20/04/2020
A miracle has occurred. Covid19 has given the planet a reprieve from the onset of global warming. World-wide industry has been crushed and the fossil fuels which have sustained it to date are being replaced with renewable sources of energy. Our carbon footprint has been almost halved. China has inadvertently done the world favour by accidentally spreading the pandemic. We should not waste our energy on anger and bitterness. Despite the many tragic deaths that have resulted from the pandemic, many more lives may have been spared which would in future have been lost to global warming.
The fuel-guzzling, carbon- producing behemoths of cruise ships which were only recently seen as pleasure palaces are now seen as floating morgues and will probably become obsolete. Many of the outsized aircraft which pumped carbon into the skies and carried unnecessary adventure-seekers are grounded, perhaps permanently. International tourism may become a pastime of the few, and aircraft engaged primarily in passage of necessary goods and personnel. We will not lose. The argument that travel broadens the mind extends to armchair travel. Indeed, nowadays we can view a documentary and learn perhaps more intimately and accurately and certainly more safely and economically what goes on in other nations.
Other things will need to change. We must learn, as we are now learning, not to waste. Government should be frugal. In Australia it should not prop up industries which have little or no chance of survival after Covid19. Nor should it assist those industries which are destructive to society, such as Gaming. Apart from neighbourly games of poker, two-up, black-jack and the like, and bingo, which games are socially inclusive and entertaining, and the lottery, which syphons otherwise reluctant money into useful projects, gambling should be outlawed in Australia. The wealth it produces is artificial and the damage it wreaks surpasses any so-called wealth production.
We need an economy which is healthy for Australian society as a whole, rather than the capitalist-inspired economy of today. Now is the time to begin to OVERTHROW THE STATUS QUO. If our present form of government will not change the system we need to find leaders who will stand as Independents, and vote for them; Independents who will govern according to conscience for the good of the nation as a whole.
International tourism, gaming, hospitality, much of retail (which is planned obsolescence, or waste) are not truly productive industries and take away workers who could be constructively employed in useful industries like education, health, transport, construction, communications, generation of power, defence, even cleaning and the service industries.
At present, laissez-faire governments in Australia allow people to work willy-nilly at whatever will bring in cash. Without advocating socialism, I say there needs to be far more government regulation. Real estate, for instance, has been purloined for purposes of wealth-enhancement by those with money, at the expense of those who do not have the means to artificially "create" wealth. There should be far more public housing along with regulation of private rentals.
Retailers of primary produce also need regulation so that producers themselves receive just reward for their work, rather than the middle-man manipulating prices to gain artificial wealth at their expense.
We need new and expanded industries. We need to start training our present and future workforce for such employment now. Instead of subsidising unemployed non-essential workers , government should pay them to train for new careers. We need a solar space base, rapid growth in artificial intelligence, satellite communications, secondary industry and defence,as well as more and better qualified educators in all fields.
The conditions of the work force need to change. The enforced leisure time of the present, and the enforced herding of our children into full-time company of parents should make loving, caring parents appreciative of their company. It should inspire them to push back against the greedy captains of industry who presently demand that they place their infants in professional child care so they can concentrate on making money for said captains of industry.
Push back. Pressure employers to make working hours shorter and more flexible. Demand a 30 hour week to be worked at hours of the employee's choosing.
Our education system needs an overhaul which will save our aimless youth. Genius, leadership, teamwork and creativity do not spring from an arbitrary regimen of academic learning, whatever experts say. Such a system produces a process line of mediocrity and misfits. Let children be children. The "smart" ones will quickly pick up from age 5 to 6 on all the academic prowess they will need to succeed. The remainder will have time, while cloistered under the parental shadow, hopefully with siblings, kin, and neighbourhood children, to find their 'niche' and will be far more comfortable and productive human beings, able to adapt to whatever talents they or their parents and teachers may discover they do have.
Perhaps with the present enforced contemplation of values, some parents will consider whether it is more beneficial to a household, for instance, to have another bathroom, or to have another child. We need to rapidly counter the top-heavy seniority of our population, and our children need to learn other than material values. Siblings are best qualified to inadvertently teach same.
We also need to redistribute wealth in a relatively pain-free way, by rewarding the wealthy who contribute generously to society, and refusing to laud those who pursue wealth for wealth's sake, and are lasciviously spendthrift and wasteful.
I am writing suggestions and advice, for perhaps the last time.
My vision is fading fast and it is a struggle to see the print as I type. I believe I shall have to find another way to reach my supporters in the future should you need further guidance.
May The Force be with you, whatever you conceive The Force to be.
