Addict Nation (3 page)

Nobody’s talking about this. If the government took better aim at those preventable killers, we might all be willing to embrace universal health insurance because it wouldn’t be so damn expensive!

The same concept applies to America’s other big issues, like prescription drug abuse, sexual exploitation, pollution, poverty, overpopulation, even crime and war. We must recognize that addiction is at the heart of these problems. We—as a culture—are hooked on these malignancies.

Addicts Have the Ultimate Sense of Entitlement—
Nothing Will Stop Them From Getting Their Drug
of Choice! That’s the Addict Mind-Set

We can define
addiction.
It has certain clear-cut characteristics:

an endless cycle of craving, bingeing, remorse, and withdrawal;

a progressive pattern, leading to invariably uglier and more destructive behavior until a “bottom” is hit;

obsessive rituals and elaborate paraphernalia;

defiance and denial in the face of evidence of the wreckage caused by the addiction;

strenuous and imaginative rationalizations to justify the addictive behavior;

the “user” is invariably paired with a “pusher.” One is

exploited while the other profits.

Addiction spawns its own unique culture. In every addict’s world, there is the “pusher” and, beyond, the “cartel,” which reaps the profit. This even applies to chardonnay. Back when I was drinking, I felt like I was personally supporting the entire economy of France! My American Express bill was so heavy I did bicep curls with it. Opening the bill, I would have terrifying flashbacks of yelling, “Champagne for everyone!”

Addictions Are Expensive

That holds true for our national addictions to crime, war, sexual exploitation, animal exploitation, cleanliness, overconsumption, materialism, drugs, and food. In each of these categories, there are billions, if not trillions, of dollars at stake. Anyone who seeks to expose the addictions at the heart of these problems will provoke the wrath of powerful industries and government bureaucracies that perpetuate the status quo for their own gain.

If there were no prisons, what would happen to those corporations, unions, and government bureaucrats whose sole purpose is to supply and police those prisons? One of America’s biggest “growth industries” is private prisons and related companies that have discovered a way to “cash in” on arresting, prosecuting, housing, feeding, and clothing inmates. How can they keep “growing” their business? By creating more criminals of course. (I will explain in one of the following chapters precisely how they do this.)

Hollywood also profits off of our culture of violence, selling the American public tickets to highly stylized assaults, car chases, rapes, and murders, glamorizing it all in the process.

Food addiction is making billions for fast-food manufacturers and agri-businesses that are protected by their allies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and subsidized by the U.S. government.

War addiction is fueled by the military-industrial complex. The Halliburtons and the Blackwaters make the news, but many mainstream companies also profit magnificently from war.
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Prescription drug addiction is encouraged by the secretive but powerful pharmaceutical industry that controls government decisions through its powerful lobby.

In all of the above cases, the people funding these powerful interests are you and me . . . the taxpayers and consumers. We, the people, are doubly exploited and victimized. We have to live with the albatross of addiction, and we make our enslavers rich in the process! It’s a really bad deal.

Ironically, if all us consumers/taxpayers joined forces to demand change, we, as a unit, would be more powerful than the most powerful industrial cartels. But first the American people have to “hit bottom” on these cultural addictions and feel the desire to change!

Addiction Is Progressive

A fundamental truth of addiction is that if it’s not confronted and treated, it will invariably get worse. That’s because the addict’s pleasure receptors become skewed and require an ever-increasing amount of the same substance/behavior for the high to kick in. In other words, addicts are insatiable and will always need more of their “junk” to get off and to stay high. So the addict’s predicament is always getting more perilous.

In this book, I will offer you a view into our world from an addict’s perspective and suggest where we might be headed. If you think things are bad now, imagine an America even more defined by life-threatening obesity, pervasive drug dependency, insatiable sexual perversion, ever more sadistic crime, widespread incarceration, and unnecessary war. That’s where we are headed. I cover all these stories on my show
Issues,
and I see firsthand how it’s all getting worse!

Do we really want a nation filled with citizens who are overwhelmingly obese, drug addicted, hooked on porn, and either criminally minded or potential victims? Do we really want to live in an America where a huge swath of our national resources is spent on incarcerating our own citizens and waging war on nameless, faceless strangers in foreign lands?

The choice is ours.
Addict Nation
is designed to be a blueprint for change. But first, we need to wake up to what’s happening.

This is an intervention!

Chapter One
THE STUFFERS: Addicted to Consumption

N
ot so long ago, simplicity was thrust upon me in a most bizarre and delightful way. I was sitting at my dining room table sipping a cup of French roast coffee with steamed soymilk. It was a typical foggy morning in the little beach community just south of Venice, California, which I called home. I was so close to the ocean that I could hear the waves break from where I sat. That sound has always been a comfort, reminding me of nature’s omnipresence.

That autumn morning I happened to be at a crossroads. I was between jobs and relationships and wondering what to do next. Sitting there, staring at nothing in particular, I was surprised to see a text come in on my cell phone saying that I should expect a call from a network executive at any moment. I perked up and began staring at my cell phone.

In short order, the phone rang. A delightful voice on the other end of the line offered me a job hosting my own national TV show. Oh, and by the way, I’d have to start right away, as in that very minute. I would do the show in Los Angeles that same night and then fly to New York to begin working there two days later. Wow! Now that’s quite a wake-up call! And it would prove to be in many ways.

I was thrilled and immediately said yes! It was like a gift from heaven. My eighteen years of living in Los Angeles came to an abrupt end, and life took me on its next adventure.

I packed two suitcases full of business jackets, pants, and blouses, t-shirts, pullovers, jeans, sneakers, and undies, plus a fall and winter coat. I tossed in my laptop, my iPod, a small iPod speaker, my file of bills and receipts, a few personal papers, plus some makeup and hairbrushes. My two rescue dogs went to the vet and got their travel papers, and the three of us hopped on a jet to Nueva York. Once there, we took a cab to my mom’s apartment in midtown, the very apartment where I grew up.

I suddenly found myself back in my old bedroom where I had morphed from half pint to terrible teen. It contained a twin bed, a writing table, and a nightstand with a small TV set. It would turn out that, at ninety-four, my mother finally needed somebody to live with her. Also, my dogs—extraordinarily spoiled and prone to harmonically synchronized howling when left alone—were thrilled to have a doting grandma to play with while I was at work. As an added bonus, my mom happens to live conveniently close to the HLN studios where my show is broadcast. So I decided I really didn’t need my own apartment just yet.

It didn’t take me long to start noticing something else quite shocking. All that stuff I had left in LA? I really didn’t miss it. I got rid of my car. I certainly didn’t need to ship a vehicle to New York City. It was actually a relief not to have the responsibility of a car for the first time in decades. No car insurance for one. No trips to the dealership for tune-ups. No fender benders. No hunting for a parking spot. No stops at the gas station. No garages. No speeding tickets. Yippee! Not having a car frees up a lot of time and money. I also didn’t miss that fancy big-screen TV I had left behind. It used to seduce me into watching way too many movies.