{"id":727589,"date":"2019-11-01T08:53:28","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T14:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=727589"},"modified":"2019-11-07T14:02:43","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T21:02:43","slug":"vote-like-the-apocalypse-is-coming-because-it-might-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2019\/11\/vote-like-the-apocalypse-is-coming-because-it-might-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Vote like the apocalypse is coming, because it might be"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A scene from the destructive 2018 Woolsey Fire near Los Angeles. (Peter Buschmann for the U.S. Forest Service<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

COMMENTARY: <\/strong>I\u2019ve happened to be reading the apocalyptic novel Parable of the Sower<\/a> over the past couple of weeks as intentional power outages and terrifying wildfires have raged across California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Octavia E. Butler\u2019s 1993 novel, which is set in California in the 2020s, climate change has exacerbated many other human-caused problems and pushed the United States toward collapse. Government is unable to deliver critical services to people. Crime, drug abuse and fires are rampant. People have to survive on their own. Millions set off on dangerous treks toward Oregon, Washington or Canada to flee what is essentially a failed state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The novel served as a warning for me of the very real threat we\u2019re facing today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, California\u2019s fires and blackouts are an indicator of the reality we\u2019re preparing to hand to our children. Climate change is laying bare the consequences of the way our society has operated for too long: Government and private industry have morphed into an oligarchy that measures success by whether the rich are continuing to increase their wealth, not whether the rest of us are living happy or even economically stable lives. We\u2019re numbers on spreadsheets, and automation is making us increasingly expendable. As a result, decisions about things like critical infrastructure are too often based on what\u2019s good for short-term corporate profits, not our long-term health and sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California has created such a mess<\/a> that the only answer is turning off power to millions of people to reduce the risk that aging utility lines will spark additional fires during the dangerous windy season. The system is literally unable to deliver electricity to people it\u2019s supposed to serve without risking killing those same people. So the power gets cut with little notice. Food in refrigerators spoils. Traffic lights go dark, vehicles collide, and emergency response is stretched thin. Nursing homes scramble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fires are raging in areas where power wasn\u2019t turned off. Mandatory evacuations. Awful air quality in some heavily populated areas. Homes destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solutions are complex and expensive, so this is California\u2019s reality for the foreseeable future. Maybe it\u2019s the end of California as we know it<\/a>. Decades of decisions to punt on the long-term health of that state are creating conditions you\u2019d expect in a developing or a collapsing nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is inevitable in a society that operates primarily to help the rich get richer. Our American experiment in democracy has morphed into something much more nefarious \u2014 just another nation where the wealthy exert control for personal gain. This time it\u2019s an experiment in carefully tweaking how much the wealthy have to give people in exchange for consent to control. Walmart and other big corporations raising the minimum wage while milking the system in other ways, like making employees dependent on government welfare, is a good example. Give people just enough that they won\u2019t start a revolution; take the rest of what you make off their labor in profit and let them find other ways to make ends meet. Offer them additional credit cards if they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Private industry in California could have invested in upgraded power lines, and even burying lines where practical so they don\u2019t spark in high winds. Private industry didn\u2019t make that choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government could have forced private industry to do it anyway. Government didn\u2019t make that choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight, the result seems inevitable. It won\u2019t be the last time something out of a futuristic novel becomes our reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over decades, we\u2019ve eroded systems that protected us. We\u2019ve de-regulated business. We\u2019ve sold our democracy to the highest bidders. We\u2019ve sold news organizations to corporations that obliterate them for profit \u2014 and, the conspiracy theorist in me says, to get rid of a critical check on power that hinders profits by shining light on corruption and abuse. We\u2019ve outsourced the education of our children and the holding of our inmates and so many other important things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change<\/a> and our aging infrastructure are bringing it all to a head today. We don\u2019t know how to fix this mess. So we have toxic drinking water in Flint, Michigan, out-of-control wildfires in California, and lots of problems in New Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re spending tens of millions of dollars<\/a> to fill in a massive sinkhole near Carlsbad created by private industry that sits under highways and homes before it collapses<\/a>. Rural Do\u00f1a Ana County is full of colonias that lack basic infrastructure<\/a>, and people here constantly feel the consequences<\/a> of decisions to allow unregulated growth decades ago. In one of those towns, Sunland Park, government has considered relocating an entire neighborhood<\/a> that\u2019s