The Blog - Revolutionary Misfit

Is Everything Really Meaningless?

December 13, 2020 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

Meaningless! Meaningless!
Says the Teacher.
Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.
Ecclesiastes 1:2

Those were the musings of perhaps the wisest of all men.

But why did he write that everything is “meaningless”?

I was reading Ecclesiastes one morning years ago and the question really had the gears grinding in my head.

Solomon later writes that “man has no advantage over the animal.” The same fate awaits them both.

Pretty dreary perspective, huh?

The way I look at it we’re all given a pre-determined time interval to occupy – it’s called life. It begins the moment you are conceived and ends the moment of death.

When your life begins you are a clean slate, a zero starting point…

How you apply your energy during the time interval either accumulates positively or negatively to your impact.

I wrote long ago that “who you are” really is simply a mass of swirling atomic energy, just like all other matter that exists in the universe.

What do I mean by “impact?”

Well, viewed from a religious perspective, it is the effect on eternity stemming from the application of your energy during your particular interval.

All major religions of the world basically espouse that our actions in this life have such an impact.

But how about from a purely secular perspective?

How we apply our energy during the interval can also have an impact on the world we leave behind.

Let’s call this our legacy.

It seems that King Solomon was depressed because he just couldn’t grasp the “meaning” of life from any other perspective than its enjoyment in the interval. In other words, why should I care about “legacy”, since I am not going to be around to enjoy it?

Moreover, how can I be sure that the idiots that come after me won’t simply ignore it, or abuse it (my legacy, that is)?

Why be concerned with anything other than what I can experience during my interval?

Well, looking at it selfishly, the extent to which we are concerned about our legacy – that it is a positive one – could in fact make life more enjoyable during your interval, from a motivational perspective…couldn’t it?

So from that perspective Solomon was dead wrong…

Everything really isn’t meaningless.

Because the more one is concerned about impact, the more one is going to engage him or herself in activities that do in fact bring enjoyment during the interval!

I will readily admit that at times life does seem meaningless.

Maybe Solomon was just having one of those “days” when he wrote Ecclesiastes.

The problem is that as soon as we try to apply our energy in a chosen direction, we immediately encounter resistance from opposing energy forces.

It could be within our own heads, or it could be “out there.”

But if we keep that concept of “legacy” at the forefront of our consciousness, it helps to push through, despite the resistance.

In fact, that resistance can strengthen us and thereby make our own force more impactful.

I guess I’m just not buying Solomon’s theory that “everything is meaningless.”

Caring about my impact, both on the world I leave behind and on my position in the one that potentially could exist in the hereafter, should provide deep meaning to my life…my interval.

Reflecting on the Big 60

November 30, 2020 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

Turning 50 really wasn’t that big of a deal…

Oh for sure, we did the big 5-0 birthday bash, complete with me singing my signature karaoke bit, El Rey, fronting a band of Colombian mariachis. And the hangover the next morning had me feeling the pain of every inch of five decades of struggle against gravity.

However, this time we’re talking a number of more significance. Many would say one that marks the beginning of “old age.”

There won’t be any wild birthday bashes this time around. As Hank Williams, Jr. sang, the hangovers definitely hurt more than they used to!

While I do respect the number 60, as it signifies a stage of life that can mark the beginning of a downhill slide to, well, you know (a metaphor having both positive and negative connotations)…

I’m not afraid of it. At least not deathly so…

After all, I’m arriving at the number with a life blessed in so many ways.

And I refuse to embrace the pessimistic idea that its year of arrival, 2020, is a bad omen…

I don’t even believe in omens, good or bad.

I have a pretty good life. I’m married to a beautiful lady of about 5 years my younger. We are both in good health. I’m nowhere near “financially free”, so I’ll probably spend the next decade selling real estate here in Costa Rica. And that’s okay! I really enjoy doing it and I’m finally starting to see some success with it. We do plan on doing a bit of traveling, especially to her home country of Colombia.

I have four great kids, two married, all healthy and successful in their own right. And I’m sure some grandkids on the way in the not too distant future. Oh, and my wife has three herself and one granddaughter already on the scene in Colombia. We’re a multinational “Brady Bunch.” And that’s really kind of cool!

Other than my car, a meager wardrobe and a few sticks of furniture, I own nothing. Many would be frightened by that at my age, but, honestly, I like the fact that I’m not locationally tied down via “asset ownership.”

And I gave up the idea of being rich and famous long ago!

As I sit here, reflecting on the Big 60, I see my life in thirds…

The first third was one marked in many ways by self-destruction. The second third by trying to reconstruct that damage done. And this last last third, the Costa Rica third, as one of self-discovery.

Even though the last twenty years in Costa Rica have been marked by many “highs” and “lows”, I am eternally grateful for how living in this country has changed me.

Sometimes I wonder where I’d be if I’d never taken on that fateful “Universidad Interamericana” deal back in 2001 that brought me here and forever changed my life…

I guess I’d be working in an office, maybe as an attorney, or financial advisor type. I’d probably have “money”, as they say. I’d probably have a nice home and retirement account. In short, I’d probably have a lot of those trappings of success that mark the American dream…

I’d certainly be a more respected human in the eyes of many back “home.”

But, then again, maybe not. Who knows?

Nevertheless, here I am. A Costa Rican citizen, no less!

A Costan Rica realtor.

And as of the end of this week, an “old” one.

They say wisdom comes with age. After witnessing the way many in my new age group embrace the alternative fact universe of Donald J. Trump, I kind of question that…

However, I do think wisdom has come to me via the life experiences I have had, especially that of being a dual citizen, or as I prefer to think of myself, a world citizen.

It has softened me, humbled me, and it has gifted me with a more open mind.

