Good Johann Hari Editorial

I've got a few minutes to post something and I wanted to say something BIG. Because I'm so disgusted with the times we live in. With the deluded capitalist politicians of the G-20 meeting in London to yammer about a crisis they don't understand attempting to prescribe more of what has brought us to this point. I'm disgusted with the serial atrocities of the harpercon minority government, and the dismal disgusting behaviour of the RCMP at the Braidwood Inquiry.

The very first article at www.commondreams.org was from Johann Hari and it was exactly what I was hoping for. Something BIG that I could recommend for your perusal.

Why We Should Listen to the Protestors:

Many commentators seemed bemused that the protesters focused on the climate crunch as much as the credit crunch. What's it got to do with a G20 meeting on reviving the global economy? Why wave banners saying 'Nature Doesn't Do Bail-Outs' today? Because both crises have their roots in the same ideology - and both have the same solution.

We are facing a collapsed economy and a rapidly warming world because an extreme ideology has dominated world affairs for decades. It is the belief that markets aren't just a useful tool in certain circumstances; they are an infallible mechanism for running human affairs. If the economy ebbs, the market will put itself right by punishing wrong-doers. If the climate begins to unravel, business will rectify its own behaviour voluntarily. Now we know how well this market fundamentalism works.

Indeed.

I'm really not interested in the science of ecology. It's a failing of mine. I suck at math. Bureaucratic forms put me to sleep. All the while I'm tortured with the full realization of the importance of math, science and keeping all my pieces of paper neat and tidy so that I can do my taxes and pay my bills. I'm just not mentally equipped to really appreciate the science.

But any idiot can tell you that we're on a trajectory towards suicide. The accumulations of pollution and chemical alterations of the planet, the mass-extinctions that are just beyond the next hill, ... you'd have to be deliberately deluded to pretend otherwise.

And that's why we need to seize this moment. The system has failed even by its own measuring stick. It is a sick, inhuman system that, as a system of political-economy, is supposed to support human life, and which has failed.

We can do anything we want to. So far, the people in charge are shallow greedheads, mental incompetents, power-hungry maniacs, and this revolting mess is what they have produced. We need a system of political-economy that serves everybody and which doesn't treat the planet as an "externality."

The capitalists have been allowed to follow their delusions long enough. It's time for them to step aside and let the rest of humanity take control.