The government of a state by the worst citizens.

  This is where we find ourselves in this country at this point in time. In order to understand how we got here, we need to consider two things at work in this culture as it exists today. The first would be the social media in which we are immersed thanks to cell phones finding there way into just about everybody’s hands. These devices not only allow us to connect to anybody else who possess a phone, but also, through the internet, to  choose which voices we will allow into our bubble of information and which we will block as untrustworthy or just not what we want to hear. And because of the economic model used by these social media companies, we are directed towards sites that mimic those we have been looking at and so we become immersed in a constant reinforcing of whatever idea or viewpoint we are currently caught up in. There is no exposure to anything that might cause us to reconsider the validity of this idea or viewpoint. And because we want this bubble to reflect a reality we want to believe in, we don’t find this situation intolerable.

  The second thing to consider is that a functioning democracy is dependent on a voting public that is knowledgeable about the issues needing to be dealt with and have the capacity to understand how these problems can be resolved. The advent of cell phones and social media has shown us that we are woefully lacking in both of these areas. This is partly because our schools have not prioritized critical thinking and problem solving. We do not seem to understand that a society needs its members to posses these attributes if is to function in an intelligent manner that insures its survival. And its partly because there are still too many of us who lack the mental capacity to develop these traits but have fully developed egos that will not admit to needing other more intelligent beings to help resolve the problems that confront them. When science tells them something beyond their understanding, they will dismiss this information as untrue or nonsense because admitting their inability to understand is to damaging to their ego.

  This advent of social media along with a lack of critical thinking in the voting public leads to the worst of us being elected to positions in the government where their lack of knowledge and expertise allows them to make decisions that work against our survival as a species. Because it is inconvenient, global warming can be ignored and the degradation of the natural world can be justified as our birthright. Women can be subjugated to second class citizens because a book we believe in says their only real purpose is to procreate.

  Is this really how the universe wants this to unfold. If it is all perfect, then how are we to understand this predicament in which we find ourselves? Evolution is a slow process and has always involved dramatic changes that are not pleasant to those who have to deal with them. A healing crises is a war between the forces that would destroy an entity and the forces that would alter this entity in ways that will create a situation that is no longer susceptible to these destructive forces. And healing crises have a beginning and an end. In the process of healing, there will be chaos and destruction and ultimately, if successful, the elimination of those forces that would destroy us. In the meantime, we need to do whatever we can to limit the damage these forces can inflict upon us while, at the same time, improving this world in ways that make it a harder place for these destructive forces to manifest. And they will unknowingly help us in this process because whatever damage they do, they do to themselves. The only part we need to play is to work on ourselves so that we become the force needed to bring us out of this darkness and into the light.