Salem-News.com Articles written by Daniel Johnson

They Gave Away the Store

I am not optimistic about America’s future because of its ingrained attitude of “every man for himself.” If I was an American, I would be afraid. I would be very afraid.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - That’s what American politicians and business leaders have done. You, the ordinary citizen, are left behind to suffer and fight your fellow citizens for scraps of whatever you can get, and resent it if some other deprived citizen is given support. I deserve help, they don’t.

That seems to be the dominant creed of most Americans today.

Who are You?

I’m putting this out not as an answer or conclusion, but as food for thought for the reader.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - We all believe we are individuals with free will. This is the second most dominant myth of our society (the first being that there is a physical world “out there”).

These are topics that most people never think about and when they are raised, as I am doing here, the automatic, unthinking, reaction is denial.

Recipe for Revolution / Reconstruction / Renewal

If millions of Americans were to stop paying “obligations”, there aren't enough collectors, lawyers and courts to go after them all.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - In the sixth century BCE, Athens was on the verge of either chaos or revolution, much, in the view of some, like America today.

The Eupatridae, the aristocracy of birth, controlled the government, owned most of the land and used its power to drive the poorer farmers into debt during bad seasons.

Don`t Forget the Rabbits

It’s long past the time for Americans to get with the program and live as if they share the planet with others.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - In my last story on the Gulf disaster, I mentioned the unexpected consequences of Thomas Astin releasing 24 non-native rabbits onto in his land in Australia.

American Uprising?

If the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico doesn’t wake up the American people, then nothing will.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - At mid-morning on a Saturday, November 1, 1755, an estimated magnitude 9 earthquake destroyed Lisbon, Portugal.

There were between 10,000 and 100,000 people killed. The quake, subsequent fires and tsunami (the epicentre was 120 miles WSW of Cape St. Vincent) killed indiscriminately—young and old, rich and poor, men, women and children—no matter their station in life.

Libertarian Lament

In the end the libertarian lament is psychologically no different than the tantrum of a child.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - People, generally speaking, don’t like to be told what to do. Even if it is demonstrably for their own good or for a publicly acknowledged greater good, there are those who resent or resist or both, what they perceive to be authoritarian coercion.

I can empathize with the libertarian creed because I, too, like to have my personal freedom and to be left alone.

Socialism or Serfdom

The medieval serfs were powerless. The American serf has potential power through democracy. But first, the American people have to quit fighting among themselves and realize how they have been divided and conquered. Therein lies hope for the future—slim as it may be.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - The American people have lost it; if, indeed, they ever really had it.

What is it? It’s not something that can be readily defined but, by the end of this article, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Life: A project (2)--The Failure of Religion

"If the history of the human race teaches any plain lessons,” said philosopher Lewis Mumford, ”this is one of them: Man cannot be trusted with absolutes."

(CALGARY, Alberta) - The meaning of life, for many, probably most, Americans, resides in a jingoist and chauvinistic attachment to flag and country.

The Pledge of Allegiance was originally written in 1892 and has since been modified four times.

Life: The Project (1)

First part of a continuing series.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - "Life is your project; there is nothing to tell you what it's all about, which of course leaves you feeling existential anxiety and dread,” says Jungian analyst James Hillman in his best-selling book The Soul’s Code:

“It's all up to you, each individual alone, since there is no cosmic guarantee that anything makes sense. There is neither God nor Godot to wait for. You make a life out of the deepest feelings of meaninglessness."

The Very Rich are America`s Real Enemies

In 2003, the top 1 percent of American households owned 57.5 percent of corporate wealth and the top tenth of 1 percent about half of that. On the other hand, the bottom 40% owned less than 1% of the nation's wealth.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - An honest politician, goes the old saying, is one who stays bought. If that’s true, then the good news is that Americans have about the most honest politicians on the planet.

The bad news is that the voters don’t own them.