Of course, being married for the last 12 years to my Colombian borne wife, who doesn’t even speak English, has greatly contributed to that open-mindedness!

I believe the more open we keep our minds, the easier it is for wisdom to pour in. Well, granted that it also helps to have a good filter installed to keep out the garbage.

For me that filter has been, in many ways, this platform that has allowed me to get thoughts out of my head and to share them with you. That process helped me develop this worldview that I hold dearly to, the one I call impact mindfulness.

The one that keeps at the forefront of my consciousness the principled triad of altruistic service to others (impact over interest), inclusivity (the Big US), and open-mindedness (removing impact blinders).

This week I plan to make some decisions about the direction I want the next 10 years to take, especially concerning two things: my health and my impact.

I want the next ten years to be marked by both…a renewed commitment to health (physical and mental) and to making an impact, creatively.

I have struggled the last half of my 5th decade to get my financial legs back under me. I believe I’ve largely succeeded in that effort. However, the struggle has taken a toll on my health and my impact. Not that I find myself in seriously bad health, but it definitely could be better.

And focusing so intently for the last five years on fixing the self-inflicted financial mess that came to a head back around 2015 has taken my focus off of things that I know are more important.

In Costa Rica we like to say, “hay mas tiempo que vida” (that there’s more time than life). In other words, we don’t get too stressed down here over the idea that time is fleeting…pura vida…

But, in reality, it is.

I guess the most significant thing about turning 60 is coming to that realization.

So, I believe it’s time to renew my focus on those most important things.

And of course to have some fun in the process!

Oh, and that might mean that you’ll be hearing a lot more from me here…

Humor this newly minted old-timer with your patience, and perhaps a bit of your attention, as I try to get back to what I believe my life really should be all about.

#MAUA – Make America United Again

November 16, 2020 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

The 2020 election is history!

Well, sort of…

It was definitely one for the record books, having been conducted in the midst of a raging pandemic with record turnout, much of it before election day!

Despite claims to the contrary, it appears that Joe Biden has won and will become the 46th President of the U.S.A. He won by a healthy and still increasing margin, both in the electoral college and even more-so in the popular vote. Biden won in the popular vote by almost 6 million votes, twice that of Clinton’s margin over Trump in 2016.

Nevertheless, for many in the country (over 70 million many) the election is not over. They are clinging to this conspiratorial idea, perpetuated by Trump, that the election was “rigged.”

It wasn’t.

I can remember Trump saying the same thing about his 3 million popular vote loss in 2016. He even appointed a commission to investigate. They found nothing.

Even though the election is “over”, the political division in the United States isn’t anywhere close to being over.

What will it take to make America united again?

As if it ever really was.

I was thinking this morning about what foments this division. Obviously the two sides have different ideological ideas. Much of that is centered on a disagreement about the proper role of government in American society.

I’m not going to get into that discussion in this post. I have in many others.

What interests me more is what is really causing us to hate each other with ever increasing intensity and how can we escape that cycle?

Isn’t it true that when we get angry at someone over a disagreement, or a perceived slight, and take action on that anger to exact some level of revenge, that it only perpetuates a cycle of more anger, retaliation, and damage to both sides?

Generally, such cycles end in either of two ways…

One side gains dominance and is able to intimidate, or suppress, the other from further retaliatory action, or
Ongoing reciprocal retaliation eventually results in both sides being totally annihilated.

Well, I guess sometimes we’re able to forgive and make up. However, that requires one side to fess up and admit error. With respect to the current ideological division in the U.S., I don’t think that’s going to happen.

I am late to the series Sons of Anarchy on Amazon Prime. I have been binge watching it lately and currently I am on season 5. The series glorifies the biker life, especially via the experiences of Jax Teller. However, what is evident to me in this tale of violence and revenge is that violence and revenge only results in more of the same. I’m not sure how close I am to the end of the series, but I can already predict what’s going to happen…and it’s not going to be a positive result for Jax, or his beloved SAMCRO.

What I don’t want to see happen is for the rival “gangs” of Republicans and Democrats to suffer the same fate…mutual annihilation!

Trump has been a scorched earth President like none we’ve even had, including Nixon. And he seems intent on leaving the White House, the Presidency, and indeed the entire country, well, scorched!

And he’s got millions of followers who agree with him and are urging him on!

Of course, to be honest, the other side hasn’t been very kind to Trump, or his followers…

And therein lies the issue that I am trying to get at…

We seem to be locked into a cycle of disagreement, anger, and retaliation.

Sure it’s going to be hard to make America united again, when it really never has been. However, I am old enough to remember a time when we could at least disagree without hating one another and seeking the destruction of the other side!

In a democracy the majority does have the final say. We like to say about Presidential elections that “America has spoken” and we (the collective we) must accept that result.

However, that doesn’t mean that the minority, who don’t see things the same way, should just be trampled over. That’s what foments the anger that leads us into cycles of incivility, like the one we seem to be trapped in now.

Social media has certainly played a role in perpetuating the division. It allows us to retreat into echo chambers of like-minded opinions and alternative facts that support those opinions. And with the advent of new social media options, like Parler, that cater to our preferred tribal propensities, social media will likely only make things worse.

I believe the answer lies in less ego and less desire to be right. Neither side has a monopoly on rightness.

Like I said above, you can boil down a lot of the disagreement to the proper role of government in our lives…

Certainly there is some happy medium that we can all live with!

Government is not “our” enemy. When it is functioning properly, it should reflect “our” collective will. Maybe, we should argue less about the role that a “dysfunctional” government should play and focus more on ways to cure the dysfunction!

A government that truly reflects the will of the people will be one that both sides can have greater trust in and thus we might have an easier time agreeing about. Don’t you think?

