The founders believed that no elite group was selfless enough to promote the general welfare, a task delegated to government by the preamble of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution outlined a plan for representative government that might advance the interests of all the people — the demos. Another part of our heritage is capitalism. Wealthy people fear that the demos will deprive them of the freedom to employee their wealth however they see fit. Once in power, their excesses caused the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s New Deal prioritized the neglected needs of the populace. After World War II, Republican President Eisenhower warned us against the growing power of the “military-industrial complex.” How did the propertied people regain sufficient influence to precipitate today’s climate collapse?

Propertied people chose to forestall outbreaks of populism by keeping the public “fat, dumb and happy,” while buying undue influence in the courts, the media and Congress. We are obese, dumb enough to believe that superhero Trump will extricate us from the death spiral of our consumerist society. Capitalism’s failure to make us happy is due to its reliance on the idea that happiness can be bought. People seeking escape in addictions testify to capitalism’s failure.

If representative government is to survive, we must summon active, engaged people, ones inoculated against their tendency to deceive themselves with alternate facts, onces who will dedicate themselves to finding ways to reduce the amount of pain, suffering and ugliness in our world. Bernie and others won’t attract such people by suggesting that there is a painless way to transition to a sustainable economy. We must persuade the public to give up their magical thinking and embrace the hard work necessary to  replace capitalism with humanism, to live more simply so that others may simply live. Please don’t tell me that you can’t change human nature when capitalism prospers from promoting greed and self-indulgence every day.

Happiness is a byproduct of a life constructively lived.

John E. Gibson

Owatonna