Feeding the Beast

I'm reading a book right now. Well, several. But this one in particular is fascinating to me.

It's "Restless Giant" by James Patterson, a historian of some note, and it covers the period of US history between Watergate and Bush vs Gore.

That's not to say it doesn't touch on events before or after those two, hitting on the end of the Vietnam conflict, the Civil Rights Act and the general feeling of hope that existed in post-WWII America.

Mostly, though, it points to legislation and says "this is where the fedaral and state-level governments applied this law, and look where it got us".

Granted, it's not all bad news, it's just sometimes tough reading. The granting of specific civil rights has resulted in the ever-more granular social groups who either can't or won't understand each other, and are becoming more and more entrenched in their shrinking sects.

What fascinates me is the notion that for all the good that the few politicians try to do, the majority of them undermine the good work by using legislation designed to make the world fair to increase the disparity between the poor and the super-wealthy. They may not have that goal in mind when they act, but when the goal is wealth and they're all working towards the same goal, those who have wealth will be beter able to execute their rights and exploit everyone else's.

I'm not surprised by it, but the older I get, the more I learn about the machine, the less I worry about it and the more I am inspired to act.