This election and even this damned pandemic will soon be distant memories. Donald Trump will fade away, trust me. It might take a while, but life will go on.

We can either learn to live together, or we can continue to hate, continue to exact revenge, and overpower and that cycle will go round and round until, like SAMCRO, we annihilate each other and our country in the process.

I believe that it is possible for us to make America united again…

But to do that we have to escape the cycle and re-learn how to disagree agreeably.

And that means the ability to keep an open mind, accept alternative viewpoints and compromise without resentment, anger and desire for ultimate revenge.

Otherwise, I am afraid to tell you, our country just ain’t going to work, for anyone, anymore…

That’s not a good result for America, or Americans, or the rest of people and planet.

#MAUA

Slouching Towards Autocracy

September 20, 2020 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

The late Robert Bork, failed Reagan nominee for a U.S. Supreme Court seat in 1987, once wrote a book entitled, Slouching Towards Gomorrah. In it he attacks a variety of social, cultural, and political experiences as alleged evidence of a U.S. cultural decline and degeneracy. Among those noted are affirmative action, increased violence in and sexualization of mass media, the legalization of abortion, pressure to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia, feminism and the decline of religion.

Bork was the former U.S. Solicitor General who ultimately carried out Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre” firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

Bork, like the current U.S. Attorney General, William Barr, was widely criticized on the left as an advocate of disproportionate powers for the executive branch of the federal government, arguing for what seemed to be executive supremacy.

Even though Bork was unsuccessful in reaching the Supreme Court, his extreme right-wing conservative ideals prevail under the presidency of Donald Trump. I am quite certain Bork would likely have approved of the autocratic Trump in many ways.

Which brings me to the question of today’s post, namely, what exactly is the vision conservatives have for America?

What exactly is the “again” in Donald Trump’s infamous campaign slogan, “make America great again?”

That is, if they have their way (which they just might come November 3rd), what will America look like?

We’re about to complete four tumultuous years of the extreme right-wing struggling to have their way, only to be met with fierce resistance from a middle left majority. This struggle has led to a level of political division never seen before in American society.

But if the far right could completely have their way (and another four years under Trump could in fact give it to them), what would America look like?

More than likely women would be far less empowered and certainly deprived of power over their own wombs…

People of color would be forced to accept the unfair abuse suffered under the current prison-industrial complex, lacking the voting power to really do anything about it…

The wall separating church and state would be chipped away to non-existence, giving rise to a theocratic state in which a right-wing christian evangelical ideology would reign free to indoctrinate, as well as emasculate competing world views…

The scourge of a gun-toting society, which requires our children to undergo frequent active-shooter drills, (and all too frequent live situations), when they should be free to learn in a protected and peaceful environment, would only grow larger and more uncontrolled…

The constant scapegoating of immigrants, blaming them for economic problems and increased crime, would continue unabated an certainly even more unabashed…

The unspeakable ravages we face under the threat of climate change will only become more of our day to day experience of reality…

Our cherished freedoms of speech and press would be further diluted, as those in power seek to silence competing views…

Any president wielding executive powers to further solidify the above listed features of right-wing autocratic rule would be granted the deference of a monarch, as Trump has been granted in many ways by a willing and complicit U.S. Senate…

Trump-era conservatism seems to be slouching towards autocracy, or a system of government by one person, one party, and one ideology with absolute power.

Trump recently made a comment that betrays his view of America and how it should be governed. At a White House press conference Trump suggested that if you excluded blue states, America’s high number of Covid-19 deaths wouldn’t look bad compared to other countries. Specifically he stated, “If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at.”

Overlooking the abject falsity of the statement, it does seem to betray a worldview of some sort of conservative utopia in which liberals simply don’t exist at all, or are at least completely subservient.

It seems that Trump (and his supporters) really believe that their actions are what’s best for “America”, as long as that America only includes them, or at least only matters for them…

But it doesn’t.

A President may get elected on a party ticket, as either a Democrat or Republican. However, once elected he is the President of us all.

Trump just doesn’t seem to get that. And, again, neither do his supporters.

Believing that they know best for all of us, they, with Trump as their leader, are more than content to impose their brand of conservative ideology on the rest of us.

And they are more than happy to give Trump unfettered power to do so.

That, my friends, is what autocracies are made of and we seem to be slouching towards autocracy with ever increasing eagerness and velocity as each day brings us closer to November 3rd.

This week we witnessed the death of the beloved liberal Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, aka, RBG. RBG has probably done as much or more to empower women as any woman in our nation’s history…

And with just a little over a month to the November 3rd election, and within moments of news of her passing, Trump and his senate majority leader crony, Mitch McConnell, vowed to fill RBG’s seat with a Trump nominee, one who will surely not see eye to eye ideologically with the late and great justice, nor with a majority of the American people.

And they propose to do this even though they denied Barack Obama the opportunity to do the very same thing with his nomination of Merrick Garland to the Court in 2016. A nomination that was stonewalled by McConnell and ultimately filled by Donald Trump.

That level of shameful hypocrisy is mind-boggling, to put it mildly…

They could care less, however, because, after all they’re doing what’s best for the country, or at least their conservative version of it.

Or, so they think…

The nation is at an important crossroads. The results of November 3rd will forge the direction we take for the foreseeable future…

And that will be one of self-governance for the good of all, or autocratic rule for the good of less than a majority.

If we continue slouching towards autocracy then those with power will be completely willing and able to impose their version of what is “good” on the nation.

I don’t believe that’s really what “we” want, now is it?

So, what are “we” going to do about it?

