It’s the American Way or the Highway: Your Extinction Will Quell Your Moral and Intellectual Confusion

By Jason Miller

Persistently ticking off the precious seconds in humanity’s "Countdown to
Extinction", the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin for Atomic Scientists has
advanced to seven minutes of midnight. Yet despite nuclear terror
unleashed on Japan, an arms race of monumental proportions, the collapse
of the Soviet Union, and widespread nuclear proliferation, somehow
humanity has managed avoid nuclear apocalypse for 60 years. Perhaps the
virtual certainty of "mutually assured destruction" will freeze the hands
of the Doomsday Clock and continue humankind’s stay of execution.

As if the possibility of nuclear devastation was not enough of a concern,
Donald Rumsfeld recently informed us that those who oppose the Iraqi
Occupation and the abrogation of Constitutional law lack courage and are
confused morally and intellectually. "Terrorism" is an existential threat
to the "civilized world" and the Bush administration is justified in all
of its "counter-terrorism" measures, according to Rumsfeld. Remember, if
nuclear war does not annihilate us, the "terrorists" will.

As you ponder the threat of "terrorism", do not forget to consider that
the many invasions mounted by the United States military and the IDF have
killed millions more innocent civilians than the asymmetrical warfare
waged by over-matched victims of imperial oppression.

Killing civilians is a war crime, whether the murderer dons a uniform and
flies a multi-billion dollar plane to make a "precision strike" or wears
civilian clothes and creates crude road-side bombs to blow up passers-by.
(And ordering such murders is a war crime too, Mr. Rumsfeld).

And on the subject of courage, Rumsfeld has sent over 2600 US soldiers to
their deaths yet has not spent a minute engaged in combat.

Who did the Secretary of Defense say lacked courage and was morally and
intellectually confused?

Soul searching often yields resolutions to dilemmas posed by "moral and
intellectual confusion". Perhaps his transaction with Mephistopheles
rendered Monsieur Rumsfeld immune to such dilemmas.

Self-Inflicted Pain

Nuclear devastation rendering the world virtually uninhabitable,
unfathomably cruel war crimes annihilating innocent human beings, and the
impending coastal inundation, droughts, violent weather, and ecological
disasters of Climate Change are harrowing potentialities and realities
with which we humans cope on a daily basis.

The sad irony is that the common denominator amongst these dire threats to
the perpetuation of life on Earth is that we created them.

Unfortunately, the species blessed with frontal lobes and opposable thumbs
is threatening extinction of life on Earth in still another way. While
less immediate, the consequences of humankind tenaciously clinging to the
prevailing socioeconomic order will be as disastrous as nuclear war, the
escalation of the murder of civilian populations or Climate Change. Quite
simply, humanity’s present course down a blind alley will inevitably lead
us to a dead end, literally.

Dream the American Dream

And while not the sole culprit, the United States bears much of the
responsibility for this additional threat to the perpetuation of the human
species. This nation shamelessly spawned, practices, champions, and
proliferates many of the socioeconomic dynamics responsible for the
incredible strain we humans are putting upon the Earth as we tax this
planet far beyond its capacity.

Seemingly destined to become the "asylum for mankind" Thomas Paine
foresaw, the United States freed itself from a tyrant, created a
constitutional republic, absorbed waves of immigrants, abolished the
heinous institution of chattel slavery, ceded rights to working people,
recognized the right of women to vote, instituted numerous social service
programs, and made notable progress in extending civil rights to
minorities. In spite of the genocide of Turtle Island’s indigenous people,
the brutal treatment of its Black population, and various other
significant transgressions, the United States made remarkable moral
progress over the course of its relatively brief existence.

Regrettably, as the United States was marching toward fulfilling its rich
promise, the enemies of social justice and human rights were licking their
wounds and plotting the restoration of power to the de facto aristocracy.
Men like Goldwater, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and both Bush’s have presided
over a perverse and tragic turn of events as powerful corporate entities
and a relative handful of wealthy individuals have hijacked most of the
social, economic, and political institutions of the United States. The
lunatics are indeed running the asylum. And the betterment of humanity is
not even on their radar screen.

Utilizing the public education system and the corporate media, CEO’s,
major shareholders of massive corporations, obscenely wealthy individuals,
and political heavy hitters in the United States and Israel work
tirelessly to keep the "other" 99% of the population spending, consuming,
and manifesting the American Way.

Subjecting the rest of the world’s citizens to its perverse mélange of
predatory capitalism, militarism, self-absorption, narcissism, hubris,
avarice, and acute paranoia, the corporatocracy of the United States of
America uses its unprecedented military and economic power to ram the
American Way down their collective throats.

