I mean seriously, what is going on?
Every day there’s something new to worry about.
And it seems like everything is getting worse.
Is this the way it’s always going to be?
What are we going to do?
The World is Tearing Apart
Everywhere we look there’s something going haywire. War, mass shootings, crime, sky-rocketing costs, lies, crumbling infrastructure, political gridlock, division, corruption, anger, hate…
There are just so many problems out there!
- Innocent people are dying for no reason.
- War is leading to mass starvation.
- The threat of Nuclear Armageddon is back!
- Our police and legal systems are overwhelmed.
- Mass shootings are commonplace.
- It seems like we’re moving backwards.
- There are ONLY two sides.. And they HATE each other.
- We’re heading toward another Civil War
- Irresponsible corporations pouring poison in the air
- No fish in the ocean
- Droughts and wildfires all over.
In short – Everything is Horrible!
What ever happened to the American Dream?
Is this the World we’re leaving our Children?
BAD TIMES.
In short, it’s not a great situation… But do we understand WHY?
In a world that could be so beautiful, why is it so ugly?
Why can’t we be better?
If we want to, we humans can do anything.
What’s stopping us from creating a better world?
We live in a world of cause and effect…
It’s clear we’ve got a ton of problems…
So the question becomes
WHY is EVERYTHING so BAD??
What are the causes?
What is making things the way they are?
It’s a complex world we live in.
There’s hundreds of “reasons” why we are where we are
No it’s not all the Democrats fault, or the Republicans.
Its a bunch of fucked up causes with fucked up effects. In many cases, it’s the result of choices and events that happened long ago.
Our problems are caused by issues like:
- Leaders on both sides don’t care about us.
- They don’t care about our problems.
- They care about scoring points,
- And tweets.
- Just take a look around!
- You can have your profits, but can the middle class get some too?
- We’re the ones doing all the work.
- Do you really need to take EVERYTHING?
- Voting is not creating accountability.
- The bulk of general elections are formalities.
- The same people who got us in this position just stay in office forever.
- There’s something wrong when like 7 people have more money than the rest of the world combined.
- And this wealth / income gap keeps widening.
- Nothing in government gets done without a big sack of cash.
- Promoting the lobbying culture is the only agenda with bipartisan support.
- We’re rewarding complexity and obfuscation, not healthy people.
- The sicker we get, the more money they make.
- We don’t even know what things cost!
- On both sides, they are not here to tell us the truth.
- Their profit model depends on anger.
- And Distractions.
- And Hate,
- And Division.
- The waste and bureaucracy is STAGERING
- The National Debt is THIRTY TRILLION DOLLARS
- What does that even MEAN?
- Financial types make the most money, but they cause the most harm.
- Credit card companies with gross margins of 80 percent.
- Single Money Manager / CEO-type who makes A BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
In this complicated world, the causes of our problems is a massive list. We could be here for days looking at all the little things that lead to bad results.
But some causes have a bigger effect than others. The 80/20 rule can give us an idea that out of all the causes, 20 percent of them cause 80 percent of the problems.
It’s all these screwed up incentives that just keep making things worse and worse and worse.
Against forces like these, is it any wonder we are where we are?
It’s enough to make you cry.
It begs the question…
What the heck is going on here????
Why are we letting such a terrible system continue to exists. It’s clear we’re all unhappy with the status quo.
Why are things getting worse instead of better?
Isn’t there anything we can do???
Or course there is!
We can do something. We can do a lot of things.
We can act like adults and get to work.
“Each generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.”
– Frantz Fanon
We, you and I, owe it to humanity to try and make things better. There’s no
doubt we the ability to improve America and the world.
What we’re lacking is the will.
What we’re lacking is a realistic way forward. A system that can get past the distractions and anger and hate and division and unite us around common-sense objectives.
But we can change that. It’s not too late to course correct and move in the direction of progress.
What Do we Want as a Society?
To move toward the world we want to live in, we can start by identifying some BIG GOALS.
Lets dream big.
The crazier the better.
If we could snap our fingers and make anything happen, what would we want? What would the goals be? Here are some ideas…
What are some goals we can all agree on?
- Where we can all get the care we need
- Without going bankrupt if the worst happens
- Cut down on the diabetus
- Where we feel safe
- Where we feel a part of the neighborhood
- Where we get along with each other
- Where hard-working employees share in the rewards
- Competitive markets where anyone can succeed
- Where drought and forest fires don’t cause untold deaths
- Sustainable ecosystems
- With fish in the oceans
- And air we can breath
- Leaders that unite us
- Accountable leaders with our best interest at heart
- Leaders able to make hard decisions that are for the best
- Where they can reach their full potential
- Where they can have all the things we don’t have today
“People have always been the caretakers of the planet. We have the power to save it, and we have the responsibility to do so.”
-Alice Walker
Too much to ask for?
Maybe.
Maybe I’m crazy.