in a flood zone. Drinking water problems<\/a> have plagued Sunland Park\u2019s residents<\/a> too. New Mexico\u2019s schools are dilapidated<\/a>. Our rural roads are crumbling<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our last governor accelerated de-regulation. The world\u2019s thirst for oil has turned Southeastern New Mexico into an extraction colony<\/a> where population is booming and government can\u2019t keep up<\/a> with infrastructure like roads and schools. What disaster<\/a> awaits us there<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, you know what those with the most wealth are doing? Prepping for the apocalypse<\/a>. Literally building bunkers<\/a>. Capitalism takes risks. Sometimes they pay off. Sometimes a company goes bankrupt. When you similarly gamble with people\u2019s lives \u2014 Nah, we don\u2019t need to upgrade those power lines. Why build levees strong enough to withstand a Category 5 hurricane? \u2014 you lose people\u2019s lives. You might lose an entire society. The oligarchy is preparing to weather a societal collapse<\/a> it might cause, a horror that most of the rest of us don\u2019t have the means to adequately prep for or survive. The wealthiest among us know what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They only have that power over us because we give it to them. We still have the ability to vote out people who are owned by big money. We don\u2019t do it very often, but we could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge is that their money and power has corrupted so much. The Republican Party. The Democratic Party. The mainstream media. Government. Business. Health care. Education. Social media. And so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though one major politically party is substantially worse<\/a> than the other at this moment in history, neither offers a vision to give the power to the people. When have Susana Martinez and Martin Heinrich been in such enthusiastic agreement about anything? When Facebook agreed to build an expensive data center<\/a> in Los Lunas that would create some jobs in exchange for a ridiculously generous commitment<\/a> of public support from local governments. When New Mexico\u2019s leaders gave a lot to get a little<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice between Democrats and Republicans has long been a choice about how quickly we\u2019ll artificially warm the planet, not whether we\u2019ll do it. Same with big money. The choice isn\u2019t whether Corporate America gets to control us, but how much control it gets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That might be changing. But it\u2019s been true for a long time, and it\u2019s still true in 2019. You need only to consider Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham\u2019s embrace of the oil and gas industry\u2019s fossil fuel extraction efforts in our state to see that truth. As NBC News put it<\/a>, New Mexico is paying for progressive policy changes with fracking. Without better regulations and greater reinvestment in the affected communities, that\u2019s not a deal that works out well for people, no matter how well-intentioned it may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, California is burning. As The New York Times recently reported<\/a>, for wealthy and adequately insured people whose homes are lost, it\u2019s a chance to build the dream homes they always wanted. They have the means to bounce back. The fires can destabilize people with less, on the other hand, taking everything and essentially making them refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oligarchy will continue to gamble with our lives to get richer \u2014 if we let it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings me to next week\u2019s election<\/a>, and every election after that. We have the power to change things, but only if enough of us get active. There will be many races across New Mexico on Tuesday\u2019s ballot for offices like mayor, city council and school board where no candidate has plans to address the underlying issues that plague our society. Vote anyway, for the candidates you think are good or at least not as bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vote on issues like a proposed fix<\/a> for public financing of elections in Albuquerque and funding for education infrastructure in Do\u00f1a Ana County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay active between elections. Look for candidates who have plans to address these issues and support them. If you can\u2019t find any, consider running yourself. Vote again. Local races matter as much as state and federal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The path forward for New Mexico and the United States is as challenging as building a safer electrical grid in California. We can do it, but only with diligence and the courage to make choices that threaten the system that holds all but the wealthiest in a state of uncertainty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we don\u2019t start making hard choices that we\u2019ve put off for decades, it will become even more difficult to pull ourselves out of this mess. Our society is collapsing under the weight of generations of unsustainable actions. We must change now. I\u2019d prefer that Butler\u2019s apocalyptic vision for the future not become our children\u2019s reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California\u2019s fires and blackouts are the latest indicator of the harsh reality we\u2019re preparing to hand to our children. It\u2019s not too late to change course, but we must act now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":727591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[3731,3730,284,3275,107,116],"class_list":["post-727589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-2019-election","tag-apocalypse","tag-climate-change","tag-infrastructure","tag-roundhouse","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727589"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":728399,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727589\/revisions\/728399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}