Cultural genocide and the establishment of ruthless oligarchies be damned!
"Free markets", a win at all costs mentality, obsessive hedonism,
perpetual war, and the relentless pursuit of profit at the expense of
human beings are the United States’ gifts to the world.

Contrary to the tripe peddled by revisionist historians and the corporate
media, the world’s "benevolent" superpower has not been spreading an
enlightened and democratic socioeconomic system around the globe.

Reality Intrudes....How Rude!

In his essay entitled Greed, Julian Edney provides a thought-provoking
analysis of the impact the American Way has had on the populace in its
country of origin.

Consider this excerpt:

Modern analysts Cook and Frank show free market competition has become so
stark that we are becoming a winner-takes-all society (17). In a giant
economy, aggressive acquisition, greed, where so widespread and popular as
to be celebrated, has resulted in colossal differences, so that, as much
as we are accustomed to reproaching the Europeans for their inequalities,
we are now caught in a lie. We have become more unequal. The United States
is the wealthiest nation. But its 20.3 percent child poverty rate ranks
worse than all European nations (18).

Historians Will and Ariel Durant (19) estimated in their survey that the
gap between the wealthiest and the poorest in America has become greater
than at any time since Imperial plutocratic Rome.

And sample some of Henry Giroux’s insight from his article The Politics of
Disposability (which recently appeared in The Toronto Star):

The bodies that repeatedly appeared all over New Orleans days and weeks
after it was struck by Hurricane Katrina also revealed the emergence of a
new kind of politics, one in which entire populations are now considered
disposable, an unnecessary burden on state coffers, and consigned to fend
for themselves. The deeply existential and material questions regarding
who is going to die and who is going to live in this society are now
centrally determined by race and class. Katrina lays bare what many people
in the United States do not want to see: large numbers of poor black and
brown people struggling to make ends meet, benefiting very little from a
social system that makes it difficult to obtain health insurance, child
care, social assistance, cars, savings, and minimum-wage jobs, if lucky,
and instead offers to black and brown youth bad schools, poor public
services, and no future, except a possible stint in the penitentiary. As
Janet Pelz in the Sept. 19, 2005 Seattle Post-Intelligencer rightly
insisted, "These are the people the Republicans have been teaching us to
disdain, if not hate, since President Reagan decried the moral laxness of
the welfare mom."

Despite the United States presenting the American Way as an offer the rest
of the world can’t refuse, increasing numbers of nations and groups are
successfully resisting. Since opposition threatens their relentlessly
acquisitive agenda, the US power elite demonize leaders like Hugo Chavez
and nations like Iran. In reality, those who reject the dictates of the
American Empire are worthy of respect for refusing to bend over for an
unlubricated fist-fuck.

Anyone up for a little game of human extinction?

Aside from the obvious moral depravity and numerous social injustices
associated with our greed-driven socioeconomic paradigm, there is a
particularly grave pragmatic consequence from which no human being can
escape. The American Way is a path to extinction, particularly as the
citizens of populous nations like China and India race to satiate
themselves in the orgy conspicuous consumption. The Earth cannot sustain
6.5 billion people living the "American Way".

How can we measure the sustainability of life on Earth? One means at our
disposal is to examine ecological footprints. Each nation has an
ecological footprint which (according to Wikipedia) is the amount of land
and water area a person or a human population would need to provide the
resources required to sustainably support itself and to absorb its wastes,
given prevailing technology.

To gain perspective on how unsustainable the American Way truly is,
consider that the average US citizen exerts 52 times the ecological
pressure as the average Somali. At 9.57 hectares per capita, the United
States has the world’s largest ecological footprint. (Bangladesh’s .5
represents the other end of the spectrum). If every nation had the same
global footprint as the United States, we would need 5 Earths to support
global consumption!

As we rapidly deplete non-renewable resources (like oil) and use renewable
resources more quickly than nature can replenish them, we are in a state
of ecological overshoot. Deforestation, diminishing supplies of
groundwater, and the depletion of fish populations are but three examples
of disappearing renewable resources.

Wildlife extinction is another deeply disturbing aspect of ecological
overshoot. World-renowned for his expertise on humanity’s impact on the
environment, University of Minnesota professor David Tillman compared the
rate of the emergence of new species with the current rate of extinction:

"That’s sort of a 1 million to 4 million year process, and yet we are
causing species to be lost at rates of 100 to 1000 times faster,"

Blinded by hubris, narcissism, and technology, many people perceive
themselves to be separate from nature and the people existing "outside" of
their insular worlds. The reality is that we are each inextricably linked
with the rest of the Earth’s inhabitants (be they human, animal, or plant)
in a complex web of life.

