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Five Minutes To Midnight...

unknown

1946

Published in:

• Northwest Area News, May 1994, No. 124 This was adapted and condensed from Information brief, #5, March 1946.

Most of us are familiar with the old fairy tail of Cinderella and how her fairy godmother, in order to give her one evening of pleasure, changed a pumpkin into a beautiful golden coach, drawn by six white horses transformed from mice and complete with coachmen and footmen. Cinderella, we remember, went to the king's ball, beautifully gowned, and she had the time of her young life. There was only one catch to it—she had to leave before midnight, because promptly at that time all would be changed back to its original state. The beautiful coach would be only a pumpkin; the horses would again become mice; and Cinderella herself would return to her chimney corner. But Cinderella was having such a wonderful time that she forgot to watch the clock and it was FIVE MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT when she realized it was too late to get home before everything would be gone. But you know the rest of the story. The next day Cinderella had nothing left but the memory of a wonderful time.

The story of Cinderella makes an interesting comparison with the attitude of most North Americans, entranced by the make-believe of a paper moon over a cardboard sea and wistfully hoping it will last 'till the wells run dry and the mountains disappear. Today, when all signs point to the imminence of the greatest economic crisis in our history, a few heed the warning; a few realize that the time is at hand—that the hour is about to strike.

So look out, Cinderella. Your counterpart in the fairy tale had a deadline set on her fun, and so have you! Whether you realize it or not, your fun is limited. At the stroke of midnight, your fun, too, comes to an end. Your beautiful golden coach of war prosperity will vanish with the signing of the peace treaties, and tomorrow you will have nothing left but the memories of a perfectly lovely "binge."

For many years Technocracy has been preparing for the machine age and has been pointing out to the people of this Continent the nature of our problems and how they can be met successfully. So for all you modern-day Cinderellas, think:

Not Produce for profit, but Produce for Function

Not Sell to the Market, but Distribute to Consume

Not Financial Resources, but Natural Resources

Not Medium of Exchange, but Medium of Distribution

Not Booms and Depressions, but Balanced Load Operations

Not Business Methods, but the Scientific Method

Not More Postwar Promises, but More Goods and Services

Not Political Machinery, but Functional Sequences

Not Decision by Opinions, but Decision by Facts

Not Dictatorship of the Proletariat, but Dictums of Technology

Not Class Warfare, but Mass Social Action

Not Equality of Birth, but Equality of Opportunity

Not The Nobility of Labor, but Energy and Technology

Not The Right to Work, but The Opportunity to Consume

Not Security in Old Age, but Security from Birth to Death

Not Pie in the Sky When You Die, but Abundance Now

Not Private Right and Privileges, but The General Welfare

Not Free Enterprise, but Free Technology

Not Sovereign States, but Mechanics of Area Operations

Not Geopolitics, but Geotechnics

Not Chiselocracy, but Technocracy

Not Back to Normalcy, but Forward to the New America