Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic

by Charles Hugh Smith

America teeters on the our government is now captive to special interests and big money, twin cancers that threaten our democracy. This accelerating crisis is exacerbated by a toxic social media-fueled tribalism that has replaced “what do you think?” with “which side are you on?” Our crisis isn’t just political—it’s as the pace of change explodes from gradual to non-linear, the organizations that dominate our economy—centralized corporations and government—become destined to fail. We see this failure in both the soaring inequality that has hollowed out the American Dream as well as in the rising tide of social and political disunity.To prevent the fall of our democratic republic, we must transform our economy and society from the ground up. As we enter a new era of rapid, unprecedented tumult, it is we citizens who will need to save our democracy. For our political and financial elites will cling to their centralized power, doing more of what’s failed, even as civil society unravels. All is not lost—yet. Our way forward starts with understanding the fatal flaws of our brittle, self-serving status quo and embracing this basic better options are available if we’re willing to explore.To pathfind our way to a better destiny, we must create new localized structures optimized for resilience and adaptability—a flexible, decentralized, sustainable, democratic, opportunity-for-all nation.

120 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 15, 2018

Reviews

[George H Hartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect Problem Analysis - Questionable Solution

This book provides a superb analysis of the extremely critical problems our country faces due to the centralization of financial and corporate power in the hands of a few. The result being the destruction of the financial well being of most Americans as well their quality of life - not to mention its impacts upon the future well being of our planet and everything on it.
My complaint is the lack of specificity in the author's solution. I would like much more detail on how such an alternative approach could be implemented. And how it could be protected from the current power structure.