 Aloha, thanks for considering the views expressed in this ThinkTech commentary. While our world closes around us, our society is changing profoundly, and will never be the same. Everything seems to be changing faster, more unpredictably. There are toxic accelerants in flaming these changes. Trump has been one of them, but there are other factors too. These sea changes are disrupting everything we knew, in a tidal wave of change. Although we don't integrate these changes into our daily thinking, much like the frog in a pot of heating water. They include changes in our relationships with old friends, with new friends and with strangers, and like China, with those who exercise the power of government. This speaks of a complete reordering of our society. The problem is not so much that our governments are failing us, which they are. The much more threatening phenomenon is that our governments don't care about us anymore, and that soon enough we won't care about each other. Or worse, that our officials are becoming more interested in benefiting from, and thus exacerbating the divisions among us. Democracy can save us, but the decline of democracy and the emergence of autocracy, leads to injustice and inequitable treatment of constituents and ultimately to a complete and potentially violent breakdown of our economy and civil society. This could happen in any country, and it can happen here in the United States. We seem wholly unprepared for it. Sorry, but we will not be returning to the old normal any time soon. Instead we are going to a time very different than the time from whence we came. We need to appreciate the changes and the life experience of living in a more dangerous and dystopian world. To some, that's an interesting intellectual experience. To others, it's really terrifying. While a personal appreciation of this destructive process may somehow be comforting, the end result could take us all to a very fearful time. So we must ask ourselves what we can do to deal with this degradation, to minimize the national and global decline that is happening to our country and our world. That's the greatest challenge of all. The first thing is to realize, like the frog, that we're boiling. Then to join under the best leadership to restate our values and the rule of law, and to develop and ethically deploy the best technology to affect a recovery. Can any one person do this? Can any community do this? Can any city, state or country do this? No, but it is incumbent on each of us to do what we can. It's plain to see that we are on a road to disaster, surrounded by a red sea of deceptions drowning our democracy as we race to a desert where the Lord of the Flies rules. You won't like it, I promise. We should rather take the higher road, the road focused on protecting our institutions, our values, our people and our communities. What to do, what to do? Well, be decent, honest and kind. That could be an important guiding principle and countervailing power in the contention at hand. Only accept what you know to be true. Don't be afraid of speaking that truth to power, and never stand by idly, when you see outrage that needs correction. Complacency will destroy our society. Yes, our country is in a state of emergency and madness, and more and more the inmates are running the asylum. In the branches of government, both state and federal, business, media and the rest. The light at the end of the tunnel seems further away, but hope for happier days is still possible, although frankly that hope may now be all we have. Mahalo, thanks for considering the views expressed in this ThinkTech commentary.