::::::::
When Social Contracts Fall, so do we all.
Ultimately when society itself begins to become carnivorous, looking out only for self-interest and failing to see society as a whole, that society ultimately destroys itself. The United States is following in the footsteps, almost ominously, of the great nations that have fallen before us.
It is ultimately a greed thing. Those that have, the have’s and the have more’s, are so concerned with getting even more, and fearing they may lose what they have, that they begin to squeeze out as much as they can from those at the bottom. They fail to provide a minimum bottom. They think if those at the bottom have then they will have less. So, the squeeze is on.
Those in the upper middle do not think that “not enough” can happen to them. The upper middle is not at the bottom, so the theory goes, who cares if a few rungs at the bottom of the ladder fall? If manufacturing jobs are outsourced, if a few migrant workers are paid below minimum wage, if wages are slashed and health insurance cut – I’ll actually have cheaper goods and be a bit more of a “have” so “I’ve got mine” why should I care?
That is the attitude that destroys societies.
The “I’ve got mine” segment of society is the harmful part. It is the part that ceases to see the humanity in others. “I’ve got mine” fails to see those that have nothing and are contributing to their wealth. Those that "have something" fail to have compassion. "I've got mine" fails to believe that something could happen that might make us vulnerable and fails to care about the weakest members of our society. It makes us all more vulnerable
The “haves” cease caring about those in the middle, the middle class shrinks and the gap between rich and poor rises. Ultimately, the haves become insatiable. Maybe it is fear. Maybe it is that mechanism in society that fails to recognize humanity. It becomes an inhuman numbers game. Just a little more profit without recognizing that the little more profit translates into inhuman working conditions for an entire class of people.
The mechanism in society creates a complete separation of the awareness that at the bottom of society, the people that are creating the wealth for those at the top, are human beings and the planet. And when they, or the collective "we", squeeze everything out of people, we grind them to dust.
The human, environmental and emotional costs are robbed from those at the bottom of society. When we stop caring for those less fortunate, we all become more vulnerable. When the bottom falls out of a society, when we hurt the people and planet, we ultimately harm ourselves and all become more vulnerable. After all, their are only a few in the 1% at the top.
When we fail to provide an adequate safety net to our society, an adequate minimum societal contract, then society as we know it ultimately ends.
The United States seems well on the way to self-destructing.
In “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” by Paul Kennedy - history repeats itself. Falling Empire after falling Empire repeat history almost as if following the steps in a "how to destroy society" playbook. History repeats itself virtually identically.
We here in the United states have failed to learn the lessons of history and are repeating the same mistakes virtually identically. We can expect the same results to follow - the fall of the Empire.
When a nation forgets the basic fundamentals of taking care of one another, when it enters the realm of “self preservation” at the expense of "all for one and one for all" of "solidarity" – then it becomes a pariah. It begins to eat itself, to self-sabotage, allowing more and more people to fall through the cracks and becomes ever more deceptive in convincing itself that it can never happen to them.
First the falling empire forgets the weakest members of that society by breaking the societal contract. Then, to protect itself, it amasses an enormous military. (By some accounts the US outspends the next 50 nations combined). The need for these funds force the nation to under spend on vital infrastructure and the welfare of the nation (education, health care).
In the United States the gap between Rich and poor is rising at an alarming rate. Trickle down economics, the focus on profits at the expense of the workers that produce wealth and the collapsing health for-profit care system (with 46 million uninsured and another 50-million under insured and health care related bankruptcies higher than any other industrialized nation) the United States has shattered the social (and moral) contract with one another.
Successful societies create a safety net that no individual ever needs to fear falling through. They look out for one another through a sense of solidarity. Watching out for the common good. When the Great Empire of the day abandons that contract, as did The Romans, Greeks, French, Briitish, Japanese and now the United States. Ultimately they fall. And they fall hard.
Often great pains are taken to keep the society itself from recognizing what is happening. They "buy in" to the information that self preservation is the solution.
We are only as strong as the weakest among us. We are our brother’s keepers. And when we forget that, we all become weaker and more vulnerable.
By protecting the bottom of society, we create a society where more can share in the wealth of that society. Opportunities expand. When society forgets the bottom, the entire society becomes more vulnerable. The speed at which the society disintegrates hastens.
We are forgetting each other. We are over extended and our currency is failing. Some believe the dollar has lost as much as 60% of its purchasing power from its high. China and Saudi Arabia have so far not dumped dollars but when they do - it could cause a collapse of confidence. (Saudi Arabia holds $1.7 Trillion, China another $1 Trillion of our debt). To pay those debts, US assets are leaving at an alarming rate.
The United States has an unsustainable global military presence. We spend more than 50% of our budget on the Miltary and much of that in the form of deficit spending. Quite literally our military spending is breaking the bank. We have military bases on every continent and the cost of maintaining these is born by the US taxpayers, through deficit spending, it is unsustainable and we as a nation are ignoring it.
The United States is failing to invest in infrastructure. Education, health care for all, roads and public transportation, these failures are like dominos lining up for the fall.
Over extended our military.
Failing infrastructure.
Breaking the social contract.
Over using the world's resources.
This is the same recipe that caused other Great Powers to fall.
Our never-ending conquest for self preservation at the expense of all others - has made the United States “feared and hated” throughout the world. United States citizens traveling overseas are often scorned and ridiculed. The war in Iraq is leaving a bitter taste throughout the world.
The last great symbol of a dying regime is its oversized and overextended military. A military, that if necessary is used to keep its own people in check as every last dime of the national treasury is siphoned off.
The United States deficits by every measure are astronomical. The falling value of the US dollar makes imported goods more and more expensive. And, since much of our manufacturing and textile production have been exported, we have no choice but to import at ever-rising prices.
We are falling, the question is, “Do we care enough about one another to create a bottom to our society”? To form a national (and international) movement of solidarity – one that creates a genuine populist movement and bottom to our society - one no one need fear fall through - or will we fall as those empire’s before us have – by destroying ourselves from within?
