Thursday, September 14, 2006
Democrats
I got a letter from the Democratic Party today in which they pledged to "play offense" against the current Republican lockdown on power in the USA. Setting aside my weariness with the pervasive use of American football metaphors in American political discourse, I thought this was perhaps a faint sign of life from a party that has seemed powerless and ineffectual in the face of a well-orchestrated, strategic campaign of world domination (by any means necessary) on the part of the Republican party and the neo-conservatives who currently reign in the Republican camp.
I hope the Democrats will make some progress and have some success, but this is just because I see them as a lesser evil. To me, the two-party system that has been deeply entrenched in this country for many generations now already represented a substantial subversion of the promise of democracy even before the Republican leadership saw an opportunity to subvert the system even further by making it more of a one-party system. Most Americans don't pay much attention to arcane things like Congressional procedural rules, redistricting, and how the votes are (or are not) counted in each of the thousands of voting precincts across this rather large country. They are therefore largely unaware of the structural lockdown and decidedly un-level playing field that Democrats face in trying to regain any meaningful power any time soon, even assuming the majority of the public wants them in.
An excerpt from my response:
I hope the Democrats will make some progress and have some success, but this is just because I see them as a lesser evil. To me, the two-party system that has been deeply entrenched in this country for many generations now already represented a substantial subversion of the promise of democracy even before the Republican leadership saw an opportunity to subvert the system even further by making it more of a one-party system. Most Americans don't pay much attention to arcane things like Congressional procedural rules, redistricting, and how the votes are (or are not) counted in each of the thousands of voting precincts across this rather large country. They are therefore largely unaware of the structural lockdown and decidedly un-level playing field that Democrats face in trying to regain any meaningful power any time soon, even assuming the majority of the public wants them in.
An excerpt from my response:
I just made a small contribution, so I am supporting your cause.
But I do have some issues...
You wrote: "Republicans have won two elections since 9/11 by instilling fear in people, and they're trying to do it again this year."
But they didn't win those elections really, did they? They STOLE those elections with fraudulent black-box "voting" (which isn't really voting at all), criminal disenfranchisement, and corrupt redistricting. The fearmongering certainly helps them, making the elections closer than they would be otherwise, and thus easier to steal. But I am disappointed in the Democratic Party's relative silence on these issues.
You also wrote: "They failed to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, and five years after September 11th he still lives to taunt Americans."
I think the real priority should simply be to try to repair our relations with the entire world. If Osama bin Laden is killed, that will still leave a billion or so people who wish the USA would just hurry up and implode already, as it seems intent on doing sooner or later.
There are those who suspect that the real puppeteers who control the current administration may be the same people who control Osama. But regardless of one's position on that issue, it is clear that the current administration is committed to using him as the bogeyman that they need for their fearmongering strategy, when the real danger is closer to home. I would like to see less pushing of the Osama button and more focus on the ethics, logic, honesty and real respect for human life... things the current administration demonstrably lacks.
...
As I see it, this nation has some deep digging to do if it's going to correct the flaws in its character and make amends for its past bad behavior. Especially considering the global environmental pressures along with the geopolitical ones, I foresee a difficult readjustment coming. It may become a wrenching process even for the American masses, instead of just for certain disenfranchised groups, e.g. Iraqis, Afgans, our armed forces personnel, detainees, inmates, poor people, people in New Orleans, veterans... and people who live in foreign countries where US "covert" operations have decided to influence elections and change/install puppet regimes or where economic meddling (via the Federal Reserve, the IMF, and the World Bank) has disrupted and degraded their economies and political systems.
Most of us prefer not to look squarely at these issues most of the time. It can seem like a downer, and it all gets quite complex... too much for most people to master or follow. Complexity can be an excellent place to hide corruption. Law libraries are filled with countless volumes of dry, confusing language that most people can't decipher. One piece of legislation requiring a yes or no vote could be a thousand pages (these days usually written by lawyers working for the very corporations that the legislation purports to regulate) and senators and congressmen may be given only hours to examine it before it is forced through as an "emergency" measure. The operations of banks, monetary flows, and the mechanisms by which currency itself is created are a complete mystery to most people; To the extent that any of the financial entities involved ever condescend to say anything about what they're doing, it is rarely any more than a carefully-edited statement couched in arcane jargon that most people cannot decipher. The science of global warming is complex enough that there will still be plenty of room for people to continue arguing and raising plausible-sounding objections even as the planet groans, the ice caps melt and the rising tides displace a few hundred million people.
I have taken the time to try to understand some of these technicalities. It's kind of like a reconnaissance mission to Mars sometimes. Having returned from that mission, here is my three-word status report: fascinating, but troubling.
Last weekend I spent some time in San Diego. I went for a walk late Sunday night. There's a nice path that follows the trolley line along the western edge of the old Gaslamp District. I noticed a plaque on the ground beside the path:
Dr. King was right. Our nation was in a crucial situation in his time, and had an opportunity to step up to the plate, to really get sincere and serious about its professed high ideals, and to take a leap of faith into acting from love instead of fear. But the nation didn't fully embrace that opportunity, and fear (which is the foundation of greed, power madness, territorialism, dishonesty, hypocrisy, blame, secrecy, and corruption in general) kept its seat on the governing board. The ironic thing about fear (which could also be loosely translated as "the Devil") is that it is nothing by itself. It only has as much power as we give it; it only grows as much as we feed it. It comes from our evolutionary history... life forms evolving in a competitive environment where a measure of fear provided a survival advantage. But if we fail to evolve beyond it, we may fail to survive much longer in a changing world.
