I've been struggling to imagine what things will be like when this Plague dies down (assuming it ever does).
Here are my thoughts:
1. The US hasn't been asked to sacrifice for several generations. We've had many, many wars and global misadventures... but none have required a national mobilization.
GWB told everyone to go shopping after 9/11.
Today, we're being tested for realz, and this time the national soul is at stake.
2. The Great Depression ended with a bang when we entered WWII... and when the GIs came home, we enjoyed the largest peacetime expansion of an economy in the history of the world.
We went to the fucking moon, in fact.
3. But the last shots fired in that war seemed like we'd done something noble, and we were high on being a compassionate superpower.
It was bullshit, of course. Once it was safe, the sociopaths came out of hiding and grabbed power again. Same as it ever was.
But there IS something about the fundamental freedoms we enjoy that piss off dictators in the right way, and we remain a top destination for folks looking for a better life.
So far, so good.
4. This Plague is doing a number on our collective unconscious, however. It's the invisible boogeyman we can't shoot, bomb or bully.
Our stumbling response so far is damaging our pride, our attitude of "get 'er done", our sense of who we are in this wobbly universe.
The whole nation is like a newly divorced drunk at the end of the bar, avoiding going home at all costs.
5. If any of the Big Answers to solving this Plague come from foreign soil, it will damage us further.
We will no longer be the "get 'er done" nation.
We'll be in debt to others. Standing in line with our hands out and our self-respect trailing like rags in the dust behind us.
6. However...
... if the Big Answers come from the US (whether through Big Pharma, entrepreneurs, academia, non-profits or a lucky guess, doesn't matter)...
... we'll be strutting again.
Getting cold-cocked by this Plague has hurt our pride, deeply.
If we John Wayne our way through these fucking microbes, and save the world, we'll get our mojo back in a big way.
And the expansion afterward will be robust, real and kick-out-the-jams. (And maybe we'll stop outsourcing our supply chains to a global opponent, for a change.) (Remember, Jobs built the first iPhones in Fremont, California, using processors manufactured in Silicon Valley. Even the unbreakable gorilla glass was an American invention.)
7. It won't save us from destroying ourselves with petty political squabbles and the cultural civil war we've been obsessing on for 60 years. (I mean, Jeebus -- let the nuts have their own states already, and stop trying to make everyone share the same values. We're a big damn joint, and we don't even agree on what to eat for breakfast.)
But things will change.
We got no time for your petty bullshit anymore, Mr Political Crackpot.
We got a world to rebuild, and you know what?
Once we get a taste, again, of how good it feels to take care of each other... then raw, capricious capitalism is going to get a forced makeover. No matter how much it squirms and yells.
I have no idea what it will look like. Won't be straight socialism. Won't be Wall Street Uber Alles. Won't be "let them eat cake" inequality. (I remind the clueless wealthy elite, again, of the French Revolution, which followed a Black Plague outbreak.)
But I have a sneaking suspicion that the entrepreneur is going to come out on top here. The rebels. The weirdos who can't hold down a regular job. (High five, y'all.) The Big Dreamers and the disruptors and the dudes and dudettes with something to prove and the appetite for risk and adventure that makes life vivid.
Top down conformity has always been an impediment to a certain element of the American "type".
So my big bet is on a Western solution here. Especially one coming from the US, as dysfunctional as we are right now.
No idea if this will come to pass.
Personally, I'm rooting for it. It would be the rallying renaissance we desperately need to get back in our democratic groove.
This realization has given me a reason to pay close attention again.
We cannot assume anything.
But we can root...
Stay safe, you glorious fuckers. I love you all. Let's grab that mojo back...
Sent from BlueMail
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