Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 13 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds   

Fate of the Republic

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   No comments
Philadelphia, Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 5:30 PM Eastern I've been meditating on our country's fate as I work with my friends here in Philadelphia, birthplace of the American Republic - which is today in its day of greatest jeopardy. I take solace in two things: faith in the collective judgment of the American people when they are told the truth so as to be believed, and the principles of nonlinear dynamics. I've been reading and re-reading the very great book "Chaos, Gaia, Eros" by Ralph Abraham, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at UC Santa Cruz. Its central arguments never been more clearly evident to me than they are now. In particular how the Chaos Revolution in mathematics has gifted the social sciences with its key insight: that immense effects suddenly come from an accumulation of small causes, once any complex system in a deceptive state of apparent stability nears its "tipping point". In the last two years, we have seen an American government that enriches the rich and takes away from the poor, that is both corrupt and incompetent, that does nothing to avert the looming catastrophe called "Global Warming", that condones torture and illegal detention of Americans without trial while sacrificing the bravest and most honorable amongst us - and a colossal fortune - to wage an endless, unprovoked war we entered under false pretences. A government which through its unchecked dogmatic extremism is now feared and reviled worldwide by our former allies and friends. Instead of winning the war of ideas fundamental to defusing global terrorism, our foreign policies inflame the vast and moderate majority of Islam to the benefit of our sworn enemies. How did such a dangerous and corrupt equilibrium state of "one-party politics to the extreme" so far from the American mainstream become so firmly entrenched? I'm not the only one to ask that question. In the last two years the stability of the one-party state within the American political system has begun to shake - ever so slightly, at first. Signs it was losing its stranglehold were subtle at first, but redoubled more and more in the last two years given Katrina, Iraq, financial mismanagement, corruption, hypocritical scapegoating of the most unpopular members of society, and scandal upon sordid scandal. More and more people of all political persuasions have finally come to understand the relationship between corrupted elections and corrupt policies. Comedians now make - and their audiences now laugh at - jokes whose sole premise is the secret theft of our elections. This is all an unmistakable sign that the Great Denial is finally collapsing. And yet the clear and overwhelming collective judgment that we must rid ourselves of extremist one-party government unworthy of its own people and its former reputation in the world, instead of being redeemed as it should be, is about to be thwarted. The consequences will be unimaginable. The transition to "explosive bifurcation" - as Professor Abraham would put it - the point at which dramatically new and unexpected behaviors will suddenly emerge within the complex system we call American politics - all of them unpredictable by mere extrapolation of past trends - is before us, today, right now. The one-party state has outlived its manufactured mandate, but it remains intent on spinning the illusion of power that will enable it to retain indefinite control safely out of reach of the mandate of the people. Once that line is crossed, the third transition of nonlinear dynamics will be triggered: the "catastrophic bifurcation" that brings sudden, total transformation to a complex and unstable system; in this case, the utter replacement of one form of politics as usual with an entirely different one. We shall see what we shall see. What do you want the transformation to be?
Rate It | View Ratings

Bruce O'Dell Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Bruce O'Dell is a self-employed information technology consultant with more than twenty five years experience who applies his broad technical expertise to his work as an election integrity activist. His current consulting practice centers on (more...)
 
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

UPDATED Obama-Clinton: remarkable opscan v. handcount results

Pull the Plug on E-Voting

Holt's HR 811, A Deceptive Boondoggle -- 10 Blunders to Fix

An Exit Strategy for Electronic Voting

Pull the Plug on E-Voting, Part 2

Computer security expert who testified to NH Legislature, holds State accountable

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend