By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
Regarding what’s left of our hopey-changey energy shift, the contrarians have loudly proclaimed, “No, you can’t.” They say, “Black is white, up is down, good is bad, war is peace,” hoping we’ll still listen. They continue to bellow into the Orwellian echo chamber that we laboriously dissected in editorial after editorial during the Bush years. We only got so far during those years, only broke through the crust of Republican influence to a degree.
The nation still believed in absolutes back then, unaware that the bottom had fallen out of the democratic process. We believed, at least some of us did, that might made right, that America couldn’t lose, that we remained the beacon of freedom and morality for the world. We believed that our superpower was a reflection not only of our big money and war machine but our intellectual superiority and our advanced, hence deserved, standard of living. So, any of you believe that anymore?
Remember the movie Pleasantville, where the characters refused to inhabit their feelings and remained ‘colorless’ until they were awakened by a strong emotional jolt? It took time and a series of confusing, distressing events to figure out that the color changes were not only unstoppable but necessary to a fuller human experience. I’ve written about this movie before because it’s such a perfect analogy for the culture wars and generational splits we’ve suffered. Like the stilted fantasy world of Pleasantville, too many of us were black and white during the Bush years, too many afraid to be more than that. Apparently some of us still are.
Like those kids in Pleasantville who kissed and danced and eagerly stumbled into Technicolor, now most of us are looking out at a nation that has suddenly thrown on the e-brakes, threatening to dull our reality with not just a conservative agenda but a radical one. The big powers that lurk in the shadows have gone a little desperate, quick to discourage all color and light. They’re intent on imposing their somber tones, their limited spectrum of possibilities, in an attempt to re-establish control of the political terrain that got away from them. Their disinformation machine has been at work 24/7 to keep a steady flow of illogic and unreality flowing into the mainstream, distracting and distorting, deflecting our attention away from the serious issues that have catapulted this nation — the flagship of democracy — into a potential banana republic.
During the brief hiatus between 2008 and 2010, perhaps facing truth for the first time, we learned a lot about our country that we hadn’t known before: that our health care wasn’t the best in the world (or even close,) that the bankers and the credit card companies had chained us to contracts we didn’t understand, and they wouldn’t hesitate to destroy us if it served their bottom line. We learned how many hired mercenaries fought our wars, how many safety violations were ignored in big mining operations, and how big, corporate money could corrupt a national election with the help of an activist high court, throwing it into confusion and chaos. We discovered the hard way that the big oil conglomerates had not made any appreciable improvements to safety since the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, and that they could contaminate the world’s oceans and endanger not just the way of life on our coast but life itself, and go unpunished.
And then — wonder of wonders — instead of running toward that truth, coming together to insist on the corrections that would begin to repair our nation and restore its balance, too many of us turned and ran the other way, arms out to those who have twisted us into a cold-hearted plutocracy. Go figure. When in doubt, drain all the color away and return to black and white.
So now we’re left with horror stories projected for the future. Nothing can steal the bloom from our cheeks or the color from our lips quicker. It might have been really useful if these projections had made it into our conversations before the vote was taken. Too late now, the lights are dimming and the shadows growing. At the end of this month, for instance, unemployment for some two million of us will be up for grabs, and although the Dems have championed funding for the people in these last years, the GOP has no intention of doing so. If extensions aren’t passed in the coming lame duck Congress, they won’t be passed at all. Think ‘foreclosures,’ already in the millions. Think food stamps, at an all-time high with funding in jeopardy. Think grinding poverty without safety nets.
Feeling their oats, newly elected Republican governors are killing off over a billion bucks in high speed rail jobs for the Midwest. The Debt Commission, a.k.a. the Cat Food Commission, has determined that Social Security — the most popular, successful and least fraudulent program in our history — along with Medicare will have to be whittled down to a nubbin in order to deal with our gargantuan debt. Better to task the public safety and wellbeing, they reason, than interfere with the profits of the wealthy, such as the renewal of Bush’s giveaway to high rollers. Eliminating as much of Obama’s health care program as possible comes next, without touching the mandate that delivers the public into the hands of insurance carriers, of course. Gift horse, mouth.
