The slipstream of time

It's been a blessedly cool summer in Seattle. Only a couple of brief warm spells and plenty of days with morning clouds. The rest of the nation has suffered through the hottest summer on record and still we will do nothing to address climate change. The big polluters and fossil-fuel giants are pushing an initiative in California to roll back that state's "Global Warming Solutions Act." The Great Recession drags on and things may get worse, much worse. The commentariat and leading economists refuse to see how much we have changed as an economy, as a country. The changes have accumulated, not least being the shattered social compact, and now we are trapped as surely as the Chilean miners, except no one is digging us out.

I'll be headed back to Phoenix for awhile. The civilization that thrives in Seattle lets me forget what it must be like to live every day amid the madness that has overtaken my home state. That wealthy Republican John Sidney McCain III won his primary against the hapless J.D. Hayworth should surprise no one. McCain has the backing of local and national elites. The media love fest with Maverick will resume. Few will ask: Four terms of McCain and what does Arizona have to show for it? It's not just what he didn't do, but what he did to actively hurt and hold back a state that wouldn't even exist without large amounts of federal investment.

The Kookocracy increases its hold. I had hoped that enough Arizonans would be horrified by this bunch, would actually notice that their policies, carried out for years, had failed miserably. It was not to be. Now the proto-fascism of the Arizona white-right is a national tide. As someone who was raised as a Theodore Roosevelt Republican, it amazes me that today's GOP is down to two ideas: Tax cuts for the rich and hate. They hate browns and blacks. They hate immigrants and Muslims. They hate gays. They hate the president, science, Social Security and women who want the government out of their reproductive decisions. They hate the First Amendment (but not the Second). They hate the poor, "liberals" and, of course, old Republicans, who are RINOs to be exterminated.

But so many things I didn't think I'd live to see. Some are good, such as a peaceful end to the Cold War. Others frightening, from the neo-brownshirts, growing American ignorance, hollowing out of our economy, destruction of our commons, the loss of American momentum. I could go on. They say the old end up in a foreign country even if they stay where they are. Such a realization is coming younger now, at least to those who are paying attention.

The popular story concerns the opposite direction: The supposed postponed adulthood of Americans, with twenty- and even thirtysomethings living at home with their parents, etc. The New York Times Magazine devoted a long thumbsucker asking, "Why are so many people in their 20s taking so long to grow up." Talk about a foreign country: My generation couldn't wait to get out on our own. I can't even imagine. When I was five, I wanted to be in my thirties — and indeed, they turned out to be a grand time.

When I had to grow up fast starting at seventeen, the youth culture wasn't the real world. That was controlled by people at fifty, at the top of their skills with a lifetime of experience. As a young paramedic, I was trained by former combat medics fresh out of Vietnam. They made it clear at the outset that I didn't know jack, my "self-esteem" be damned. The same was true in journalism. And thank God for that, because I had to truly earn my successes. Now fifty-somethings out of work are out of luck and experience is a liability. Except, of course, among the elite.

This current "won't grow up" phenomenon is rooted in privilege. It also includes many middle-class young adults who are living off the wealth that their parents inherited from a generation of Americans that actually made things and fully participated in the fruits of the dying middle class. This latter will not last. And the poor kids who have to join the military because there are no jobs and no parents with means — they have to grow up. To be fair, I also know plenty of ambitious, hard-working people in their twenties. I am of the most stereotyped generation in history and know the perils of generalizations.

Still, it makes you wonder about the future of a society where infantilization and sloth are becoming not just acceptable, but a norm to be celebrated and studied and explained by professors and shrinks. A norm where so many don't know history. Don't read serious journalism. Have been told all their lives how wonderful they are, so their "self-esteem" is high, unearned but high. Can't even hear, a growing number, because their earbuds are set on high. If this is the prop upon which progressive hopes lean, dream on.

