Here is the situation in a nutshell:

neoliberal democracy + authoritarianism = 2X (where ‘X’ represents either ‘neoliberal democracy’ OR ‘authoritarianism’) 

Whereas neoliberalism is a contrivance of our ruling class to steer democracy away from ‘the people’, revered by leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and authoritarianism is the naked truth of ‘behind the curtain’ regimes, both are simply the way in which corporations conduct business.

Whereas the ruling class of Putin doesn’t bother to hide it’s sordid ways and values (not to mention how they value their own citizens), we of the West are content with our ‘leaders’ telling us ‘what is’, when ‘what is’, plainly, is not. We allow our Western leaders to tell us a bedtime story and we go to sleep AND DREAM OUR LIVES AWAY, while they live off of the misery they create at our level, that they may live at a higher level.

For example: WE ARE TOO MANY, already. Opportunities for work at home are taken by people from abroad because IT IS CHEAPER TO DO IT THAT WAY IF YOU ARE THE ONE HIRING OR PAYING THE BILLS. And so, people leave vacuums in their own countries, needing to be filled by their own, and take up jobs in Canada, say, creating a dearth of job opportunities for folks already living in Canada, already looking for work, and not finding it. But our government paid lip service to training…

We are too many, globally. The thing is, the greater our numbers, the more we consume and the faster we consume…

…and the faster our ruling class folks get richer. The more complete and solid is their hegemony over us. We are not ‘citizens’. WE ARE SERFS. The window of opportunity is closing on us becoming anything at all LIKE WE ONCE WERE, after WW II ended and before movement conservatism really got going in the US and then made its way into Canada’s West, as The Western Alliance, before Mulroney decimated the Progressive Conservative Party and it became ripe for the plucking by the Movement Conservatives.

WE KNOW $$$ = Sociopolitical POWER.

WE KNOW $$$ = OPPORTUNITY

(WE KNOW THE LACK OF $$$ = LACK OF OPPORTUNITY)

NO OPPORTUNITY -> (‘leads to’) DESPERATION

DESPERATION -> DISAFFECTION/ANXIETY/DESPONDENCY -> MENTAL ILLNESS on a massive scale.

There is an approaching social collapse because there is a big chasm where the middle class once existed. The existence of the middle class isn’t something governments create, as our PM would have us believe and perhaps believes himself, but rather something THAT EXISTS AS A FEATURE OF A WELL-BALANCED NORMAL DISTRIBUTION.

Tax laws would fix this in a second, simply by ensuring that the Wealth and Income (of any individual) in Canada, say, never exceeds 2sigma of the mean AND THAT returns on investment never equal or exceed GDP growth. BUT THERE ARE NO SUCH TAX LAWS.

None of the parties, Liberal (more accurate to call them ‘neo-Liberal’), Conservative (no longer Progressives but just as neoliberal as the Liberals), or the NDP(let’s see if Andrea Horwath can at least try to in Ontario), are advocating for such a tax regime.

ALL ARE KOWTOWING TO THE POWER OF CORPORATIONS, which are in and of themselves a means of expanding ruling class control over ‘the people’ to global level. Don’t forget that it was a corporation’s malfeasances that sparked the American Revolution!

Corporations are placing desperate nations at odds with one another, out of their desperation to create GDP, in a race to the bottom. The globalized investors just move on when the bottom is hit, and the desolation they leave in their wake must compare with what the Russian army is perpetrating upon the innocent in Ukraine.

There’s Putin and Xi, who are intent on dragging the World down into war, WITH THE MONEY WE GIVE THEM. Our $$$, and our jobs, were shipped off to China BY OUR RULING CLASS PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENTS and now CHINA AND RUSSIA HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE US DOWN, instead of us, you know, ‘the people’ ol’ Abe valued so much, being given that opportunity and those $$$ to make our livings and raise our kids AND BE PREPARED TO DEFEND OUR NATION AND OUR KIDS AGAINST ANY THREATS.

Now, if missiles start to fly, why, our ‘leaders’ will be bravely ‘leading’ from bunkers, that is, if they can’t fly away to New Zealand or something…just like they bravely applauded Zelenskyy, looking fine in their business suits and safe in their Parliaments…[Aside: I can’t get the comparison to ‘arfing’ walruses begging for fish and clapping their front paws together, out of my head].

We are compartmentalized and demoralized from the pandemic and how our leaders chose to handle it. It became very clear to me where our governments’ priorities truly are and THEY ARE NOT WITH ‘THE PEOPLE’ unless you happen to be someone who is still contributing to GDP in the way the ruling class ego wants. Even the move to public housing has a Trojan Horse.

Plainly, our ruling class folks serve themselves, their egos. Ego serves Satan (that’s what we call him in our tradition).

Milton’s Lucifer would ‘rather rule in hell than serve in Heaven’.

Ditto for the ruling classes around the World, our world, until its creator takes it from us. Our ruling class, made stupid by ego and the blinding allure of $$$, is institutionalizing hell on Earth without realizing. This cannot culminate in anything other than disaster for EVERYONE, even the ruling classes. The ‘feet of clay’ will crumble  under the weight of that which is above and the whole structure will come crashing down…unless we find ourselves and our path once again.

Until that time…

If our ruling classes do not get it together of their own volition, ‘THE PEOPLE’ are the only ones who can help. We will need to collaborate. We will need Gandhi’s satyagraha. We will have to be strong for a ruling class that was not strong for us. ‘The children’ will have to ‘parent’ the ‘parents’.

It is the nature of natural societies to have hierarchies. IT IS NOT THE NATURE OF NATURAL SOCIETIES to suborn division by $$$.

That is entirely a CONSTRUCT OF WEALTHY PEOPLE. The 1%.

Howard Hughes showed us all what that kind of wealth, and the power it purchases, can do to peoples’ heads and spirit. I don’t believe Mr. Hughes died a happy man.

It is up to us. What is going on today is not who we are, unless you are one fighting the Russian Army or helping with the Ukrainians fleeing Ukraine or donating to their cause in some way…in that case you are a hero. Anyone who does violence for violence’ sake, is not a hero, but rather an opportunist.

Slava Ukrayini! (every minute of every day, the Ukrainians and their President glorify themselves in the eyes, mind, heart, and soul of the Creator…).

I believe our creator is going to show her/himself in Ukraine, very soon. All my prayers.