Rick Wilson on The New York Times

[Irish_Dem]

43. Yes we have been quite foolish.

I too thought Americans had evolved to a higher level of civilization through hard work,
tears, sweat and blood. The progress came at a great price.

I thought progress was linear and we would keep evolving in an upward direction.

We have been quite wrong.

Progress is apparently fleeting, cyclical, one step forward, two steps backwards.

And the world can quickly be plunged into a deep dark age.
Or even worse.

We face an existential crisis with climate change.
And instead of dealing with it, the world is now doing a serious arm's race
including nuclear proliferation amongst unstable countries.

It does not bode well for mankind.

I do believe humans are hard wired to want freedom.
But it is going to be a constant and ongoing battle to achieve it.
And to maintain it.

Humans are also hard wired to ruthlessly accumulate power and resources.
We may not survive the battle.