Jochen, re: 'broken American dream'
Speaking as a disillusioned hippie-radical-revolutionary: this famous fragment from Yeat's poem, *The Second Coming*, feels very relevant. *Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;* * Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,* * The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere* * The ceremony of innocence is drowned;* * The best lack all conviction, while the worst* * Are full of passionate intensity.* I was a hippie first, naively believing in the possibility of an life affirming society. Inspired by fiction as varied as *The Harrad Experiment* and *Stranger in a Strange Land* (actually all of Heinlein). Vietnam was a roundhouse to the jaw. How and why could government be so evil and misguided? (A, perhaps, secondary trigger was the demonization of Timothy Leary and proscription of psychedelics.) I became a radical and revolutionary (still have my copy of Mao's Little Red Book) and did make bombs (literally). Statute of Limitations applies to my other activities, but will only mention there were many. For me and my cohort, the forces that malformed government, and thereby society, began, in earnest, in the mid-1930s. Government became an instrument for forcing people to conform their behavior and their beliefs in accordance with the ideals of whoever was in power. Did not matter what "side" (democrat, republican, plutocrat) the power brokers belonged to, all had the same basic goal, control everyone else. (And get rich of course) "Anarchy was loosed upon the world," here in the US around 100 years ago and the wasteland we inhabit is vast. Trump is a mere dust devil disturbing bits of detritus. davew On Mon, Apr 21, 2025, at 12:48 AM, Jochen Fromm wrote: > Marcus, your reply makes me wonder if you have voted for the orange guy in > the White House. If yes, would you do it again? Here from Europe it looks as > if the orange menace leaves a trail of destruction on his way between the > Golf Club in West Palm Beach and Washington and back. To use a meteorological > metaphor for Nick: the guy who is wearing orange makeup acts like a tornado > out of control that destroys everything in his path - the economy, the > retirement savings, and the last remains of the American dream. > > -J. > > > -------- Original message -------- > From: Marcus Daniels <mar...@snoutfarm.com> > Date: 4/20/25 6:58 PM (GMT+01:00) > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] The broken American Dream > > It seems to me to be a little more scale free than that. I just paid my > quarterly taxes. The thing that bothers me is not that it a significant > cost, but that it is not a responsible spending plan. I am pouring money > into a Medicare program that is becoming insolvent and creating increasing > deficit spending. It seems to me that if my taxes are 5% higher, that’s > fine if it fixes the problem. But many won’t step up to that 5%, so my > reaction to those people is: Let’s let this thing fail. Private insurance > it is. I am now much more inclined to aggressively write off business > expenses than see my productivity go a losing enterprise. I am sick of > cheap people. > > *From: *Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> on behalf of Jochen Fromm > <j...@cas-group.net> > *Date: *Sunday, April 20, 2025 at 7:47 AM > *To: *The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> > *Subject: *[FRIAM] The broken American Dream > Stephen Marche's article about the state of America leaves me with the > impression that the only thing that all Americans still have in common is the > feeling that the country is broken. Stephen writes: > "The country clubs are rife with men and women, in incredible luxury, > complaining bitterly about the state of the country. The richest and most > powerful, the Americans who have won, who have everything, are still not > happy, and why? Their answer is that the American dream must be broken." > https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/20/american-dream-trump-canada > > -J. > > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... > --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
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