I believe the end has already been written and I agree with much of what Karl says.
However, my life remains full and I work hard at my job, enjoy, love, and cherish my family, and help others as I see fit. I won’t “withdraw from the system” because the system is simply the landscape in which I live - no different than the mountains I look at now outside the window.
I am angry at what our nation is doing to my young children and their futures. However, I will still teach them to love, live, and enjoy life for what it is - a short moment in time. In an effort to be wise, I also devote some of my time and energy to preparing to care for my family and others if the need arises. We already provide much of the food we grow and produce to help others.
I will continue to be a producer because that is what God demands of me. I can’t control the rest of the landscape or story beyond trying to do the right thing. My kids will grow up and hopefully understand their father was a producer who provided a good life for them and others. I hope they follow my example and provide for those around them after I am gone.
Withdrawal for the sake of political argument places politics above the moral obligations of God. I can’t do it and respectfully submit that your path is not the answer. Furthermore, I would respectfully submit that the system will collapse of it’s own weight, through no fault of either of us. The government is already borrowing and printing money far beyond what is being produced and the math is impossible no matter how much they tax us.
Wow! You really summed it up beautifully. I was just taking a walk with my boy on a nice summer eve knowing the Republic is collapsing around me. I wondered briefly if some Roman did the same a long time ago knowing the Barbarians were up and over the gates and his boy would face them. I wish it was on my watch, but it looks like it will be on his.
I agree with Volunteer...erm...I mean Volunbeer.
We’ve seen what purposeless does to people. I was almost beaten for being white when I was a teenager by a group of men that apparently stay in the welfare office seating area for hours at a time. In marveling in semi shock about how close I came to being mauled for no reason - I came to see a key reason why the welfare state is racist. We know that we need more than money to pay for food and shelter to live. Rich people ‘labor’ at charities or churches to give their lives meaning. We need to feel like we contribute. Implying that blacks, hispanics (or whites, for that matter) lack this basic need to contribute and can therefore be tended like gerbils in a cage empty of everything except food and water. Humans need purpose - it erodes our self-esteem to live partially and allow a tide to carry us onward. We need to paddle, sometimes we must paddle too hard but it ‘gets us’ somewhere. We need progress in our lives - that’s why we hate ‘dead ends’. And yes, according to my faith, I am to work at my job as if I were working for the Lord.
That said - i think that even if people don’t drop off the grid, I think they will ratchet down their productivity because I saw it first hand in the Soviet Union. If everyone in a factory gets paid the same, the over-achievers top over achieving.