Category Archives: Decline of the west

The MAGA King

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west, Democracy, Extremism, Sunsets

 

 

 

While we were in Arizona, we also learned about threats of political violence on the right. Solomon Peña, who lost his 2022 run as a Republican for state House District 14 in New Mexico, was arrested by Albuquerque police and was accused of paying and conspiring with four men to shoot people at the homes of two state legislators and two county commissioners in December and January. Even though he lost the election in a landslide, echoing the words of his spiritual leader, he claimed the race was rigged. He also calls himself the “MAGA King.”  Fortunately, when he attended on site with  his not so trusty AR-15 jammed and he could “only” use a Glock, or more damage might have been done.

 

As CNN reported,

“The stewing of doubt about election veracity, principally among Republicans and usually without proof, has exploded nationwide since then-President Donald Trump lost his reelection bid and began propagating falsehoods that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The claims have stoked anger – and unapologetic threats of violence – against public officials down to the local level.”

 

Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Secretary of State for New Mexico understood what happened and put it this way: “This is how violent political rhetoric spills over into violent political action.” Peña had posted on social media that Oliver should be “hung in the town square.”

Such rhetoric is deeply troubling but increasingly American Republicans do not see it that way. Increasingly they see acts like this as justified attempts to overturn a Democratic Party coup.

It is clear that right-wing violence is on the rise in this country. It is certainly not dying out.

Resentment Rarely explodes in a rational manner

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west, Extremism, guns, Hate, Mass killings, terrorism, violence

 

While we were in Arizona, a man in Utah killed his wife and 5 children because she filed for divorce?  Why?

Just like an economic bubble does not deflate in an orderly fashion., so my theory is that when resentment explodes it does not do so in a rational manner.  This is like the irrational hatred of the Ste. Anne Manitoba dairy farmer who a few years ago burned his farm to the ground including his cattle, after he could not settle his divorce with his wife as he would have liked. If he couldn’t have the farm no one else could either. Isn’t that what the new world disorder is all about?

Like a balloon rarely deflates in an orderly fashion, so resentment rarely explodes in a rational manner. That’s why resentment is so dangerous. This is particularly significant to the most dangerous people on the planet—young men. Jihadis and other extremist groups have learned how important young men are to their cause. That is why they work so hard to radicalize them. Many of the lone wolf killers that are so common are young men filled with resentment. Many of them live in a cauldron of hate.   The jihadis then take advantage of the resentment for their own purposes.

When society is in decline. resentment is amplified.

And they make us pay a hefty price.

 

Where guns are sacred and Kids not so Much

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west, guns

 

I love the United States. It is an endlessly fascinating country, but not always in a good way.

In Phoenix this month, a very young child found a loaded gun in his apartment belonging to his parents, played with it, and accidentally shot himself. Fortunately, the child did not die as a result. That child was lucky.

Earlier this month in Newport News, Virginia, a 6-year-old student was able to access a loaded handgun, bring it into school and intentionally shot his first-grade teacher.

On PBS television News which we watched every day here in Arizona,  I heard a woman explain how her 6-year-old daughter who really liked that teacher who advocated for her, was terrified by the incident. It not only the direct victims of gun violence that are affected. The effects radiate through the schools or other places of violence.

In the United State where we now live for 3 months, gunshot wounds are now the leading cause of death for children under the age of 18 years! I find that astounding. It tells me a lot about the society in which we are now living.

According to Josh Sugarmann the Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center at the federal level there are no federal standards about the safe storage of fire arms. Standards in states of course vary widely. A 2018 survey that indicated roughly 4.5 million minors in America live in a household with an unlocked loaded firearm.

This is despite the fact that there has been a tremendous increase in fire power among Americans. Currently, there are 20 million AR-15s in the country belonging to private citizens. Yet around the country children are continuing to die from gunshot wounds.

There are also rising numbers of suicides by guns in America. I know it can happen anywhere. It actually happened in Steinbach. But the numbers in our country are dwarfed by the per capita numbers in this country.  Sugarmann also said, “But, having said that, one of the most important things to note is that, when you talk to the experts regarding child safety, the most important thing you can do if you have a child is not have a gun in the home. All too often, we think that, as parents, as guardians, you can safely secure the gun and the child will never find it. Unfortunately, we know all too often that that is untrue”.

