Several voices in recent days have pointed out that despite the severity of our financial crisis, there is reason to hope that it could lead to better days. My favorite was the moderate Matt Millen, from the popular political talkshow Left, Right, and Center, who on Friday concluded with this:
On what has been a grim week, when everyone has been looking at the plunge in their 401(k) or their family portfolios, I want to offer a hopeful thought: We're still at only about 6% unemployment, nothing like the 25% or more before the Federal government really took innovative action in the early l930's. And we've got a nearly universal consensus that it is time to take big steps to stem what is a major financial crisis, before it can bleed into the larger economy. The fact that we're on the verge of that, and, if Obama can win, we will be in a situation where all bets are off, in terms of what the policy choices are, means that we could be at one of those creative moments where we reinvent capitalism to honor all the things that all of us want for the long-term.
Amen. Note the comparison with Ed Wilson's concept of "the bottleneck" -- the idea that if we can survive our overpopulation, our devastation of the planet, and its consequent effects in the next fifty years -- we can stabilize and live better, healthier, more harmonious lives. A description of his concept:
But the "bottleneck" of overpopulation and overconsumption can be
safely navigated: adequate resources exist, and in the end, success or
failure depends upon an ethical decision. Global conservation will
succeed or fail depending on the cooperation between government,
science and the private sector, and on the interplay of biology,
economics and diplomacy. "A civilization able to envision God and to
embark on the colonization of space," Wilson concludes, "will surely
find the way to save the integrity of this planet and the magnificent
life it harbors."
We need this kind of hope, methinks...
