Concentrate Your Mind

"Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."

Boswell: Life

This is the exact situation we find ourselves in. The West is pedaling madly toward an economic cliff, yet no one is focused on it. 

The Democrats are acting like a drunken sailor on shore leave who has just been paid. No, wait, that is not fair to drunken sailors. When drunken sailors run out of money they stop drinking. Spending more money will not help. 

The Republicans think that in an era of 1.3 trillion dollar deficits we can cut taxes, and continue to pay Social Security, without reform, for those over 55. We can continue to spend more on defense than the rest of the world combined, they say, ignoring the effect of a collapse on military spending. 

Libertarians, and some Republicans, think that instead of reforming Medicaid, they can take the money that the federal government is currently spending on Medicaid, and give it to the states in a block grant. Of course they do not say where the money will come from for the states to pay the benefits as health care continues to grow at unsupportable rates. The Libertarian party favors open immigration, yet neglects to say how the free health care will be provided. The Libertarian platform is better, but it still ignores important issues and pretends. 

Economically, we are all about to be hung.

I look at the churches in my tradition. The conservatives think they can repeat the successes of the past without adopting the techniques of the future. The "progressives" think they can, by their superior seamanship, sail their ships to success. Can a rowboat survive a demographic tsunami? 

Both groups just seem to get older and older. When I visit such a church I am one of the younger people there. I am 58. 

Religiously, we are about to be hung. Our carcasses will lie in the desert, but there will be no one to burn the dead. 

Am I pessimistic? Yes, yes I am—but not necessarily on a personal level. We can prepare economically for the economic earthquake ahead. Make yourself the best employee at work. Serve your customers, fulfill their needs. 

As I have put it to many in my church tradition, regardless of the situation, each of us needs to soldier on. Serve and love your neighbor, what you sow will be what you reap. 

I feel that my mind is as concentrated as it has ever been since I see the hanging coming. 

Do you see the barbarians at the gates?