The Big Bug Out...for Libertarians Only

So, two incidents recently have caught my attention. First, there’s the Ted Curz thing. You’ll recall that we had a serious, life-endangering ice storm here in Texas last February. Thousands of Texans were stuck without heat, power, or water. And mostly this was because the state’s power companies were not regulated in any meaningful manner, which, in turn, was because the State’s political elites were preaching a kind of cowboy libertarianism that holds that the whole idea of regulation, much less oversight, is an abomination unto the Lord. Or themselves. For them, there is some confusion on the issue.

Ah, but there’s the rub. When the storm hit, and the power-grid inevitably went down, the same Elite didn’t exactly hang around to suffer the effects with the rest of us. Most famously, our dear Senator Ted Cruz, and his whole family, were on the first plane out to the Cancun Ritz, where the sun shines and the tequila flows.

Second, there’s the NRA thing. The NRA is, of course, probably the world’s most powerful gun lobby. But, it turns out that a couple of times when there have been mass shootings, its top exec, Wayne LaPierre, skipped country on a borrowed yacht. He feared that he, or his family, might be in danger from those who might seek a little revenge for the dead, maybe parents or husbands or friends of the deceased…so, off he went to the Bahamas.

I think we’re picking up a theme here. It is that our Wealthy and Powerful are working to create a world in which there are few restrictions on their behaviors, and none at all on their greeds. But, when the world they constructed proves uncomfortable... off they go. They hop a yacht to safer, warmer, and more comfortable climes.

Which makes me suspect that this is the reason the Elite seems so resistant to things like social welfare and green legislation. I am guessing that on some level, maybe unconscious, they assume that should the worst happen...large scale social collapse, an environmental crisis, plague, famine, or nuclear war...it won’t affect them. They figure they’ll just head on over to their private space port, buckle up, and blast off on the Good (space) Ship Lollypop for Mars or wherever.

Things are going to get a little stressed at Galt's Gulch...

But there’s one little problem that I don’t think they’ve considered. To wit, whether its Mars or Earth or NeverNeverLand, sanctuaries for Rich and Powerful People (R&PPs) require lots of time, energy, and effort to establish and maintain, and traditionally those things have come from lots, and lots, an

d lots of little people who aren’t R&PPs but who are absolutely necessary. (Even Davos has a staff. I mean, somebody has to take out the trash.)

And if all those little people are actually sitting at home and dying of heat, cold, hunger, or radiation poisoning...well, now…

Things get a little stressed at Galt’s  Gulch.

So, special note to the R&PPs of this world…

Reconsider the idea you don’t need the rest of us. Or that you can run away from the problems you create.

Cause here’s the thing. Even if you do make it to Mars…

You can’t eat sand.

Not unless, of course, you’re a lichen.

*

Until next time…

Onward and Upward

~mjt

Notes: 

For the story on the NRA’s borrowed yacht, see the following:

“NRA exec sheltered on borrowed yacht after mass shootings,” by Jake Bleiberg, Associated Press, April 7, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/shootings-dallas-parkland-florida-school-shooting-gun-politics-school-shootings-727d30a8cfa50c937012e9de29aa5127

2) “NRA's LaPierre sought refuge on yacht after shootings: 'Thank God I'm safe’” by Mychael Schnell, The Hill, 04/06/21 10:29 AM EDT https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/546639-nras-lapierre-sought-refuge-on-yacht-after-shootings-thank-god-im-safe

And, meanwhile, about Lichens, Yes, I know they don’t exactly “eat” sand, but they can extract important nutritive minerals from it, or from unbroken stone. In fact, they are a really cool composite creature...a symbiotic partnership between fungi and algae...who are capable of living pretty much anywhere, including Mars. Anyway, see this wikipedia article on them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen, and as for their their ability to live on other planets, see this piece on the Planetary Society’s website: “Earth’s toughest life could survive on Mars” by Mike Malaska, May 15, 2012, https://www.planetary.org/articles/20120515-earth-life-survive-mars

Copyright©2021 Michael Jay Tucker