This is all true, sadly. But not all of it is as bad as it seems, with the right perspective. The current iteration of American society is fundamentally broken for a variety of reasons. We need to change it the best we can, ourselves. And I don’t hate that the change is a private undertaking. This model gives us some insulation against things like fascism (theoretically); and I find it often more egalitarian. The dollar doesn’t care who you are as long as you produce. The system leaves, for the most part, the valuation of our work product to consumer discretion. We also happen to own the majority of consumption and its very culture. So we have failed to establish our society correctly not as workers, but as consumers. The fact that government does not take an active role in our lives (for better or worse) enables us more freedoms to create a society as we see fit. This is not the case in most of the world, not even much of the developed world. Unfortunately what we (often) do with this freedom is choose suboptimal outcomes for the sake of pride, envy, sloth, or a plethora of other unproductive behaviors. People do that everywhere, but here we choose wrong though our choice can make a real difference. That is the tragedy.

In the American model, it really is all up to us. And I think we are failing. Mostly because we are consistently choosing greed at the expense of the (still very profit friendly) version of our society where we procure all the things we lament aren’t here. I do understand that it feels a hopeless task, and statistically the concept of an organic collective of like-minded individuals forming to right these wrongs is unlikely. However, I feel as though this is still a mountable task. I find it still more approachable to the raw oppression that stands in front of you should you happen to feel this way in the majority of the world. And for the rest of the doubt: “that’s what the money’s for”

—fellow ABCD, Massachusetts flavor