In the 1960s I spent a lot of time chasing girls and learned it was beneficial to volunteer for social causes. Fresh off the farm, finding girls was never the problem but getting them to notice, well, thank God for social causes. In those days Viet Nam was the key issue, but the climate, and Earth Day, were major issues as well. Race relations were at an all time low, too, and many inner cities burned out in protest of unequal opportunity and freedoms.

The adults in my circle of life, those days, were mostly epochal, and convinced American Institutions were falling and the world was near The End. My mates and comrades on the other hand, saw signs of new life, signs of repair, signs of rebirth in the possible, hopeful complete demise of The Military Industrial Complex (MIC), Big Business (BB), and Climate Polluters (CP). My father’s father was one of the former barons of commerce who felt the world was spinning out of control, young people did not respect, their elders, and Western Civilization is headed for doom.

While my general intent for partaking in raucous and often illegal demonstrations was unapologetically romantic I did learn to see the merit in Grandpa’s warning’s, back then.

Sixty years later most of the same issues are still out there, still threatening the future of Western Civilization. Except for Viet Nam. Nam is now our 15th largest trading partner, right after Ireland and Switzerland. The size and nature of that trading says a lot about US Government Policy over the last 60 years, a history confusing older American GIs and Viet Nam vets, both.

The Viet Nam story reveals, however, the larger truth of what our nation is about, really: Money. Wealth. And the power they have over legally elected governments and regulatory institutions.

The sad fact about The End of the World in this current generation is how really close it is, but not for the reason you might think. We now have a Supreme Court loaded with justices who care not for the common sense approach to judicial thought, but to the laissez-faire attitude of the French Physiocrats who reigned over France’s governmental policies from 1775 to 1786. I don’t really know a lot about them but it is important note the French populace revolted in 1789 and overthrew the existing French government. Completely. And executed some former government officials.

It is fair to say someone benefited from the trouble young people caused in the 60s and it wasn’t the young people. The MIC and BB and CP have worked tirelessly over the past 60 years to reaffirm their control over the day to day life of Americans and their money. Some people, even some politicians have been fighting them over those 60 years but you can see who’s winning in the simple fact climate and inequality are still issues today.

Now there is a Supreme Court made up of laissez-faire minded individuals, intent on eliminating as much regulation, oversight, and legal obstacles as they can.

It is not for an old, cranky man to say the world is coming to an end, but let’s see how the next 10 years play out as power gains power, and looks for more…without restraint. Or responsibility.