Obama has been especially proud of hard earned boons to education; now they’re on the block. We’ve already seen capitulation on the Afghanistan drawdown, and Gates has said if we’re going to eliminate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell we’d better do it now because once the Pubs take the House, no such legislation will be possible. Meanwhile, and perhaps worst of all, Darrell Issa, slick and oily new Chair of the House Oversight Committee, is chomping at the bit to issue subpoenas investigating imagined overstepping and dunderheaded conspiracy theories, as well as possible impeachment. He once told Limbaugh that Obama was “one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times,” so I don’t think it’s overstatement to say that his intentions set the tone for governance in these next two years. We’d best brace ourselves for high drama and wheel-spinning obstruction.
So what to do next, with color quickly fading from our national landscape? Let’s remember that Republican super-confidence is the territory of the black/white system that doesn’t second guess itself. That level of confidence is both malevolent and hubristic, so understand how brittle it is. We’ve seen how disciplined obstruction works for two years now; we’ll endure two more on steroids, the tragedy being how unprepared a vulnerable public is for such an assault. Still, there’s good news. The right has no actual mandate, nor power over the Senate or Executive branches of government. In fact, the mandate is for what the Dems might have delivered and the GOP most certainly won’t: jobs, leveled playing field, social safety net and assistance programs. The Pubs are set to shoot themselves in the foot on a daily basis until 2012.
This is about abuse of authority, of course. Democrats are most often anti-authoritarian types, while Republicans march in lockstep. Back in the Bush years, the nation still thought the Republicans had the juice to do those things they said they could do. Then, year after year, we saw the truth of that, from the Towers to WMD to torture to Katrina and back again. Nobody was surprised when Bush fled his presidency on the heels of economic meltdown, and nobody was surprised when the Republicans tried to paint Obama with that brush. The Father Knows Best scenario might be fun to visit, as it is watching the stuffed shirts in Pleasantville get their due, yet nobody but the youngest souls among us need that level of authority to keep them safe from themselves any longer. Devolvement isn’t in our future and accepting responsibility for our circumstances isn’t about allowing ourselves to be victimized or manipulated.
Do NOT let this election fake you out. The Bush years aren’t back, and the Republicans haven’t made a comeback. If anything, their extremism has become a handicap they may not be able to overcome. Black and white thinking is no longer an option in this diverse world of ours. We’ve got to get real now, lush and expansive with nuance. It’s no longer possible to turn back time to an unbroken America, an unexhausted military, a financial system that can pretend to be fair to the working class or less than corrupt in delivering booty to the rich. We’ve gone viral on too many levels now, and we all know it.
If we could step into a more adult outlook for a moment, we’d realize that the tapestry of our national consciousness is more richly complex because of what it has endured, what it no longer believes, and what it hopes to salvage of its past, extend into its future. We aren’t so smug or self-absorbed any more, not so sure we know everything but many of us are aware that it’s now or never to do what’s right, fair and just. And ya know what? Sounds like the beginning of wisdom to me. Like the hopey-changey thing really worked. It puts a spot of color in the cheeks just to think of it.
Add Arizona to that; we are also being threatened with giving up 7 billion dollars in fed aid just so the state can cut medicaid rolls…on kids especially. The exodus of jobs that will create is just unimaginable not to mention the thousands of families who will go without any health care (after all, the kids don’t matter to the Repubs that control the state). Talk about cutting off your own feet; Arizona will not be able to attract new businesses no matter how low they keep the taxes for them. If they cut medicaid, my four kids, my husband and I will be without health insurance because we still have not managed to get ourselves out of the pit the Bush years threw us into. :::sigh:::
As I told my progressive friend last week; the conservatives are having lots of kids because they don’t care about overpopulation and the environment…the progressives are having less kids because they DO care so who is going to outnumber whom very soon?
