Thinking and talking about our future

It seems like we have a real issue here in America, which has something to do with not being able to think in the long term--or at least to be able to talk about it. We judge our economy by what the unemployment statistics are in this snapshot in time; we use "consumer confidence" blips as tools of prognostication. Sales are down 1.3%, and it is a warning shot across the bow. Yet at the same time you get the feeling that no one wants to say anything too gloomy for fears that it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy, like the 2001 This Modern World cartoon about the perceived need to "talk up" George W. Bush, like the news must talk up the market: "If we all agree to believe that our investments are worth lots and lots of money--then they will be! But if anyone has any doubts--then the magic spell will be broken and all will be lost!"

I remember reading something long ago--in the early 90's--about Japan, where they were saying that one of the major differences between Japan and the U.S. was that in Japan they thought strategically and long-term, and cared more about gaining market share than about what this quarter's profits were doing, whereas in America you had people clambering over each other to "liquidate" assets--selling off productive capacity for a quick profit, not caring for what the loss of that productive capacity might mean in the long term to the economy.

And of course there is the issue of the extractive economy itself--the gaping maw that must be fed, never caring about what kind of destruction it leaves in its wake.

We have a lot of huge issues facing us--the end of cheap oil, the threat of catastrophic climate change--but it seems we can't even deal sanely with the issues that loom right in front of us, like access to health care. Native Americans have said that we should think of how our decisions will impact the next seven generations, but it seems like we can't even talk rationally about the future in any way whatsoever. When they were pushing No Child Left Behind, we were told that it was education that would secure the way for our children. But it didn't seem that there was any discussion about how much higher education goes underutilized, when the infrastructure to support professional jobs keeps getting whittled away, when companies prefer to bring in cheaper foreign labor or to offshore high-paying jobs altogether. Education is good. Education is important. But it is not enough, in and of itself. And what if the jobs are feeding us today, yet leading us on to our destruction?

I remember watching closely during the campaign of 2000 and feeling frustrated because no one would talk about anything of real import. No one would talk about the things that I felt we needed to talk about to make sure there is some sort of future that we would want. I felt like the debates were mostly about fluff, the conversational equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Much of the responsibility lies in the mainstream media, which would rather talk about Brad and Jen and Angelina than about real issues facing real Americans, about real issues facing us as human beings on planet Earth. Perhaps it is more profitable to keep us distracted, fearful, and thinking that if we are just thinner, or if we just have Widget X, things will be better for us. But without the connection from person to person, from generation to generation, what do all these things matter in the end?

I felt like Katrina was a huge object lesson from our government. Just know, it said. Just know, that in disaster, you are wholly on your own. This is where we are now, in 21st century America, hovering on the edge of bankruptcy on every level. It isn't inevitable. But it most likely will become inevitable if we aren't able to change the conversation.

Thom Hartmann says over and over that we cannot wait for a leader. That we must become the parade, and that once the parade is moving, the leaders will then come and jump in front of it. I'm not sure exactly how we do that, but I do believe that there are many many people in this country who are hungry for a different way of being, a way of being that says I will care about my own life, but not only my own life, for I am part of a greater whole.

I think that investing in the time to talk, and to listen, is a good first step.

Links:
This Modern World: Straight Through Nap Time
For the Grandchildren