OH, HOW TO DO NOW

By Andrew Williams

In case you haven't gotten this message from the mainstream or

subcutaneous media, here it is in country simple terms. These wars without

end--against terrorism, people with drugs, Iraq, etc.--are not being

fought for any great cause. Or by any great nation. They are the result of

the actions of "a loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires" who

are trying to steer Spaceship Terra and its inhabitants in whatever

direction will net them the most profit. Now you know why things are in

such a fucking mess.

The statement above is based on the work of Buckminster Fuller, the great

polymath of the 20th century--scientist, humanitarian, philosopher, poet,

engineer, writer. He saw our conflicts--indeed, all conflicts--as the

actions of land barons (kings, magnates, etc.) struggling over property

and resources. And Fuller built his work on part through the writings of

pre-WWII historians such as Harry Barnes, who coined the phrase "corporate

wars." The anti-war movement has picked that up in the last decade and

translated it into the "No Blood for Oil" message.

According to Fuller, the current mess is the result of the interactions of

two specific, synergistic systems--lawyer-run capitalism (or LAWCAP) and

the land and property barons' gross universal cash heist (or GRUNCH). That

is why there is less and less capital available to 99 percent of the

planet as the wealth becomes more concentrated in the hands of the 1

percent.

This is *not* the result of capitalism. It is the result of a bastard

capitalism that runs on monopolies, subsidies, tariffs and other restrains

against true free trade. If there were true laissez-faire capitalism in

the industrialized nations, it would not nearly be so onerous for the

majority. As bad as capitalism and democracy are, they have proven better

and fairer than communism and socialism. I see no need to adduce a proof

here.

As a person of libertarian inclination, I am not anti-business. But I am

anti-tariff, anti-monopoly, anti-subsidy and anti-any barrier to free

trade. So my suggestions to deal with this conundrum are:

--buy local, support local--especially organic.

--use natural herbal and homeopathic remedies instead of pharmaceutical

concotions.

--make do or do without

--share and share alike

Old ideas that have stood the test of millenia and are worth a second hard

look.

"It steam-engines when it's steam-engine time," as a wise observer of

oddities and synchronicities once wrote. We have the tools. Let's use

them. And if turns out to be a lost cause--Jimmy Stewart said it best:

"The lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for."

Any books by Buckminster Fuller

Noam Chomsky--Manufacturing Consent