Look on the Bright Side

It's rare that I read something that drops my jaw, but check this out, from Dmitry Orlov's speech at the Long Now Foundation (h/t to John Robb of Global Guerillas):

Forget “growth,” forget “jobs,” forget “financial stability.” What should their [the government's] realistic new objectives be? Well, here they are: food, shelter, transportation, and security. Their task is to find a way to provide all of these necessities on an emergency basis, in absence of a functioning economy, with commerce at a standstill, with little or no access to imports, and to make them available to a population that is largely penniless. If successful, society will remain largely intact, and will be able to begin a slow and painful process of cultural transition, and eventually develop a new economy, a gradually de-industrializing economy, at a much lower level of resource expenditure, characterized by a quite a lot of austerity and even poverty, but in conditions that are safe, decent, and dignified. If unsuccessful, society will be gradually destroyed in a series of convulsions that will leave a defunct nation composed of many wretched little fiefdoms. Given its largely depleted resource base, a dysfunctional, collapsing infrastructure, and its history of unresolved social conflicts, the territory of the Former United States will undergo a process of steady degeneration punctuated by natural and man-made cataclysms.

Endorsements for Change

The voting at Change.org is over, and the top ten ideas were presented to the Obama transition team. I'm a half-glass empty kinda guy, so I'm not expecting much, especially on the more controversial items, especially from a guy who seems to want us all to get along even at the price of not prosecuting war criminals (cause, you know, that would be too divisive, as opposed to say, breaking the law and torturing and spying on people).

These are good causes, though, and could make a big difference in the world. No matter how much our new President wants to avoid the fighting, if enough of us support these causes, and fight (and vote) to make them reality, then even he can't stop us.

So, here are the ideas I've endorsed at Change.org, in no particular order:

• ReBuild and RePower America with a Green Stimulus Package
• Develop & Implement a National Strategy for Sustainability
• Pass Marriage Equality Rights for LGBT Couples Nationwide
• Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties
• Free Single Payer Health Care
• Make the grid green in 10 years
• Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration
• Solve The Credit Crisis From The Bottom Up Through Social Lending
• Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana
• Move the country toward transparent election systems

Here's my Change.org page. It's a great site, and I encourage everyone to join in.