No way around but through
Trying to understand the logic of what's happening in America, and to imagine a way through the current chaos to a safer, saner world. It's not easy!
America is truly at a crossroads. For the first time in my life, it is possible to imagine that America as we have known it—messy, imperfect, often cruel, but always at least paying lip service to good intentions—might go down into the dustbin of history, to be replaced by a Soviet-style oligarchical state hovering one degree above anarchy.
And not that idealized anarchy that some libertarians like to tout—no, I’m talking about a vigilante-based feudal system where the hundreds of millions of guns circulating freely in the US population come out and take what they want by force, with the tacit approval of the overlords.
America and capitalism have come up together in the annals of history. American business and American government have always been tightly intertwined. What we are seeing now is just one step further, where business interests throw out the semblance of democracy altogether and begin to run the country like a corporation.
That is exactly what we are seeing in Elon Musk’s cavalier takeover of US government computer systems. He’s the boss…he can hire and fire at will…he can decide unilaterally which programs continue to receive funding, and which go under the ax.
He did it at Twitter and although droves of people left, enough stayed on to make the reinvented company, X, as profitable as ever.
What we’re seeing now is a very strange “America First” policy being spearheaded by a global citizen who is a master of international free trade.
I’m trying to understand the logic of expelling the bottom-level workers who do the essential work that Americans don’t want to do—washing dishes, serving as home health aides, cutting up meat in slaughterhouses, bending over the hot agricultural fields and tending to fruit trees while the pesticides are being sprayed, etc etc—while at the same time canceling funding for world charitable aid programs, exiting the World Health Organization, shuttering the CDC and potentially making US health care much harder to obtain, not to mention threatening to exit the United Nations and NATO…what is the logic here?
Is the ulterior motive some kind of severe population reduction? Because a lot of people—tens of millions of people—will die sooner thanks to Elon Musk’s “efficiency” efforts.
In Musk’s twisted brain, aided by all those evil Project 2025 masterminds, we are in a new era of extreme Scrooge-ism—"are there no workhouses?”
In contrast to the old America of FDR, which used government as a tool to lift all boats, or the America of Lyndon Johnson, which finally enshrined civil rights for ALL Americans, or even the America of Bill Clinton, whose NAFTA agreement was definitely imperfect, but at least got the US thinking of itself as a “trading bloc” open to free trade across physical borders—in contrast to every past version of America, we now find ourselves like helpless pawns in the hands of AI masterminds, who have the power to simply “delete” any program, organization or person they don’t like, for whatever reason, no particular justification needed, and the founding principle of innocent until proven guilty a distant memory.
While the old-school elected officials complain outside the doors, the boys hired by Musk are gleefully taking over the US government computer systems, a hacker’s wet dream if there ever was one.
Who knows what they are doing?
Certainly we can assume they are making copies of vast troves of data, to be analyzed and used strategically later on.
We can assume they are planting “worms” and AI surveillance that will be hard to root out, if and when the old guard of US counterintelligence is called in to rid government systems of American spyware implanted by the treacherous Musk.
It's clear that bumbling, befuddled Trump is being used as a figurehead, the old king being set before the cameras to sign executive orders created by others, the significance of which he may or may not understand.
His popularity with the uninformed masses and the business/financial/tech oligarchs made him a useful Trojan horse, hence Musk’s $300 million investment—small change for a multi-billionaire whose wealth will continue to grow exponentially, unless the castle in air that is Wall Street collapses.
Imagine the wealth that would suddenly be available to pay off the US government debt and fund all kinds of life-enhancing programs for ordinary people, if financial transactions were taxed?
But no, that simple solution is never on the table. Instead, Musk and Co. are slashing the relatively small funding that supports health and human services in the US and among our allies abroad.
I am trying to understand the logic of impoverishing and sickening vast swaths of people who, if they were healthy and making a living, would be happy consumers of your expensive products.
I am trying to game this out and see what will happen next.
Musk already said out loud that he wants to take advantage of this wonderful “hand of cards” he’s been dealt. He has to act fast.
In the normal course of events, in two years Americans might have woken up from their collective march over the cliff and would rouse themselves to vote in Democrats to restore the rule of law—provided we can be assured of free and fair elections, and the Supreme Court serves the people rather than the oligarchs.
But what might happen in these two years, to prevent that restoration?
The purges that are going on in every key government agency—CIA, FBI, Justice, State—and what is happening out of the public eye in the military and police forces—make it possible to imagine a Soviet-style police state emerging from the ashes of our old democracy.
Perhaps Russia is the model here, or perhaps it is China, which manages to suppress dissent while still encouraging vigorous economic growth.
