Ignorance

The greatest obstacle to human progress is simple human ignorance. Ignorant human beings are more prone to have children for whom they do not provide adequate education. Breaking the cycle of ignorance is extremely difficult, because it inevitably necessitates addressing family planning and reproductive rights in society. The sacred cow of universally encouraged and unquestioned human reproduction, as seen everywhere in media, is counterproductive to alleviating poverty and ignorance in society.

This thought came to me recently on the subway, as I watched an adolescent mother being cruel and abrupt with a toddler, whom she was loudly encouraging to eat an ungodly meal in a box from Burger King. The smell of the box's contents caused me to gag, yet the teen mom was threatening the child with repercussions if he did not immediately gag down a portion of toxic french fries which would have sated a truck driver. When I looked over to the mother to suggest the child may be full, she shot me the kind of violent look I associate with gun-toting gangsters. I decided to be quiet, since the child would most likely bear her anger for anything I might have said. Instead, I focused my benign energy on the child, who smiled and waved at me. That innocent wave shot a pain through my heart. If this had been a rare experience on my subway line, I would not have been as deeply affected.

The issue of family planning is seen as a "women's issue". This is understandable, since the presence of men in the lives of their offspring seems to be dwindling, rather than growing. Single motherhood is a growing trend among the educated. It is vehemently defended by educated and more privileged women. What are the repercussions of these trends for the undereducated, when media promotes these behaviors in the educated? Is it really exclusively a women's issue?

The recent reactionary outrage over expanding health care in the U.S. is stunning in the face of increased fertility services and more enabling of adolescent girls who do become pregnant. And, the fall in public education quality in the face of large immigrant populations with large families does not bode well for the future. The recession of the U.S. economy will only worsen these situations.

As long as it is politically incorrect to frankly discuss the role of reproduction in the cycle of ignorance and poverty, the undermining effects of a growing undereducated population will erode the quality of American life for every citizen of America. The truth is often unpopular. I would strongly encourage women to open the conversation with media, government agencies and other women about these issues. It is as important an environmental issue as the failing oil economy.

Military

The intrepid Frontline team has done it again. Its documentary, Wounded Platoon, addresses the tragic by-products of militarism on a human scale. It is a sensitive insight into the difficult and tragic lives of some of our American soldiers who participated in the Iraq War.

The simple reality that armies are groups of trained killers comes to light. In the days of volunteer armies, it is more and more likely that military personnel will be recruited from populations which are dysfunctional in civilian society. This dysfunction includes criminal histories and histories of untreated mental illness.

A volunteer army in a country which promotes nationalism and aggressive actions outside its borders is inherently unjust. The poor bear the weight, while the wealthy call the shots. This is a sad anachronism in a modern time, when universal human and economic justice seem possible. While, as a proponent of non-violence, I would personally resist joining a compulsory, all-inclusive draft, I think it is the only fair system in a country which decides to rely on military power to foster its interests. All citizens, with exemptions or service alternatives for pacifists of conscience, should be required to participate in the military.

There is much more to responsible citizenship than placing a "Support Our Troops" sticker on the back of a car. Paying taxes without cheating through loopholes, working for equality for all citizens and tending to those within the nation who need help are all elements of being good Americans. While I personally feel that the military should be deployed defensively, primarily within our own borders, I feel that a citizenry which supports military solutions in international conflicts should support a universal draft for all able men and women.

Haiti

This portion of the island of Hispaniola, occupied by 9 million people, is the size of Massachusetts, home to 6.5 million people. The economic, environmental and demographic differences between Haiti and Massachusetts are gigantic.

Tragedy breeds sentimentality. Sentimentality clouds level-headed judgment, the quality which is absolutely necessary to respond effectively to crisis. Haiti is a perpetual tragedy in perpetual crisis. It is plagued by bourgeois greed, hereditary poverty, aggressive ignorance, avid superstition and an entrenched caste system. The depth of the current tragedy of its earthquake damage is magnified by these factors.

Bill Clinton, who is special Presidential envoy to Haiti, has made the observation on the PBS Newshour that Haitians in the U.S. are 1% of the black community and 11% of the country's physicians' community.

This points to the lack of balance in Haitian society. A strong bourgeoisie with its diaspora in the U.S. fuels an engine of emigration from the island nation, while those with no resources fend for themselves in Haiti with no government, no infrastructure, no education and no escape. This is another example of the failure of the ripple effects of immigration here in the U.S.. It works for the U.S.. It does not work for the source of immigrants, as evidenced by Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, Columbia and other nations.

From a planetary perspective, wealthy nations have no real commitment to places like Haiti. There is no oil there. There is no gold there. There is no copper there. There is no well-educated, cheap labor pool there. There are many problems (costs) and no profits. Free-market capitalists shun such situations.

My heart goes out to the many people from the U.N. and N.G.O.s who have been working against the tide of ignorance, violence and poverty in Haiti. But, I have many questions about the sensibility of their efforts. Haitians have cleared almost all their trees, thereby degrading their cultivatable land and water supply. The trees have been used to make cooking charcoal. Yes, cooking charcoal for the overpopulated environment. So, I would ask, "Why haven't the U.S., U.N., N.G.O.s, or its educated-diaspora organizations financed windmills, solar generators or a trash-powered generating plants to supply electricity for cooking with some of the trillions of dollars in aid which have been poured into this island for decades?" This is just one question I could ask, but now is obviously not a time for getting answers.

Perhaps Haiti is a symbol of the long term effects of religiosity and truly libertarian politics. The history of the island is bloody with colonial genocide, slavery and dictatorship. Yet, the persistent features of Haiti's history since its 1804 independence from France are its religiosity, lack of public education and its every-man-for-himself (libertarian) sociology.

