Is Our Civilization Sustainable?

     Many people worry and fret about environmental
sustainability.  They are sure we are headed for destruction and
disaster because of environmental excesses.  They warn that we
face doom from depletion of resources, pollution, global boiling,
etc.  The more shrill among them are certain that disaster will
strike little beyond the middle of next week.

     We do face a sustainability crisis.  Every past civilization
has faced the same crisis. It isn't particularly encouraging that
most, possibly all, past civilizations have self destructed because
they were unsustainable.  It wasn't their physical environment
that was unsustainable.

     Like with past civilizations, our present social-political
environment isn't sustainable.  Humans are social.  We live,
work and play together.  For this to work and endure we must
trust each other and get along with each other.

     All friction among individuals tears at the fabric of our
social-political order.  The fabric of a strong social-political
order can withstand quite a bit of stress.  It isn't indestructible. 
People can't interact without some tension and stress.  Even the
best of families have disagreements and quarrels.

     The larger the group, the greater the potential for friction
and stress.  The question that should concern us most is, How
can we keep the friction and stress down to a level that doesn't
threaten the sustainability of our civilization?  Mostly we ignore
that question.

     In the struggle to sustain our civilization and prosperity,
environmentalism is a distracting sideshow.  If we don't radically
change our ways, our physical environment will long survive the
implosion of our social-political environment.

     A sustainable social-political environment depends on
voluntary cooperation.  Individuals must be self regulated. 
Constructive self regulation will occur only if individuals see
that they will benefit from it.

     If most individuals believe they can benefit from stealing,
lying, and punching out their neighbors, they will steal, lie and
punch.  Constructive voluntary cooperation is impossible in such
an environment.

     The first step to preserving our social-political
environment is to recognize how everyone gains through
peaceful, voluntary cooperation.  The key is recognizing that we
are traders who depend on trade for almost everything we have. 
We produce for each other.

     For this to be sustainable everyone must benefit from the
exchanges.  Exchange extends far beyond commercial trading. 
Exchange permeates everything we do.  Social interactions are
an endless succession of exchanges.  We socialize with each
other.  Both commercial and social exchanges must be peaceful
and voluntary to be sustainable.  One person or group using
threats and force in any relationship destroys long term
sustainability.

     Spontaneous order where each individual seeks to
maximize his gain in voluntary cooperation is the only system
that works.  It works when each individual realizes that to
increase what others provide him, he must increase what he
provides for others.  We all end up voluntarily serving each
other.

     No one wields a club to make this happen.  The only
way we can sustain our social-political environment through
voluntarily cooperation is to allow liberty for everyone.  No one
is a master.  The only role for threats and force is to prevent
aggression and exploitation.

     Unfortunately we are headed in the opposite direction. 
Ever expanding government is  the opposite of voluntary
cooperation.  It is "Do it my way, or I will hurt you."  The
powerful gain in the short term.  The weak lose.  When the
unsustainable system crashes, everyone loses.

     Unless we stop government, it will destroy voluntary
cooperation and shred the fabric of our civilization in the
process.  No society built around big government and its endless
use of threats and force is sustainable.

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2013
Albert D. McCallum