A revolution in 3 easy steps:

STEP 1: combine all ingredients in a pot, cover on medium heat for 1–2 months.

Over the next two months we will approach the first peak COVID-19 infection wave. The healthcare systems in most areas will collapse. Like we’ve seen in Italy already, the sick will be treated in hallways, parking lots or not at all. Doctors will be forced to decide which people get the scarce resources to save their lives and who dies. For the 99% of Americans that have not been to war, this situation will make society unrecognizable in a way they never thought possible.

Few are talking about the psychological trauma we’re going to experience collectively. Stress and anxiety will be extreme. Most will know someone, a friend, family member, coworker or celeb who gets seriously sick or dies. All are about to suffer prolonged effects of isolation. (Many prisoners can take a beating, few come out of extended periods of SHU solitary the same).

This period will also coincide with a near complete shut down of any non-essential economic activity for both The Masses and 401k class. Getting your hair cut by a family member won’t just be for 2 year olds any more. Fast food will be a luxury if we’re even permitted to get it. Over the next weeks and months, The Masses will survive by creating ad hoc tribes of family, friends and neighbors to share resources.

“Parisians require only the comic opera and white bread.” — Voltaire

Let’s not forget that the storming of the Bastille which kicked off the French Revolution began not just as a hunt for arms but also grain. Although I am sure the supermarket shelves will remain mostly stocked over the next few months with only minor to moderate global supply chain hiccups, The Masses, even in their collectives, might not be able to afford much soon. This will be a big problem without an easy or fast solution.

STEP 2: the mixture will boil and temporarily overflow.

COVID-19 has not replaced the regular flu. The seasonal flu is still lurking about making people sick by the thousands. However, COVID-19 has exacerbated the effects of common place aliments as there are fewer doctors, hospital beds and resources. So too we can’t forget that in the best of times there are those among us that are so on the edge they choose robbery and crime as a survival tactic. The pressures experienced by The Masses will force more to select this method. A few of the 401k Class might find themselves “long time listener, first time desperate” (perhaps the most dangerous group). Some will sneak into a neighbors pantry, the Steinbeck fans might simply pluck food from the fields, looting might be the solution for entire neighborhoods on the brink. And with nearly 400,000,000 guns sprinkled in the mix, some of these encounters may lack Dickensian charm.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures” — Hippocrates, Greek physician

The likelihood of social unrest probably sounds far fetched to many readers. However, even your cuddly domesticated pal Scraps becomes a wild animal if chained to a post and not fed for days. As a society we have done a pretty good job at keeping social cohesion considering the number of desperate among us in the best of times. 38.1 million people lived in poverty in 2018. Most of these folks were still able to survive, soon many won’t. In the US, we have basically segregated and policed the desperate into an invisible background. However, much like our health care mechanics, our “desperation containment system” is likely optimized for normal times with little excess capacity. What happens when 911 doesn’t pick up on the first ring or even at all?

To disagree with some level of social unrest as a corona crisis byproduct, you must place chips on all or many of the following bets:

Normalcy will return before the food and dollars of the most vulnerable run out.

A combination of government, local institutions and/or businesses will step in to provide help for all who need it in time.

Something unique about our culture will prevent bad behavior from desperate men.

We’ll have sufficient policing available to contain any eruptions and deter the spread.

My god, I hope this is the case.

STEP 3: your revolution is ready

The COVID-19 pandemic has already changed us. We all got a crash course in virology and social distancing. We found out the USA certainly ain’t #1 when it comes to hospital beds per capita. And, perhaps most importantly, there are far fewer certainties — whether its freedom of movement, a doctor when you need one or Disneyland being open.

“There is no fate but what we make” — The Terminator, Terminator 2

A revolution will be the end result of these never before times. It may ultimately be peaceful and bring some form of universal healthcare, UBI or regime change. The central banks get together and call these next months a mulligan. Maybe the virus is really cured by Alex Jones’ “nano-silver” toothpaste and we have nothing to worry about.

Or perhaps the fabric of society rips and frays in a way we never thought imaginable. Many of us might understand what it feels like to live in a neighborhood where you absolutely lock your doors and don’t go out at night. We may experience a depression in a modern era where there are more social media influencers than farmers.

Even in the worst case scenario, there may be a silver lining. In horrible times, the value of family, friendship and the smallest things take on their appropriate worth. My 92 year old Grandma was a child of the depression and always despised waste. I had to throw my bread crust away on the sly or get a talking to. Perhaps we need this species-level reset to reform our wasteful and unsustainable ways. Maybe this virus might just usher in the Age of Aquarius the hippies and Manson foretold.

If so, let’s hope we can endure the bumps in the road along the way.