We are all caught in the slipstream of time, whether we want to be or not. It's true in our personal lives. We look back and wonder about missed chances and celebrate feats, or look ahead and see the days relentlessly running out no matter how much we vow to live each one fully, gratefully. I was raised in what I call the Southern Death Culture, where relatives talked of those who had passed on as if they were still with us, lovingly tended cemeteries, were always ready with a covered dish for after a funeral, knew the Resurrection awaited just the other side. Growing up, I was alternately horrified and amused by this — like many Phoenix children, I early learned a sardonic (adult) sensibility from watching Wallace and Ladmo. But now I see the Southern Death Culture as healthier than our present frantic efforts to distract ourselves and deny everything unpleasant.

The slipstream catches nations, too. As I have written before, we face difficult days ahead. They will come whether we want them or not, particularly because we have failed to prepare for them, indeed have hastened their severity. This is the point where one should write something such as: But we're Americans. We've been through worse and come out triumphant. And I hope that's so. But it won't just happen because we're Americans.

I grew up in an America that had created the greatest middle class in the history of the world, a great civilization not just a great market. Where people were citizens, not consumers. Where we landed men on the moon and would always be on the forefront. Where Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream..." And we worked for that. But we've become a different America and different Americans. For King warned, "A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan."

Loudly self-proclaimed Americans want to give bin Laden a victory by loudly decrying an Islamic center in lower Manhattan, by burning Holy Qurans, by not giving a goddamn about the record number of migrants, each one an individual precious to God, dead in the Arizona desert this summer. These Americans are so full of hate, focused in the wrong direction by the oligarchy and Fox "News," even as those same puppetmasters continue policies to destroy the real American dream. Me, I've winnowed down my hates over the years. They take too much energy, eat you up inside. I really have only one hate left.

I hate the slipstream of time.

Comments

[klem]

"The rest of the nation has suffered through the hottest summer on record and still we will do nothing to address climate change."

Suffered are you kidding me? This has been the best summer in 20 years. It's been hot and dry for two months straight, instead of the usual rain, fog, high humidity and sweat. If this is the kind of summer we can expect due to AGW then bring it on! I'll let my car sit in the driveway and idle 24/7 if it means more of this. You can go back to your rain and fog if you like but I want global warming.

[Kevin]

Regarding the 20 somethings - I think your going a bit too David Brooks here and trying to extrapolate some big social/generational change out of something not so complicated.

I don't think it's because 25 year olds now are less "grown up" and more to do with the fact that there aren't many job prospects - even for college grads -and this generation has exponentially more student loan debt than previous ones (thanks boomers, for being so "grown up" about properly funding education)

Faced with the same economic situation, I would probably do the same. Wouldn't you?

[Mick]

What do the Republicans really hate? They hate paying Americans to work. They hate good-paying jobs in the US. Forget gays and abortions -- those are just meant to distract people. Many Republicans are gay or have abortions. The real focus of the Republican Party is to destroy jobs in the United States and crush wages to a 3rd World level.

The Republicans want 98% of the American people to barely survive at a subsistence level, and for all the wealth to belong to the other 2%.

The Republicans don't hate immigrants. They hate the idea of paying the immigrants. They want illegal immigration and non-enforcement of immigration laws.

The Republicans hate white middle-class wage-earners as much, or more, than people with brown or black skin.

The Republicans hate paying taxes and hate signing payroll checks. They want low taxes and slave labor.

The Republicans hate America, and hate 98% of the American people.

[Mick]

Republicans are globalists. Republicans only represent the very wealthy, and are actually opposed to the interests of 98% of the US population. Republicans represent multinational corporations, CEOs, global banks, wealthy business owners, billionaires, and the wealthy investor class. Republicans savagely hate anyone who works for a paycheck. If you work for a paycheck, you are a cost to the groups that the Republicans really represent, and the Republicans hate you for that. The goal of the Republican Party is to crush those costs, or eliminate them. All the other stuff mentioned - gays, abortions, women's rights, First Amendments, brown skin, Muslims, etc. are just distractors meant to confuse low-information voters.

The only thing that bothers Republicans about Social Security is that it is a cost to the groups that they represent.

When are people going to get it? The Republican and Democratic parties should just be fused into the "Globalist Party." Neither represents me.