Albert Einstein challenged us to break the shackles of the illusion of
separateness and embrace interdependence:

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part
limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and
feelings as something separated from the rest-a kind of optical delusion
of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison, restricting us to
our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our
task must be to free from this prison by widening our circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty."

Hopeful Signs on the Horizon

While it is likely to be some time before moral and humane movements
supplant the ignoble Duopoly that is bought and paid for by corporate and
Israeli interests, they do exist and are gaining momentum. (1)Populists
and Proutists represent two such movements. A rising tide of democratic
socialism in South America demonstrates that nations in the "developing
world" are freeing themselves from the yoke of the American Empire, but
Goliath will not fall quickly or easily.

As people of conscience search for ways to create viable alternatives to
the brutal inhumanity of corporatism, many are finding that grassroots
efforts offer an effective means of chipping away at the deeply entrenched
status quo. Partners Dr. Timothy Wilkin and William Brandon Shanley are
shining examples of two US Americans who work tirelessly to counteract the
deleterious effects of predatory capitalism.

Tim Wilken is a physician and scientist who has devoted himself to the
betterment of humankind. His stated goal is to strive for a world free of
hate and violence. In the spirit of Buckminster Fuller, Wilken seeks to
employ his strengths and efforts to bring about a more humane and
sustainable world.

Towards that end, he has done pioneering work in the field of synergy
which Dr. Wilken defines in this way:

We believe that we must learn to work together. This means we must become
synergic humans. Synergy means working together-operating together as in
Co-Operation- laboring together as in Co-Laboration-acting together as in
Co-Action. The goal of synergic union is to accomplish a larger or more
difficult task than can be accomplished by individuals working separately.
We are committed to a world where I win, you win, others win and the Earth
wins. Win-Win-Win-Win.

Dr. Wilken maintains a Website devoted to synergy at
http://www.synearth.net/ in an effort to teach humanity:

How to work co-Operatively with each other. How to nurture the earth and
the children of the earth. How to be a part of tomorrow’s solutions rather
than part of the today’s problems.

Collaborating with Wilken in his quest to better the lot of humanity is
William Shanley. Shanley brings a wealth of experience to the partnership.
He has worked extensively in the media industry, including stints as a
writer for CNN and as an independent producer of documentaries. He
interviewed Presidents Reagan and Carter in preparation for his
documentary called The Made for TV Elections with Martin Sheen and worked
for President Carter. He also edited and contributed to Lewis Carroll’s
Lost Quantum Diaries.

Together Wilken and Shanley recently launched an entity called Give-Get
Nation at www.givegetnation.net On the Give Get Nation Website, one can
connect with others virtually anywhere in the world to give, receive, or
exchange goods and services at no monetary cost. Demonstrating that people
can act on their values, seek fulfillment of their needs and behave
altruistically without the impediment of spiritually toxic influences like
money, banks, or stock exchanges, Give-Get Nation provides a refreshing
alternative to the "orthodox" economic marketplace.

Registration costs nothing but a few moments of one’s time. Participating
in Give-Get Nation affords people the opportunity to attempt to give or
get goods or services according to their capacities, desires, or needs, at
no profit or cost.

Wilken and Shanley stated that Give-Get Nation:

"organizes the world’s unlimited surplus product, labor, intelligence and
spiritual capital and makes it available to everybody for free. Think of
us as the National Human Values Trust."

Give-Get Nation is in its infancy, but it is brimming with promise. Its
selfless approach to exchanging goods and services offers a spiritually
fulfilling alternative to the rat race that rapacious capitalism’s wage
slaves perpetually run. As membership increases and transactions begin to
mount, growing numbers of people will rise to Einstein’s challenge by
widening their circles of compassion. And perhaps most importantly, the
exchange of surplus goods will help push the Earth toward sustainability.
(Give-Get Nation is indeed anathema to predacious capitalists).

Readers often email me asking what they can do in the face of the
seemingly omnipotent forces of greed and malevolence which orchestrate
many aspects of our lives. Opportunity is now pounding your door off its
hinges. Become an active member of Give-Get Nation. It is free, legal and
subversive to corporate domination. (What more could you ask for?)

Besides, Give-Get Nation represents a significant shift in values and
priorities. Remember that the human species has already caused the
premature extinction of many of Earth’s inhabitants. If we humans do not
collectively change our values, WE HUMANS could be the next species to
disappear.

(1) http://populistamerica.com/

Jason Miller is a wage slave of the American Empire who has freed himself
intellectually and spiritually. He writes prolifically and his essays have
appeared widely on the Internet. He welcomes constructive correspondence
at willpowerful@hotmail.com or via his blog, Thomas Paine’s Corner, at
http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/