So where does AntiPartisanism stand after the mid-term elections?

Well first, based on the comments from Jim B and Groveton to the ONE MORE DAY post, plus those heard from via other channels, six Bacon’s Rebellion ‘regulars’ followed Rule One or Rule Two of the AntiPartisan Voters Guide. Not bad for a start.

However, something much more important came up in the dialogue following ONE MORE DAY. Mr. Bacon’s observed that his vote was often cancelled out by that of his wife.

That observation is tremendously important!

It is important, not just because it also happens in many other Households about which EMR has direct knowledge, it is important because it indicates what is wrong with partisan political activity in general.

Mr. and Mrs. Bacon obviously can come to agreement on a number of major issues that impact the existence of, and what is in the best interest of, the Bacon Household, but not on Clan politics.

The contention at SYNERGY is that humans are running out of the surplus natural capital that in the past has allowed citizens the luxury of relying on COMPETITION ALONE to allocate resources.

As noted in the current Beta Draft of PRIMER:

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PRIMER can also be seen in a larger context:

For the last two centuries the citizens and their Organizations in the US have been propelled by a philosophy of consumption:

Consumption is good and more consumption is better.

This ethic is based on the illusion that the US was blessed with infinite resources and unlimited ‘opportunity.’ This is the mantra popularized and politicized of Andrew Jackson. It has been reinforced by the Myth that UberGrowth driven prosperity raises all boats.

In the context of these illusions, Mass OverConsumption has been seen as ‘progress.’ This is spite of a long tradition of pointing out the practical and moral shortcomings of these perspectives. For example see The Waste Makers by Vance Packard and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism by Daniel Bell. More recently, see Deep Economy by Bill McKibben which includes a complete disembowelment of The Moral Consequences of Growth by Benjamin M. Friedman. Also see the sources cited in Chapters 6, 7, 10 and 23 of THE SHAPE OF THE FUTURE and Chapter 24 “Greed, Excess, Ignorance, Myths, Entitlements, Windfalls and Subsidies” in PART SEVEN of TRILO-G.

Now, the US, the First World and the planet are beginning to embrace the reality of FINITE limits to human consumption. In many nation-states humans are already be in Overshoot. Peak Petroleum is a reality but so are diminishing stores of other limited resources such as some metals, ‘rare earths’ and fossil water.

Leading indicators of natural system resilience – e.g. biological diversity and climate – are growing more negative. Supposedly ‘renewable’ resources – fisheries, top soil, potable surface water and rechargeable water tables, timber and other natural systems upon which humans rely are in decline and some are beyond the point of restoration without grave hardship to those that rely on the dwindling resource base. The fantasy of importing resources from the Moon and beyond is the last gasp of irrationality.

At a minimum, in the future ALL resources will cost more because they will be harder to recover and to renew. The end of cheap energy to drive a technologically-advanced civilization is the bellwether.

Equally important is the PACE of human activity. It is not just the rate of consumption but the frenetic pace of activity – productive and anti-productive that is of concern. This includes the pursuit of entertainment that robs citizens of the time and energy to make rational decisions in the voting booth and in the marketplace. This hyper activity acts as a driver of societal dysfunction.

It is not just MORE AND MORE, but MORE AND MORE, FASTER AND FASTER that has been seen as an excuse for Business-As-Usual ‘growth’ and Mass OverConsumption. For a splendid exposition of this reality, see the feature length movie Home at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU (Thank You Groveton!)

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Page 1 of the 7 November Outlook section of WaPo has a clever do-it-yourself Elephant / Donkey reconciliation exercise: Fold the page and ‘discover’ “Compromise,” “Harmony,” “Unity,” “Middle Ground” and, a SYNERGY favorite “Balance.”

If the two adult voters in the Bacon Household can come to consensus on a wide array of decisions but not on partisan politics, the fault lies in the concept of two party competition being a rational way to determine the public interest in the 21st century.

That is a very important indicator!!

EMR