We live in a mean world organized by sociopaths.

America is run by people who are both evil and stupid, and they are acting on the associated impulses, attempting to reestablish a unipolar world dominated by the United States, and doing so in a fashion that is maniacal and bound to end in catastrophic failure of some sort.

Then there’s our neoliberal-economic operating system, which admonishes that there is no society only individuals, resulting in a selfish and cruel environment dominated by assholes.

It’s no wonder I’m crazy and I bet so are you.

Perhaps we have reached the end state of neoliberalism that was always destined to be fascism. I’ve always thought that fascism is when liberalism reaches crisis, where oligarch control of the society can no longer be hidden under the comfortable veneer of a representative democracy, and more extreme measures must come out into the open to enforce their control.

Does this sound familiar?

The crucial development is that the US imperial dominance is in rapid decline and our ruling elites are panicking at their obvious loss of influence and legitimacy. How will they hold on to power?

They certainly aren’t going to regain legitimacy by giving voters what they want and with sensible, realistic economic and foreign policies so they have to be authoritarian. All of this has made the possibility of using violence and brute force more likely in relation to many situations. Most recently, of course, militarized police have swarmed campuses to help quell largely peaceful student protests over the war on Gaza.

Back to that crazy thing. Looking around it’s become apparent that we are dealing with an epidemic of trauma in this country on both a personal and collective level. People are traumatized by Covid, the crazy inflation, our dysfunctional healthcare system, the failure of educational and religious institutions, the endless war and genocide our government is supporting. The fucking 2024 presidential election, where both choices are odious. Add to that increased isolation from other people which predates Covid, as we’re increasingly trapped in our own tribal siloes. Everything is falling apart and one has to be braindead not to recognize it. We are on our own, indeed, and much worse off for it. We feel helpless and powerless, adrift in a mean world.

Update: In this milieu, creating community is a revolutionary act. If we’re honest, it will be up to us regular folks. Lets get to it.