From Dick Morris, conservative pundit on the 2012 election results: “The key reason for my bum prediction (for a Romney victory) is that I mistakenly believed that the 2008 surge in black, Latino, and young voter turnout would recede in 2012 to “normal” levels. Didn’t happen. I derided the media polls for their assumption of what did, in fact happen: That blacks, Latinos, and young people would show up in the same numbers as they had in 2008. I was wrong. They did.”
Thus spoke Dick Morris, inside the Beltway pundit who has been calling races, mostly wrong, for Republicans since 2000. It’s hard not to think back to the last time Mercury went retro on Election Night 2000. And how can we forget the violence, tragedy and greed that followed?
That last election night Mercury retrograde of 2000 led to our great apprehension here and elsewhere in the months and weeks preceding the 2012 Presidential election. We were and have been shell shocked.
But our anxiety was like so much mulch over a cluster of bulbs whose flowers we had yet to see, something was brewing underneath. As I commented in astrodem’s election night thread on the retrograde, I found myself reveling in this thought: It’s not who was elected, but who elected them. The majority who elected the President were people of color, followed by blacks, single women and young people. The age of the straight white male dominance in politics is drawing to a close. The Republicans played up that card and lost. Barack Obama is walking into his second term and there are more women senators in the US Congress than anytime else. The rising demographic across the country is brown, with Latinos leading the way. Just in time for the end of the Mayan Calendar at solstice. So fitting.
Like the lyrics in that beautiful song “Don’t Cry”, there would be flowers in the spring underneath all the detritus of the last twelve years. I just didn’t know how many, or how deep were the roots, or what they really were. I am still not sure. But today, looking at the attempts made to suppress the very idea of this looming reality and in spite of everything the last 30 years of cruel policy experiment on a vast number of America’s most vulnerable communities — the voiceless and vote-less among us — something erupted. Like a new bud.
Ready or not, the planets are aligning, and with that alignment, we are crafting visions of how we are to be governed. Should there be government at all? Or should government be called upon, once again, to stem the tide of national, global economic and climatic change? The decision has been made, and not by the old guard. And that to me, more than President Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren and the Democratic pick up of more Senate seats instead of the anticipated loss — was the Uranian-Aries shift upending the old Plutonian Capricorn big money, white males only private club of America.
For this I am grateful. Given this shift at this moment in time, with all the portents of great change available in our ephemeris, a new electorate — a browner America with fewer male-identified women and enthusiastic young voters — is being born under Uranian-Pluto skies. It’s about time. Before you think I seem too gleeful, I am not. I’ve had years since the day Jack Kennedy died to contend with this world, and this country. Both can turn on a dime and the rug you’re standing on pulled out from under you, flipping you over.
But the post 2012 election denial out in punditlandia — still minimizing the enormity of what has just happened, even while in the act of admitting that the voting demographic has shifted — is hilarious. The immediate response to remedy the demographic shortfalls of the Republican party — such as the appearance of Marco Rubio in Iowa yesterday — will not cut it.
Unless you can bottle sincerity and true inclusivity without the price tag of buying and selling our souls, I don’t think the Republican Party will have a viable working clue of how to deal with generations of free-spirited women or a vocal, active Latino-American or African-American voter without some form of, at best, gross patronization. At least, not for a while. Putting all the black people in one section of the convention hall won’t work. Never has. A Latin-sounding surname for a candidate or a female in a suit is a start but we should know by now that its the motive as well as the name and the face. Worse yet for them, this voting block of everyone outside the country club is formidable in numbers, with new generations adding on to it, instead of dying and diminishing its population.
The last few days of cable news post-election has been a form of soft porn for an old liberal like myself. Great entertainment, but too much of it can begin to wither your will, even when you’re watching Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. Perhaps that’s the reason why Eric says “voting is not enough”. Because it really isn’t.
Its about staying awake in the midst of a badly manufactured dream. It’s about vigilance, taking personal responsibility, and pursuing action without fear. It’s going to have to be about sharing not only information, but concern and care, and hard work, regardless of your race, gender, or social status. One of these days, both parties, or however many parties its going to take, will have to fess up to all the real work they’ve neglected while trying to retain power and control. And the work to reach out to us is going to be hard. And we should make it so. Let’s not be so easily fooled by a politician’s pander. Soon enough, these and their pursuits will be rendered ridiculous. We’re fighting over who holds the water hose while the house is burning down. Welcome to the New Nation. We need all hands on deck.
