Letter to the Next President

Critics claim the war in Iraq is lost...is it?

I think the case is far too complex to know, but we may simplify it with a little brain exercise. First simplify the situation, and admit we are their for the oil. Next abandon the cities and occuply only the oilfields and the distribution network. Only occupy those oilfields worth occupying, the big ones of course. Then we figure out how many troops per square would be needed to permanently garrison the area. Simple math: square miles of oilfields x soldiers per square mile = amount of committed armed forces.

Yes this amounts to taking the oil, pure and simple. Pretty hard to swallow, but the Machiavellian angle should be pointed out.

So what is that number? How many troops would it take to secure the fields and suck out all that oil?
I have no idea, still too many variables

The whole operation would involve rounding up any existing occupants on or around the fields and kicking them out. Then a defensive perimeter is established. Watch towers stationed every few hundred yards along the pipelines should do the trick. It can be assumed that defending a position is far easier than offensive operations.

The US military is already well suited for this task, having aerial, naval, and telecommunication dominance. All that is needed now is the political will...

Stop paying the bills

So much lip service is paid to "changing the world," at this point I am nauseated by the use of this generic phrase. The assumption is always that change is good. Admittedly, even the use of this phrase indicates a recognition that this world is pretty fucked up and indeed does need to be changed, at least that's something. How to enact beneficial change and any agreement of principles to begin with is lacking. I propose that we take a leap into the unknown...

Do you want to do something revolutionary?
Stop paying your bills...
Stop paying the credit card, mortgage, phone, cable, car, energy bills...

Not only will this have the immeadiate benefit of forcing you to live within your means, but it would also crash the capitalist system and the US government to boot.

The "system" that we all talk about and despise, rests on your shoulders. Your promise to pay those bills, your debt, your future productivity is the only thing keeping the "system" going.

You can still have the things that money buys, and you don't have to use money to get them.
How? Take them.

constructive destruction

There is a contradiction between the desire to be a part of a healthy productive community, and the fact that there are no "healthy" communities to find. This contradiction manifests as frustration and apathy. I am also of the opinion that acts of destruction would be more helpful to our society and culture than acts of "productivity." Because everyone wants to change the world for the better, the world is full of do-gooders. If they could only agree on what is "good." Indeed the question of what is good for us is such so subjective that a consensus is impossible at this point.

Material well being, physical and financial security, leisure time; these are the some of the assumptions we have about what is good. The spiritual, community, and natural aspects of our lives, including learning and education are not part of the discussion. The commodity does not address some of these deeper concerns, so they have been marginalized. Relegated to the status of "lifestyle." Clothing to dress oneself, rather than real nourishment.

Enough of the predictable ramble. I quote for our times:

"the best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passion."

Yeats

End of the Liberal Age

The connection between harnessing surplus energy and the level of social complexity is obvious. In fact White's Law states that as per capita energy availability increases so then does social complexity. What is not so obvious is the connection between liberalism and surplus energy. Here surplus energy is any additional energy a society can harness beyond mere subsistence. And liberalism refers to the set of ideas that has shaped the modern world. These ideas include the nation state, universal legal rights, human rights, universal suffrage, women's rights and feminism, multiculturalism, and many other ideas which are the true foundation of the modern age.

In fact most of these ideas have been established to such a degree that they are taken for granted. For example most women probably don't take the time to reflect upon the historical process which resulted in the right to own property, much less vote. I suppose this is simply the post-modern age when we don't have to think about those pesky things. At least this seems to be the prevailing attitude.

It is my assertion that this liberal foundation is very fragile indeed and will likely crumble as this century wears on. I base this on the reality of energy descent. There will be less energy per capita from here on out. It will become increasingly clear how prosperity is the essential basis of the "liberal project." Prosperity essentially requires energy. Energy supplies diminish so does prosperity.

