Monday, November 28, 2005

In the latter days of a dying empire

In the end, the Western Empire collapsed because the bureaucracy, starved of resources, collapsed and was no longer capable even of collecting the wheat tithes from North Africa that were used to feed the hungry millions of Rome. By 600AD, the city of Rome was occupied only by an armed camp of maybe 40,000 half-starved people huddling in the ruins of a city built for millions. The rest had either starved to death when imperial administration collapsed, or had fled to the hinterlands to try to engage in subsistance farming in order to prevent starving to death. Given that the population of the former Western Empire collapsed, with up to 1/3rd of the people dying, it is likely that starvation and the violence of the collapse of Imperial authority (when the policemen, unpaid, walked off the job) took many, many people with them.

I was thinking these thoughts as I rode up US 101 from San Francisco to the mouth of the Columbia River. For most of that ride in California, US 101 is paralleled by an abandoned rail line. This rail line goes through rugged and punishing countryside. It is basically irreplaceable -- we now lack the ability, or the will, to build things of that scale today. Yet it is abandoned, rusting in place. The four lane highway that runs beside it is in much better shape, but drives over and around the terrain, instead of through it like the railroad. And in the roughest places, the four-lane highway disappears and the old 1940's-era highway reappears.

Then once I hit the Oregon state line, there were all these bridges that I went over, soaring high above the rivers and sounds. They were all old, built in the 1950's, in the better days of a greater nation, in the days of can-do America, in the days when it was understood that there were no problems that could not be solved by American ingenuity and American will, in the days when by application of American know-how on a massive scale we had conquered the most evil empire to ever exist on the planet and while we faced another evil empire, we were sure we would eventually win out there too. Those were the days when we were by-god Americans, not a bunch of huddled frightened timid sheep to be led around by the rings in our noses. Even the problems of racism and segregation seemed solvable then. Today.... these bridges and the road they support probably could not be built today. We lack the resources, or the will, to drive highways through such forbidding territory to serve people who, well shouldn't have chosen to live in such forbidding places.

Today, what seems to be the buzzword is what Americans can't do. We can't provide medical care for all of our people because of, well, this that and the other. We can't handle the issue of homeless mentally ill people wandering the streets of our major cities because of, well, this that and the other. We can't put into place a workable bracero program and end illegal immigration along our southern border because of, well, this that and the other. We can't provide power, water, and sewers for Iraqis or New Orleanians. We can't adequately search the rubble of the former city of New Orleans to find the dead bodies. We can't do anything about the 5,000+ missing people from Katrina/Rita. We can't find Osama. We can't. We can't. We can't. Excuses, hand-wringing, and whining about "that's not my job!" are the defining characteristic of modern America. Can-do America, the America of rolled-up worksleeves and boundless optimism that there is no problem that cannot be solved by America and Americans, is gone.

Where did can-do America go? When did we move from being a nation of can-do people, ready to solve the problems of the world, to being a bunch of whiny pessimists who do nothing but wring our hand and make excuses about why various problems cannot be solved? In the end, I believe it is a loss of will, not a loss of ability, that characterizes the new "can't-do" America. And in tomorrow's installation, I talk about my visit to a world-class Asian city during my Thanksgiving holiday, and the very different attitudes encountered there.

- Badtux the Travelin' Penguin

Comments:

It's not "can't do" so much as it is "WON'T do." And they won't do it because it would involve having to invest with people's taxes and doing projects that tend towards benefitting the lesser-privileged.
# posted by drumwolf : 29/11/05 11:45 AM  

Our advances in technology have outstripped our wisdom to use it.The end result of that is alot of fat,lazy and spoiled people.There's alot to be said for technology,but it's not the answer to every problem.

Cities require larger and larger expanding circles of resources to keep them going.Look at how fast water and food run out in cities that have been hit by natural disasters.If the power goes out for an extended period,people honestly don't have a clue how to survive.

We weren't always like that.Now 60% of Americans are considered obese.Very few people overall spend much time outdoors.There was a time when we worked with the land,and according to my grandma,back in her day the only fat people you ever really saw were wealthy.

If we were a smart country,we'd take things down to their simpler origins and invest in that alot more often than we do.Once the infrastructures of major cities become a complete quagmire maybe people will be more inclined to do just that.It's just too bad we're so damned short sighted and focused on immediate gratification.
# posted by An Angry Old Broad : 30/11/05 5:37 AM  

Everyone is too busy pointing fingers at everyone else, waiting for other to take care of them.
# posted by Ole Blue The Heretic : 30/11/05 7:33 AM  

I'd have to say I agree with Drumwolf; it's not a case of "can't do" as much as "won't do." Or, more specifically, "don't care." As a nation, we have become fat, spoiled, and deeply, deeply ignorant. As long as someone promises us a continuation of the lifestyle to which we've become accustomed, we can't be bothered to find out how that lifestyle is procured. It doesn't matter how much blood is on our hands, as long as we can keep filling the Hummer's tank.

Of course, when the worldwide demand for oil finally outstrips the ability to produce it (as will happen in a few years) all bets are off. Hopefully that long-dormant American Ingenuity will kick in and someone will finally invent a workable form of cold fusion, or some other new fuel source. More likely, however, we'll simply bomb the shit out of another country that happens to be sitting on lots of petroleum reserves.
# posted by Aaron : 30/11/05 2:56 PM  

It's been a don't care nation as far back in my lifetime as I can remember, dear Snarky Penguin. But take heart. There are rebels . . .
# posted by Desi : 1/12/05 5:49 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Archives

Bill Richardson: Because what America needs is a competent fat man with bad hair as President (haven't we had enough incompetent pretty faces?)

Links

• MY EMAIL
• Hotmail
• National Weather Service
• Google

• Mockingbird's Medley
• Never Asked Questions
• A novel by yours truly

Honor Roll

Technorati embed?

Liberated Iraqis

• Children celebrate liberation of parents
• More pics of children celebrating
• Liberated baby
• Liberated women and children
• More liberation, yessiree
• More to follow, after I finish cursing SOB chickenhawks and get my breath back...