I learned that particular ideology from the Palestinians; they have lots of kids because the rationale is they will eventually outnumber the Israelis and gain control in the future. The conservative folks are thinking the same thing. Not a pretty picture is it?
The next two years will be something…if me and my family can hang on through them because we stand to lose our health care and the food stamps that we need to survive on right now. I still have about a year and a half to go in my degree program before I will be marketable enough to get a job. I hope no one changes the student aid on me or we will be hurting seriously. Hopefully there will be jobs available then. My husband has a job but it is a one year contract and it is low-paying teaching; teachers were in demand when he began his degree but not by the time he started his student teaching; too late (and no more student loan money left) to change careers then.
So onward we go with positive attitude and and determination. My four kids are learning so much through all this; they value people above things, caring for others above selfishness, and being aware above being in a fog. No matter how hard things get, those outcomes for them are a good thing. That’s why I keep a positive outlook despite the things that are happening around me; four people have learned the right things to value in life because of the adversity and I can only imagine what they will do with their compassion and knowledge.
Jude,
Excellent article.
“We’ve gone viral on too many levels now, and we all know it.”
And the Internet has helped so much with that. People can affect change without sticking their personal necks out; remember the 300,000 plus signatures in 48 hours to get Keith Olbermann back? It worked! Now there are thousands of people sending ideas to congress about why we shouldn’t give the millionaires a tax cut. When Target was found to have donated to a candidate with an anti-gay agenda, the news “went viral” on the internet social networks and Target lost over a BILLION dollars in ONE DAY. More and more people are discovering that they CAN make change happen without the fear of personal safety issues (assassination of the “front man”) and they are mobilizing for positive change. That is empowerment to the people. The “yes we can” message is working in ways a lot of entrenched old idealogues never imagined.
I love your positive take on things.
Fe – Good catch! Aung San Suu Kyi’s last arrest in 2003 probably had Saturn in Cancer, and now Saturn would be square that position. Saturn (restriction) in Cancer (home) would also have recently been trined by the interesting patterns (or dance as Len would say) of Venus in Scorpio and her powerful positions and relationships of late. Would love to see her (Suu Kyi’s) chart.
As for the bigger picture, in 1215, Uranus was conjunct the Saturn side of the Saturn-Jupiter opposition in Libra, the sign of partnership. This time he’s on the Jupiter side; now in Pisces but not so long ago in Aries, the sign of the individual. As Jupiter and Uranus both seek freedom at any cost, we might see more of this rebellion against restriction led by charismatic leaders like Suu Kyi when Uranus returns to Aries.
be
McDonald’s stock soars as the poor get poorer and WalMart is being mistaken for an actual part of our USA Government like a HomeGrown General Store. Homecoming football takes priority over books and learning and – well, I do not even begin to wonder why we are where we are.
Biggest eye openers for me these years have been realizing that all these things that are lies to me are truth to most everyone else.
Thank goodness and goddess for you Jude! And Fe and Be and E (and Len if I’m going to maintain the pattern you’ll have to be Le) everyone out there that I’ve met through PW – You are my reality.
We do indeed have a row to hoe.
Jude –
You know, as soon as i hit the “submit comment” button, I realized how pessimistic I sounded. With my Sun @ 2AQ and my SAT @ 6AQ, I don’t just see the glass as “half full.”
I see it as “half empty.”
I didn’t mean to bring people down because I do believe that, as Pandora showed mankind, along with pain and suffering, there’s also hope.
Yes, Fe — always on the same page, looking for the hook to hang our Intentions on. And glad this is a beloved film, Brendon — I can watch it over and over again, still feel the thrill of discovery as each character becomes rosy. I think film, music … arts, et al … is underappreciated in keeping our pilot Light lit.