I have a hashtag solution for you…

#VoteThemOut2020

Clinging to Capitalism

September 6, 2020 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

I watched an interesting video recently addressing the question of whether the U.S. is currently experiencing the end of capitalism…

That is, whether we are currently in the throes of “late stage capitalism” and must either usher in something different, or see the system collapse under its top-heavy weight.

What exactly that “something different” might be, the video did not pretend to know.

Why are some of us clinging to capitalism, tooth and nail, while others can’t wait to see this economic system, that has truthfully raised standards of living for most human life on earth, go the way of the dinosaur?

I believe that for many capitalism has become a religion, or at least synonymous with religious ideals, often grounded in evangelical christianity. That’s sort of odd when you consider that the person the religion is based upon, Jesus of Nazareth, was anything but a capitalist.

It seems that many of us believe our democracy depends on capitalism and vice versa.

But capitalism is just an economic theory, nothing more. It is not god-ordained and our democracy was not founded upon it. In fact, when our democracy was founded there was an entire segment of our society denied access to the market and instead bought and sold as chattel on that very same market!

Capitalism is not an “American” concept, having originated in Europe. But it took hold and took off in the U.S. like wildfire…

And most of the creature comforts that we enjoy today, like this laptop I’m writing on, came to us by virtue of capitalism.

So, why, you ask, would we ever want to do things any other way?

Because capitalism, as laudable as it might be in many respects, is in others an increasingly destructive economic system.

It depends on destruction for its very existence…

Old products are replaced by new, weak competitors are ousted by the strong, and the quality of life of the workers whose blood, sweat, and tears actually produce all this fancy stuff is constantly sacrificed on the altar of higher profits.

The end result of capitalism, its late stage, as the video refers, is a society in which the vast majority of wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny percentage, while the rest of us grow economically stagnate…

In other words, pretty much the situation where we find ourselves in the U.S. in the year 2020.

In 2016 we had an opportunity to make a change, a drastic change. I’m not talking about HRC, but Bernie Sanders. The astounding level of popularity his campaign experienced just wasn’t enough to lift him above the establishment, who are of course clinging to capitalism like no other segment of society, well, save for the evangelicals…

Of course they would do that, since their jobs depend on support from the class that has benefitted the most from capitalism run amok. As for the evangelicals, I really don’t understand their die-hard attraction to a system that would be anathema to their professed savior and lord.

So, back to 2016…what did we do instead?

Well, of course, we elected the most monstrous example of capitalism run amok we could find – Donald J. Trump…

A man who is so wedded to the transactional ideology, that he can’t even understand why the soldiers under his command would ever sacrifice their lives for the good of country.

Is that really where we want to go as a society? Do we really think that a transactional approach to life is the correct one?

Donald Trump sure does!

He believes that there are two types of people in the world, winners and losers. The winners are the ones who are better at gaming the system for their benefit at the expense of the losers and suckers.

Those poor men and women who believed in an ideal of patriotism…that they should dedicate their lives to a greater good…they’re all losers and suckers. Those who survived the attempt and now stand as stunning examples of the potential costs of sacrificial service, well, they should be kept hidden from sight as bad examples.

I like capitalism. I like the idea that economic prosperity can come to those who work hard and to those willing to take risks that have the potential for great reward. I believe our society and those the world over have enjoyed great benefits as a result of men like Gates, Bezos and Jobs.

However, I also believe that the dark side of capitalism must be collectively tempered.

Clinging to capitalism, even the brand that has run amok as of late, because of this ideological notion that any idea to the contrary is socialistic, communistic, or just downright demonic, is the type of thinking that might actually lead to our end, that is, the end of capitalism and democracy as we have known them for the last 200+ years.

2020 gives us another opportunity to turn the corner. Once again, good ole Bernie was turned away for a more establishment line of action. And that does not bode well for what might lie ahead.

America can be great again. The last four years have borne witness to an America in decline, in the eyes of the world…and in the eyes of many citizens who are appalled at what it has become under the leadership of this zero-sum, transactional and lunatic ideology we now call Trumpism.

The truth is that electing a President, any President, is not what’s going to make America great again…

What will make America great again is for its citizens to take control and sacrifice ideology and tribalism for the greater good…

What will make America great again is to stop clinging to capitalism, or any ism for that matter…

And inspire a new generation to truly believe in the still exceptional spirit of America…

The spirit that has lifted us out of dire straights many times in the past…

And can do so now, but only if we will believe in ourselves and have faith in the promise of America…

A promise made to all of US, regardless of race, religion or ideological tribe…

The time to act is upon us!

Yearning to Breathe Free – Part 2

August 28, 2020 by costaricaguy 2 Comments

Government imposed equality is NOT freedom…
But neither is market imposed inequality…

This Yearning to Breathe Free – Part 2 is a follow up to an older post I wrote a few years back.

So then, what is freedom?

I mean, really, what is it?

I recently posted about freedom as being the unifying concept, or that it, at least, should be…

However, our disagreements about what freedom truly is are at the heart of the division we’re currently experiencing.

The scientists and doctors involved with managing this pandemic are telling us all to wear masks and “social distance.”

Many regard that as an assault on freedom.

Others would argue that sometimes we must curtail personal freedoms for the good of the collective whole.

And daily we see videos posted to social networks of normally decent citizens tearing each other’s eyes out over the issue of mask wearing in order to protect the health of their fellow humans!

Why can’t we agree on this basic issue – what is freedom?

Of course, freedom is not altogether free. Sort of like the “free” market isn’t either, now is it?

What we mean by free, with respect to the market, is that it is free from interference…

that it is allowed to charter its own course.

Which is what I guess most of us would likewise enjoy individually.

But without diverging into economics, a completely “free” market isn’t altogether possible and for that matter, neither is a completely “free” individual.

