It all has to do with money. It’s just that simple. Ever since our Founding Fathers declared that we should all be free to strive after life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, too few resources have been chasing too many folks wanting their rightful share of the resources available. This has created innumerable problems as the population of the USA has grown. We have outspent ourselves as a country and we have not figured out how, or even why, we should pay for what things cost.
Right now, the US has accumulated over $19 trillion in debt. In 1990 the National Debt was $3.2 trillion and in 2015 it was $18.1 trillion. As I write this, the National Debt is $19.5 trillion and rising. What this means is, as a nation we are spending more than we take in. One more fact, in 1990 interest payments on the National Debt were the third largest expenditure of the Federal Government’s budget. In 2015, payment of interest dropped to fifth place in the list of expenditures. So the priority of repaying just the debt on our ever increasing National Debt is dropping as we put other expenditures first.
What does this have to do with hope? The problems we are facing today as individuals, as a country, and as a well- connected world arise because we have no foundation in which we all believe. And those beliefs, or lack of beliefs, shape our actions and reactions. Hence if we are all out to grab our share of the resources at the expense of others, bad things will occur.
We don’t believe in a fair and equitable distribution of available resources. Notice I did not say a fair and equal distribution of resources. In that small change from the word “equitable” to “equal,” we discover the root of our fears, anxieties, frustrations and reasons to doubt that there is anything good to come.
This is the source of all the bad news that constantly bombards us. Equal rights, equal protection under the law, equal access all presume that if you, as a citizen, demand an equal share of available goods and services, you will also willingly give up an equal share of all you receive so that other citizens can have a shot at their equal share of available good and services. There is a finite number of goods and services that are available. Just look at water usage controversies in the west or the Great Lakes as a harbinger of things to come. Next it will be land and food shortages or the shortage of good healthcare services that will present challenges to our expectations.
As a compassionate people we gladly provide all sorts of goods and services to those who cannot afford them on their own. Someone must pay for the costs of those goods or services. I used to think that was the job of the government till I realized that the government doesn’t have a way to pay for things other than to take or borrow resources from others to provide the good and services our citizens demand.
Back to hope – I believe that part of my obligation as a citizen of this country is to assist and support fellow citizens who are not able to support themselves. Here is where I find hope. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – if we lived in a such a way as to secure those rights for ourselves and other citizens of this country, sharing the abundance of the limited resources we have, there would be no need to borrow more money, there would be no reason to deny some folks services others have, there would be no reason to sue others or do violence to others, or to lie, intimidate or misuse others.
“We the people” is a belief that if we choose to accept it, can be the hope that overcomes all sorts of bad news.
In the next blog, Step Two, I will offer some good news suggestions to counter the bad news that seems so prevalent. In the meantime, google usdebtclock.org and take a look at what is happening to us while we do not embrace, believe or hope in another way.
Very well articulated, Jon. And another part of the picture you paint so well in this post is the reality of over population. What if we paid people not to have children in order to lessen the horrible impact humans are having on planet earth and so that there would be less competition for available resources? Why then there would be fewer consumers and our commercial system would contract. Another vicious bind we’ve gotten ourselves into.
Moira, Step Two which I will post sometime next week will suggest some possible solutions to the challenges ahead. I remember a time in the early 70’s when there was a movement ZPG (Zero Population Growth) that sought to offer alternatives aimed at the ways in which the population might be “controlled.” It was a hot topic for a bit and then died off. But with ever decreasing resources and ever increasing population, some solution will have to be found.