Now that the Fourth of July is past us and we’ve had the usual full-plate serving of ridiculous posturing of how great we are, can we have an honest discussion about what a shithole this place has become? At what point does a great society hit a point of no return? At what point do you have to throw in the towel? Let’s play a game of divorcing you from your beliefs.
What if, let’s say, Ecuador were only 250 years old, and — depending on how you defined it — they’d been in anywhere from 83 to 134 wars. What if it weren’t even clear if their president needed congressional approval to declare war anymore? Now, except for the War of 1812, what if Ecuador had never been invaded? How would you feel about Ecuador if they did this? Seriously? Wouldn’t you think they were a warlike people? What if they said it was all in the name of defending their country and democracy as a whole? But they only attacked other places and fought on foreign soil? Wouldn’t you think that was pretty stupid? What if Ecuador spent more money on their military than the next 10 countries combined? Would you think that was coincidental? What if Ecuador were the number-one arms manufacturer in the entire world, and the people who made the weapons controlled their government? And made billions from war? And they had the second-highest instance of gun-related civilian deaths in the entire world? Would you think that was sort of kind of suspicious? Or would you just blow it off?
What if, on closer examination, you realized that Ecuador had the highest taxes in the world, but 40 percent of their discretionary budget went to the military? Wouldn’t that be nuts? What if you then found out that they were the only country out of the top 35 industrialized countries in the world that didn’t have free healthcare provided, despite taking all that tax money? What if you realized they were the only country in the world whose public education was funded by local taxes, thus ensuring the poorest people got the shittiest education, thus continuing an endless cycle of poverty?
What if in Ecuador, 1 percent of the population owned more wealth than the bottom 92 percent of the country? And could give as much money to politicians as they wanted during elections? And 75 percent of people lived paycheck to paycheck with zero savings? Would you think they were a democratic and representative society? Would you think that was a good standard of living or low-stress?
What if Ecuador had 4.25 percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prison population? And the jails in Ecuador were privately owned, and the companies that owned them made about $46,000 per person per year through forced labor and making them pay for supplies? Would you begin to wonder if maybe a lot of those people shouldn’t be in jail?
What if in Ecuador, the number-one cause of bankruptcy was medical bills, and one in three GoFundMe campaigns were to raise money for medical needs because it was too costly to get sick? What if Ecuador had a declining life-span age, as well as the fastest-growing chronic disease, suicide, depression, and addiction problems in the world and was the only country in the world that allowed pharmaceutical companies to advertise on TV? What if Ecuador had giant farms that had completely taken over food production, if there were almost no regulation on pesticide use, GMOs, steroids — in fact, what if the biggest chemical agribusiness in the country sat on the FDA or EPA there? Would you think maybe that was a conflict of interest and not good for people’s health?
What if in Ecuador, if you had enough money, you could pollute as much as you wanted? What if you also didn’t have to pay any taxes if you were rich? Would you think it was a corrupt society, or is that normal? What if Ecuador was 44th in the world in freedom of the press? Would you think there was probably a lot of government-controlled propaganda? What if Ecuador was 128th in the world in safety? How would you feel about going there or living there if you had kids?
What if Ecuador was the country most in debt in the entire world, despite being the largest economy, and if, in fact, that debt was greater than their total GDP? Wouldn’t you think that the government there was totally corrupt and irresponsible? What if, to combat this, 40 percent of the currency in circulation in the entire country was printed in the last 12 months? Would you think of investing in that currency? Would you think maybe that would be why Ecuador was seeing rampant inflation of goods?
What if there was rampant racism, fascism, mass shootings, childhood poverty, homelessness, and violence in Ecuador? Would you think it was awesome? Would you feel that was normal? If five to 10 people every day on the news in your city died or were wounded from gun violence that had nothing to do with the military — how would you feel about that? Is that good? Is that normal?
At what point do you guys think a great society has hit a point of no return? Would you say maybe Ecuador was about to collapse? Or is it just something that needs to be sorted out?
Kevin Ferner is the owner of The Memphis Guitar Spa and Ferner Fine Instruments, and is not dead yet.
