The American social contract
takes the form of an unholy alliance:
If you don’t question my authority,
I won’t hold you accountable
So, when our barons traded the US industrial base
for cheap crap from China
we plebeians kept our end of the Faustian bargain
by convincing ourselves that the best way
to manage the age-old risk of
getting more than you bargained for
is to settle for less
But less is more
even and especially when
less is more trouble than it’s worth