The Looming Crisis

I had an article ready to go. It’s on a subject I’ve wanted to cover: How natural resources are limited but the human mind is not. Not enough attention is given to this fact, though its implications are profound.

But I’ve bumped this article from the top of the queue. And for a reason that goes against a tenet of the Crisis and Transition content philosophy.

We’ve seen our role as staying above the fray of the immediate political developments of the day. We’ve wanted to keep our focus on the big picture, on the need for deep solutions to the polycrisis looming over humanity’s future.

But I recognize a pivotal moment when I see one. State sanctioned murder of an American woman is such a moment. Small though the voice of this Substack may be, we feel it important to share our view on the significance of this moment.

We’re doing so with a short article just submitted by reader/contributor, Marc Nevas. Our regular readers may have seen other articles by Marc. If so, you may have noticed his writings have a unique voice. I would describe it as the voice of an intuitive.

In his article, Marc gives insightful context to the ghastly murder of Renee Good, and what it says about what lies ahead for America and about the choices we must make..

Ronald Logan

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The Looming Problem

Marc Nevas

The United States is the number one capitalist democracy (of sorts) in the world. It has the largest economy, the largest military, and it is still number one for creativity, inventiveness, and resources. So, control of America is a dream come true for a fascist leaning leadership.

However, there is a looming insurmountable problem ahead, and that problem is why the fascists are now racing to increase their hold on the population.

The looming problem is that the people are waking up and are no longer willing to swallow their blatant lies. Those who care enough are coming out on the streets, even in the bitterly cold weather. People are setting up lines of communication, starting at the local level. There are even apps set up to track ICE.

So, people are angry. Governors are angry, and mayors are angry. These local leaders are speaking out and are taking steps to rein in the ICE agents in their communities.

Plus, there is anger in the MAGA Party at the withholding of the Epstein documents. There was even bipartisan support for a law demanding the release of the Epstein documents and pictures. This obfuscation on the part of the Trump led government is creating a split among the MAGA base.

As the pressure mounts and the support dwindles, Trump and his regime will be taking desperate measures to stay in power. Attempting to cancel the midterm elections is one of the possible measures.

What Should We Do?

What should we do? People will not be motivated by “should”; people will be motivated by their attachment to the freedom that is being taken away and the money that drains to the top billionaires.

As we see, violence has already begun, and it will not end. The ICE shooter in Minneapolis will be shielded, for public punishment of a shooter does not fit into their plans.

The regime wants violence so as to instill fear in the demonstrators. Who wants to get shot for demonstrating? We saw what occurs when a demonstrator throws a bottle of water or a sandwich. And now a woman got murdered for simply turning her car around.

All of this weighs on the conscience of Americans. Apathetic voters will no longer be apathetic, and those who have identified with MAGA will be quieting down or leaving the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

With the threat of losing MAGA control of Congress, attempts will be made to cancel the elections.

The problems will not go away with wins by some Democratic candidates. There is still a big mess to clean up, but the main thrust in the coming election will be garnering votes to win office. This will take precedence over the needs and welfare of the constituents.

The mess the Republicans have made can only be cleaned up and solved by a movement to adopt economic democracy. And, following this, there will be a need for deeper changes that are along the lines of Prout.

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Commentary

In a review of Marc’s article by the Crisis and Transition team it was felt that some added commentary might be appropriate.

1 — The Position of the Fascist Minded Leaders

Fascist-minded leaders do not care to participate in the international order. Their nature is to dominate other nations through hegemonies. Since the end of World War II America has been an active participant in the international order — imperfect as this may have been. This order is now crumbling under the MAGA administration, which in turn gives increasing scope and legitimacy to other would-be hegemons — Putin and Xi in particular — to assert regional dominance.

Marc asserts that “control of America is a dream come true for fascist-minded leadership.” It is important to note that this fascist dream doesn’t just pertain to America’s fascist-minded leadership but also has global implications — that being the end of a world guided by international cooperation.

The effort to divide up the world did not end well in the era of colonialism, and it did not end well for the Axis powers in World War II. A world under fascist hegemons would be a far greater disaster today.

2 — Why We Have to Go Through This #1

The post-War era has been guided by increasing international cooperation, supported by treaties, protocols, conventions, and global institutions — although this has been an imperfect system due mainly to the economic dominance of the transnational corporations operating under their neoliberal ideology.

Neoliberalism has been ruinous to many local communities, to working people, and to the environment. The desperate situation of people living in hollowed out local economies, in particular, has bred alienation with the political establishment, creating a fertile ground for the rise of MAGA.

This MAGA mentality is an obstacle to the social unity needed to deal with the existential threat of the polycrisis. It becomes a social force that opposes efforts to abate climate change, to end environmental destruction, and to form a society inclusive of all people.

The next stage in human evolution cannot move forward with this obstruction.

The only way it can be removed is for the MAGA sympathizers (and similar nativist groups in other countries) to experience the deceit and corruption of the MAGA leadership and the harsh realities of a failed Project 2025 political agenda.

3 — Why We Have to Go Through This #2

There is a second reason why we must go through this period of MAGA rule to be able to move forward. It concerns the mentality of those who are forward thinking, who accept a pluralist social order, and who are willing to help those in need to advance.

They may support a progressive agenda but are relatively passive in their engagement in struggles for a livable world. They are not prepared to take on the formidable power of the transnational corporations and the oligarchs. And there is no viable pathway to the future that does not bring the rich and powerful under control.

So these liberal minded, forward thinking people must develop qualities of solidarity and a spiritedness — a capacity to fight for humanity’s future. They must commit; they must unite.

It is the very horrors of the MAGA administration that is awakening them, activating them, strengthening them to advance the transition to a new society. Without Trump they would remain asleep.

4 — How Will It Turn Out?

We now face a fierce struggle to stop the consolidation of power by the fascist-minded leaders. How will this struggle end? Will elections be canceled, the Insurrection Act invoked, and American democracy and civil liberties put to an end?

I edited out of Marc’s article his assertion that “This is the beginning of the end for Trump.” I did so because this is his intuitional perception. It is more prophecy than reasoned analysis.

And I did so because we do not benefit from being assured that this will be the end for Trump. We need to worry that our collective future is at stake, and that we have agency to determine the contingencies of history — if we rise together in our collective strength.

All this being said, I agree with Marc’s intuitive sense that it is now downhill for Trump and the MAGA movement. The tide has turned. The killing of Renee Good has given momentum to the changing tide.

5 — Economic Democracy

Marc points out that the coming Congressional elections will not be America’s savior.

There will be a huge mess to clean up in the aftermath of Trump’s decimation of America’s governing institutions. Many interests will seek to determine the course of this clean up. The corporate players will not be idle.

Will we end the reign of the MAGA party only to go back to the liberal social order that bred the conditions for MAGA’s rise in the first place?

A deeper solution is needed, and as Marc points out, this will not come from the politicians whose focus will be on a winning electoral campaign. (Elections are expensive, and big money buys influence.)

That deeper solution is economic democracy — which the Crisis and Transition Substack has championed in many of our posts. See most recently, A Program for Economic Democracy.

6 — Beyond Economic Democracy

While economic democracy can shift the locus of economic empowerment to people and local communities, it will not in itself solve the polycrisis. Something deeper is required. And this, as Marc rightly points to, is a new ideological synthesis which, to our awareness, is most fully reflected in the Prout socioeconomic theory.

Four factors are needed to make the transition ahead: hope, empowerment, vision and a solution-oriented approach. Economic democracy will give us empowerment, Prout provides a deep vision and a solutionary approach.

-Ronald Logan