When Should I Die?

Are you thinking that it might be over soon? I am.

Having a heart attack in 2014 scared me into writing down everything that I thought might be worth sharing. I put it on http://lilleskole.us as “Life’s Lessons.” It’s kind of the story of my life for anybody who might be interested.

When Covid-19 hit, I felt OK about dying at first, because my story is told. But then I started to panic. For years, I’ve been talking about how lucky I have been to have seen the changes I’ve seen. What a weird wonderful world of changes we have had, especially since 1980 when America’s rich people began to get desperate!

But I want to see how it all comes out. I can see immense changes taking place during, because of, this pandemic.

• On Line Learning gets a boost
• Physical transportation gets squeezed
• Socialism becomes a popular word
• Capitalism gets examined
• Cooperation is revealed as the only way forward

I have been advocating these 5 things for decades. I don’t like having a pandemic to teach us lessons, but I still like the lessons. I’m very enthusiastic about seeing how these ideas play out.

Also, I’ve been fascinated with fascism for a long long time. I’ve written dozens of essays about what it is, how it came about in Germany and Italy, and how we can avoid it today. The best description I ever heard of fascism is this one, “Fascism is capitalism in its death throes.”

Fascism is a choice that rulers make. They decide that limited democracy (what Germany had prior to 1931 and what we have always had in America) doesn’t suit them any more. So they take the gloves off and start looking for hoodlums to help them get the workers in line.

We are experiencing death throes of capitalism all over the world. Right now. Hungary, this past week, is going to try fascism. Brazil and lots of other countries, including the United States, have already edged very close to total fascism.

I’m pulling for democracy. I think that Americans believe in democracy and, if they ever figure out what’s happening, will fight for it and win. But maybe they won’t.

I just want to be around to see how it all comes out. I long to see these changes. But I realized that none of us ever gets to see how things come out. We all die before then. Because things don’t really come out. Everything about human society is a never ending battle.

Just to make it clear, let’s suppose that Bernie Sanders somehow wins the presidency along with both houses of congress and the leadership of every state. Would that mean there are no more battles to be fought? No more problems to overcome?

When the Bolsheviks took over the Russian Empire, Vladimir Lenin said, “Now the real work begins.” He died, incidentally, before it was finished. But that’s OK because it will never be finished.

So if I become another notch on Covid-19’s gun, I won’t go willingly but I will understand.

–Gene Lantz

I’m on KNON radio’s “Workers Beat” program at 9AM Central Time every Saturday. If you are curious about what I actually think, check out my personal web site