I want a party that represents me. I want a "Jobs for Americans" Party that represents Americans who work for a paycheck and people who are not millionaires. The principles of the JFA Party should be that job creation is the most important economic goal; a rejection of globalization as it is now practiced; withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan; securing our borders; a moratorium on ALL immigration until Americans have jobs; and a clean-up of Wall Street and the financial regulations. Add more as you like, but the focus should be on creating jobs for Americans.

The Republicans savagely, passionately, hate the idea of creating jobs for Americans.

[ptb]

@Kevin, regardless of the root cause, this is problematic for our society. Able-bodied and able-minded adults should be far more invested in improving the world around themselves, both for their own sake and for their loved ones and fellow humans. I see this as a critical point for our consumption-focused and non-inquisitive cultural mindset, which I hope has reached such a saturation that we will have no choice but to set a new course.

The question remains whether we can do anything to snap out of it, or whether we will stand by and let our society continue to be taken over by the global elite. As we spent the last several decades obsessed with earnings and meaningless possessions that just kept pouring in more easily, we have neglected the greatest global currency, empathy. To borrow from the lectures of Jeremy Rifkin, I would argue that reaching deep into our communal psyche and reinvigorating our need for empathy is the only way to bring back a truly human sense of duty and usher in a new golden age. Otherwise, we may be screwed.

[Jacob]

And I suppose that the slacker/grunge movement that was rooted in your new hometown in the mid-'80s to early '90s had absolutely nothing to do with the unemployment rate.

It's easy to call the current generation of young workers "entitled," but it's more accurate to say that they (or their parents) have spent a lot of money on college educations that have done nothing to erase the "experience paradox." When these young workers can't develop their professional skills because of this obstacle, they're not only suffering in the short-term, but their long-term financial earnings are at stake, as well.

[Rate Crimes]

Happy travels, Jon. Enjoy the good people and the good things that yet remain in Arizona.

[terry dudas]

Jon - these are the people who thrive on your coat tails? How can you sleep at night?

[soleri]

Kurt Vonnegut imagined a future America in his 1976 novel Slapstick where oil is running out, the Chinese are taking over the world, and people are so tenuously conjoined that everyone is assigned a new extended family. The subtitle is Lonesome No More.

The sadness of contemporary America is everywhere around us. It's not that our lives are bad or that individual happiness is absent. Rather, it's this growing feeling that things are getting worse, and more ominously, that there's nothing that can pull us out of this tailspin. In Arizona, the signs are physically manifest. The politics and "solutions" are understandably hysterical (h/t Terry).

Obama will be in New Orleans this weekend commemorating the fifth anniversary of Katrina. In Washington DC, ex-Phoenix DJ Glenn Beck has the stunt of his storied career planned: a topsy-turvy March on Washington where white people play the victims. Maybe Ben Quayle will show up to kick some ass.

[Emil Pulsifer]

Mr. Talton wrote:

"The rest of the nation has suffered through the hottest summer on record and still we will do nothing to address climate change..."

Algae to the rescue?

"...algae is considered carbon-neutral. It produces oxygen and absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows and then releases the same amount of CO2 when it burns."

What's this got to do with taming climate change?

"Scientists have long known that algae, one of the most primitive forms of plant life, create lipids or oils in their cells that can be extracted and converted into fuel. ASU scientists have discovered particularly "oil rich" algae strains... They are also at the forefront of developing new methods to extract the oil and turn it into biodiesel and aviation fuel."

Yes, but doesn't this require special engines or other, expensive infrastructure changes?

"Unlike hydrogen power or electric vehicles, algae fuel won't require new engines to burn it or new infrastructure to deliver it. It will be remarkably similar to the diesel fuel that trucks and cars use and the JP-8 jet fuel that aircraft burn."

OK, but how much fuel can algae produce? Given the amount of petroleum we use, can it really make a dent in the problem?

