Does the economy have to be growing?

 I’ve been reading a lot of eco-fiction lately, and I’m even working on a story that somewhat falls into that genre, and it all got me thinking about a conversation I’d had with a friend many years ago. Both of us were quite political, but didn’t always see eye to eye on things. He was a card carrying Democrat, and pretty much bought everything the dems said and did. I, on the other hand, have always been an adamant supporter of the destruction of the two-party system. I see both parties, with the exclusion of other parties, as an evil that the US can’t survive.

Now, on this particular day, we were discussing the economy. He made the observation that the American economy was like a flower. It had to either be growing or dying. I looked at him for what was probably ten seconds, because it just didn’t make any sense to me, and then I finally countered with my point of view.

The American economy is not like a flower, but rather the individuals within that economy are the flowers, growing richer or poorer. The American economy was more like the field of flowers. Some flowers are growing and some are dying, but the overall status of the field is to remain stable. Nature survives best with stability, so it was my point of view that the US economy should remain stable, rather than constantly trying to grow.

To this day, I still say that the American ideal of constantly growing the economy, and the GDP, is one of the biggest problems America faces. We’re so caught up in growth that we’re destroying everything else, and ultimately, our system will fail. And it doesn’t matter what any Democrat or Republican might tell you…their focus is in making the corporations of America richer…and that does not work in favor of “We the People.”