#1 - The Environment - I attended the first Earth conference in Portland Oregon more than 2 decades ago. I had the fortune to sit and talk with a man who had just spent 6 years on the front line, fighting the devastation of the Brazilian rain forests. I asked him what he thought was our most pressing issue. He said, "Without a doubt....it is overpopulation. Every single issue we have is because humans are overusing this planet, and it's resources".
To keep a blind eye to the fact that the sustainability of planet Earth does not include unlimited population, regardless of your political or religious fucking stance, is truly a crime against our lives, and the lives of all species of this planet and the future of all things.
#2 - Corporation status - We will never get control back of our environment, our government, or our bodies as long as corporate status is as it is.
From theatlantic.com in 2014!... "For every dollar spent on lobbying by labor unions and public-interest groups together, large corporations and their associations now spend $34. Of the 100 organizations that spend the most on lobbying, 95 consistently represent business." Remember....In 1978 a sharply divided Supreme Court ruled for the first time that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend money on state ballot initiatives.
#3 - Money Funneling to the Arms Industry - Lockheed, Boeing, GE, Bechtel Corp, Raytheon, Gen Dynamics, Etc . This is hundreds of billions folks. It is our future, It is our debt. We are sucking the resources of this earth, turning it into profit that is being funneled into a small percentage of the population know as the military complex. Do you remember "shock and awe?" We were told at the time that it was a response to terrorism. What it actually was was a response to 8 years of the Clinton administration cutting military funding. There were stockpiles of weapons...and the new ones had not been purchased in some time. "Shock and Awe" was simply the quickest and easiest way to use 200+ billion dollars in weapons and other military spending, so those fucks could build us new ones, at the new, higher rate.
#4 - Media influence - NO....I am not talking about politics. I am talking about mental sheep. If you keep your focus on your phone, on your tv, on your email, and on your (insert whatever new media craze), you are being led, controlled, subverted, and seduced. It is subtle. It is intentional, and it is powerful. I feel the sorriest for those who were born into this, as they know no other way. If you don't believe me, try going without all media for a day. Tell me what that feels like. It feels like withdrawal from an addiction. I watched the saddest thing last year in my guitar shop. A 6 year old boy walked in with his mother. He was scrolling through the phone...looking at things. He never once looked around to see a store full of instruments. He just stared at a 4" by 6" device. It made me want to cry.
#5 - Governmental Design - Decisions made at the Federal, State, and local levels are now made in a micro-level field. We make almost no decisions for the future. Our buildings, our roads, our architecture, our schools, our water supply ... you name it, are being decided upon based on THIS budget, on THIS officials term limit, or on THIS decision that will affect that officials next election. All public construction goes to the lowest bid...to hell with the long term effects of those decisions. We used to build structures to last many generations.