No longer will we be able to have a handy-cap accessible society. For a moment reflect upon the life of a handy-cap person in a wheel chair. Our society is so wealthy that we are able to provide for many of these people, and provide for them very well indeed. An individual who say loses the ability to walk can apply for monetary support from the government. They can receive enough money to live alone, a nice electric wheelchair to get around and a vehicle with a handy little wheelchair elevator. Not only this but their local municipality has legislated wheelchair access for most publicly accessible establishments so they can go to their favorite restaurant. This is indeed a good thing, and a compassionate thing. Alas also a temporary thing. The point here is to illustrate how money and resource intensive it is to to support even one handy-cap person. As energy becomes more expensive our already top-heavy government and corporate institutions will come under increasing pressure. The current energy allocation system will become defunct.

The above handicap example stands in contrast to another situation; the increasingly desperate plight of able-bodied youth. So many young folks are over-educated and underemployed. Not only that they are usually saddled with a large amount of debt. There is growing discontent and resentment. The situation is not at the breaking point just yet, but if these same trends continue then we can expect some serious disaffected redress.

You shall reap what you have sown

The grim reaper turns in our direction, we can see his cold boney face. We ask ourselves: What has been sown? What shall be reaped?

We look back over the past sixty years; indeed we have planted the globe with false promises. The illusion of the "liberated self" the ultimate triumph of revolutionary humanism. To be sure we, here in the USA, have only carried forward the program of European design, giving it our own special character. Our naive evangelical enthusiasm for "democracy" and "liberty" are now forced upon other people at gunpoint. The national attitude of self complacency and smug hubris is evidence enough of the results of our two hundred year experiment with these revolutionary values. Everywhere the citizens of this erstwhile republic can be observed congratulating themselves on their deserving prosperity, their wise investment decisions, and clever maneuvering within the social sphere.

But there are some of us who know better. A handful of intellectuals, artists and the youth. They are not fooled, they see what is coming. The reaper is knocking at the door.

And what have we been doing with our immense wealth over the past sixty years? Toward what grand project? What higher purpose have we been aiming? Building our national drive-in fantasy land. Alas, the our education, our wealth, our hard work has been spent in the pursuit of self gratification. For we can see no other pursuit than the individual's whim in our great experiment of "liberty." Having harnessed huge amounts of energy towards the grand infrastructure of self-escape, egoism, and greed. We are now hollowed out humans, having plowed our collective soul under, along with the those seeds of discontent. What are we reaping? Global hatred.

Secular Breakdown

Seemingly irrational leaders are preparing for war. Religious fanatics are rattling their sabers. Rational people everywhere are becoming scared, very scared. Rational people? What could I possible mean by this term. I will define it geopoliticaly as the mentality underlying the doctrine of mutually assured destruction. This is what I am calling rational. Of course it is ironic, ironic to the extreme. Nuclear weapons are not rational, except within the military doctrine of total war. Mutually assured destruction assumes that two enemies who have the capability to destroy one another will not do so. One side will not initiate total war upon the other because it would mean destruction for themselves.

Our presidents since WWII have certainly contemplated this. They bear a heavy weight because only a president can order a nuclear launch. The president must act rationally, an insane maniac will simply not do. Unfortunately the political culture in the contemporary USA is geared toward rewarding power hungry megalomaniacs rather than conscientous civil servants. George Bush is just a portend of what can come. Granted he is a stupid religous nut, but he is not quite an insane maniac, ala Hitler.

If we experience a national/international crisis sooner rather than later this will be a blessing. Because the longer the current political culture holds together the more likely a massive crisis will hit. And the more likely a truly demonic leader will be raised up.

Ride the Tiger

Riding the Tiger here refers to the process of navigating one's way in today's global industrial civilization. This culture is the tiger, the beast to be reckoned with. It is too large and powerful to take down by yourself or even with a group of people. However ride it we must until the time comes when we must jump of the beast. I am actually stealing the phrase from Julius Evola who wrote a book with the very same title. This work is penetrating and deeply philsophical. His perspective, complex and uncompromising, is only for an elect few. Essentially he says we should utilise these degenerate times as a personal technique for spiritual reflection. In some ways it is easier to become philosophically detatched from the world when it is such a mass of chaos and contradiction, corruption and degeneration. Compared to earlier times when say the beauty of nature, or the purity of a principle, or the integrity of an individual could inspire a man beyond himself. This in some ways is the spiritual function of the industrial modern era. Putting an ugly face on that which is really ugly.