8/1/2016

Politics and The Second Law of Thermodynamics

Just a brief reflection on the upcoming election and it’s potential consequences.  In my opinion, there are three key areas where the Obama administration has failed, one of which is a ticking time bomb threatening to seriously damage if not totally take our economy and nation down.  That is our exploding national debt which has increased from $10.6 trillion when he took office on January 20, 2009 and will have nearly doubled to $20+ trillion by the time he leaves office next January.  In order to convert this from the “eyes glazed over” figure of $20 trillion to something understandable by at least a small fraction of the population, that amounts to about a quarter of a million dollars for every family of four in the country.  Interest on that debt has to be paid every year and an interest rate of 3% that amounts to $7,500 for our model family.  That amount either comes from the income tax we all pay or it comes from further government borrowing and further increase in debt.  Under the stewardship of our current politicians, the later has been the case.  Sooner or later, our creditors will realize the risk is too great and will stop lending us more so we will be forced to pay the interest and consequently cut government spending, possibly in critical defense and entitlement areas.  Interest rates at the very low level of 3% may also be raised by our creditors.  10% is not at all too high based on history and that would mean at today’s level of debt, each family of four would own $25,000 per year eating up virtually all income tax revenues.  Our country would essentially be bankrupt and we would all suffer extreme financial loss.  Homes and jobs would be lost and the U.S. would decline to the depths of the world’s poorest nations.  Not a pretty picture but certainly possible and something our politicians barely mention.
The second major area of failure of the Obama administration is the concept of leadership.  A good leader would tirelessly work to bring together the various factions of government to solve such serious problems.  It seems to me that a President should be constantly forming and facilitating working groups of bipartisan congressmen and women to develop action plans to solve our major problems, not acting aloof and pronouncing that it is either his way or the highway.
The third area of failure is a prime example of where such a facilitated working group could have been very effective, i.e., solving the problem of illegal immigration and it’s corollary of rampant illegal importation of drugs.  To not only allow illegal immigration to continue but to further aggravate the problem by rewarding  people who are illegally in our country with government benefits, seriously erodes people’s confidence in our government’s ability to uphold the rule of law,  an essential element that binds our nation together and allows our society to function in an orderly and respected manner.  Immigration is good but it should only be permitted to occur legally and through the front door.
So, where does the second law of thermodynamics fit into all of this?  Everything in the universe, all matter, all structure is gradually but surely progressing to the state of lowest energy.  In the scale of the entire universe, the second law of thermodynamics predicts that all formed matter, all stars, all planets, all asteroids, i.e., everything will end up as totally dispersed elemental particles in the endless sea of space.  On smaller scales, all life eventually dies and returns to dust, buildings eventually crumble and return to the land and as stated the land itself eventually disperses as elemental particles in the endless sea of space.  Likewise, civilizations, nations and all other forms of human organization are temporary in the long run.  The U.S. will not last forever but if we are judicious, it may last longer than if we are foolish.  The question that I am now contemplating is which U.S. presidential nominee will hasten our nation’s fulfillment of the second law of thermodynamics.  What do you think?
Post Note!  I realize that many of the above thoughts have simply been dropped on the reader without full development and I apologize for that but I just wanted to briefly frame the upcoming election in a brief and hopefully thought-provoking way.