I would suggest that libertarians and the theocratically inclined look at Haiti and learn. Large human populations need governance, infrastructure and social supports. Large modern societies must ride the waves of modern science to maintain themselves on a planet with fixed and diminishing resources. Praying does not generate electricity, get rid of garbage or purify water. God isn't there when the roof caves in. You need a crane to lift the rubble. To pay for cranes to lift the rubble, you need to levy taxes and maintain a government treasury.

Lunatics, like Pat Robertson, to whom many Americans have turned for leadership, will predictably turn their backs in crisis. They are capitalists to the core. The God excuse is a handy tool to lay responsibility on everyone but themselves for anything. The dominating Haitian Catholic church and the Haitian government are also noticeably lacking in their capacity to help their own people.

I would hope that the devastation of this earthquake in Haiti's capital city will awaken the non-Haitian and Haitian-American organizations which are invested in helping that nation. It seems that some 'tough love' may be called for in the reconstruction. An emphasis on practical science, based in ecological sustainability, would be a good start.

Matewan

The Matewan Massacre in 1920, as depicted in John Sayles' 1987 film, Matewan, represents the struggle between corporate power and human rights. Any American who carelessly condemns socialism as evil should perhaps take the time to see this film, which is readily available in video rental shops or from Netflix.

The Matewan story speaks for itself. However, I believe the neoconservative movement within the Republican Party in the U.S. still represents the powers of blind greed and materialism which cause poverty and human misery in too many American lives today. Today's free-market capitalists are the descendants of the coal magnates who used economic subjugation and violence to maintain their profits.

They work through trading rooms on Wall Street, while their minions slash payrolls with massive layoffs, export jobs to easily subjugated labor markets and manipulate U.S. government officials to avoid regulation and taxes. They begrudge universal health care for their own population. They prop up wealthy banks and insurance companies, while those duped into buying into their schemes are turned out of their homes. They are the new aristocracy, Social Darwinists who feel they are inherently better than those they exploit. They are about winning, not about sharing.

Reproduction

At the core of all the problems facing the human species is its inability to examine and effectively deal with human reproduction. Reproduction is considered a human right, but dealing rationally with reproduction has not been treated effectively by most societies as a human responsibility.

The result is the ever-growing problem of overpopulation, which lies at the root of all the planetary problems of our age. Do you doubt this? If so, I would suggest that you are either ill informed or naive.

Industrialization, based in petroleum, has developed as a means to support population, as well as a means for the most aggressive and wily of our species to ensure their own progeny's survival and dominance . This petroleum based industrialization is the cause of global warming. It is the basis of corporate agriculture, which is stamping out biodiversity and producing food which can maintain an overpopulated planet at a huge cost in nutritional and cultural value. The processing of human waste in industrialized, urban population centers produces a sludge, which is used as fertilizer on millions of acres of land. The heavy metals in that sludge have already rendered thousands upon thousands of acres permanently useless for food production, due to the heavy metals from pipes and pollutants in it.

Educated people in industrialized countries look to the underdeveloped world and shake their heads at the lack of family planning there. Well motivated couples adopt children from those countries, as opposed to having children of their own. These people are perhaps the most rational and courageous planetary stewards in our times. However, corporate capitalism preaches the values of overpopulation, which is considered 'growth'. More cookie-cutter developments, more widgets for more factories to produce more useless junk to fill more landfills. Insanity.

An examination of the Chinese experience with The One-Child Policy illustrates the inability of human beings to address, understand and control their own reproduction for the common good of the species. And, even in a China which is now reaping the benefits of that policy, it is spoken of with condemnation by 'human rights' advocates in China and abroad. How about the human right to have enough space to grow food and enough clean air to breathe?

I hold the opinion that being a truly mindful and compassionate Humanist entails a commitment to fostering and practicing socially responsible reproduction of the human species. It is key. Wars, disease and famine have been the only modifiers of human population to date. With advances in medicine, a growing abhorrence of war, and a growing movement to feed the poor of the world, overpopulation will become a more and more obvious issue. Whether human beings will be able to chose quality of human existence for all people over their selfish choices, based on sexual and instinctual urges, may well determine the survival and continued evolution of our species.

Poverty

Without poverty, there would be no armies. The just distribution of financial and environmental resources would bring peace to the world. Hungry people can be convinced to kill for pay and booty. Healthy, well-fed and educated people are averse to war, unless attacked. This is a simple lesson of history.

So, it is admirable for President Obama and others to advocate broadening educational opportunities and health care. However, this is placing the cart before the horse. The engine of health and education is shared wealth. In a capitalist system, that means taxing the capitalists who tend to horde and transmit wealth through inheritance. This is also a simple lesson of history.

So, why are 1.5% of the population in the US still depriving The People of the US of just pay for work, public education and public health care by buying off the government through elections? The answer is obvious. Those in government are aligned with that minority of the population against the needs of The People.

We

We the people have allowed our planet to become our sewer. We the people have allowed corporations and corrupt politicians to tell us that evil is good. We the people have killed and plundered in the Middle East, in Viet Nam, in Cambodia, in El Salvador. We the people foster the misconception that killing under the pretext of war is honorable, when we bow our heads to the military. We the people allow gang violence to exist in impoverished slums by allowing the politicians whom we pay to not do their jobs. We the people allow vandals to deface and destroy public accommodations and private property by not holding the parents of these vandals and negligent police responsible. We the people encourage overpopulation, poverty and stupidity by supporting the folly of reproductive rights without reproductive responsibility. We the people are the cause. We the people are the only solution through practice and right action.