Which Side Are You On?

It's always frustrating and draining to find myself in political conversations premised on the idea that we should be allied with a political party. More often than not, I'm among Liberals (not Leftists) who spend an awful lot of energy virtue signaling while condemning "the other side" – the hateful, brainwashed rubes on the Right. In these conversations, people seem to probe each other to confirm that they're all in agreement with the received dogma. I know that we all want to feel safe and secure in these uncertain times, and we latch onto arbitrary political cliques because neoliberalism gives us nothing else to ally with, but it's exhausting for me to try to think of something to say that aligns with my values, while not being too harsh or misunderstood. If I disagree with Liberal orthodoxy, the automatic assumption or suspicion is that I'm with the Right.

To clarify where I stand, here are the premises of my ideology:

• The material world is the most important substrate, on top of which develops every other economic and social phenomenon. In other words, the earth is primary. Without food, water, and air, our efforts to improve social conditions are irrelevant. The most critical issue for me is the health of the web of life which supports us all.
• If we hope to continue living on this planet, we should interrogate the root causes for the environmental and cultural degradation we experience all around us, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us feel about our complicity.
• My research and lived experience says that civilization is inherently unsustainable. Civilization – a way of life consisting of "people living more or less permanently in one place in densities high enough to require the routine importation of food and other necessities of life."
• Hierarchy, violence, greed, genocide, and the destruction of the more-than-human world result from this choice to live out of balance with the web of life.
• The political ideologies produced from an unsustainable civilization will never be able to achieve sustainability, because they assume the continued dependence on exploitative technologies.
• Our current civilization – Global Industrial Civilization – is in the process of collapsing due to ecological overshoot. Although the process is inevitable, the amount of suffering is not.
• This System cannot be reformed. Most people hold the belief that a few tweaks to laws, or different leadership will set us on the right course. I think this belief is a waste of valuable energy.

Given these premises, I believe that politics – the technology and strategy of using leverage to achieve societal goals – should be directed toward dismantling this destructive civilization while alleviating as much suffering as possible. Alleviating suffering for humans should not be the main goal. Every other political ideology seeks to improve conditions for humans, in their own ways, but all of them do it at the expense of nature. All of them are human-supremacist, and, in my view, dangerous. When desire for comfort drives your politics, the web of life suffers.

If I'm asked to comment on a political topic-of-the-day, I might have an opinion, but I try to remind myself (even if it's difficult to communicate the premises above) that all of this is happening amidst the collapse of civilization. When I think about what's best for the long-term health of the planet, I usually conclude that the collapse should accelerate. Since we seem incapable of managing the decline wisely (or being honest about our ecological predicament), the longer this system drags on, the more damage it'll do – no matter which political party claims power.

I'm certain that collapse is happening and will continue – anything that can't go on forever, won't – but the timeline isn't clear. Many people around the world are already living hellish lives as a result of our country's imperial flailing, desperate to maintain domination and access to imported resources. We, in the imperial core, might continue being relatively insulated from the effects of our way of life, but this is looking increasingly less likely. Living standards will continue declining for most people, while the wealthy hoard all of the resources. The psychopathic wealthy who are aware of the ecological predicament are most willing and able to keep their standard of living while everyone else suffers. I believe that all of our political leaders fall into this category, though they won't admit the truth to the public.

So, which side am I on? I'm with those who want to walk away from Omelas and go Beyond Civilization. I'm with those who see the importance of seeding a healthier culture for the future, even if we'll never experience the fruits of our efforts. I'm with those who realize that it's not enough to withdraw from our destructive system – we urgently need to throw monkeywrenches into the genocidal gears of this megamachine.