The United States of America is a version of The Walking Dead. We are walking around like zombies.
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President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union Address earlier this year. If you watched, listened or read the transcript it becomes abundantly clear that we are nation in decline. This isn’t necessarily news. The rhetoric coming from the presidential candidates reinforces our decline. All empires eventually decline and ultimately collapse. The United States is no different. We just keep repeating our national narrative of exceptionalism in hope of an eventual return to what was … whatever that means.
According to Wikipedia: A failed state is a state perceived as having failed at some of the basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government.
The United States of America is a version of The Walking Dead.
We are walking around like zombies. Our citizenry goes about their routine where we produce, consume, pay taxes, vote, complain, produce, consume, etc. Our militarized police forces kill folks daily and legitimizes it with little to no effort. Our Congress has been gridlocked for years and can’t make a collective decision. We are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world and yet many people have little or inadequate access to public services. Finally, our nation uses international bodies when beneficial to our own self-interests but usually moves unilaterally to flex its power. We are not a full member of the international community but rather the CEO of it. We are a failed state in many regards or at the very least, well on our way.
Our version or perception of a failed state is usually some place in Africa or the Middle East. What I am suggesting is what we as Americans do best … redefine what’s already been agreed upon. In other words, a failed state today looks considerably different than one in the past. We continue to promote infinite growth on a finite planet, pad unemployment statistics, ignore our deteriorating infrastructure, and dismiss our systemic injustices. Our failures are well disguised to us. What’s also well disguised is our meddling in others affairs. We have greatly impacted the failure of other states by our policing mentality. Think of places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya and one quickly comes to understand our role in this colossal mess known nation-states. Our failure is our hand in the failure of other states.
When we begin to peel back the layers of this nation it’s obvious that we are failing miserably.
What may be surprising to some is that I’m okay with that. I’m not okay with the suffering inflicted upon millions domestically and worldwide by our self-absorbed behavior. Instead it is my contention that the quicker we go under, the better. We are not fit to be part of the international community. In fact, it could be argued that we are the top terrorist organization in the world. We are arrogant and we believe we are superior. We are a nation built upon genocide, slavery and the continued exploitation through means of war and economic sanctions. We are all complicit.
The good news is we are in collapse. Like all empires, this one will eventually fail and fall as well. When we look back throughout history we can piece together events that make up a societal collapse. When these smaller events are occurring those who are experiencing them don’t necessarily realize they are part of a larger collapse. It’s only afterwards, when we piece these events together we can see the larger event they created. Collapse has been underway in this empire for sometime.
Currently we are in the denial stage.
Our gravitation towards particular political candidates who promise a return to our so-called glory days is a clear indicator that we are desperately trying to solve our spiral into the abyss. We believe if we can just get the right person to lead us all will be right in the world. Our false narrative of the birth of our nation is held onto like a child’s tattered blanket. Only this blanket is diseased like those of our bloody past.
The failure of the United States will have a domino effect throughout the international community. Because of our economic position in the world other nations will quickly begin to fail. In the end, industrial civilization will fall. I don’t have a timeline but I do have a guarantee. Infinite growth (which the global economy depends upon) on a finite planet is a recipe for catastrophic failure. It’s only a matter of time.
Many will argue that supporting such an idea (collapse) is evil. After all, billions of people will die. This isn’t the movies. This isn’t a two hour event. This will be a series of events that will have many variables and many players. This collapse will be economic, environmental and societal. It will be in layers. Yes, people will die. Yes, people will suffer. People have been doing both for a very long time under the boot of our current living arrangement which requires death, suffering, oppression, war, and environmental degradation just to maintain itself.
There is no utopia on the other side of this kind of failure.
Instead there is life. Life that is currently being devoured or chewed up and spat out will have a better chance to move forward. Community will also have an opportunity but not necessarily human community. We have not only overshot our numbers but we have set in motion a series of events that will play themselves out. We have rigged the game and and at the same time got caught up in our own fatal trap. We are in a predicament as a culture. What’s truly tragic is those who live outside of industrial civilization and those who bear the burden of it will continue to pay the price along with those of us who thrived because of it. That is why collapse is a predicament.
The United States is exceptional. We’re just not exceptional in the way we perceive to be. We believe we have given much to the world but the real story is what we have wrought upon her. We send aid worldwide without taking into consideration our role for the need of such aid.
You can be a witness to history.
Pay attention as time goes by and be present in it. You can learn a great deal by observing the current political reaction to our demise and by easing the suffering that is currently on going. This isn’t about staying on the sidelines because you feel all is lost. This is instead about seizing an opportunity to do something incredible because you now know the stakes. It’s a chance to break tradition and make new waves. Our nations failure isn’t necessarily your failure. Instead it’s your life being handed back to you … live it.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Yep. The collapse is guaranteed.