Chris Hedges is one of the most articulate explainers of our predicament that there is. So my somewhat acerbic headlines for this article should not signal disrespect. They are meant to suggest a philosophical difference which happens to be germane to what he is saying. Chris appears to me to be a determinist, a person who believes history is more or less destiny. My take is somewhat different.

Democratic revolution

I am a pragmaticist on steroids. I take the pragmaticism of C.S. Peirce as a template for my own triadic philosophy which concludes that this is a key century of evolution in which the very foundation of our past will be shaken.

It is a century where we will be moving to universal democracy through a nonviolent universal Democratic Revolution. Chris, in the article I have featured below, might hope for what I hope for, but he is not inclined to think in my optimistic manner.

Toward basic income

I am not going to parrot Chris's article. It is brief, and it repeats much the same critique of Trump that I have stated since I started writing in this space. We both agree that if Trump were removed, the problem would remain. Chris argues that the fall of the Roman Empire is what we are going through -- the oligarchy is similar, and there are other parallels. I would suggest that what we are going through is a radical adjustment to a world Trump and his one percent cohorts are petrified about because they will not be as rich then as they are now.

Fallibility and continuity

We are moving into an age of localized democracies that actually function on a community level. We are moving towards making a taboo of violence. We are going to see radical cuts in the money paid out to make wars. We are not moving toward a utopia but to a fallible sort of continuity that accepts the limited transcendence we can all experience via spiritual and intellectual means.

Cybercommunities

I call my notion of the future cybercommunities. No one beats a path to my door and says "tell me more," but I persist in feeling C.S. Peirce's mind was the Aristotle we need for now and from now on. I stand against determinism and indeed regard pessimism as mildly self-serving. I respect Chris as a consistent and articulate voice regarding the egregious conduct of the one percent and of Trump himself.

Here is his article.

When I encounter folks like Tulsi Gabbard and the light pace of nonviolent marchers in my native Manhattan, I know there is a way to go, but I also know we will get there. We still have 84 years of the century.

Progress

I am not a Pollyanna. I am the guy who said in 1968 walking out of Lincoln Park in the teargas smoke it would take until 2020 to turn around what I knew was coming. I knew that Obama was captive to the same interests that hobble us today. Trump big-oil big money world reigns. I say we will overcome. We are not Rome.