Don't Drink The "Normal" Cool-Aid.

 Coffee. It's mid-afternoon and I am on my third cup. It is one day until "the election".  One day to,  well, nothing.  Will the world change tomorrow? Or will the "status quo" plod on?  The fact is, "election day" will be "election week" or even month.  Then, we have all winter to wait around for an official government to declare itself and actually get into the White House. Then we get to wait around some more as they "talk" about what they are "going" to do.  Meanwhile, nothing actually gets done. Reality check.

 The fear mongering social media trolls are gleefully spreading the swill for fanatic hogs to gobble at the trough. Walmart gave itself some free publicity by taking guns and ammo off the shelves then putting them right back.  Oregon's govenor is declaring an "emergency" and lining up the National Guard, with a directive allowing for the use of tear gas. Governor Brown says this is "to keep the peace".  In what universe is lining up robo-cops with tear gas and guns "keeping the peace"?   In what world are citizens lives worth less than a damn building? 

 The ACLED ( Armed Conflict and Event Data Project) has listed Pennsylvania, Oregon, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin as being the five states at the highest risk of "increased civilan militia activity". It's a media bandwagon of violence. That's Not journalism.

Where are the rational voices? Where are our "leaders"?  As Boomers hide in their suburban bubbles and Millennials blast their apps with happy selfies, Gen Z is dealing with the real world that has been dumped on their doorstep.  

Theirs is the voice that needs to be heard. They are the truth of 2020.  With lives carved from the 2008 world economic crash (remember that one?) they are bearing the burden of all our mistakes.  Student debt, joblessness,  environmental disaster and political corruption.  They don't get to wear rosy glasses or worry about damn 401k's.  They want answers and need action.

They know we don't have time for sub-committees and political pandering. They know there is NO TIME left.  Not two weeks, not four years, not a day. 

There is no return to "normal".  Normal is good and dead. It should be. It was a broken, messed up and corrupt money grubbing 'Normal" that has brought this country and the world to it's knees.  Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook aptly named the "FANG" companies have eaten up global resources and are growing from global monopolies to private, corporate governments.  

Gen Z is facing all of this.  Smart, educated realists, they have not been sucked into the instant gratification trance of consumerism. They can't afford it. Not fiscally, not socially, not environmentally.

So, Govenors, presidential candidates, city mayors, you many line up your defenses and retreat to your suburbs, but you are forgetting one thing. Your time is over.  This new generation is not "normal".  And, they will not go back to your broken "normal". 

If we are to have any chance at surviving in our New World, we need action Now. We need to accelerate impact on urgent concerns.  Now.  Address inter-generational equity. Now.  Initiate economic and political systems for the future. Now.  Turn anger into forward, focused postive actions. Now.

We have to break free of the controlling "old nomal" that divides and sub-divides us. Resist the corruption of politics that only panders for election votes.  Black Lives Matter. Yes. Native American Lives Matter. Yes. Asian Lives Matter.Yes. White Lives Matter. Yes.  We all damn well matter. And there is NO MORE TIME left to keep arguing about it.  Our planet matters.

It't time, Now for a New World. Not an Old Normal. For Gen Z to lead the way. It's their future. It's their planet. It's All of their lives. It's all of our lives. I am Generation X.  I don't want to go back to "normal".

Govenors, Presidents, Mayors, Robo cops, politicians and corporations. For the sake of all our lives. STAND DOWN. NOW.