The Epstein class

Western supremacy and specifically American supremacy is over. After 250 years, the American experiment has run its course dying on the hill of late stage capitalism and a staggering wealth inequality never before seen in its history. 

Empires decline slowly over many decades and after Reagan's election in 1980 (I was 18) the die was cast. Neoliberalism and its insistence that markets would regulate societal and inequality issues turned out to be a deadly error. Trickle down economics was also the lie sold to a public that didn't viscerally understand how greed in human beings works. 

Today the public struggles to pay for groceries, housing and many have abandoned the idea of paying for health care insurance that is beyond their reach. The 90% is struggling while the 10% ponders what color their third boat will be. 

There is no way back from this without radical surgery that would involve a massive mea culpa a radicalized GOP is unprepared to make. 

Taking money out of politics and reintroducing fair taxation will be a bitter but necessary pill to swallow under the current corrupt environment but there is no longer any choice. 

It's either that or complete societal collapse. 

The Epstein class had their champagne years and looted the treasury while the middle class was slowly being hollowed out. No amount of cultural strawmanning of immigrants and other visible minorities will save the sinking ship now. 

Trump isn't the core problem but instead a symptom of a much larger one. 

Time is up and the Nuremberg type trials should be in order.

The grain

With life experience comes knowledge and with that knowledge a certain fatigue and even cynicism. We see things coming a mile away because pattern recognition has become part of our arsenal. 

We encounter archetypes we know how to deal with much better and know if we need to avoid them. 

It's as if we want to conserve energy and save it for the best experiences knowing that the majority of our lives are behind us. It is here where wisdom serves its purpose. 

We no longer want to take on someone else's drama because we may have already done the hard work to get us to a balance point. No matter how imperfect it may be. 

We find small talk fatiguing and irrelevant because we want to get to some grain of relevant truth we have yet to discover about ourselves and our world before our time here is up.

Schopenhauer was right

The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer thought it pointless to argue with stupid people. Instead he suggested that we observe them almost mechanically and with some amusement. We should allow them their logical fallacies and not become angry with them. 

I am working on this in the age of Trumpism where the full array of human idiocy is on display. 

Most people aren't malicious but instead combine ignorance with obtuseness and disinterest. They are unable to connect the dots that get them where they are in life and only later wake up when they have been impacted by the incoming train of calamity. Their lack of curiosity is their Achilles heel. 

It was gas prices that finally got to some of the cult members. The misogyny, the racism, the cruelty seemed to suit them just fine and I saw the evidence with callers of political phone-in shows where their dim-witted bravado was on full display. The Dunning-Kruger effect is very much alive and well. 

If I don't temper my disdain for the stupid I won't have a calm remainder of my life and so I work on taking the advice of Schopenhauer and add a pinch of empathy for good measure. 

The old world order is over and the next few years will be volatile and messy. So I better buckle in and take long deep breaths in the process.