Thanks for the link Adjutrix. TNO Orcus at 4 Virgo 56 (order) WAS square stationing Mercury (data) and Isis (gathering pieces of. . ) in Sagittarius, and opposite Chiron (wounded), Atlantis (dependence on tech) and Neptune (illusion) in Pisces (faith) . He was also conjunct asteroid Achilles (weakness) at 6 Virgo and square asteroids Atropos (the end) and Hybris (hubris), both retrograde at 7 Gemini (two-timed).
Excellent wrap-up Fe. It explains the election day Karma (what goes ’round, comes ’round) conjunct Elatus (elated!) conjunct the Great Attractor (irresistible). Many thanks.
be
Yes, indeed, the planets are aligning! In addition, Mercury played its pivotal role in the “shadow phase” leading up to election day and on Nov. 6 itself, handing the Republicans a stark example of the winged one’s trickster energies.
It seems to me that early awareness of Mercury’s retrograde station on election day 2012 (thanks to efforts by the astrological community over the past year) extended beyond those who follow astrology and into mainstream consciousness. That awareness helped many Democrats take seriously the potential for added confusion and foul play in such circumstances and worked extra hard to bring out the vote and monitor polling places.
It appears, however, that most Republicans in leadership and organizing positions had no awareness of Mercury’s potential to affect technology, organization, and communication. For an enlightening view from within the Republican camp of just how decisively Mercury retrograde rendered the Romney campaign hapless and helpless on election day–and helped win the election for Obama–see this account of field workers’ experiences with “Project Orca”: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/08/Orca-How-the-Romney-Campaign-Suppressed-Its-Own-Vote
As that account concludes, “The truth is much worse. There was, in fact, massive suppression of the Republican vote–by the Romney campaign, through the diversion of nearly 40,000 volunteers to a failing computer program.
There was no Plan B; there was only confusion, and silence.”
SO Mercury retrograde…aided and abetted by Neptune’s confusion during its final retrograde days and Romney’s own negative expression of Pisces energy. No wonder the main response appears to be denial and disbelief…
Chief:
The article is not intended to dismiss the long-time efforts of progressives of every stripe, and thank you for keeping the faith. We have been together for a long time.
Just glad we have more people who have been so under-motivated in the past to join us in the stakes. That is something that heartens me deeply — the disempowered learning to empower themselves. That has been a long time coming.
Yes, Chief.
You are right. No one should be left out of this conversation. No one can afford to not actively participate in this conversation. That is the real message.
Third Party candidate for PRESIDENT Jill Stein and her VP pick were arrested outside of the presidential debate at Hofstra and, handcuffed, held for ten hours. Who was calling the shots there? Two women, one being Hispanic. You wonder why women and Latinos are voting?
Using the Tea Party and of course the Civil Rights Movement as models it is time for us to organize. Occupy taught us that. We cannot afford to congratulate ourselves just yet.
I want to stand up and represent us straight white men who never went down the dark path of regressive politics. Growing up in the 60’s and coming of age in the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate 70’s played a role, knowing my hippie predecessors got tear-gassed in Chicago or lived in Canada instead of accepting a free trip to SE Asia, and being influenced by music and culture than ran counter to Leave It To Beaver America. Please don’t leave us out of the conversation, thanks.
Nobody is mentioning that it comes after the recent arrest of a rear admiral who is accused of being part of military plotting against our current president. There is so much happening just beneath the surface. No one can afford to take things at face value.
We dodged a bullet and have four more years of a known quantity.
My hope for change is that people like Elizabeth Warren are getting elected. Real change will come on a community level first, if at all.
Romney was discredited by publications like Veterans Today and the LA TIMES which published indepth articles on Bain’s laundering of drug money. This happened (VT) with the participation of our intelligence agencies. Romney fully expected to win.
The good general now head of the CIA knows all about the business of drugs in America. One of the main reasons we are in Afghanistan. 80 billion dollars a year. The fact this new scandal is happening right after the election is no coincidence.
