The election is over and so is Halloween. I wonder why I thought of them in the same sentence? However, this is how I write. Seldom do I know what I’m going to write about until I start typing. I paint the same way. No matter how much prep work I do, the images that want to be painted take over. I’m not implying that there is some kind of divine revelation, its more that my unconscious side takes over and I get to learn what is really going on under the surface.
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| Corey's dog Minnie enjoying outsider bliss. |
In a love relationship, especially when we are young, we project the things we don’t know about ourselves onto the other person, both good and bad. Actually, the sequence is first good and then bad. Sometimes disillusionment is exactly the right experience. The trick is not to stop with bitterness and cynicism. After the tantrums and grief, the real revelations can begin. We would all be at our best if we did a restart with the “beginners mind.”
Many things are possible. I can fantasize that Hillary will free herself from the trail of politics and find a different style of service. As things are now, a woman has to take on the persona of male leadership. Perhaps she will find a more befitting path to service.
Donald’s win seemed disastrous to peace and progress, but things are often something other than what they seem. The absurd fight between parties has stalemated the flow of progress. After talks, contentious arguments and name-calling, nothing changes. Let’s see what happens now.
I don’t find either side believable, “Let’s make America great again” or the belief that we have taken the first move in the end game. End games happen over and over in history, and I don’t know what would make America great. America is a section of earth with lots of people on it, and it has yet to become the United States. It isn’t a god, at least I hope not, and doesn’t justify worship. I saw a demonstrator's sign on the news that said, “Let’s make America kind again.” I’m not convinced America was ever kind without ulterior motives but it’s a much finer goal. Greatness has historically involved a lot of intrigue and bloodshed. It’s quite likely the real road to healthy change is not on any existing political path.
There are many empty slogans and claims. We can make assertions for our country that would be intolerable in an individual. “Leader of the free world” and, “the greatest nation on earth” being two of them. It was not very long ago that Britain claimed similar titles. I’m not repudiating that America wields a lot of international power, but power trips tend to end badly, and it is morally wrong for its people to be sacrificed to a country as if it were a god. Perhaps we haven’t yet moved as far beyond the worship of our leaders as we believe. Agnosticism is a good option here. Personal freedom is hard work and requires courage and rigorous self-examination. This may be a social evolutionary step that Americans will be challenged to develop.
I liked the analogy to relationships. We “honeymoon” until we can't. Then the marriage begins, and then the “disillusionment” and hopefully the revelations. Perhaps America has never passed phase one – with democracy.
ReplyDeleteDemocracy is a messy business, always is, and it's supposed to be. Nothing is ever permanent. It's the “eternal civil debate” (Jefferson) which is rarely ever civil. I don't think Americans know that. They look/fight for some illusory “end time” when everyone will finally think, look, act, and worship alike. It's called utopia, and if the early 20th century taught us anything, thanks to a few megalomaniacs, it's that utopias don't work.
Apropos of that, America never was “kind,” and democracy never will be, that is if we want a democracy.
This piece reminds me of a website I visited recently where the author alluded to the same thing: that we need to get past the “otherness” aspect, the idea of blaming/fearing an enemy/opposite. Hopefully this election will catalyze us (as Americans) to finally focus on what doesn't work beneath that very pernicious setup. It's like being willing to stick with the marriage for deeper revelations beneath the “tantrums and grief.”
And you're right. Trump now leads. I liken it to the day after the Hiroshima bomb. This is the “national disconnect from reality.” Those of us, still alive, are walking around dazed, in denial, and just picking up where we left off. What alternative have we?? We're trying to “normalize.” On the other hand, hopefully, we're also beginning to realize that Hillary and Don are two heads from the same Hydra. One really isn't any less monstrous than the other, and maybe this is why you (and I) feel strangely “okay” about it. There was no “lesser evil” here. It's the system that grows the monster.
Lots of people think that two big differences between these two “heads” are global warming and women's rights. But intuitively, this is where I think we see a deeper syndrome at work – the body of the snake. Yes, one is a thoughtless womanizer, but the other defends “fracking” and took $21 million in speaking fees from oil & gas. One is a reckless outsider, but the other is a hardened career politician who talks from both sides of her mouth. And in the end Washington's golden rule stays: “the preservation of the status quo” They call it the “Potomac Two-Step.” Again, we miss the point.
This truly is an “agnostic” phase for our republic, as it needs to be. Maybe we'll figure it out, finally.
Watching coal miners on the news. They voted for Trump with the hope that he would save their income. It's inevitably tough for people who are dependent on a particular industry.Trump isn't going to save them, but Hillary was not saying anything that would give them hope. It's sad that people no longer have control of their own destiny. The economic system is controlled by big business and that is something a billionaire like Trump is about as unlikely to fix as a wolf is to protect a flock of sheep.
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