The independence struck by our Founding Fathers was a chaotic, random, and messy thing; struck against the anvil of uncertainty, while scribed with the certainty of death on their minds. They were suspended precariously between the end of their proverbial rope due to British oppression, and the aspirant ether of self-rule. To a great extent theirs was a leaderless coup d’état. Their spokesmen were neither statesmen nor politicians by volition, rather merchants, farmers, and products of apprentice-styled servitude. Most importantly, they provided a model for our next, and-again messy independence.
Our collective oppression today is the product of a weird entropic abdication of duty and responsibility by those we have trusted with our votes and tax dollars. While the best no longer serve, the better-than-good have proven worse than expected. They have quickly become courtesans of the loud-mouthed and/or moneyed jesters of paper democracy; the furtive face of Benjamin too easily exchanged for the soul of democracy.
What lurks around the corner from this Great Abdication (and Great Recession) is an even Greater Tuneout followed by the next messy independence. Anger and withdrawal – the current popular modus operandi – will turn to disengagement, then re-imagination, and rebirth. The next leaderless coup d’état is coming soon – probably sooner than later – due to the velocity of technology. The dissonance of disservice will come home to roost. People will take control of themselves, their families, neighborhoods, communities, cities, states, and country. Bottom up. Washington DC will be designated a superfund site – so much toxicity in such a small place.
Weirdness will not win, people will. Inspiration, empathy, and enterprise will rise again. Cries of complexity – the politician’s shill for do-nothingness – will yield to elegant simplicity. And, our penchant for independence will prevail.
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