Purpose and Direction - More Musings

There's two ways of considering the path from where we are to where we want to be -

I can focus on the start (i.e. where we are), or I can focus on the destination and try to work backwards.

Focusing on the start is complicated - because that means having a clear-eyed view of where we currently stand. 

And there's not actually a lot of agreement on that, other than that - for whatever reason - we are dissatisfied.

Nobody is happy with the status quo. I don't think someone like Trump could get elected if people were happy with the current situation.

The problem is that everyone has their own ideas as to what's wrong and how to fix it.

I think that's part of why key moments in time are so chaotic, actually. The status quo has some inertia, it just kind of keeps going and going, even as problems continue growing without being addressed.

But once something finally breeches that wall? Puts a crack in the dam holding things back?

Chaos ensues. Only the truly arrogant believe they can control that chaos... over and over and over again we see unpredicted results once that status quo is disrupted.

Consider Iraq. Saddam was a horrible ruler, and his sons were even worse. But there was predictability and stability - of a sort. And our invasion disrupted that.

And we were not prepared for the chaos we unleashed.

Major disruptions to the status quo tend to come with a period of uncertainty, where multiple different forces and factions compete to influence and shape what comes.

It tends to be a messy and complicated process, sort of like how the French Revolution had the Reign of Terror and Robespierre, before Napoleon and many more years of turmoil.

The Russian Revolution also had quite a bit of unrest and violence after the death of their royal family, the Bolsheviks were just one faction in it.

Part of the reason I have so much contempt for the Boogaloo movement is that they don't seem to have any understanding or respect for the violence they're trying to incite.

They probably think that if the upset the status quo, they'll get to control what happens next. They don't seem to believe or care that they and their loved ones will suffer too.

I can and probably will dig a bit deeper into the 'here is where we are the start', but I wanted to explore things from the other end before getting bogged down in that.

Because if we look at our goal, we also get a better sense of what direction we should build in.

Our destination, to draw on all the sources I mentioned in a previous post and consolidate it a bit, is this:

• A nation where people have control over their own government. 
• That control can mean different things at local, state, and federal levels. I've got some rules of thumb I was thinking of that will touch on this in more detail, but let's just say that if people get together and decide that they really want a law, they should be able to make it happen. But that law might be more appropriate as a city law vs state or federal law. We benefit sometimes from having a national standard, but we also benefit by letting each city and state do things their own way.
• Where people can succeed through their own efforts. That success requires:
• Access to education and training
• Sufficient pay so that if you are willing to work hard you can pay your bills and save up enough for that education and training, or even just a nice vacation from time to time
• A meritocracy, where you can get promoted or get the training and education you need based off your own talents. (I can talk a lot more about that, too. But later.)
• Freedom 
• To state our opinions without worry that the president - or some other big and powerful individual - will punish us if they disagree
• To practice our faith as we wish - though with restrictions if that faith infringes on other people's rights (i.e. you don't get to use your religion to justify making other people do things they don't want to do.)

Working our way backwards from this, we can already see some of the challenges we'll have to face. We already know that our government is not truly representative. Since this is a quick overview I'm going to go into depth on that some other time, but there's been plenty of discussion about it already.

We also know that it's getting more and more challenging for people to succeed through their own efforts. Education is more and more expensive, housing prices keep rising, it's harder and harder for people to save up money... oh, and a meritocracy? lol.... yeah, sure. Funny how people like pretending that they succeeded by merit even as they keep supporting policies that block any real competition. Methinks they might not actually believe they're the best of the best.

And as for freedom - well, Trump really has had a chilling effect on that, hasn't he? 

I'm sure there's more I could add to this, it feels like I have to be skipping some key points somewhere. But you get the gist.