Either way, our neighbors Canada and Mexico are right to be nervous about sovereignty, as both Russia and China have not been shy about taking over desirable neighboring territories.
You have to give the military a job to justify their outsized allocations of national GDP.
Yesterday I participated in a small protest in my little town, and it felt good to be standing up in resistance, knowing that in so many towns and cities across America, others were doing the same.
The only way this takeover of the United States by malevolent forces will be stopped is through resistance of ordinary people.
But it’s not going to be easy, and it’s not necessarily going to be safe. I know that as I write this, I am making myself a target. I knew as I stood on the street corner yesterday that I was making myself a target.
Whether they are slinging verbal threats or pointing loaded guns, there are a lot of hateful people out there who are happy to serve as the goons of the oligarchs. They obviously get their kicks in assaulting innocent people.
This has always been the case, if we look back through history. Rich men have never had trouble finding violent men to do their dirty work.
I truly do not know if the cratering of American democracy can be reversed. Just as with climate disruption, forces have been unleashed that cannot be easily stopped. The genie cannot be put back in the bottle. There is no way around but through.
With climate change, we know we have to build resilience and adapt, as quickly as possible.
Could the same be true under our current conditions of political change?
What would this look like?
We know from endless apocalyptic books and movies what the worst case scenarios would look like. We need our writers and artists to give us more nourishing food for thought.
How can we come through these challenging times with some kind of grace, drawing on the tenacity of our ancestors—human and more-than-human alike—who survived 4 billion years of upheaval on Earth to bring us to this precarious present moment?
We will get through this. The question is, how?
I call on all writers to put your minds to finding realistic and meaningful ways through the current chaos to a better, kinder, saner version of reality. Thrutopian writers, we need you now.
Yours in the sea of becoming,
Jennifer
Come write and speak your truth with me in this powerful four-session Bioneers Learning online class!
In this hands-on class hosted by Bioneers Learning, we’ll look deeply at some of the major social and environmental issues of our time and consider how outstanding leaders have used creative expression to make a difference.
Inspired by these models, you’ll work on expressing your own ideas with confidence, clarity, and eloquence, in both writing and public speaking, coming away with a portfolio of writing, a recorded talk, and a circle of kindred spirits cheering you on.
Four Fridays, Feb. 28 - March 21, 2025, live online from 12 - 1:30 pm with recordings available.
To write and speak our truths, we have to recharge our creative fuel cells, right?
I’m leading three in-person retreats this spring, designed to help you ground, center and reconnect to your own creative spirit.
Read on for details, and come join me!
Meet me in Petaluma, California on March 30 for a daylong writing retreat!
Come on retreat with me and Birth Your Truest Story co-host Audrey Kalman along the Petaluma River in northern California. We'll write, share, grab lunch at a neighborhood cafe, and amble to the river for inspiration. Join us to:
Trace your inspiration back to its source
Follow the twists and turns of your creative flow state
Learn to ride the rapids of your creative life and float gently through the quiet stretches
Write together and share your work
Savor the group energy of our Birth Your Truest Story creative community
March 30, 2025. Early registration ($139) runs through February 28.
Meet me in Rowe, Massachusetts for a weekend retreat in the beautiful month of May!
Come on retreat with me in the budding springtime setting of Rowe, Massachusetts, where we’ll write to explore our deep connections with our Mother Earth, Gaia, as well as how the potent theme of mothering and nurturing has shown up in our lives.
Rowe is a magical retreat center nestled in the northern Berkshire mountains, with trails through mature forests bordering a tranquil lake. It’s rustic in a way that encourages communion with the land and camaraderie with the kindred spirits in our circle.
May 9 - 11, 2025. Sliding scale tuition and a variety of accommodations on site. I can’t wait to share this special experience with you!
Come Riding & Writing in Iceland with me in June!
Riding & Writing in Iceland!
June 2 - 8, 2025
The creative tonic of Iceland has to be experienced to be understood.
Come experience the body, mind and spirit glow that comes from Riding & Writing in good company in a beautiful place, warmly hosted by our friends Gudmar and Christina at Hestaland.
Click here to find out more and see beautiful photos from my past Riding & Writing trips to Iceland.
Friends, it’s my pleasure and my passion to support you as we stretch towards living our lives creatively and to the fullest.
The motto of my author consulting business is “Writing to Right the World,” and the motto of my book publishing business, Green Fire Press, is “Books that Make the World Better.”
If these intentions resonate with you and you are working on a book, or have one in mind, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Supporting creative people bring their work more strongly out into the world is one way I try to make the world better.