The market does not and cannot exist on its own…it is not a product of nature. It is a product of collective agreement. We agree on how the market should operate and give government the authority to make sure it does indeed operate in that manner!

And our own personal freedoms connote some responsibility to others. This idea is enshrined in the oft-quoted expression that my liberty to swing my fist ends where your nose begins!

So, can anything be truly free?

Perhaps not in the sense that freedom must have its limits, or boundaries.

The political fault lines seem to align with our varying perceptions about where those boundaries lie.

For instance, conservatives are adamant about a free market, with minimal government intervention…

However, they are equally adamant about “law and order”, with clear boundaries and enforcement concerning certain actions they deem societally harmful…

like drug use, for instance.

Liberals on the other hand clamor for more government intervention into the market and less into our personal choices.

I posed the question in the unifying concept post about whether or not there could be a happy medium?

Since we all agree that freedom, at least in theory, is good and we all want to enjoy it…

Couldn’t we also possibly come to some tacit agreement about the limits to said freedom?

Let’s consider an example where disagreement often arises…

Take health care, for instance…

Can a person be truly free if he or she lives under the constant threat of an economic disaster stemming from an unanticipated sickness or injury?

I have many conservative friends who, if I could venture a guess, would answer no to that question.

So, why is it that as soon as we suggest taking the health care issue off the market, so to speak, and making it a “public good” to be collectively (meaning government) administered, are we right back at each other’s throats?

My conservative friends would quickly tell me, well, because government is bad at managing anything, whereas the market is good at it…

But they won’t make that same argument with respect to other public goods, like law enforcement, the military, or the fire department.

Let’s consider another example…

Most of my conservative friends would probably agree that it is not good for 90% of a country’s wealth to be owned and controlled by only 1% of its population…

They would agree things should be more equal than that…certainly not completely equal, mind you, but at least more equal than that…

But they will also fight me tooth and nail on the idea that government has any role whatsoever in equalizing that playing field…

That is the job of the market, they’d tell me…

But the robust unfettering of the market over the last several decades has gotten us into this gross inequality mess in the first place, hasn’t it?

Again, the market is organized and managed via collective, or government, action. It is NOT some freely operating natural phenomenon…

The problem is that the government, which is supposed to reflect the collective will, has been unduly influenced by those who have enjoyed the vast majority of the market’s largess. The so-called “free” market has been rigged in their favor…so, I guess in that sense it is free, but only for them.

It seems that in each of the two examples cited, the disagreements surrounding the boundaries of freedom seem to lie with differing ideas about the role and efficacy of collective, or government, action…

I’d opine that the majority on both the right and the left share the sentiment that government is inept at managing anything and what managing it does do is usually for the benefit of only a small percentage of the collective.

The truth is that our cherished freedoms are both promoted and curtailed by “collective” action and lately, that action has been far less than reflective of the popular (or collective) will.

The concept of “self-government” does not only mean taking personal responsibility for ones individual actions, it also means taking collective responsibility for our collective actions, i.e., our government!

That is a fundamental tenet of democracy! Self-government does not work without that level of personal and civic responsibility.

And we seem to be doing a piss-poor job of it lately.

The point of this post is that if we all want to enjoy the freedoms we so seemingly cherish, well then, we need to do a better job of collectively managing ourselves, don’t you think?

We need to pay closer attention to how we actually employ self-government in practice…

How do we do that?

That’s a very good question that I’m afraid I don’t have a cogent answer for…

But I do know how we’ll never be successful at it…

And that is by staying the current course of being at each other’s throats about that very issue of…

how the fuck to govern ourselves in order to maximize the freedoms we collectively cherish?

After all, in the end, the freedom we enjoy as a society is our collective responsibility.

Isn’t it high time we stopped retreating to our respective tribal corners and irresponsibly shirking that solemn responsibility?

Freedom is the Unifying Concept

August 16, 2020 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
Alexander Hamilton

Most of us are principled to some extent. That is, we have things we believe in and will fight for, if necessary…

And that’s a good thing.

However, fanaticism can be defined (or, at least I would define) as ideological rigidity in the face of clear facts to the contrary.

However, these days “the facts” are in dispute…

What facts, you ask?

Well, all of them!

I remember back during the 2016 political campaign, I was more than happy to engage in heated debates (on social media, of course), defending my ideology as the “factual” one that had to prevail over all others…

In fact, it got so bad that it started messing with my peace of mind…

So, I decided to step away from the fray.

Oh for sure I’m still a consumer of politically related social network content. I just tend to stay on the sidelines as an observer, rather than a participatory combatant. It’s a whole lot less stressful that way…

I still tend to think my way of thinking is the right one. But am I SURE about it?

Well, no…I’m not at all…

So, I don’t feel the urge any more to impose or implore my way of thinking in an attempt to help others see the light.

And what exactly is “the light?”

That, my friends, is the question we should all be asking ourselves.

From an optimistic viewpoint, the light is that all-encompassing truth that we should universally embrace…

As if there could even be such a thing!

Most of us would probably agree that said light must have something to do with freedom…we all yearn to breathe free. In other words, freedom is the unifying concept, or at least it should be…

Wouldn’t you agree?

Conservatives are freedom lovers. And so are liberals.

In fact modern conservatism is a political viewpoint derived from classical liberalism, which promoted liberty from government oppression…

When you boil it down to that, liberals aren’t very different…

Conservatives would just put more emphasis on “economic freedom”, whereas liberals might tend more towards “social freedom” with economic equality.

Let’s just focus a bit on that word, freedom.

If freedom is the unifying concept that we can all agree on, then why are we at each others throats these days?

Simple answer is that we simply can’t agree on what makes one legitimately free…

Now that’s a legitimate thing to disagree about!

