News without headlines

One of the problems with journalism is that it reports on what is happening today while ignoring or downgrading what has been happening for days, weeks and years but lacks a good headline. Yet the latter happenings often define our future and so are worth checking from time to time. Here are some examples:

We are in the midst of potentially the most dangerous phenomenon in human history -   climate change - but tend to treat it as just one more political issue.

Perhaps the most important factor in climate change - population growth - is still ignored even by many of those otherwise concerned about the environment.

As exemplified by the TPP agreement, we are in the midst of a huge but hidden world war, one that is not between nations but between corporations and nationhood. Not since secession have so many American politicians been willing to give up so much sovereignty and democracy without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

We have never been presented with a choice of GOP presidential candidates led by those so incompetent, corrupt, reactionary and/or irresponsible. And we have only once before been presented with a leading Democratic presidential candidate who has as many close business partners and major fundraisers who have been charged with, or convicted of, so many criminal offenses - the previous instance being her husband.

We have never before had our national politics so tightly in command of wealthy donors, including corporations, rather than the public.

We have seldom had so few national leaders - in politics, academia and media - offering so few moral alternatives to our corrupt political, economic and social systems.

We have seldom had so few religious voices offering alternatives to the blasphemies of the evangelical right. Which is one reason why the Pope made such an impression. He was saying things American Christian church leaders should have been saying but weren't.

We have not won a significant war since WWII, but have been repeatedly engaged in major failed efforts such as Vietnam and our futile decade and a half in the Mid East.

We have not done any better with the domestic battle called the war on drugs. It has been four decades of failure. Among its effects have been massive incarceration rates - especially for ethnic minorities - and the creation of a drug mafia that we ignore in favor of jailing minor offenders.

We have never had our public  education system under such an attack by corporate interests and phony experts undermining the knowledge and wisdom of real teachers.

We view our increasing multi-ethnicity as a problem to be argued about rather than an asset to value and honor, 

We appear to be headed towards another Cold War with Russia for no known purpose other than to display the purported manhood of our leaders.

Our government and its policies have been taken over by a gradocracy of lawyers, MBAs and economists lacking the social intelligence that used to characterize politicians. As a result we are faced with increasing legislation and regulations relying  on complex and unreliable  processes that can make even good ideas look bad and anger the very voters they are meant to please.

Liberalism has become more of a religion than the political movement it once was. As such, liberals ignore the very issues that could bring them needed support - led by economic and social reforms. The broad programs of the New Deal and Great Society have been forgotten in favor of policies that demonstrate liberal moral superiority over the very people they should be organizing and converting in the cause of a better nation.

Our economy has deteriorated in many ways but we avoid dealing with this issue by concentrating on short term and minor changes in things like unemployment. Consequently little attention is paid to matters such as the fact that technology improvements have permanently reduced the need for workers in many areas or that a higher percentage of children live in poverty now than did during the Great Recession.