"Scientists at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus say major innovations in research in recent years have put them on the brink of boosting production capabilities from thousands of gallons to millions - the difference between powering a few vehicles and fueling millions of cars and fleets of airliners...ASU researchers say they are three to five years from large-scale production...ASU and the laboratory have also partnered with a local company to develop equipment for large-scale production of algae fuel as they seek to establish it as a credible alternative."

Isn't this just the usual optimistic moonshine from the alternative fuels crowd? How practical is this, really?

"ASU Senior Vice President Rick Shangraw said that although solar energy and hydrogen power hold great promise, algae will "deliver soon" because, in the past few years, "most of the hard science problems regarding algae have been solved. "Now," he said, "it's largely an engineering problem." "

Isn't this one of those "miracle solutions" that requires more energy to produce than you get from it?

"Shangraw said that, unlike with ethanol, growing and harvesting algae results in an energy gain "because you get more energy out at the end of the process than you put in." In addition, the byproducts from algae can be turned into fertilizer or feedstock for animals."

Yes, but what kind of energy do you need to produce it? It doesn't do much good for algae-based fuel to be carbon neutral if lots of dirty energy sources are used to produce it. Also, isn't growing algae water intensive? How can we afford that?

"Shangraw said Arizona is uniquely situated to cash in on the development of algal-based fuels. "We have lots of sunshine, plenty of land," he said. "We have lots of agricultural sites from which we can get what otherwise would be wastewater but because of its high nutrient and saline content is perfect for growing algae."

OK, sunshine and wastewater don't sound bad as inputs. But how much does this stuff cost?

"Shangraw said that as research-and-development advances reduce the price of algae fuel from its current cost of about $20 a gallon to more like $3 or $4 a gallon, we need to look carefully at the "true costs" of fossil fuels vs. biofuels. The military and human cost of keeping oil flowing from the Middle East, for example... "We have to shift away from fossil fuels, especially petroleum. There are skeptics who say biofuels are too expensive, but when you factor in things like climate change and the eventual cost of that, we don't look expensive at all..."

"...Or what about the cost of the BP oil spill in the Gulf?" Shangraw said. "Economists call these other costs 'externalities.' The factors should figure into the price of something. If we had all those factors, the cost of oil would be a lot higher, and the cost of some other fuels, like fuel from algae, would look a lot more reasonable." "

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/08/27/20100827arizona-biofuel-industry-research.html

[Petro]

@soleri:

Yes, ol' Kurt V. is sorely missed. He certainly saw it all coming.

John Michael Greer of The Archdruid Report has an online dystopian novel in the same vein, Star's Reach. He's up to chapter sixteen, readers here might enjoy.

(Hope I got those links right!)

[Petro]

Looks like I didn't:

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/

http://starsreach.blogspot.com/

[Jacob]

Emil: In order for algae to be a viable solution, there needs to be a more efficient means of extracting the usable lipids from the algae.

[George]

While the world is running down, one still has to try to make the best of it while we are still around. This young man - boy has been facing the greatest challenge one can ever address, and has been told now the end is coming. The big picture is depressing enough, but the courage and spirit this youngster and his family exhibit and display in the face of overwhelming adversity will stir the soul and heart, all while one sobs in the deepest form of grief and sadness ....

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/chasechesbro/guestbook

While news everywhere is seemingly bad and never seems to get better, it is reports like this about individual lives that can give us courage, hope, and inspiration in the face of all the challenges we face individually, collectively, and as a society. It is always darkest before the dawn, even if the dawn is something we are unfamiliar with and lack an understanding of in a full complete way.

[azrebel]

Hi everyone. I just returned from 17 days in the Arizona mountains. I have no comment other than to quote our Governor during the recent debate ("--- ------- ------ ------ ------ --- ---- ----- ------") I couldn't have said it any better. Elect an uneducated person as governor to run an uneducted populace and you get what you paid for. (Mick, I enjoy your commentary. I somewhat agree with your comments, my only consolation is that I am a really good shot with my Henry 22 rifle and the squirrels on our property are looking quite yummy these days. We also have jack rabbits that could feed a family of four quite easily) I hope it doesn't come to that.