By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

I read recently that people are experiencing 'Avatar depression.' Having visited that natural, pristine and brilliantly-colored fantasy world, they're experiencing a sudden and discouraged awakening that we haven't made very much of our own. Let me rephrase that for them: we made ours in conflict with what is natural and self-sustaining, investing little effort to protect what was vital, and let other people decide our reality for us. There's good news and bad news in such disenchantment. Yes, we've fouled the planet, turned away from peaceful endeavors, behaved like noxious children on a rampage and gone so deeply asleep to our natural and authentic persona that digging it out of the muck now seems a lifework. The good news? We're noticing.

Noticing, they say, is half the battle; in days such as these, maybe that's most of it, and definitely the next step. I was pretty young when I noticed that almost all things humankind managed to accomplish were a day late and a dollar short on the original act of creation. Every bit of the marvelous new technology we'd produced had a downside, a dangerous application or side-effect, that required us to all be on the same page morally in order to call it 'progress.' For far too long the assumption has been that we are morally agreed in this nation, but nothing could be farther from the truth; many of us weren't even aware of what we were agreeing to. As corporations rose in power, assisted by some government administrations more than others, we were led down the primrose path of patriotism and American mythology (fabrications we agree to,) free markets, and promises that our country would always be exceptional in its freedom and opportunity and moral fiber. We might have paid more attention to George Orwell when he said, "Political language ... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. " We might have listened, but we didn't.

It's been another disheartening week in political news, and the global situation hasn't added reassurance that other countries out there are doing any better. We've gotten a lot of pure wind from people like Lieberman, leading a chorus of plutocrats who insist the administration must now work with the Republicans in a bipartisan manner (giving up any hope of progressive legislation) and McCain, who thinks a spending freeze is a great idea (which means it isn't.) The press chants the word 'deficit' as if we hadn't considered ourselves likely to be steeped in debt eventually, given GWB's two wars of choice with no taxes to pay for them, or his corporate welfare to the energy industry and too-big-to-fail bankers. Now it turns out that our debt ratio is way more important than the welfare of the citizens in this nation. Abstracts count more than concrete issues like food and housing and healthcare. It must be true -- they said so on CNN.

With Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court has given over the Keys of the Kingdom to American corporatocracy, which had already dominated politics through backdoor venues. Justice Roberts, the man who promised us judicial 'modesty,' has sided with business in his every vote and produced a High Court that is thick with Federalist philosophy. Among other distortions in the ruling, which gives the rights of personhood to corporations, the Supremes have opened our elections to influence from foreign stockholders (think China, and weep.) It could be worse. If McCain/Palin were at the helm, there would be six right-wing Justices in place and no wiggle room whatsoever. The Bushie tax-cuts would be permanent, the military industrial complex would be ramping up instead of down, and the states would be left to fend for themselves. There would be no increase in unemployment benefits, no funding for food stamps or children's health, no nothing from the Party of No, but plenty of religious bloviating to keep our nose to the grindstone.

Corporations are, of course, different from people. They are devoid of human emotion. They are constitutionally unable to generate empathy. They feel nothing if people suffer exploitation, if people live in misery, or if people die horribly. The New American Corporatocracy! A Special Comment. Countdown with Keith Olbermann, MSNBC, Citizens United vs. Federal Election. Photo: Youtube Video.

It's all about money now, and meeting our obligations. I'm hoping you won't be surprised to hear that money is just an idea. Gold is real, but we don't have much gold anymore. Maybe it was easier for the Wall Street raiders to risk everything, knowing it wasn't real -- unless we need those numbers on our bank statements to pay mortgages and health premiums, of course. Most of us do. The Republicans might argue that they would have produced more jobs after a year in power, but that's a political conceit. The sad truth is that presidents don't have much power on this level. Even FDR, with his legacy of government-funded public works, didn't get much leverage on unemployment until the war boom. It could be worse, and it will be if we don't begin to organize, to create a movement that will support the return to ethical government, and work to curtail institutionalized corruption. Some think the populism of the moment is just a passing phase, but it's based on realization of need, and about damned time. I think this kind of awakening needs some direction, some leadership, and most of all, some plain truth.

Here's another Orwell quote that shouts at us across the breach: "Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." So let's talk a little revolution, shall we? The failing middle-class, the decimated working-class and the silent and suffering lower-class have carried the burden of thirty years of attack against them. Our two-party system is precariously balanced between public protections and the profits of the business class. The Supreme Court has just ripped into what was left of that balance with a buzz saw, turning the First Amendment upside down. Citizens United adds grievous insult to the Court's prior injury, Bush v Gore. For all their harangue about liberal 'activist' judges, the Right has given us examples of activism in the High Court that are stunning in their scope and an outrage to the Republic.

One would think that by sheer numbers, the difference between the elite and the public would give us the edge; the problem seems to be with those who refuse to acknowledge that trickle-down economics has been an utter failure and that we've entered a new Gilded Age. I was screaming class war in 2003 and now there can be no doubt. William Jennings Bryan spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1896, framing the difference between Democrats and Republicans: "There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it." Without adequate consumer and employment protections, whatever has been leaked down to us has been leached away in these last decades. Now that manufacturing and other jobs have gone global, notably for corporate profit, we have nothing with which to stabilize the economy. The only things left to us to manipulate for profit are money and real estate, and we've seen those plundered like pirate booty by the Big Banks, bringing us to this sad turn.