But can’t we do so in a way that doesn’t detract from the very thing that we all agree on – our FREEDOM?

Can’t we also agree that all people should enjoy a similar degree of freedom…that some should not, in general, be “freer” than others?

Granted, there are ways in which we can lose our right to be free, usually by illegitimately denying it to others in some illegal or violent way.

Haven’t we already evolved to the point of collective agreement about universal freedom, after witnessing the horrors that have been suffered, historically, as a result of disagreement on this now (pretty much) settled issue?

So, let’s not go there again!

If we can all agree on freedom as the unifying concept, then why can’t we also focus on solutions to our problems that promote that concept?

Couldn’t that be a point of alignment that cuts through the petty crap we are at each other’s throats about?

In other words, couldn’t freedom as the unifying concept be the point of connection that calms the waters?

And yet we’ve lost sight of this simple point of alignment. We’ve done so by making the less important points of misalignment drastically more important. We’ve elevated ideological rigidity, along with the tribalism that bolsters it, over the simple and straight forward truth that we all just want to be fucking free!

Admittedly, I don’t generally agree with anyone who supports Donald Trump. However, I can still support their right to be free to do so. And due to that support I can seek to try to understand their motivation for doing so…

I can seek first to understand before demanding that my disagreement be understood…

I can listen and agree to disagree, without the need to insult or defame…

Folks, I believe we are going through an evolutionary phase in which we’re either going to learn to embrace the freedom we all want, albeit in varying ways, and promote that connection over division, or else we’re going to suffer dire consequences…

In fact, the consequences flowing from our divisiveness are already beginning to rear their ugly heads, aren’t they?

As I sit here writing this on August 16, 2020, I have no idea what’s going to transpire…

with respect to COVID-19…

or the November 3rd election…

or the myriad of other potential calamities we face as a national and global society…

But I know this, that we are all connected as humans and desire the same basic thing…

FREEDOM!

And that includes both the freedom to _________ and the freedom from _________.

I believe we can all learn how to fill in those blanks without killing ourselves over the content!

I’ll close with this morsel, or, er, food for thought…

Government imposed equality is NOT freedom…

But neither is market imposed inequality…

Perhaps there’s a happy medium?

Fodder for a future post…stay tuned…

Individualism Run Amok

June 28, 2020 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

There are different ways I could express what, in my humble opinion, is wrong with the U.S.A. these days…

some more offensive than others…

So, let’s try for a potentially less offensive expression.

John F. Kennedy, Jr., our 35th President, implored the country, in his 1961 inaugural address, to…

ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

Perhaps unintentionally, what he did in that quote was encourage collectivism over individualism.

Hold on, now I’m sure that for some, I’ve already begun treading into the offensive!

Because any idea that connotes collectivism immediately, for too many, conjures up the boogeyman of socialism, or worse, communism.

Nevertheless, JFK was in fact suggesting individual service to the collective, rather that the more individualistic (and capitalistic) notion of the having the collective serve the individual.

What do I mean by that exactly?

Well, let’s first define what is truly meant by “the collective.”

In a word, “the collective” refers to us…the Big US, or as I will hereinafter refer, U.S., as in the “U.S.” of A…

Now, the collective expresses its will (or so it should) via government action. That is, when the government is operating the way it is supposed to operate, i.e., of, by, and for the people.

I have referred often in the blog to a concept that I call “capitalism run amok.” In this post I’ve changed that to “individualism run amok.”

See there, doesn’t that seem less offensive?

What I am getting at with that subtle change is simply a catchy way to refer to the current social and economic situation in our country. A situation in which the individual has gained, or seeks to gain, the ability to manipulate the collective will for his or her own individual ends.

That’s the unavoidable end result of capitalism run amok.

That is, a situation in which the government (U.S.) no longer is an expression of collective will, but of a handful of individual wills, those who have amassed the economic power, through unbridled capitalistic freedom, to manipulate the so-called collective will.

Of course, once government can be so manipulated for individual ends, it no longer represents the collective will, wouldn’t you agree?

We have come to the point in the U.S.A. where most seem to believe in a market solution to every problem…

That if the government (i.e., the collective will) simply steps aside and allows the market to work on its own, everything will magically work out…

But is it working out, really?

Right now the country is faced with problems the likes of which none of U.S. have experienced in our lifetimes…

Donald J. Trump, the poster-child of individualism run amok, tells U.S. to just “open up the market” and all will be well…

However, the facts don’t demonstrate that all will be well. In fact, the truth demonstrates anything but that.

America was built via rugged individualism…by those “rugged individuals” who rode on the backs of the less fortunate and powerless. It has always been that way.

Now, am I saying that individualism is bad?

No, I’m saying that individualism run amok is bad.

I’m saying that when we allow the collective will to be manipulated and to serve individual will, rather than U.S., then we run into problems. The longer we let that go on, the more severe those problems get.

Right now, they’ve gotten so severe as to threaten the long-term health and sustainable of our country as a whole.

So, what’s the solution?

What is a healthy degree of individualism?

Individualism rests on the ego-driven notion that the individual stands apart from his or her environment and that the latter exists to serve the former…

But that’s just not really true.

Now, I won’t get into a long-winded discussion of how the ego doesn’t even really exist at all…

Nevertheless, we are served by our egos to a great extent. After all, it’s the ego that motivates us to strain and strive for a better and more comfortable individual existence. It’s our ego that works to motivate action the lends toward the propagation of our species.

And who doesn’t want that?

I know I do! I work for it everyday…

And that’s a good thing.

But when we get so caught up with this notion of separate-ness that we lose sight of U.S., then problems with individualism run amok tend to arise.

Remember, U.S., or the collective, expresses its will via government action…

The type of action that actually serves U.S…

Lately our government has been doing anything but that!

