The Crumbling of our Moral Infrastructure
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, in the United States under FDR, something remarkable was done. A vast and fundamental investment in infrastructure not only modernized the country, it also primed the pump for economic recovery. A decade later, this investment did another thing- it paved the way for breathtaking war preparation, a production of materiel like none other in history. With clear consequences.
The post-War period was a boom-time for the country. Propped up and buoyant after the Allied victory and the lone super-power to emerge with its homeland untouched by war, America was on top of the world and its passions were high. Growing prosperity at home- for White Americans that is- was achieved, though the costs to the rest of the world were severe. And of course to the environment. Still, such “sentimental” commentary aside, the development of the infrastructure of greatness was a feat of unheralded proportions signified of course by the terrible destructivity of American military infrastructure and the audaciously unifying power of the American highway system. The US’s infrastructure was the envy of the world.
Seventy years later, things are different. As of this writing, much of the West Coast is burning. Several large cities have acknowledged severe problems with their potable water. In many major counties, 25% of the population (or higher) suffers from food insecurity. A pandemic rages unchecked, pushing “modern” hospitals to the edge. The costs of healthcare coupled with a broken food system conspire along-with opioids and suicide- to have lowered the life expectancy of even White Americans, who now lag their European counterparts by 5–8 years in that category. The elected leader of the country openly lies, race-baits, boasts of crimes, and cows his courtiers. Jails are overflowing. The original inhabitants of this once fertile land now need bottled water to bathe. Gun violence is commonplace.
Indeed, the infrastructure of the country is disintegrating. Not just the physical infrastructure but the moral infrastructure as well.
The edifice of Liberal Democracy is, in the words of scholar Rahul Mahajan, “on a ventilator.” I’d add that while it is on the machine, the rest of us are on Ambien, sleep walking through a worsening nightmare.
What is to be done? We know the consequence if we select the “Do Not Resuscitate” option. Here’s the catch- by conducting life as usual, we appear to have already made the selection.