Living in the Pea Patch, just this side of Deliverance, I agree that the Red states are bound to suffer most, cmassy. They already do. Their kids are encouraged to be ignorant and superstitious, fall back on a dwindling welfare system and the churches that keep them tithing/believing. Around here birth control looks like signing up on the dole when the baby’s coming. Good thing we don’t designate ‘bastards’ any more, when most of a generation are one. There’s no organizing principal here in the backwoods to gather around except the churches — and innovation is not their forte. Although, if I were in charge, I’d have everyone turn a mindful eye at our Amish brothers and sisters; they could teach us plenty.
What kind of jobs indeed, Yeti. An excellent question. Let’s hope they’re green, ethical, innovative, inclusionary. I know all options for the future are possible and some of us are choosing Road Warrior. Ted Rall’s good at that scenario, even hopeful in a kind of convoluted way, and he’s gotten a bit high-strung as a prophet, lately. Maybe he’s right, given our disparities. The plays the thing, is it not? Read him here:
http://www.alternet.org/story/148796/as_the_country_falls_apart%2C_it%27s_time_for_our_revolution?page=entire
Still, part of my job, as I’ve seen it — and continuing, as I begin my 8th year at Planet Waves — is to point out other possibilities before we get to such a pass. If we’re awake to what’s going on around us, theres a lot of shit we can just bypass. Here’s the thing I get about this period that defies logic but drives me; it’s the same thing that Tobey Maguire’s character gets, knowing what the ‘end’ looks like. It’s all going to work out. (And here you might say, “she’s talking faith” but faith is hope in unseen things and that’s not it. It’s something much more confident.)
When Maguire’s character stands in front of the town hall, he doesn’t lose his cool — even under attack — because he KNOWS Technicolor can’t be stopped. He KNOWS it will work out, even if he doesn’t know the particulars. He doesn’t have to fight for what is already in process, already forming in the ethers, just out of reach. He simply has to help others notice so they can become empowered. The more they notice, the faster it comes in. Hundredth Monkey.
Last bit of this movie should not be forgot — the Mom character with Dad and the Boyfriend interchangeable, not one of them knowing what comes next because life is choices and consequences of choice. But now they’ve got one — a paradigm shift of major proportions.
be — a new Renaissance. A new paradigm. How Divine! Imagine the joy of living in service to one another instead of our own skin. The plays the thing! Ain’t it great??
be:
Just in time for the Magna Carta anniversary and the Templar Knights work:
Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi released.
YANGON, Myanmar – Pro-democracy hero Aung San Suu Kyi walked free Saturday after more than seven years under house arrest, welcomed by thousands of cheering supporters outside the decaying lakefront villa that has been her prison.
Her guards effectively announced the end of her detention, pulling back the barbed-wire barriers that sealed off her potholed street and suddenly allowing thousands of expectant supporters to surge toward the house. Many chanted her name as they ran. Some wept.
Left out the “o” in phoebe. Should be:
http://astrophoebe.com/astrology/index.html
Sorry!
As the start of 5 years of celebration leading up to the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta get underway, it is worth remembering that “. . .the words Magna Carta are synonymous with human rights and civil liberties under law” (partial quote from Lord Tom McNally, Minister of State for Justice [England]). King John affixed the first “Great Seal” to the Magna Carta, on June 15, 1215, at Runnymede.
On June 15, 1215, Uranus was at 0+ Libra and square Venus at 0+ Cancer. Uranus had only entered Libra 3 days before, where, in Virgo, he had been conjunct Chiron and the Moon’s north node. Saturn was also in Virgo at 22+ degrees. By September 3rd, 1215, Saturn would enter Libra where he would be in lockstep with Uranus and, for a while, Chiron.
Uranus and Saturn would stay tightly conjunct clear through to April 1216, when, on the 20th, Jupiter would be opposed both of them from Aries. This was to be the last opposition in a series of Jupiter-Saturn cycles in earth signs (Taurus) that would be followed by a series in air signs 10 years later.