From an old song by The Police:
Modern politicians have refined this art, being consistently rewarded for their professions of reverence for their countries and their patriotism and their deep gratitude for those who sacrifice their lives for "liberty." I don't mean to say that everyone who ever talks that way is being entirely manipulative and insincere. Fear doesn't require your informed consent in order to steal your energies; It is perfectly happy simply to brainwash you and divide you against yourself.
Nationalism is obsolete. Our best hope now is not a "political solution," but a spiritual revolution. I see that happening around me, in pockets. I try to find and create pockets of my own. My father once said, "I'd rather have 100% control of a nickel than a 5% share in a dollar." That was basically his way of saying "Think globally, act locally." I don't know whether the pockets of higher consciousness and love that I see will be enough to turn the speeding locomotive from its committed course, but maybe it doesn't matter. Wherever people succeed in acting from consciousness and love, I can see that as a good thing that has its own eternal existence, in spite of what may happen before, around, or after it.
It's all temporary. None of this was ever meant to last forever. I guess the fact that we transcend our troubled evolution at all is miracle enough. And we do, here and there, now and then.
Most of us prefer not to look squarely at these issues most of the time. It can seem like a downer, and it all gets quite complex... too much for most people to master or follow. Complexity can be an excellent place to hide corruption. Law libraries are filled with countless volumes of dry, confusing language that most people can't decipher. One piece of legislation requiring a yes or no vote could be a thousand pages (these days usually written by lawyers working for the very corporations that the legislation purports to regulate) and senators and congressmen may be given only hours to examine it before it is forced through as an "emergency" measure. The operations of banks, monetary flows, and the mechanisms by which currency itself is created are a complete mystery to most people; To the extent that any of the financial entities involved ever condescend to say anything about what they're doing, it is rarely any more than a carefully-edited statement couched in arcane jargon that most people cannot decipher. The science of global warming is complex enough that there will still be plenty of room for people to continue arguing and raising plausible-sounding objections even as the planet groans, the ice caps melt and the rising tides displace a few hundred million people.
I have taken the time to try to understand some of these technicalities. It's kind of like a reconnaissance mission to Mars sometimes. Having returned from that mission, here is my three-word status report: fascinating, but troubling.
Last weekend I spent some time in San Diego. I went for a walk late Sunday night. There's a nice path that follows the trolley line along the western edge of the old Gaslamp District. I noticed a plaque on the ground beside the path:
"History has thrust upon our generation an indescribably important destiny—to complete a process of democratization which our nation has too long developed too slowly, but which is our most powerful weapon for world respect and emulation. How we deal with this crucial situation will determine our moral health as individuals, our cultural health as a region, our political health as a nation, and our prestige as a leader of the free world. If America is to respond creatively to the present crisis, many groups and agencies must rise above the reiteration of generalities and begin to take an active part in changing the face of their nation."I hadn't heard this quote before, and the plaque didn't say whose words they were. But I felt I recognized the pattern of thought, feeling and expression. I have internet access on my phone now, and so I did some checking. Sure enough, it was Dr. King.
Dr. King was right. Our nation was in a crucial situation in his time, and had an opportunity to step up to the plate, to really get sincere and serious about its professed high ideals, and to take a leap of faith into acting from love instead of fear. But the nation didn't fully embrace that opportunity, and fear (which is the foundation of greed, power madness, territorialism, dishonesty, hypocrisy, blame, secrecy, and corruption in general) kept its seat on the governing board. The ironic thing about fear (which could also be loosely translated as "the Devil") is that it is nothing by itself. It only has as much power as we give it; it only grows as much as we feed it. It comes from our evolutionary history... life forms evolving in a competitive environment where a measure of fear provided a survival advantage. But if we fail to evolve beyond it, we may fail to survive much longer in a changing world.
From an old song by The Police:
"There is no political solutionI'm starting to think that must be true. The very concept of the "nation" is, to me, a bankrupt one. National pride, patriotism... these are now antiquated and mostly obsolete vestiges of a troubled past which are now liabilities; their main function is to provide a set of psychological buttons and levers for cynical power brokers to push and pull in mobilizing great masses of people to act against their own interests (and those of life on earth in general) in favor of other more covert and selfish agendas. It's an enormous con.
To a troubled evolution."
Modern politicians have refined this art, being consistently rewarded for their professions of reverence for their countries and their patriotism and their deep gratitude for those who sacrifice their lives for "liberty." I don't mean to say that everyone who ever talks that way is being entirely manipulative and insincere. Fear doesn't require your informed consent in order to steal your energies; It is perfectly happy simply to brainwash you and divide you against yourself.
Nationalism is obsolete. Our best hope now is not a "political solution," but a spiritual revolution. I see that happening around me, in pockets. I try to find and create pockets of my own. My father once said, "I'd rather have 100% control of a nickel than a 5% share in a dollar." That was basically his way of saying "Think globally, act locally." I don't know whether the pockets of higher consciousness and love that I see will be enough to turn the speeding locomotive from its committed course, but maybe it doesn't matter. Wherever people succeed in acting from consciousness and love, I can see that as a good thing that has its own eternal existence, in spite of what may happen before, around, or after it.
It's all temporary. None of this was ever meant to last forever. I guess the fact that we transcend our troubled evolution at all is miracle enough. And we do, here and there, now and then.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
A poem from 2002
Rain
Children are born each day
in countless thousands,
falling among us
like drops of rain.
Some soak in quickly.
Some run.