And we make the mistake of allowing that situation to go on because we think that the market, which exists to serve the individual, always knows better, even better than U.S.!

But it doesn’t. Aren’t we seeing proof of that right now?

The market serves as a way for the individual to manipulate the collective…to stand apart from it and transact with it in order to derive some individual benefit. One very important function of government action, i.e., collective will, is to make sure there are rules in place that prevent this form of manipulation from getting out of hand…

However, it has, indeed, gotten out of hand.

I believe a more healthier form of individualism is one in which we do strive for a better individual existence, but we do so in a way that is cognizant of what JFK implored…

That we should prioritize the impact of our actions, so that as a whole they serve to benefit the collective, over and above our own individual self-interest.

Isn’t that exactly what JFK’s quote is all about? Haven’t you ever been inspired by it?

A whole generation of Americans were!

Maybe we need to get back to that sense of inspirational impact…

That sense of inspiration that would never protest the simple and painless act of wearing a mask in order to protect our collective health!

That sense of inspiration that would cause all of U.S., of every color and creed, to stand in solidarity with those of U.S. who are being persecuted by a government that has ceased to serve as an expression of the collective will!

A healthy degree of individualism is one that wholly rejects the notion that the collective exists to serve any group of individuals who have been able to manipulate it via economic and political power…

Collective will exists to serve the powerless, not the powerful…

Individualism run amok is not the way it’s supposed to work folks…

But that’s the way it is working…

Isn’t it high time for a change?

A once in a lifetime opportunity will avail itself come November 3rd!

COVID-19 is Accelerating the Descent into Madness

May 17, 2020 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

A recent interaction on my FaceBook profile page leads me to believe that COVID-19 is accelerating the descent into madness among my fellow Americans…

I post a lot of stuff that interests me on my page. I post music that I like and find provocative, especially by the Grateful Dead (surely to the annoyance of many of my unenlightened friends). I post pictures of family and the beauty of my adopted country, Costa Rica. Occasionally, I will post a political meme, but I really don’t like those, as I find them lacking in nuance and usually intellectually insulting. I post books that I’ve recently read. I do that because I’m always on the lookout for good reading suggestions, so I like to offer a few myself for my friends to consider. And I post articles, some of them political, but only after carefully reading and vetting each. I try not to post anything that I find to be conspiratorial, or factually inaccurate.

I have FaceBook friends (some real and some virtual) with varying and often contrasting political ideals. I have quite a few friends who are conservative Trump supporters. After all, I hail from the Carolinas, which by and large is an area supportive of Donald Trump. So, a lot of my old friends from back home disagree with much of what I post. And I’m perfectly OK with that. In fact, I welcome the engagement of healthy and heated debate, as long as it remains respectful.

However, what happened recently on my page was definitely heated, but neither healthy, nor respectful, …

I posted a thoughtful article by Ezra Klein on the abject failure of the Trump administration in responding to the pandemic. I read a lot of Ezra’s stuff, books and articles, and I frequently listen to his podcast. I find him to be an intellectual worth listening to. However, he is predominantly of a liberal leaning mindset. And I don’t always agree with him. I would say that I’m decidedly more on the progressive side compared to Ezra.

Almost immediately upon posting this article I had a Trump supporter offer a comment on my post (I am quite sure without ever having taking the time to actually read the article). The comment basically said that by posting this article I would surely lose 50% of my real estate client base…I guess assuming that 50% of said base would take issue with the article to such a degree as to “fire” me over it…

If this “friend” was actually trying to “help” me by offering business advice…that ain’t the way to do it. And furthermore, if making money means that I can’t express my political views, peacefully and respectfully, on my own FaceBook page, well then I guess he’s right…I’m headed straight for the poor-house!

Suffice it to say that I responded to his comment in a way that I don’t respond very often. To paraphrase, I invited him to quickly exit my FaceBook page and go straight to hell!

I take political positions on my page. It’s my personal page. I think I’m allowed to do that. In fact, a quick perusal of my former friend’s (he unfriended me after this encounter) page confirmed that about 90% of the content is overtly political and usually insulting to anyone of a contrary viewpoint. Nevertheless, I refrained from any reciprocal trolling.

I have another page dedicated to my real estate business and I do not post anything remotely political over there. I don’t think it’s the place to do so and fans of that page do not want to see political crap, but rather content related to Costa Rica real estate and expat living.

So, what gives a Trump supporter the audacious idea that he can attack a person in this manner just because he disagrees with a political post?

Isn’t the whole concept of democracy predicated upon peaceful political debate?

If you want to eradicate all political debate and do so by threatening opposing views with financial (or, worse, physical) repercussion, then aren’t we converting our system to something far less than democratic? Doesn’t that sound a lot like what takes place in, say, Russia, China, or North Korea? I thought conservative Trump supporters were staunchly against totalitarianism of that nature?

You see, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t make America great again and at the same time try to make it a place where everyone marches in lockstep (or “goose-step”) politically.

Is that really the world you want to live in, or want your grandchildren to be borne into?

And what does a virus have to do with all this? Why is it that COVID-19 is accelerating the descent into madness, as opposed to everything else that’s happened over the last three years?

COVID-19 is exposing some dark truths about American society. As we are standing out as the most exceptional nation on the planet, in terms of COVID-19 cases and deaths, the gross excesses of our overly materialistic society are rising to the surface like a plucked Phoenix from the ashes. This unseen enemy (as Trump likes to call it) has rendered our mighty and invincible economy incapable of even providing adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for the essential workers on the front-lines, exposing themselves while fighting to keep the rest of us safe. Can you imagine a response like this in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, or 9-11?

