Particularly because
I am a straight male christian gringo
In the very overly powerful U.S.A.
Living in the post Second World War euphoria of the Allies,
I have benefited greatly through conventional capitalism.
Many grain-fed hogs sold to Swift & Company in the 1950s, 60s, 70s.
Texas vegetables to Arkansas’ Allen Canning Company during those formative times.
And power also came my way
From the joined-at-the-hip military-industrial complex.
Work at Kelly Air Force Base.
From when I was an ensign in Naval Air,
Military-initiated USAA insurance for 50-plus years.
GI Bill benefits.
Taxes on corporate business
Which provided community college learning
And Land Grant university opportunities.
And so much more.
I am a product of conventional capitalism!
…………………………………………
Nevertheless, I know we desperately need
DEMOCRATIC eco-socialism
Via the Bern and AOC
And others like them!
You … We … have to know that the market isn’t free.
The invisible hand doesn’t recognize the invisible man, the invisible woman-man;
Invisible species.
(Moreover, expressed as individuals
These taxa, and others, are always TRANS,
Fluid and dynamic,
Never discrete, static, and dogmatic
As in our artificiality
Of homo and hetero
Of black, brown,
Red, yellow,
Pink or white …
Or even poor and rich,
Haves and have-nots.
This means …
We must work empathetically
In solidarity toward some semblance
Of equity, equality
And not leave it to the invisible hand.)
What has conventional capitalism given us?
Yes! All of the many benefits I received
As a lorded white male “American”.
Many of us Haves ARE benefiting
In our bubbles,
Behind our walls
In a world of widespread capitalism.
But awash in and dependent on
Nature’s economy-destroying fossil energy,
Living systems-destroying fossil energy,
And original and mortal sins of …
• Slavery,
• Genocides to get Land,
• Depletion of nature,
• Immoral usurers,
• …
Exploitation, exploitation, exploitation, exploitation.
Too great a cost!
To the others—
Other species,
Other humans
(Other humans often conveniently considered not human
By the powers that be,
By the power that is.)
Too great a cost
To those unborn.
Depletion of topsoil.
Severe atmospheric pollution
Including greenhouse gases;
Devastating atmospheric disturbance.
Loss of quality water.
Excessive and destructive transformation of energy
By one chosen species.
Paucitification of biodiversity
And disruption of dynamic homeostatic symbioses.
Totally insane strategies
Of mutually-assured-destruction. … War.
• Insane production of automobiles, cruise liners, and aeroplanes (or even battery-powered scooters),
• Insane increase in amount of artificial living space,
• Insane rates of transformation of kilocalories of energy by the Haves,
• Insane human appropriation of net primary productivity!
Incredibly insane proliferation of plastics,
The killing of estuaries, of ocean life
In the Anthropocene,
The Plasticene2.
…………………………………….
It may be cliché—
Mr. Democrat,
Mr. Libertarian,
Mr. Republican,
Mr. Capitalist,
Mr. Know-Nothing,
Mr. Do Nothing
–But the best definition of insanity
Is doing the same thing over and over
(Conventional “free”-market, trickle-down capitalism)
And expecting a better result
(Toward quality life for all for as long as possible).
…………………………………………………………………………………..
1Triggered by: https://www.wsj.com/articles/making-capitalism-great-again-11574726835
2 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-imperiled-ocean-review-a-dive-into-the-deep-11574726587
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pbm
[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]
