As we head into our next year, we are transitioning to what could be argued as an illegitimate president due to foreign interference in the elections. This, in turn, has effectively created a Constitutional crisis, which isn’t being covered as such. This individual that will be taking hold of the reigns of power, is also an existential threat to humanity, be it through his temperament for war, and/or his wrong stance on global warming.
We’ve been creeping into the next crisis of our society for some time now, the next crisis of humanity. These are always intersections of events, when the social order that is in place, for better or for worse, is no longer sustainable. We are at that place.
The clear impact of global warming is upon us, liberal capitalism has rotted western quasi-democracies, as others have embraced extreme capitalism with an authoritarian slant in China and Russia. This has now fully reached the shores of the United States with an illegitimate president in Donald Trump.
A multitude of power structures has decided that this is an okay place to be, a place where the leader of a central nation of the world is the puppet of another nation. A place where the soon-to-be leader of this central nation is anti-intellectual, anti-science, and lives by pay-to-play politics. These power structures have decided this for TV ratings, for party purity, for reasons to keep hold of their political “power,” and economic power, or just plain ignorance of the danger we’re in.
We are at a crossroads where we must answer the question: Do we dare become more than what we are?
Can we be more than those that deny reality? Can we become more than tribalism, than greed, than property and things? Do the masses dare to resist the incoming regime?
We are nearing the brink, and a critical mass of people must decide who do we want to be. Can we dare to be more?
Can the leaders that have failed us have the capability to self-reflect, see their failure and step back for new leaders? And in doing so, can they give their life lessons to the next generation of thinkers, of doers, and those that dare to be more?
“We have created a human society that is an efficient industrial machine of destruction of our own humanity.”
The left has faced failure at every level – from those that are moderate left to the radical left. They have failed. There are some isolated successes and glimmers of hope, such as Standing Rock’s victory of a battle that is yet to be fully won.
People are scared right now because we live in uncertain times. This helps the appeal of racism, white nationalism, and xenophobia – running back to these things comforts white Americans.
It brings back a time and a thought of protection, but a nation protected by two oceans lives in profound fear of the other. And when real-life anxieties about the future, due to housing, retirement funds, decreasing spending power, the myth of the middle class, and more, these behaviors can be manipulated to come out. So they tie all of their problems to an increasing “problem with whiteness” and being under attack for being white. Their dream is being threatened by the other.
In every period of chaos, which we have been teetering on the edge for some time and are now fully entering, is a period of opportunity to change society.
We cannot focus on the battle in front of us, but the battles to come, and build the infrastructure to fight those battles. We must create not just a coherent competing ideology, but a coherent competing reality to the one presented by the right. One not based in fear, but in hope. One based on aspirations to being more than what we are.
Much of the left is disorganized at a macro scale, small groups are working together, but there is no coordination. There is no coordination of messaging, no coordination of supporting politicians and power holders that uphold an ideology of the left. There is no coordination of efforts, filling in where one group leaves off.
This vision must be at the intersections of economics, class, race, gender, sexuality, and even more. It must include a vision that will deal with the increasing societal impact of global warming, of resources stratification, of food, water, housing, of human rights and environmental justice. To be more than what we are. A society that reaches for the moon in knowing that if we miss we are among the stars.
We must be more.
A world where we decide that providing the rights of humanity is more important than the securing and protection of resources over that of the mythical “other.” As right now we are all in this game together – there is no other. We have one home, one planet we all co-inhabit.
“Local leaders, you must unshackle yourselves of your own greed, self-interests, and more. Dream and dare to be more. Aspire for your best self, for the best of humanity. We all must roll up our sleeves and make sacrifices for our own sake, and reach for what many would call a dream and ideals rooted in naivety of humans.”
Our society has not caught up to the actuality that we are living in. Through cooperation, through building together, and sharing of ideas and resources we can make it through the period of shortage of resources that will happen throughout the world. A shortage that is already happening.
Can we imagine a different world? A world that we can drop the shackles of white supremacy in seeing that upholding that order binds us all to division? Can we drop the toxicity of our patriarchy and gender norms and roles that cause psychological and physical violence that in turn create trauma and emotionally stunted populations? Can we unbind ourselves of the parasite of materialism, draining us of plentiful resources, causing many to fight for survival? Can we move beyond the lust of power and dominance as our wars feed into the destruction of all of the above and ourselves?
We have created a human society that is an efficient industrial machine of destruction of our own humanity.
We all face difficulties in this nation – automation is now driving out lots of jobs that are beyond working class, and this is just the start. Your dollar doesn’t go as far, it’s harder to save, harder to provide. What we need is not for government to get out of the way, or for government to tell you what to do. We need our government, your government, to make it so you don’t have to fight tooth-and-nail just to survive. We need a government that makes it so that you and your hard-working family can have the capability to self-determine your lives. By creating and providing opportunities through making sure you have a place to live, full access to education, full access to health care, full access to your lives, so you are free to reach for your truest self.
Local leaders, you must unshackle yourselves of your own greed, self-interests, and more. Dream and dare to be more. Aspire for your best self, for the best of humanity. We all must roll up our sleeves and make sacrifices for our own sake, and reach for what many would call a dream and ideals rooted in naivety of humans.
The cynicism shouldn’t stop you, but embolden you, as hope for the betterment of humanity can be just as infectious as our fear of each other, as our fear of the future. Do not let fear drive you. Use your anger as fuel, not to hate, but to be more. Dare to hope, dare to be more.
There is opportunity here. There is hope. We must find ways to band together and pull ourselves out of the abyss, just like we’ve done in the past. We have faced our most significant victories as a nation, as a people, as humans, when we come together for a common cause.
I’ll leave this video of Carl Sagan to open 2017, speaking of this aspiration best in what can only be thought of as poetry of humanity in “A Pale Blue Dot.”