William Brangham, a PBS reporter said this to Sugarmann on a related issue:

“… you have documented quite clearly how the gun industry is targeting children as potential customers. And I saw this flyer that I want to put up. This is a flyer for what’s called the JR-15. It’s a kid-sized gun styled after the AR-15. The original tagline for this gun says: “Looks, feels and operates just like mom and dad’s gun.” And the logo is this skull and crossbones with a baby’s pacifier in its mouth.”

 

 Sugarmann said the firearms industry was actually copying what the tobacco industry did when it started to lose customers. It upped the anti. They started to target women, members of minority groups, and now children. And they do it with what Sugarmann called “grotesque graphics.” When people complained they toned down the ads, but they continued to market guns to children. Is that not grotesque enough? As Sugarmann said, they mad a gentler to their approach to the marketing, but still, “the bottom line, they’re marketing a junior AR-15 to children.”

Some say, that for Americans, guns are more important than children. Guns are sacred; kids not so much.  How do you deny that in the fact of such evidence?

And who can deny that such a wonderful country is in serious decline?

 

Give a shrug for Tularosa New Mexico

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west

 

On our way to Arizona, we stopped for lunch in Tularosa New Mexico where the recent  snow was a distant memory. The elevation was too low for snow. In the American southwest elevation is everything.

We stopped at the Rustic Inn for lunch because the billboards made it look good. It looked good, but that was about where good parked. This was another restaurant that was severely understaffed. Like nurses the staff were grossly overworked.

The staff though was not surly, but it was handicapped by missing items. Most items on the menu were not available. Most tables had not been cleaned. My wooden chair was extremely wobbly. Hardly surprising when I notice one leg was about 1 inch shorter than the rest. This was more than wobbly. It was downright unstable. The napkins were dirty. Would you rather have no napkin or a dirty napkin? The elderly patron sitting at the next table looked at us with benign resignation. A shrug told the whole story. The waitress came to warn us to order as soon as possible as a large family came in and soon no one else would get any food. It could only serve one family at a time. The food when it arrived more or less on time was tolerable. Our standards were held in suspension today.

The American southeast  seems to be in serious decline. The restaurants here tell the stroy of that decline.

A shrug was our response too.

 

Dilapidation and Decline

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west

Kenna New Mexico

Soon we were in New Mexico—the land of enchantment.  I thought this was an apt description. Many think the land is dry and desolate. I found lots of interest. For example, the town of Elida a veritable ghost town. I am sorry I thought we did not have time to stop for photos. This was a mistake. There is always time for photos, but sometimes my lovely wife needs convincing. I must admit that I did take photos the last time we were here, but as so often, felt, I could do better. There are always better photos waiting to be discovered We were already 2 days behind schedule so reluctantly we just meandered through town in our care without stopping and enjoying the scenes of dilapidation. They are certainly more interesting than new residential developments that torture you with sameness and rules of uniformity. These looked like army regiments in Sunday going to meeting clothes.

We stopped for 1 photo near Kenna where there was dilapidation I could not resist. This one was holy.  OK, it was holely.

In Roswell I experienced more decay. It was a very modern truck stop with large numbers of cars stopped. But half the urinals were cloaked with plastic as they were not in working order.  There was also a lot of suspicious looking liquid on the floor. I had to stand in it in order to attend to urgent personal business. I was desperate, what else can I say.

Sometimes it seems like the signs of decline–moral, spiritual, and political–are all there. What does it mean? Is this really the grand finale?

 

Food Waste: The Worst is yet to Come

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west, Food

 

Although we know that Canadians are offenders too, Chris and I could not fail to notice on our trip through the heartland of the country on our way to Arizona, how Americans waste food. We have noticed that for years and many people talk about it. Yet this wastage is getting worse, not better.

As Vaclav Smil noted in his book Numbers Don’t Lie,

“the United States’ per capita food waste increased by 50% between 1974 and 2005 and that problem has gotten worse since then.” He also calculated (he loves numbers remember) that this wasted food in America was enough to provide adequate nutrition to about 230 million people which is slightly more than the entire population of Brazil, the world’s sixth largest country!

Even as Americans waste food at such a horrific pace they still eat too much.  So do wel. I acknowledge my own sins here. We have also noticed that on our journey. We have never asked for so many doggy bags nor shared more meals than we did on this trip. And sad to say, we still eat far too much too. As Smil said,

“Yet even as they waste food, Americans are still eating far more of it than is good for them. The prevalence of obesity—defined as a body mass index of 30 or greater—more than doubled between 1962 and 2010 rising from 13.4 percent among adults over age 20…among adults, 74% of males and 64% of females  have an excessively high weight. Most worrisomely, as obesity is usually a lifelong condition, that proportion is now above 50 percent for children above the age of six as well.”