William Jennings Bryan delivers a campaign speech, circa 1910. Bryan put himself on the map as one of America's best orators with his "Cross of Gold" speech in 1896. Photo: Bettmann/Corbis.

What can we do? We can start by noticing what's going on around us, what things mean and how they connect to our personal lives. That's the touchstone to bring people into a working relationship with their own good. We're making a bit of progress but it's slow going. We're still locked in the blame game, looking for someone to punish for this mess and outraged that Congress seems to be frittering its time in attacks and counterattacks. If that's what is angering us, then we should notice the way politics are done in this country, and get hot about the system itself.

While the Obama administration has been attempting to legislate for the public good, they've hit an unprecedented level of obstruction. The use of filibuster, a delaying tactic used by the minority party, averaged one per Congressional session in the 1950s. During 2009, the Republicans filibustered 101 times, effectively stalling and minimizing the progress that could be made. What might have been accomplished for the public good has been hampered and quashed deliberately, because that's the Right's party platform. The strategy is to "make it worse." If they can stop the President from delivering, they're banking on getting votes later in the year. Given the confusion on the Left, this strategy seems to be working nicely for them.

If you think politics is a dirty game, it is. The kind of hysteria and rhetoric we saw during months of maneuvering over healthcare is dirty business, too -- it's called sausage making: what's added to or subtracted from the bloody carcass of a potential bill. The wonder is that any bills actually come to life, considering the special interest money that drives these legislative conversations. Add that a continuing job as congressperson is to attract contributions from big donors and you have the name of this game: pay-for-play, a kind of soft graft. The quid pro quo system of political financing simply has to change if anything else is to reform.

People across the political spectrum are waking up to the power the U.S. Supreme Court has over their lives, and realizing that the Court, as drawn today, is not working on their behalf. That's another bit of American mythology that bit the dust last week: that the courts are configured to protect us. If this is creating mistrust in the highest level of governmental agencies, I'd say such awareness is long overdue, but to consider government the enemy is to misunderstand the Constitution and the original intent of the Founders. The original template of this nation gave us everything we needed in order to endure, grow and prosper. It self-corrects again and again, but it won't do so willingly unless there are citizens pushing from the bottom up, insisting on revision.

Capricorn's move into Pluto has begun to expose the decay in the half-dead structure and foundation of our government and our society, because illusions about power and money and democracy can no longer stand. We chose not to look for a long time, which only made things worse, but what is shaking apart is flawed and fractured. If it were solid, it would endure. The ramifications may feel gawd-awful, but this is not a punishment; it's a course correction. We're taking a long, disturbing look at how this experiment all turned out so that we can be fully informed and empowered to start over.

In a recent conversation with a loved one, playing long-distance catch-up, we discussed the various challenges friends and family were enduring. When I mentioned Capricorn's role, she -- a well-functioning and grounded Capricorn, herself -- blurted, "I don't want my course corrected. I just want to cry UNCLE!" I think we all feel that way at this point. We've had enough scary stuff, horror stories and bad news to last a while, but we need to get a grip on how necessary all this has become to a productive future for our kids and grandkids.

The truth keeps coming at us, asking us to notice and rethink what's going on around us; what's going on within us. If we don't give our power away in fear of the unknown, we can co-create both our response to the present and our way into the future. We have the power of our purse, no matter how piddly that seems to be. Know whom you're supporting with your dollar, do a quick Google check to find out whom you're making stronger with your financial support. I had to laugh the other day when Tim Geithner, President of the NY Fed before he joined the Treasury, said that moving our money to community banks wasn't a good thing. No, from the point of view of the too-big-to-fail, I suppose it isn't. But anything that gives us more power over our own choices is an excellent thing, and I highly recommend choosing a local bank where you are a patron, not a customer number.

Most of all, in this disturbing period, I keep thinking this is all a mental construct playing out in front of me. A kind of home-grown Avatar gone bad, sans color. I don't choose this bleak landscape and cast of characters, I choose differently. It's up to me -- and you -- to make that choice, working within our own lives to conjure the vision of the America we wish to live in, working within our community to see that vision take shape.

Keep your head up and your heart open. Notice EVERYTHING, and ask yourself how it all fits together. Everything is of one piece, threads weaving together to create a fabric. You get to be depressed, but you can't stay there if you are to be part of the solution to these awesome challenges. If it seems like rubble in front of you, know that you are the Phoenix that will rise from it. As Sri Nisargadatta points out, "The mind creates the abyss, the heart crosses it." And you have the heart for this amazing experiment in Shift or you wouldn't be here.

As a fan of Mother Earth News and other publications that keep the best of the old to bring with us into the future, I'm aware that there are ways to make our lives work even under these challenges. I will be writing about some of these in future weeks, ways in which we can simplify and keep a balance with the natural world, the old common sense arts of living as one with our environment. Even small steps toward independence from a culture determined to create us falsely are encouraging and satisfying. Small steps lead to a path to something new. If you have ideas you'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you. WE are the resource we need, it's all within us and this is the time to come together with our common wisdom. Together we can make an unhappy course correction into an adventure of discovery and creativity. We can start over.