“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.” – John Fitzgerald Kennedy
For thousands of years, humans lived a hand-to-mouth existence. Even after the advent of agriculture and basic metallurgy, most lived as peasants. Until relatively recently, many had little chance of becoming truly prosperous. And even today, at least one billion people do not participate in civilization as most of us know it. I’m not saying this out of privilege or pity, but as a matter of fact: a portion of humanity still does not have adequate food, shelter, clothing, medical care, technology, and other essentials. All our political and economic systems have so far failed a significant number of human beings.
Nevertheless, humanity has survived a long climb, punctuated by wars, burdened with conflict, often intensified by religion or ideology. It’s not surprising that so many people long for the simplicity of the past, for a life free from the stresses of our time. Some want to return to “the good old days,” even though those days weren’t good for everyone. And others want to “burn it all down,” to make it possible for the “right people” to take charge. No matter what we have accomplished, for some, everything is about power. Death and destruction are simply the cost of doing business.
Humanity has been cast about by the winds of chance and the whims of the rich and powerful – by natural disaster, plague, famine, superstition, dogma, malice, and greed. The desire for more – gold, silver, minerals, crops, land, or even slave labor – has fueled conquests and triggered revolutions. Throughout most of history, the men with the most gold have made the rules. And they have used their armies to force compliance. Even when some wished to be ruled by laws, reason, facts, and evidence, they were shut down – or voted down – by those who wanted to be led by strongmen and marched lockstep into a “secure” future. Yahweh tried to warn the ancient Israelites about the dangers of kings. Yet today many people still seem to prefer dictators to the difficulties of democracy.
According to Thomas Paine, the “divine right of kings” is how the descendants of “ruffians” justify their positions. To be sure, some in the royal line have turned out to be good, but I’d argue many have been disappointing at best. Plato’s ideal of a “philosopher king” has never become a reality. However, in the future, we may find ourselves ruled by some kind of omniscient AI. Let’s hope it’s benevolent, or it will make Stalin look like the good fairy.
The fact that so many people have voted for bullies is troubling. It’s also disturbing that we have so many representatives who do not represent us. Many politicians spout dogma and engage in “culture wars” to deflect us from their inactivity or incompetence. Meanwhile, real problems pile up, unaddressed, or worse, politicized to oblivion. Maybe only a narcissistic bully can fix what’s wrong, but if so, rational people may be forced to accept a solution that is, in the words of H.L. Mencken, “clear, simple, and wrong.”
When the powerful define the “problem,” their “solution” is often to force those without power to fall in line – or else. Inquisitions. Internment. Re-education. Gulags. Gas Chambers. The Committee on Un-American Activities. A strongman will do everything in his power to defeat the strawmen he invented. And when facts and evidence no longer matter, we shouldn’t be surprised when bullies resort to violence.
It seems to me everything comes down to a basic choice. We can choose the easy path or choose to do things “because they are hard.”
The easy choice would mean returning to a time with fewer human rights and more servitude, more risk for the many and less risk for the few, unequal opportunities and no safety nets – a time when “freedom and justice for all” was only for “all who own land or people,” and human suffering was the norm.
If we choose to keep climbing the hill, we will face thousands of difficult choices. Building a better future will demand our best efforts, our clearest thinking, and our commitment to truth over delusion. It may be hard to seek justice and not accept exploitation, but to do otherwise is to slide back down the hill towards a bleak past. Failure is easy. Improvement is hard. If we want to reach for the stars, we must be unwilling to live in the mud.
MurrayWorks 