Can remote work save American democracy from authoritarianism?
TakeSlap at TakeSlap.com offers spicy food for thought. We put words together to slap your brain a little into innovative and different thinking. Our stream of consciousness blog may help you rethink your game plan in life. Consume it raw at your own risk. Season it to taste. Share it family style with others. We're all in this together. Let the simulation go on.
Globalization and Chinalization
The trade agreements of the 1990s brought us globalization and "Chinalization". Lured by the prospects of cheap labor, American factory owners moved production to China. This turned China into a producer and America into a consumer. China grew into a global superpower with comparable power to American power and on a growth trajectory to surpass American power by 2030.
Many American workers were left as unemployed or underemployed consumers addicted to hunting and gathering cheap bargains of Made in China stuff sold by Walmart, Amazon, and the like.
Social Gaps: From Dull Consumerism to Extreme Populism
The pain of a meaningless consumer existence pushed many parts of the American homeland into the opioid epidemic. Social gaps in wealth and education brought us extreme populism on both ends of the political spectrum. Trump came into power before quickly losing power.
Along came COVID with a massive death toll in our overweight country with the best medicine in the world and worst health. To prevent an economic crisis, our government printed seven trillion dollars out of thin air. Inflation is now at historically high levels with a lot of dollars chasing global imports. As the cost of living keeps rising, angry masses are turning even more populist and polarized than before.
Something's gotta give unless we really want a Second Civil War or a Third World War
If we are not willing to compromise politically to live together, things may escalate into a constitutional crisis leading to the rule of power over the rule of law. That could be another civil war domestically or another global war internationally.
The authoritarian "CHRINK"coalition (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea) may want to fight a global war against the democratic West. If you don't want to be caught up in the bloodshed, think about investing in Canadian stocks, and learning some Spanish to potentially migrate to a peaceful Latin American country. That may be a smart hedge. Remember to leave early at the first signs of war before it is too late.
Technological silver linings everywhere
A silver lining of globalization was digital technology. The 1990s brought us trade agreements and the globalization that turned into "Chinalization" of the world. The Chinese have been around for millennia and could be great world leaders. Anyways, the 1990s also brought us the internet. In 30 years, the internet has matured into an amazing extension of the human mind. You can connect to it from anywhere in the world. There are no limits to what you can accomplish with the help of the collective mind.
A silver lining to the COVID pandemic was telework and remote work technology. Now that the COVID emergency is over, companies want employees back in the office. Employees ask themselves why should they return to the office. It could be that remote work bring some economic life back to the areas abandoned by globalization.
Revitalization of rural America
Remote work could revitalize rural America. Cities are great catalysts of productive collaboration between humans. But now the internet, allows productive collaboration from anywhere. During the COVID pandemic, many city slickers abandoned their metropolitan adobes and relocated to the countryside.
The internet allows for remote workers or digital nomads to live and work from anywhere they can get online. This freedom of movement may revitalize areas left behind by globalization and the former concentration of talent within metropolitan cities. These cities seems to be losing human capital that other areas are gaining. This could help level the playing field and get our Nation to gradually become less polarized and more united again.
Together we stand. Divided we Fall. Old cliche, and still true
Remote work may help us unite the different political "nations" co-existing within our Nation. Remote work may reduce the classic divide between city folks and country folks, and between the North and the South.
Places like Florida are attracting people from everywhere. The quintessential purple state is becoming more purple every day. Newcomers into Florida and the Southeast seem to include people from all ends of the political spectrum. If things go bad, Florida and the Southeast could be the first battlegrounds of a future civil war. If things go well, Florida and the Southeast could become the new epicenters of political compromise to bring our Nation together.
The best is yet to come
We are living in scary times, but that has always been the case. Change is the only predictable constant, The future is completely predictable just like the weather. However, the amount of variables shaping the future exceed our current computational capabilities. Eventually, our simulation and modeling capabilities will get there and help us predict with almost certainty the events to come. That will allow us to adapt ahead of time to avoid disaster.
It is easy to predict today that if we keep polarizing our society for the sake of short term political gains, we may succeed in dividing the country into a bloody civil war. It is easy to predict that if we are not agile and strong enough as to deter the CHRINK from attacking us and our allies, they will attack.
Be united. Be strong. That is the advice. What do you think?
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