Chris Jepson: Them that gots the power makes da rules

It seems like we’re at that point in the movie when all the minor actors have been dispatched (killed, lost, buried) and the star’s bloodied and bruised sidekick, on bended knee, is recounting how it all began. The screen fades and slowly reopens to a bright spring day — once, not so long ago — when the prevailing fragrance of hope and possibility perfumed the air.

I am not so egotistical or certain of my positions (opinions) as to be unable to entertain the opposing argument. I have personal beliefs regarding human conduct that are based on observation and research as well as genetics (evolutionary human development). We’re tribal as a species, for example, because cooperating in small family-centered units trumped the isolated outlier or those groups of individuals incapable of altruism.

That humanity will muddle through is not in question. We are, as my sister suggests, nasty, yet resourceful little monkeys. But did it have to come to this? I speak here of our American experiment in democracy.

Why would we think, by way of illustration, that if we allowed corporations the same right to speech as people that inevitably human speech would become of secondary importance. That if any amount of money could be anonymously invested in securing electoral victory those who have will inevitably get it all.

Out-of-state conservative groups recently poured a massive amount of money into a central Missouri judicial election in order to secure a judiciary more favorable to business interests. To paraphrase a tried and true maxim: “Them that gots the power makes da rules.”

That our democracy can be so brazenly hijacked by special interests is not a particularly new phenomenon. My specific disappointment is with an electorate incapable of focusing-on and voting its own interests and, more importantly, by not insisting that our democracy, our electoral process remain free, open and fair. Allowing corporations (and individuals) to purchase elected officials by pouring ungodly amounts of anonymous money into our electoral system is unquestionably as stupid as shooting one’s self in the chest. We ignore a self-inflicted wound to the body politic as, well, just another business-as-usual day in America. Exactly. But the problem with our democracy is much larger.

This past Halloween evening I sat on the street with neighbors and while waiting for trick-or-treaters I casually posed to the group of adults that if we (humanity) have made such a mess of the planet with 7 billion people, how is it wise public policy for the planet’s population to grow to 9 billion? How is the environment of North America — the lower 48 states — helped by growing America’s population to half-a-billion citizens?

Before I could finish my premise that included “looking out 50 years, what could we do from a national public policy perspective to ‘manage’ our population growth and develop a sustainable economy,” I was accused of wanting to limit the number children people could have. Sigh.

Long before there is a solid suburban sprawl from Atlanta to New York City, before America has been completely auctioned-off our assets and resources plundered, America’s democracy will have been appropriated by its oligarchic class. And John Q. Everyman will still be scratching his butt and wondering what time the game starts on Sunday. Rome burns but, my gawd, when do the playoffs begin? Fade to black.

Consider attending my presentation on the “Meaning of Life” at the Winter Park University Club, on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 10 a.m.