Are we dogs... or are we wolves?

My dog just came up to me for a little attention. He's had his breakfast, we played a bit outside, and now he is laying on my front porch secure from a hostile world. When he stared into my eyes as I scratched his ears, I remembered my last walk in the woods, a hike to the head waters of the Hazel River in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Very few people realize that there are wolves in Virginia. The USFWS has been releasing wolves into National Forests since 2002. I haven't encountered one; however, I look forward to the experience. Black bears... I see those all the time. They are like Deer, everywhere... and they want nothing to do with us.

Dogs are genetically indistinguishable from Wolves. Dogs have simply been "Domesticated". Over the centuries, they have learned to live off the kindness of their human masters. They wouldn't last long in the wild.

Wolves, on the other hand, are social predators. They live in packs, mate for life and raise families, and cooperate to hunt. When I think about wolves, I realize that our ancestors organized in a similar manner.

Are we, as a species becoming "domesticated?" I think so. Some of us resist domestication. We prefer minimal dependance on others, few rules, and the right to "organize to hunt". That "organize to hunt" (to me, I really don't care if you disagree) translates into freedom to engage in the free market with other people to exchange things we need for things other people need to survive. We might be the folks who think of those things, make those things, or exchange those things (and roles may overlap).

Others prefer to be "taken care of". Government is "domesticating" us. It has created a generation and culture of people who prefer that the Government manage every aspect of their lives. I actually know a couple of folks who probably have never received a check for labor during their entire lives that didn't have the seal of the United States Government on it.

I believe that the system that is "domesticating" us has failed. The collapse of Government's economies around the world is evidence of the problems caused by the complexity that accompanies grand schemes to organize its population and control the means of production.

So... the question is... can a dog return to the life of a wolf? No, they can't. They have lost the instinct to hunt. They simply don't know how to survive in the wild. The skills are gone.

Likewise, can people who have spend a lifetime living off the expectation that the Government will provide for their every need from cradle to grave survive in a world without that "Big Government"? The biggest product of "Big Government" (in my opinion) is the Middle Class. It was artificially created by unrealistic wage demands made by unions protected by our isolation from the competition of labor in other parts of the world and the complexity of producing overseas. It was fueled by Government's "misguided" attempts to create the vision that everyone should own a home.

For the record, I don't begrudge anyone a nice house, a color TV, a couple of cars, a boat in the backyard, etc. I just don't want to finance it. Government (IMHO) has redefined "winning" as "stuff". I think winning should be measured by "happiness". The "happiest" and most generous people I have encountered in the world had "nothing" compared to even the poorest American family. I will admit exposure to this changed my thinking about society and goals forever.

As the world grew smaller, foreign products entered our markets and labor around the world became easier to tap, the "American Dream" turned out to be really a "Dream" instead of a sustainable social and economic model. The "American Dream" of home ownership became the "American Millstone" locking families into houses that are upside down regarding financing (or, houses that can't easily be sold) and a requirement for a job (or jobs) that pay for the artificial lifestyle that was emphasized by "Big Government". This isn't just an American pattern, it's a pattern of the Industrialized world. As I watch Greece unfold, I realize that its problems are very similar to ours.

Things will never be the same. Those who focus on a return to "what was" are exacerbating our recovery. Jobs are coming back as labor reaches global equilibrium and American workers are becoming competitive once again; however, thats a slow process. Home ownership is an impediment to matching labor to work as homes decrease mobility (or people expect the job to come to them). "Big Government" is getting in the way of National Equilibrium when organizations such as the NLRB dictate to companies such as Boeing where they may manufacture their goods (favoring Union States instead of Right to Work States).

Why would companies such as Boing stay in a Country that meddles in its most fundamental business decisions? "Big Government" gave the Airbus A380 (which is manufactured in sixteen sights in four EU countries), Boeing's competition, a "leg up" in the free market and perhaps damaged our ability to compete in that market.

I'll admit, this post is longer than I expected... but then you don't have to read it. My point is that many of "us" have lost the will or skills to "hunt" for a way to take care of our families. I've lived in some "pretty bad" neighborhoods and have seen what "having nothing" looks like up close and personal. My primary observation (and one of the reasons I'm a Libertarian) is that people who lose everything but the will to "hunt" quickly recover.

Government has created too many expectations that it may no longer fulfill. Those who are fully "domesticated" are waiting for Government to solve the problem. The "problem" is (INHO) that Government has traditionally take the strategy of addressing "symptoms" to make people "feel better" for a while. In the meantime, the "problem" grows. Its sort of like the Flue. We treat the symptoms; however, the virus builds a resistance to our treatment over time. The result is a pandemic.

I think what we are seeing is an economic pandemic that is the result of too many decades treating symptoms instead of addressing the underlying problem.

For those of you expecting to see some "big idea" to solve the problem next in this post, I'm sorry do disappoint you. I take every opportunity to advocate for smaller Government and less spending at all levels to reduce the size, complexity, and influence of Government on our lives. I recognize that there are folks who see this as an opportunity to make Government even larger and more involved in our lives and that scares me. This is the most complex math problem that we have ever faced... and no one understands the math. That's why my simple mantra is, "Simplify" to survive.

I look at everything in terms of evolution. We may learn from history so as to not repeat it; however, everything we do today is the result of all that has been. I don't know if we, as a species, will evolve into domesticated animals or if the collapse of economies around the world might eventually cause us to return to a "hunter" model. this isn't about "good" or "bad", "better" or "worse", "smarter" or "dumber", it is simply an observation that perhaps people are at an "inflection point" regarding our evolutionary path.

The only thing I know for sure is that I won't be around to see the end state. And yes... I'd like to think I'm a Wolf... but I'm realistic enough to recognize that I've evolved a bit also. I'll be happy thinking of myself as a "wild dog" perhaps trying to return form whence we came. The question is, can I (or any of us) go back?