We invented privilege as a place to go to ground and wealth as a way to abscond with confidence. We are all liars: playing hide-and-seek from ourselves, keeping secrets, claiming we talk to God, and believing our worst memory will remain so.

I deserve comfort. Enlightenment should be grateful it is allowed to call on me. Regarding hardship, everyone is deserving except for me and mine. Random luck of the draw is not an impediment to success. Justice can be justified and individual experience cannot be trusted. My conscious, blanket rejection of injustice exonerates me from unthinking actions and behaviors that may do harm. Less powerful groups only have their selves and their leaders to blame. Inclusion is not the same as exclusion and membership or associate membership in a group does not make one a co-conspirator. When there is a consensus positive outcome, the most powerful group is responsible. When there is a consensus negative outcome, it is because efforts were undermined. We cannot trust our children to make up their own minds. There is no conspiracy. There is no common enemy; they've been replaced by associate members. The number of guns and the number of prisoners in America are necessary to fight crime and maintain justice. American exceptionalism and America's ideals are an accurate reflection of its practices throughout its history. Today, it is in our best interest to include admitted and probable detractors and nonbelievers so they may know better, do better, be better. Might is right and the powerful (not only do, but) should control the narrative. Common Humanity as practiced in capitalism is the only answer.

I believe the thoughts in the previous paragraph are (at best) faulty and (at worst) delusional and dangerous. Yet many of these are the thoughts that appear to be guiding us today; determining both our direction and our route. And though I recognize these thoughts as errant, I am as guilty as any other for (on occasion) seeking their security. I said in the first paragraph “we are all liars” – and we are. And we always will be. The problem is, too many of us don't recognize our self as such. Too many of us believe too fervently in our delusions. And though some with influence, with power, glimpse a little piece of Truth and sense the potential looming danger, they still appear to believe we are better off with baby steps. They still argue that we should embrace a common humanity rather than identify a common enemy. They still believe negotiation is better than an all-out offensive. This less-delusional, baby-step, embrace-negotiation faction though, does not appear to understand how well entrenched the more-delusional, much-more-dangerous traditionalists are. From the security and comfort of their well-fortified positions, the traditionalists indoctrinate. From their evolving, exposed and unprotected positions of uncertainty, the baby-steppers work to educate. And from their divided, disjointed positions of fear and anger and sadness, the masses find traditional indoctrination easier and more comfortable than education. So, in our current circumstance a smaller group of the wealthy, powerful privileged hide behind a very large flock of hypnopompic followers claiming righteousness by majority rule; it is still the much smaller group in charge. Yet if expertise and rational thought suddenly overpowered capitalist riches to become the currency that determines wealth, power and privilege, we would likely (eventually) have a similar circumstance in which a much smaller group would be in charge. Personally, I would prefer a small group of experts and thinkers over a small group of rich white men who inherited daddy's money.

So do we identify a common enemy and wage a nonviolent, rational war, an all-out offensive, utilizing experts in an effort to overpower delusion? Or do we continue baby-stepping our way to a legacy of a short-lived mammalian species that inflicted long-lasting harm to a once beautiful planet?

It may still be up to us – if we hurry…