Presently we are in the last earth (Taurus) sign cycles of Jupiter and Saturn. In March, 2011, the last Jupiter opposition to Saturn will occur in Aries (Jupiter) and Libra (Saturn). Also in March, 2011, Uranus will return to 0 Aries, the opposite place where he was at the birth of the Magna Carta on 6/15/1215. In 10 years a new series of Saturn Jupiter cycles will begin in air (Aquarius).
Few would question that we are living in historic times, but the irony of the astrology for now being so coincidental to the astrology of the Magna Carta times might lead to a comparison of historical events 800 years ago. Without even deliniating the extraordinary meaning of these planets, signs and aspects – then and now – we can be awed by the remarkable parallels.
“At this time (1215) the building of the great cathedrals started, which brought people together and favoured community life with the guilds being formed. The Templars were active creating institutions for the poor and elderly, and founding schools and hospitals. They believed in social equality, and the rights of women were observed in their communities.” http://astrophebe.com/astrology/index.html
Perhaps the astrology of today is telling us that a similar period of evolution is upon us as when the Magna Carta was created. Perhaps we too will initiate a world-wide agreement regarding universal human rights that will end tyranny, not just in the U.S., but in all countries. It is possible, quite possible.
be
Jobs jobs jobs…what kind? If it’s only more pollution and rape of non human life…I don’t hear anyone talking much about the crisis of the mass extinction and climate change going on. So you lost your job. Now you have time to learn to grow food, learn tai ji so you don’t break yourself so often and thus need medical attention, ride a bike, get rid of the car, talk to your neighbors, build community. This world isn’t going to change from the top down cause those on top have it too good to want to fuck it up. They’ll preserve their way of life until there’s no more trees, no more salmon, no more clean water, no more clean air, until you can’t see any stars but maybe a hazy sun because there’s so much pollution. So yeah, this is a big opportunity to learn how to live with less stuff. Having less money doesn’t have to be a problem if we learn how to cultivate real things without it. Money is a mirage maintained by our belief in it and by the guns of the people who most benefit from the arrangement. Rachel Maddow calls the Repubs a circular firing squad. Ha! Let them fall on their own swords! meanwhile, there’s plenty of work to be done. Plant a tree, grow some food, remember how to breathe. Time is art.
“It’s no longer possible to turn back time to an unbroken America, an unexhausted military, a financial system that can pretend to be fair to the working class or less than corrupt in delivering booty to the rich. We’ve gone viral on too many levels now, and we all know it.”
While I agree with you in theory, I disagree in terms of the reality at hand. There’s a pretty sizable segment of the population that is fighting tooth and nail precisely to get back to the illusion. If they have to take down each and every one of us with it, creating pain and misery, so be it. That’s totally cool with them. Of course I agree with you that it just can’t be done. But a lot of damage will occur before ANY OF THEM lets go of the illusion.
I realize this sounds selfish but I honestly think the Blue states might come out of this in slightly better shape. As you’ve probably heard by now, not only are the Red states refusing high speed rail Federal money but Texas wants to opt out of Federal Medicaid for the poor and for children. There will be certain States that will attract businesses, opportunity and refugees fleeing from the wastelands created by the GOP. Now, I realize as a “best case scenario” that’s pretty weak tea but what else can you say when dealing with sadistic morons that are perfectly willing to get “post apocalyptic” on the rest of the nation.
I love that movie, and I don’t say that of many movies. A very apt metaphor for what is going on.
Thanks Judith, you’ve managed to echo my feelings and thoughts quite well. I tend to think that the TP movement is the last gasp of the Republicans, albeit a horrifying and chilling one. Unless they manage to see some of the light at the end of the tunnel they are in, the train is going to hit them from behind.
It’s going to be an interesting couple of years…
Yes Judith! Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!