Oct 29, 2011

A Paradigm of Unsustainable Action

[From the Crown Prince]
  As I look at the world around me, and contemplate the nature of government and humanity, I have noticed a disturbing fact: every political, economic, or cultural paradigm of the modern world is deeply flawed in that it is unsustainable long term (20+ years). Yet these short-term goals are said to be the name of progress.
Take, for example, the European Union Its core economic policy is that form of Socialism prevalent in Western Europe. While Socialist policy has many flaws the greatest of them all is that it fails to be a self sustaining loop; the socialist government and economy demand ever more money to maintain is function, a dynamic that would normally require more and more people over time. But because the costs of having a family are always increasing, the system pressures people to have fewer children meaning that they must either find outside sources of income or collapse.The EU was largely an attempt by constituent nations to avoid this dilemma by sharing the risk throughout the various European states but, as we now see, this actually left them with nowhere else to go for more people or money.The 'progressive' goal of the EU resulted in the accelerated collapse of the various members.
  Another concept endorsed by the EU is the concept called informally the nanny state. The nanny state idea being that the government know better than its citizens how they should live, what they should eat, how they should be educated, etc. It also usually encompasses the idea that the state should care for the poor. What they fail to take into account is human nature; if your wellbeing is assured, then eventually an unsustainable number of people will decide to not add to the system. If people are not free to decide for themselves they cease to be leaders in any sphere, demanding that the state control an unsustainable level of the activities of the nation. The nanny state encourages people to not plan for the future in the name of progress.
  Let us also take a look at their culture, which is undercut by a sort of elitist malaise. With a dearth of young people, state apparatchiks deciding what is good or bad, and a lack of control over one's life there is a loss of dynamism even as the state-controlled education system reassures them that they live in the best system ever devised.They are the very best in the world at making nothing.
Now for a nation I know slightly better, the United States Of America. Despite the efforts of many within the government the nation still embraces an odd fusion laissez-faire Capitalism and Socialism as their chosen policy resulting in a magnification of the flaws of each. Corporations are considered people and receive government money to keep operating after they fail in the markets while small businesses are regulated so tightly they are prevented from succeeding in that same market; there is a minimum wage well below a living wage and most employees may be fires at will. This schizophrenia may be unique in history but it is unlikely to end well. The culture is also an similarly-odd blend of selfish egoism, consumerism, and entitlement so that the various elements of the society seems to be losing the ability to communicate with each other.
  And oddly enough the various political leaders, heads of academia, and pundits seem to be locked into the false dichotomy of laissez-faire Capitalism on the one hand and Socialism/Communism on the other as if there were no other alternatives!
 But Edan is designed and planned to be here for a long time. Economically we have Distributism, discussed in depth elsewhere, which can be thought of simply as local Capitalism without the megacorporations, focused on the people. We realize that the government should only exist to protect the people from things beyond their control, such as war, disasters, and crime to name a few. Only our culture is lacking, something that can only grow, naturally, for her citizens - something we are sure will come
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