 

Food loss causes other problems too. For example, it involves a significant waste of labour and energy consumption. We are paying a big price to put food in the landfill or composters.  Indirectly, as a result too much plastic is produced for food containers and even inputs into food production. Extra food production leads to harming the environment by producing too much inputs such as fertilizers. The environmental effects of food wastage, including effects on climate change, water wastage, soil erosion, and unnecessary contamination of rivers and lakes are enormous.

Rich countries such as Canada and the United States, and many others should do much better. We should produce less food and consume it with a lot less wastage. Instead of looking for ways to produce more, we should be looking for ways to consume more smartly waste less. According to the UK Waste and Resources Action Program, a dollar invested in food waste prevention has a 14-fold return in associated benefits.

 

Can’t we use the money?

 

 

Wasting Food is a Sin

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west, Environment, Food

 

Driving through the United States on the way to Arizona where we hoped to stay for the winter, we were often reminded about how much Americans waste. In particular, they waste a lot of food.  In Texas, we saw signs advertising 72 of steaks?  How many people ate that? Portions in almost all restaurants are absurdly large.  A half-pound burger is standard fare. Does that make sense?

Wasting food is a sin. In a world with such immense poverty and undernourishment to waste food is intolerable. Yet—we tolerate it—all the time!

This is an issue that deeply concerns Vaclav Smil a famous University of Manitoba Professor. Chris and I had the pleasure of hearing him speak live on the subject. Part of Smil’s thesis is found in the title to his recent book Numbers Don’t Lie. And they don’t. Sometimes it is not easy to interpret them correctly, but numbers are important. Life cannot be reduced to numbers, but life should not ignore numbers. This is what Smil wrote ,

“The world is wasting food on a scale that must be described as excessive, inexcusable, and, given all of our other concerns about the state of the global environment and quality of human life, outright incomprehensible.”

 

According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization the world loses (wastes) 40-50% of its root crops, fruits, and vegetables. Let that sink in please. Nearly half of all root crops, fruits and vegetables are wasted!

Of course, that is not all the food that is wasted. We also waste, according to the UN 35% of our fish, 30% of our cereal crops, and 20% of our oilseeds, meat, and dairy products. As Smil pointed out, “This means that, globally at least one-third of all harvest food is wasted.”

That is done while billions of people go hungry each day! And our political leaders don’t want to talk about this. Many of them, especially here in the United States, would rather talk about gendered bathrooms!

I was reading Smil’s  book while I was in the USA and Smil is hard on them in his criticism. But Canada is very bad too. If I recall correctly, he told us at his lecture in Canada that we Canadians waste about 25% of our food. But as Smil said in his book, “Not surprisingly the United States is a leading offender.” In the US about 40% goes to waste.

 

Wasting by Design

2023 Grand Finale Tour, Decline of the west, Environment

We did actually get out of Kansas. From my posts people might have thought we were stuck there forever, when actually we just drove right through.

On our way to Arizona, at breakfast in the hotel in Amarillo Texas where we spent the night, we marvelled at the immense waste. Each item came in its own plastic container or wrapping that was used only once. Was this a hangover form Covid? Or was it merely a sign of the wasteful society we lived in? Everything seemed designed to avoid any human contamination.  This is what Philip Roth called “the human stain.” Everything used once was sent to the landfill. We are filling the world with garbage, but no one pays attention to the rising garbage. We all accept it as “normal.” This waste by design.

Vaclav Smil is a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba where I was a student years ago and taught a half course at the faculty of law for about a decade. I have had the pleasure of hearing him speak in person. He is brilliant. Perhaps the greatest professor ever at the University. Bill Gates has called him one of the 10 best writers ever. He also said, “There is no other author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil.” Smil is frequently asked to speak around the world. If you have not read him, you should.

One of the things he spoke about at the lecture Chris and I attended was food waste. This is something that bugs him. He has written 40 books. One of his more recent ones is Numbers Don’t Lie. In one article about wheat in that book he said, “we would need substantially less wheat if we were to be able—finally—to reduce our indefensibly high food waste.”

I will post more about this.