes. For example, healthcare is neither a right nor a privilege; it is a public good. We are all better off when our neighbors are healthy too.  But, it is a public good that is fiscally unsustainable under the legacy structure imposed by our government.  It is a prime example of a failed distribution system—one that can be fixed only if our leaders muster the political will to breakup the cartel that is strangling families and communities and return the power of choice to the people.
  3. Openness and inclusion is the soul of American liberty; fear is the tool of tyrants. America is the most open society in the world.  Both our beauty and warts are on display for all to see.  Notwithstanding frequent embarrassments, this allows a fluidity of ideas and opportunities unmatched in the global system.  We must fight to maintain this virtue in the face of those who seek to curtail it for their personal political, economic, or social benefit. Today, many extremists from many venues are attempting to close our society invoking fears of security, religious subversion, and racial or ethnic conflict.  As with all bullies, fear is their weapon, currently amplified in an environment of crisis.  They use glittering generalities and moronic simplicities while twisting historical fact to gain influence and serve themselves.  They claim they are patriots, but like the wolf in a sheep’s headdress, they are the enemy within.  They must be identified and exposed for what they are; they are America’s biggest threat.  Common targets for their ire are immigrants, although race and religion may be their true concerns.  While all historical data suggests immigrants are the lifeblood of the American system, these extremists would like to slit America’s throat with their jingoistic, ethno-centric, fear-based, vitriol.  Each of us must stand up to sit them down.
  4. If we do nothing else well, we will succeed if we do education well. In a global system intelligence trumps geography, demography, and natural resources.  Intelligence is everything. But, we must acknowledge there are different types of intelligence, each making their particular contribution to civil success.  Currently, there is significant and justified hand wringing over test scores in math and science as well as painful cuts in resources due to our financial crisis.  But if we compromise our capacity to generate future intelligence—comprised of both critical and creative skills—we will lose our competitive advantage and fail.  Budget cuts today are reflexively aimed at non-quantitative, non-analytical courses as if math and science is enough to face future competition in a global economy.  This is a potentially tragic mistake, especially considering our legacy-advantage of invention and innovation.  Many nations perform better at math and science, but none exceeds the United States in the creative application of intelligence.  We don’t need to be like everyone else.  We need to be like us.  We need to continue to invest in the engineer and the artist.  It is through both these skill-sets—the analytical and creative—that America will continue to lead the world.  We must apply both competition and cooperation—‘coopetition’—to leverage our intelligence and assure our future success.

We can’t control H.naturals, but we can make wise decisions on crafting our identity to maximize the likelihood of civil success.  We can summon our heritage of liberty and diligently protect our capacity to out-innovate the world if we take care to suppress those who have succumbed to fear and oppression.  We must understand that the world changes every day and that our old methods—particularly in the projection of power—may not serve our future interests.  Above all, we must take personal responsibility, possessed of both courage and humility, to make our world (however large or small) better every day. Our destiny depends on it.

By |2017-05-25T22:11:46+00:00March 21st, 2010|American Identity, General|0 Comments
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