How could we function without the first 7 letters of the alphabet? We couldn’t write great novels. Speech would be nearly impossible. Most of us could no longer write our own name.
And yet, that’s exactly like what’s happening to the world as it ignores the critical crises that are killing us. We are so distracted by culture wars and political noise that we have lost focus on the existential threats we are confronting. These seven priorities are screaming for our attention, but their pleas are drowning in the cacophony of distracting voices.
- Authoritarianism
- Budget Deficits
- Climate Change
- Disease
- Extremism
- Foreign Wars
- Growth
I don’t know about you, but the 2022 midterm election results left me feeling relieved that a red wave didn’t strip us of all vital faculties to deal with these crises, but I’m still feeling a bit doomed because we lost the house to ideological extremists. They now have the votes to implement their nefarious agenda and block a progressive one. The good news is that we only experienced a drift to the right and not the dramatic shift that could have left us feeling hopeless. The ugly truth, however, is that we have lost one ARM of government that could get things done. We have had a frontal lobectomy and much of our BRAINPOWER is diminished. We have demonstrated beyond doubt that America suffers CHARACTER flaws. We have lost our ability to insist on DECENCY AND DISCIPLINE, and DEMOCRACY has revealed its vulnerabilities. Our sense of ETHICAL sensibility has been damaged. And we just retreated dramatically from any sense of FAIRNESS, FUNCTIONALITY AND FUN. Finally, politics has become performative with little interest in GENUINE truth telling. In short, we are now without the ABCs (and DEFGs) of government that make progressive change possible.
Most importantly, with our faculties diminished, we still face these seven existential threats:
Authoritarianism. The world is definitely drifting right. Whether we look at leaders across the globe (I hesitate to call them leaders) like Putin, Xi, Orban, Le Pen, Sisi, Erdogan, Kim Jung Un, Khameni, Netanyahu, and, of course, Trump and Bolsonaro who are no longer in power but still hanging around; or if we observe political drifts in Italy, Sweden, UK, Germany, Austria, Myanmar, Eastern European and African countries there is no question that we are experiencing a drift away from liberal democratic norms and values. Clearly, a large percentage of the world is happy with that change. I’m not. Reversing the tide of authoritarianism seems like an existential priority to me.
Budget Deficits. While I am not a Libertarian or fiscal conservative, I’m frightened by continuous deficit spending and taking on more and more debt. The US debt just exceeded $31 Trillion and is growing faster than any point since World War II due to the Trump tax cuts, pandemic expenses, and military expenditures. At the same time, inflation now approaches 10% in most countries across the globe with some countries experiencing astronomical rates, e.g. Venezuela, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey, Argentina, Russia, and North Korea. Even Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize winning economist with a distinctly liberal bias, is raising alarm about inflation and debt. Reversing the tide of growing deficits seems like an existential priority for me, particularly if you think about the implications of servicing a $31Trillion dollar debt with 10% interest. Do the math – that’s over $3 Trillion a year. Revenues in 2019 were $3.5 Trillion. I don’t know what the breaking point is, but I do know that it’s unsustainable over time without more taxes and/or reduced spending. The Debt to GDP ratio is now 123% – the highest ever. Many economists suggest that 77% is the tipping point. In fairness, we do live in a capitalistic society in which the dollar is the strongest currency in the world, so who knows?
Climate Change. Even after the Paris Climate Accord and COP27, we are still not making changes fast enough to keep temperatures rising below 1.5 degrees Centigrade. China, the US and Europe are all reducing CO2 emissions but the rate of change would need to be 11 times faster in order to meet global goals. Emissions in India and Africa are still on the rise while rain forests continue to be decimated – with a notable exception in Nepal. We are still emitting almost 50 billion tons of CO2 each year and even if we get to net zero, the accumulated emissions will not magically disappear. I’m not sure how many floods, fires, famines, hurricanes, extinguished species, water shortages, and droughts it will take for people to wake up, but so far our proclamations have not translated into sustainable actions. Reversing climate change seems like an existential priority for me.
Disease: For now, our current pandemic curse seems to be abiding. Kids are back to school. People aren’t wearing masks in all circumstances all the time. Employees are back to work, our hospitals are managing the load and “only” 300 people a day are still dying. That daily death rate still means about 100,000 per year compared to about 700,000 deaths per year for both strokes and heart attacks, but COVID has not gone away and new variants continue to plague us. While we don’t know what the new virus may be or what entirely new pandemic might be on the horizon, we do know that this battle is not over. Preparing for the next pandemic seems like an existential priority to me, but I’m not seeing the investments that are required to be ready for whatever comes.
