It may just be that this COVID-19 micro-biologic plague is the savior of both our prolific repeating attempts at civil suicide, with the decreasing rates of violence in gun-homicides and decreasing levels of tribal or national warfare, while also it is also curtailing the “mindless misuse” — or “capitalism’s-abuse” — of Earth’s system-fragility for sustaining organic life by forcing diminished air-travel, and, for that matter, much of the wayfaring on land or at sea!
Not to mention all the other more frivolous means of wasteful energy consumption we defend to own as “our way of life,” by constraining an economy that wastefully factors an ever-expanding, limitless, natural resource supply.
This is the moment for the virtuously true, pushing for social success before private gain, like Sen. Bernie Sanders from Vermont whose whole life has been built on this foundation of inherent truth: I do better if we all do better.
From Day 1, our hunter-gathering ancestors recognized the synergistic benefits, both in the production of goods and the reduction of defended security, afforded when we’re a banded community. As this civil order began evolving, while expanding populations curtailed personal space, this ‘banding’ together birthed states, than nations, than international compacts, COVID-19 is a personal, private threat on a global scale reducing that infinite expansion — wrongly assumed — in lieu of global security, so capital formulation under this ordering is in retreat; and skies are clearing over many otherwise smog-laden western cities.
We’ve now broached the limit of our species’ carrying capacity. We can continue the devolutionary path that our innate fear of the unknown has enabled the rise of this Trump executor, privately distributing the social-wealth millennial in the making or, we can choose to continue our creation of non-resource-driven energy production via the synergy of social democracy and unifying our efforts. It is the only way we can beat COVID, and in so doing, give our real “way-of-life” a second chance to emerge sustainably.
Sen. Sanders, thank-you for all you do, but we need you more than ever.
John S. Sonin,
Juneau
• Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.