Nero Burning Rome

Saturday, May 30, 2020 was a gruesome night. In response to the brutal murder of George Floyd on May 25th, we witnessed rioting, looting, shooting, and burning in cities all across the USA. Trump didn’t cause all this, but he was and still is pouring gasoline on the fire. The riots are just the latest symptom of the decay of the US empire. This breakdown is the predictable outcome of 40 years of malfeasance by both wings of the duopoly. First, we watched our infrastructure crumble from disrepair. To get bribes from lobbyists, politicians from both parties deliberately dumbed-down US education. They wanted workers just smart enough to run the machines but too dumb to realize they were getting screwed. They directed all public spending to billionaires and corporations instead of the constitutionally mandated good of “we the people.”

I am an optimist by nature, but before that, I am a realist. With the ravages of climate change beginning to unfold more rapidly than expected, I do not see how we rescue civil society. We might be able to if we unite as a global community. Instead, we are at war with one another domestically, and fascist nationalism is on the rise here and around the world. This post is an appeal for sanity to return. This essay is a plea to stop government by greed before it ends human existence on Earth. We have precious little time before it will be too late to stop the decay.