Extremism: Oath Keepers. Proud Boys. Marjorie Taylor Green. Name your poison. The center is not holding. Each crisis we face quickly becomes polarizing. Initial solidarity rapidly degenerates into cultural conflicts, religious ideologies, political posturing, or anything else we can find to divide us. Even initial waves of bipartisan sadness to mass shootings or climate catastrophes quickly gives way to the violence of riots. And, of course, a former President jumps on every opportunity to pour fuel on the flames and to stoke more rage and fear. Small, extreme militia groups are forming in pockets across the country, so it is no longer possible to fight the kind of battles we have historically fought. Law enforcement has turned into Wack-A-Mole at best and predatory racism at worst. Guns are not only proliferating, but they are easily finding their ways into unstable hands. It seems to me that extremism is an existential threat, and I simply point to January 6 to make the case.
Foreign Wars: Russia launches an entirely unjustified and egregiously brutal war on a sovereign neighbor. North Korea continues to lob missiles in the direction of Japan. Iran funds and arms Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and terrorist groups in Yemen, Venezuela, Palestine and who knows where else. China threatens to invade Taiwan. Ethiopia remains embroiled in an ugly civil war. Sudan’s woes continue. Ugh! No one can predict how all of these conflicts with unfold or implode, but they all have risks of significant escalation. Clearly, the prospect of a nuclear war is an existential threat.
Growth: We are approaching a world population of almost 8 billion people – 4 times what it was in 1927. If our population continues to grow as fast as it has, there will be corresponding growth in transportation, electrical power, industrial production, housing, agriculture, fossil fuels, and red meat – all major sources of CO2 emissions. Growth can be for better or for worse, but bigger houses, bigger cars, and greater demands for power sources will put us in an unsustainable position. Seems existential to me.
I’m not sure how those existential priorities stack up with yours, but I would like to hear what you might delete, change, or add. Our ability to deal effectively with these priorities lessens as we drift toward the right. The question is when does a drift become a shift? Winds of change create a drift. It takes a real storm to accomplish a shift. Hopefully, we can reverse the drift before it becomes a shift. The recent election results offer some hope that we can preclude a far right take-over.
To me, each of these priorities demand all our attention AND they are competing with multiple other essentially important priorities that may not reach the level of existential threat: racism, sexism, crime, immigration, book bans, LGBTQ rights, women’s right to choose, voting rights, harm reduction programs, homelessness, housing affordability, tax increases on the wealthy, regulations, affirmative action, social security, health care, prescription drug costs. Sadly, each of these issues deserve to be addressed fairly and constructively. We just don’t have enough resources and time to give all their due. We need to focus on existential priorities. The problem is that for the next two years the MAGA Republicans in the House will ignore the existential threats or make them worse, and they will undermine progress on essential issues.
These crises are all interrelated. They comprise an entangled eco-system in which a change in one crisis impacts all the others. For example, a debt crisis makes it more difficult to fund the solutions for all the other crises.
Priorities are as essential for individuals and organizations as they are for nations. Everyone deals with competing demands on their time. My priorities are family, friends, writing, reading, exercising, and meditating. Overall, I need to attend to my physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health. If I had to prioritize those four areas, I would put emotional first (family and friends), spiritual second (meditating and harmonizing), intellectual third (reading and writing), and physical fourth (exercising). As I have grown older, that order has shifted. When I was younger, I put a much higher priority on physical and intellectual needs. I can no longer do all of the things I would like to do. I just don’t have the time and energy I used to have.
Organizations also need to set priorities. In my experience, organizations get in trouble when they fall into scope creep. When that happens, the vision, values and mission get diluted and the goals and objectives get out of alignment. In the worst cases, activities become random shots in the dark and the organization either declines or turns into hopeless disarray. Think Twitter. Not a positive experience for anyone. On the other hand, when organizations are crystal clear about their vision, values, mission, and goals, they operate much more efficiently and effectively, and employees have more positive and fulfilling experiences.
When my ADHD grandson was younger, he had a difficult time getting his socks and shoes on so he could go to school. He had different priorities. I used to continually implore him, “focus-focus-focus.” It seems to me that, as individuals, organizations, and as a global community, we need to adopt the same mantra. Focus-Focus-Focus.
In the aftermath of these elections, we are in the midst of epic, existential crises. In order to navigate through them, our priorities will need to be clear. There is a difference between what seems essential and what is clearly existential. We will need to Focus-Focus-Focus on the existential without abandoning the essential.
Let me end on a positive note. Our democracy withstood an assault in this election. It was fair, unmarred by violence, and legitimate winners peacefully assumed power. And Michigan scored big. Go Blue has a whole new meaning. The Michigan football team is 10-0, and Democrats won all three branches of government as well as the state school board, the university boards, and the Supreme Court – a full-tilt blue wave. Perhaps Michigan can be the model for 2024. Our absolute priority for the next two years is to make that so.
Also published on Medium.