But just go along with me for bit. Humor me with a hypothetical.
What if a whole bunch of use got together.
- Broad swaths of people from all walks of life.
- From business
- Government
- Non-profit, community and religious groups
- Anyone who cares about humans and the planet.
What if we all got together and decided to cooperate to reach crazy goals…
If we chose to put aside our differences and put our collective effort into moving us forward. What if large numbers of people committed to work together, to align the incentives so that we’re all on the same page.
If we want to build a better world…
How do we do it?
How do we harness human capacity to make the world a better place?
How would we make progress?
How would we make things Less Bad?
What Strategies Do We Follow to reach Our Most Audacious Dreams?
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”
– Pablo Picasso
F Pablo is right, how do we come up with a plan?
It’s a hard question.
Where do you even start?
Well… Somewhere.
That’s where.
You gotta start somewhere.
As a starting point, here are some ideas that might help.
I’m just spit-ballin’ here. Just humor me.
Strategies that Could Make Things Better.
- Leverage scientific know-how not to make rich people richer, but to help us all.
- Invest in cutting-edge technology and transform our society for the better.
- Into the money they pay to get the laws they want passed.
- The wages they pay the people at the bottom compared to the top.
- Transparency into the poisons they put in the air and water. And into our food.
- Put workers first so that the middle class can thrive.
- Reduce the extremes.
- Educate and train employees so that they help themselves and the company at the same time.
- A comprehensive overhaul of our most destructive business processes
- Where we don’t just burry shit in the ground, or throw it in the ocean
- One where our leaders are focused on improving our lives.
- Not raising money for their next campaign.
- A government that lives up to the ideals enshrined in The Constitution.
- Where everyone can see a good doctor that knows who they are and what’s in their best interest.
- With good food
- Tone down the hate
- Take the profit motive out of death and destruction
- Redouble diplomatic efforts, and lead by example
In short, create a society were the choices we make aren’t about adding another zero to the bank account.
A society where talking about the common good isn’t a joke.
A world where the ideals of progress, cooperation and perseverance are inherent to the system.
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
-Arundhati Roy
That’s all well and good. It’s not hard to point out problems and come up with ridiculous goals. I haven’t really said anything all that new. We know what the problems are, we have a rough outline of what we want to get to. It’s not that we don’t know what to do.
The problem is that we don’t have a good mechanism to move forward. Everyone is so cynical, we’ve been let down so many times, that it’s hard to imagine a way to move forward.
The question is how do we move forward? With things looking so hopeless, how can we make progress?
How Do We Get There?
It’s not that complicated, really. At the basic level, we just need to do two things. And from there, it’s easy to make progress. To make things less bad.
The simple, two-step process to solve all our problems:
- Figure out what we want – Work collaboratively to create an evolving roadmap or framework for the goals we want to strive for, and strategies to get us there.
- Make business pay for it – Leverage consumer choice to encourage the private sector to effectively use some of their resources to help drive progress. The situation is getting dire, and we need all hands on deck. It’s a five alarm fire. Corporations have the resources (people and money) to help us improve as a society.
That’s what the central idea is. What I’m referring to as Project: Fix Everything and Impact Consumerism.
- A framework/road for making progress
- Collaborative, cross-disciplinary community
- Collecting and highlight groups working on problems
- Identify problems, causes, goals and strategies to improve, to make progress
- Using consumer choice to reward companies that are helping.
- Demand businesses get involved, help identify strategies.
- Communicate those strategies to consumers, help educate about the fundamental issues.
With a working framework of our goals and strategies, and the power of consumer choice, we can create the world we want.
“We humans are smart enough to have created complex systems and amazing productivity; surely we are also smart enough to make sure that everyone shares our bounty, and surely we are smart enough to sustainably steward the natural world upon which we all depend.”
Dr. Donella H. Meadows
Will We Get There Tomorrow?
Of course not. If we ever get there, most of the people alive today will be dead. You and I included.
And if we take it seriously, its going to take a lot of hard work.
But many hands make light work.
We just need to focus on making progress. One step at a time.
Anyway, what’s the alternative?
“What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?”
-George Eliot
Are you with me so far?
Like Andy wrote to Red, “if you’ve come this far, maybe you’re willing to come a little further.”
So what’s next?
#1 – Sign up for the newsletter:
You’ll get an overview of Less Bad, what we’re doing, who we are and will get regular updates as new content is added.
#2 – Share this site with friends, family and social media. Given the state of the world, there is basically a zero percent chance this website will make any diference, but that goes to absolute zero if you don’t share it.
#3 – Check out these other main pages These are the main “hubs” of Less Bad. Basically I’m trying to shoehorn all our issues into four categories (the environment, government, business and “society“) each of which is comprised of four “elements,” for lack of a better word – problems, causes, goals and strategies.
Making the environment Less Bad.
Making society Less Bad.
Making Goverment Less Bad.
Making Business Less Bad.
Or these
Or these
