The time is now, always has been.
This will be short, but to have better choices and a better tomorrow, it means starting today. One example that comes to mind is that is people voted for Trump in '24 because they wanted to punish Biden on one or a couple of issues and then didn't like Harris as a candidate for whatever reason. Leadership failings in the Democratic party aside, presidential candidates come about partly because of contemporary circumstances, but really, they are largely determined by the types of issues that were important, and candidates that were successful, in the elections leading up to the presidential election cycle. That is, while some of what happens is top-down in terms of party leadership, a very large part is bottom-up, determined by what works in local elections and on up. Thus, continual engagement is both important and, luckily, effective.
What I sent to Fidelity as part of my email to them urging them to vote no on Elon's latest pay package ($1 trillion):
I, like many others, have a substantial portion of my retirement and investment money at Fidelity. It is financially irresponsible to effectively beg a major liability like Elon Musk to pay attention to Tesla with this outrageous pay package. He may be floating the share price now, but he has shown that he will drop Tesla at the drop of a hat to pursue his various whims. He is not a responsible leader of Tesla, and could crater the stock at any moment with his antics. Should he choose to leave Tesla if he is not handed his chosen prize, I can only imagine that Tesla will emerge the stronger for it, freed from his ideological agenda.
"Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege."
- Tommy Douglas, Straight Through the Heart: How the Liberals Abandoned the Just Society
This is tough to write, in that I'm not fundamentally opposed to progress, but in this instance I am legitimately concerned.
Biohacking, or "longevity" as it is touted by many, many of whom are rich, is I think, very dangerous for society. I am all for living healthy, medical advancement, longer life, and better aging. However, given what we know about our society so far, many of these advancements will only be practically available to the rich. As the rich increasingly make money from money, ie. financial instruments and ownership of capitol - ie. not actual labor, increasing their lifespan beyond what is available to the common person will only increase their wealth and their ownership of the basic infrastructure of our society; land, factories, buildings, etc.. Further, it has been said by many people over the years in many ways, but old ideas and ways of living and governing don't really go away after they've outlived their usefulness, they go away when people holding onto those views pass away. It seems to me that this natural cap on the lifespan of people and their influence is an integral part of the regulatory system of humankind. We need some amount of change, some amount of churn in the world of ideas and power to stay flexible, adaptable, and resilient. Allowing those in power (those with money) to extend their influence for longer and longer time periods, particuarly when their longevity begins to significantly outstrip those of most people, will deepen inequalities in our society and ossify them. This will be bad for everyone, not just the "common folk". Ultimately, freezing our society into one structure, or effectively silencing and holding back such a large selection of our population will lead to stagnation and decay. Progress cannot happen if new ideas have less chance of bubbling up through society. If people have less say in society, if they have less standing, if they have less stake in what happens, their ideas will be effectively muted if not outright silenced. It is only through new ideas that innovation and progress can come. The rich will find out that they have created their own demise, as without truly new ideas, their is no dynamism, no progress, and all that wealth will mean nothing as there will be nothing new and exciting to experience.
Longevity is great, but experience shows the most benefit will go to and stay with the rich. Wealth inequality is already a divisive and corrosive feature in our current society. The rich being able to extend their lifespans beyond what the rest of us are able to will deepen the divide, create more inequality, and rob humanity of a very necessary societal regulatory mechanism.
"It is not your responsibility to complete the work, but neither are you free to refrain from it." - Quote from the Talmud
musing on my theme,
repeating, "cuckoo",
day has dawned
- Kaga no Chiyo
Some thoughts brought about by this scathingly incisive video from George Carlin, made nearly twenty years ago: Dumb Americans | George Carlin | Life Is Worth Losing (2005)
Everyone wants things that benefit themselves, that's natural. The rich have the power to not only make it happen, but can act on such a scale to make it affect everyone else's life as well.
"Fear can be overcome, anxiety must be endured." - I may have misremembered, but I heard this from my son's Minecraft audiobook...
This year has brought a lot of change for a lot of us. New obstacles and hostilities that we didn't fully expect and are not used to. Remember, we are not the first to face adversity, not the first to witness forces tearing at what is good in our world. It has been done, it can be done, it will be done - We will do it. And where the calamity and troubles have gone, there will be a better world - We will remain.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
-> It's true, we each of us make up the fabric of this world.