The Election Doesn't Matter

As the election approaches, there's understandably a lot of anxiety about another Trump presidency.

Like any sane person, I would rather have Kamala in the Oval than Donald. But the truth is, it doesn't really matter who wins.

Because regardless of who wins next week's election, fascism, intolerance, and inequality will continue to grow rapidly, and the poverty and violence that we in the West have shunted onto the developing world will arrive at our doorsteps sooner rather than later.

The following graphs explain why:

Graph 1: Global Energy Mix

The majority of our global energy expenditure comes from the burning of oil, coal, and natural gas. While efforts are afoot to decrease our dependence on these fuel sources, any rational thinker understands that we are almost certainly going to burn every ounce of it we can get our hands on. And as these easy-to-burn materials grow more scarce, we'll spend an increasing amount of that same energy fighting each other for control of who gets to burn what's left.

Graph 2 & 3: US Crude and US Coal Historical Energy Return on Energy Invested

These graphs illustrate how it is quickly getting more expensive to extract what remains of our burnable fuels. In other words, the EROI (Energy Return on Investment) or the EROEI (Energy Return on Energy Investment) of extracting these fuels is growing worse and worse by the day.

Remember that EROI is the fundamental constraint for life, and it dictates that every organism and organization must EARN more calories than it BURNS, or it will die.

In 1900, you could spend one barrel of oil and produce 140 in return. Today one barrel yields around just 7 barrels in return.

And be clear, while people are working to produce solar cells that don't contain plastic, every form of alternative energy from wind to solar to nuclear is heavily dependent upon oil, gas, and coal for their manufacture, distribution, and construction. Currently, we can't produce renewables at scale without also burning oil, coal, and gas.

So the cost of energy, and thus the cost of food, is going to continue to climb.

Graph 4: World Population Growth

At the same time that fuel energy availability is rapidly decreasing, the demand for energy (whether in fuel or food) has been increasing dramatically.

I was born in the late 1970s, when world population was about 4.3 billion humans. Today, it stands at almost twice that number at 8.1 billion. That's a massive spike in food and fuel consumption in less than half a century. No wonder costs are going up.

Here's the thing:

RAPIDLY INCREASING COMPETITION FOR FUEL AND FOOD ENERGY DRIVES ALL GLOBAL DECISION-MAKING.

The fact that neither Kamala nor Donald are talking about this - indeed that no politicians or business leaders are talking about this, should be an indication to you that they are full of shit and you should never trust them.

Because while we plebs fight our gender wars and our culture wars and our bread and circus battles between tribal factions (real and manufactured), the 580k global elites who own the Industrial System of Mining, Agriculture, Manufacturing and Transportation continue to hedge their control of this system, and the fuel resources it creates.

And rest assured that as pressure for food and fuel energy (and water) continues to grow, so to will the increasingly arbitrary and draconian decisions about which groups of people get access to the burnable energy that remains.

So even though Kamala might not be staging another fascist rally at Madison Square Garden, virtually every decision she makes as president will increase the pressure on plebs like us who aren't connected by blood or organization to the ever-shrinking global elite.

We will see more and more lay-offs. Less and less real investment in infrastructure and social welfare. And more and more displacement, incarceration, and extermination of out-of-favor communities, culture groups, and specific demographics, all while the elite continue to build more and more security barriers between us and them. Because that's what fascism is for. It's a tool for morons to decide who gets access to resources, and who doesn't. And it's growing, regardless of who sits in the White House.

But here's the upshot.

The 580k are afraid of us.

Afraid we will stop buying their bullshit.

And it's happening.

All over the planet, people are refusing coercive labor arrangements and trying to organize.

All over the planet, people are fighting back against displacement and state violence.

All over the planet, people are rejecting the manipulation of The Spectacle, refusing the elite's hustle culture and their cheaply-made aspirational products and their empty lifestyle promises, and turning towards each other with Looong spoons, intent on feeding each other.

Billions are still asleep, but things are shifting. Every day, more of us move our attention and energy from consumption, to care.

Our species thrived for millennia without all this plastic stuff. We don't need it. What we need is each other - and to earn more calories than we burn. That is all it takes for us to thrive.

This is why I say wandering is good for you. By disengaging from 'productive' work and exploring the world around you, wandering melts the lies and manipulation of industrial society, while kindling the fire that burns in each and every human heart.

Go take a walk.

Love ya,

DF