When it comes to blowing up other people in far away lands, we always seem to find the means to do so. But we can’t seem to find those same means to provide adequate testing and tracing to try to contain this “Chinese” pathogen, or at least not for the most vulnerable among us.

And as the economy shrinks under shelter in place orders, the gloves come off and the AR-15’s are taken down from the truck racks. People are fighting mad and someone has to be blamed for this mess…

And while we are blaming and threatening each other, spitting mad, the virus spreads, people die, and the great American economy further collapses…

And the COVID-19 descent into madness accelerates.

Why is America Failing the COVID-19 Test?

May 2, 2020 by costaricaguy 1 Comment

Costa Rica continues to flatten out the COVID-19 curve for new confirmed cases. The death toll remains at 6. And the active cases curve is on a fast-track to zero, with recovered cases outpacing new ones by about 20 per day.

In fact, Costa Rica’s success in dealing with this crisis is starting to get noticed around the world. I keep seeing New Zealand touted as the world’s model in that regard and Jacinda Ardern certainly deserves loads of credit. But I think Costa Rica definitely deserves a very robust honorable mention.

My question is…what’s up with the U.S.A.? Why is America failing the COVID-19 test?

My home country is supposed to be known for its exceptionalism, but not this way…

The U.S. is leading the world alright…it has become the epicenter for this virus and has one of the highest fatality rates, as well as rate of deaths per million, in the world.

That’s not the kind of exceptionalism we Americans like to boast about!

So, why is America failing the COVID-19 test? Is there something specific to the American psyche that gets right to the heart of an answer?

Because, you know, we Americans love to place blame.

So, what’s (or who’s) to blame here?

In short…we are!

You see, Americans suffer from this compulsion towards a market mindset. That is, the mindset of the market being the solution to every problem. Granted, America has historically enjoyed the most prosperous market on the planet. We are (or have been) the envy of the world in that regard. Americans are therefore somewhat justified in their aggressive market-orientation. And we certainly are so oriented, compared to the rest of the developed world. Our reliance on market solutions for just about everything, from health care to war waging, is unique in this world, to put it mildly…

Good ole’ Bernie Sanders tried over and over to point that out to us. But his loud proclamations to that effect fell on death ears, for the most part.

One only has to hearken back historically to see that the market is not what has gotten us out of deep doo-doo in the past…

We are living through historic times right now. You have to go back to 1918 for a time when a pandemic like COVID-19 has threatened the well-being of every American, as well as the American economy on the whole…

There are some trying to compare this crisis to the common flu that inflicts the nation annually. But this ain’t no flu. The flu has never come close to wreaking the kind of havoc COVID-19 has wrought upon us in only a couple months time…

However, compared to the suffering and hardship endured by Americans through the Great Depression and the ensuing World War, we ain’t seen nothing…yet…

And what exactly got us out of those messes?

Was it the market? Was the market the solution to the Great Depression, or World War II?

Of course not!

What got us out was collective action. By that I mean public action, initiated by the governments we the people delegate our power to, and executed by the blood, sweat, and tears of all Americans.

I’m talking about Roosevelt’s New Deal, the collective effort Americans at home engaged in to support our troops fighting fascism abroad, the GI Bill that helped those same troops and their families get a new start when the lucky ones returned home…

No, the market didn’t save us…we, the collective we, saved us!

Nevertheless and despite what history teaches us, Americans have become afflicted with this market oriented mindset. It’s a mindset that resides on the right and on the left (and in the center). It’s the one that believes we have to allow the market to work its magic and any attempts to interfere, via collective action, smack of socialism, or even communism.

Even now, Donald Trump says in order for us to move forward we’ve got to open up the market as fast as possible, health risks be damned. Of course, he is facing an election in a few months and bad markets don’t bode well for winning presidential elections. So, winning in November could possibly be where his true motivation lies.

Again, the market isn’t going to save us here. And if we move forward relying on it to do so, I believe America is doomed to fail. It’s doomed to fail not only the COVID-19 test, but quite possibly, doomed to fail and fall from it’s historic position as the greatest nation on earth…

But it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s still time to reverse course.

Mind you, reversing course doesn’t mean adopting socialism, or communism. But it does mean realizing that only collective action is going to get us out of this one, as well as that other (bigger) one looming on the horizon (in the form of rising CO2 levels).

I know what some of you are thinking…wait a minute, isn’t the solution a vaccine and won’t the development of such a vaccine be a product of a competitive market?

Well, with 3.5 million cases and 250,000 deaths, I can only hope that no one gets rich off of the development of a vaccine. After all, Jonas Salk never even filed for a patent for his polio vaccine. In fact, the very idea that someone, or some corporation, would get filthy rich off of a vaccine for this horrible disease gets to the very heart of my point…

If we can only save ourselves if there’s sufficient economic benefit in doing so, we’re f’ing doomed!

The nation-wide stay at home order, that we have collectively obeyed for the most part (well, at least until recently), is just one of the collective measures I’m getting at…

I’m also talking about collective effort to help the most vulnerable. The ones who have and will suffer the most from this crisis…

Those (like Trump himself) who’ve done well at exploiting the market, while it was still running on all cylinders, they’ll be just fine…

But that accounts for only a small percentage…Bernie’s 1%. The rest of us, we need help…collective help. Help of the kind that our government can and should be expected to provide…

If the market has been our magic carpet ride to greatness, well, that rug has been pulled right out from under us!

What’s our responsibility in this? Because we Americans, if we’re anything, we’re responsible, right?

Our responsibility is to turn from the madness of the market-as-the-only solution mindset.

Let’s face it, there is a clear and concise answer to the question, why is America failing the COVID-19 test?

We alone have the power to shift that paradigm and save ourselves…

Will we?

#VoteThemOut2020

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