The launch of new leadership(?) in our government raises more concerns than I could enumerate in a short piece. Perhaps that’s the intent, as they see what can stick and what fizzles. The oligarchy has taken control and bowed before the esteemed leader, perhaps a puppet of the same he thinks he controls. Everyone around the globe will be affected. Perhaps not noticed in the first 48 hours or four months, or even four years. Certainly, the language emanating from this administration is demonstrably different than we’ve experienced in my lifetime.
In 2026 there will be new Congressional elections (we hope). The party lines should be demonstrably different for voters to choose from. My fear is that they won’t be. That too many will swerve to the right, out of fear that the administration and their oligarchy will drown them in negative advertising and unending campaign contributions to their opponents. What else explains these moderate (?) Democratic Senators voting for this anti-immigrant legislation that is fraught with concerns about the abuses it will unleash. This is the complete wholesale purchase of government by the wealthy and the end of any pretense of an aspiring democracy.
Of course, it doesn’t have to play out that way. At one level there can be resolute resistance at every level to slow and reverse the attempts to destroy our democracy, to ravage the planetary gifts that provide us life, and that accumulates more wealth and power into the hands of a few. See for example, that Public Citizen and others filed a lawsuit against the administration’s attempt to bypass existing constraints on conflict of interests. Oxfam released this week its annual review of the world economy. You won’t likely be surprised that they see the concentration of wealth accelerating into the hands of TRILLIONAIRES!!
It appears clear to these eyes that these forces are not driven by any real sense of the common good, but towards the accumulation and use of power for their own ends. Some pundits suggest that this will create fissures amongst their individual wants and their combating egos and thus their project will ultimately fail. That seems an awfully risky bet to take, although it does seem to permit the holder of that dream a license to do nothing and just wait for nature to take its course and the victims be damned. Hence the need to do something, but what.
I don’t profess to have some confident approach to offer, save that whatever it is must help coalesce numerous movements for aspects of building a common good for all. There should be from the outset a shared understanding that there is no single silver-plated solution. There will be failures and shortcomings, as well as some successes and improvements. But building a sense of solidarity for an emergent notion of the common good I think, must provide the foundation.
Historian Timothy Snyder’s new book, On Freedom – makes a point of discussing how differing views of freedom lead to totally different approaches – the difference between “freedom from” vs. “freedom to”. Likewise we need to wrestle with differing views of the “common good” and maybe that’s a good place to start.
I recently finished a fascinating and eye opening book by Jeremy Lent – “The Web of Meaning”. It covers a great breadth of territory weaving many disciplines and insights into a hopeful tale of possibility. I heartily recommend it especially for the time were are in. If you’re looking for a taste of Lent’s thoughts, I stumbled this evening on this 36-minute talk he gave a year ago at the World Human Forum on “How to Change Your Mind, to Change the World: Towards the Creation of an Ecological Civilization.” The more hopeful part starts about halfway through.
More recently he has blogged since the election “The Political Cataclysm: Causes, Implications, and a Way Forward” painting a very dark possibility but offering some guidance on how each of might move ahead.
· Stay True to Your Values
· Stay Grounded Factually
· Don’t exacerbate Polarization
· Don’t Succumb to Anticipatory Obedience
· Connect With Others Whom You Trust
· Help Develop Alternatives
This week the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is scheduled to reset the Doomsday Clock, currently at the closest it has ever been since it was launched in 1948. We would be wise to see how these attuned scientists see our situation.
And as the late songwriter Phil Ochs sang: "These Are the Days of Decision".