Sickening might be a better way to describe it. Will he testify? Was he told to hand in a resignation after the election? What next? We’re talking about the head of the biggest spy agency in the world! I think it is amazing that all of the federal law enforcement officers are held to a higher standard of conduct than the president, the cabinet, and all of the congress. The question is, why was he exposed? Was it to continue the coverup at Benghazi? I noticed that some newspapers are still blaming the riots on that lame you tube video, and now the filmmaker has gone to prison. wonders never cease, and now the most respected general in the US is destroyed? Where are you investigative types? You are taking all of this at face value???
Hmmm. . . it’s awfully lonely at the top. Thanks Patty.
be
BK, investigating law enforcement comes under the purview of the FBI. Someone probably turned in a complaint. After seeing all that is happening with secret service, what a surprise – not. Everyone who gets tagged seems to be telling on someone else – but maybe it’s a condition of not being charged with a crime, you know – tell us what you know and we’ll let you off with a simple resignation. Happens all the time. You can also rat out your friends and neighbors on line at every agency.
So, does anyone else think it odd that the FBI is investigating the CIA? Many on cable news think suspiciously about the timing of Gen. Petraeus’ resignation – due to infidelity to his wife -odd, in that it comes on the heels of Pres. Obama’s election win. Nobody has pointed out that it came the day after he turned 60 years old. Maybe it’s a Social Security thing, heh heh.
be
Thanks for this fantastic piece, Fe – rejoicing but vigilant. Yes.
Powerful article Fe… closing lines especially…loved this:
>> One of these days, both parties, or however many parties its going to take, will have to fess up to all the real work they’ve neglected while trying to retain power and control. And the work to reach out to us is going to be hard. And we should make it so. Let’s not be so easily fooled by a politician’s pander. Soon enough, these and their pursuits will be rendered ridiculous. We’re fighting over who holds the water hose while the house is burning down. Welcome to the New Nation. We need all hands on deck. <<
It occurs to me as I read and listen to all the news reporters parsing the "what just happened" experience it occurs to me that the really big, Merc Rx surprise that we were all bracing for DID indeed happen…it just happened to the other team for a change! So perhaps for those (of us) sitting on the winning side of the field, maybe we could be forgiven for feeling like we "missed" something. The sense of shock, disbelief and confusion is really big in their world… (yes, I know it is our world too, but for this comment I must split the field). That (memory) sense of outrage and injustice that we were really hoping would not happen again DID happen… but for the Republicans this time. It was in so many ways a huge Mercury trickster evening/event for them… from Mitt not having a second speech even written to all the blind eyes missing the reality that was unfolding before them. So, Eric's (and Astrodem's) warnings and prognostications about a big "bump" in the election road were prescient indeed… we just were not the apple cart feeling ourselves spilled and scattered this time, (for a change).
In Vermont, where I hail from, there is a very long and deep tradition of Republican politics, but it is a very different kind of Pub than what we've seen that party (d)evolving into over the last 2 decades. In VT, the moderate albeit fiscally conservative pubs all lost their state seats except one having been dragged down by association with the rabid right national party nightmare and they are just about as mad as we were when Dubby was elected…twice. However, it is the nature of pendulums to swing so in addition to tending to the burning house, we do need to be diligent in continuing this momentum of inclusion and take it just as far as it can go because it will try to swing back some day if we don't get this right. There is a helluva big mess to clean up along the way.
And in case anyone missed it, New Hampshire has really shocked everyone. They used to be one of the original bastions of deep, old Republican power. Not so much the rabid right types, but deeply conservative in values and vision. All my life it has been that way…and suddenly, within the past few election cycles there have been huge shifts in power there. This election cycle was the penultimate, in terms of women standing up and taking the reins…. all their congressional representatives PLUS the Governor…ALL women! I would never have dreamed this even possible in my lifetime given what I know of just how conservative that State is..er..WAS… but here we are… A Pluto-plowing Cappy + Aries point moment if ever there was one, with a Uranian twist of course!
Very nicely put, Fe.
This: “It’s about vigilance, taking personal responsibility, and pursuing action without fear.” Everyone needs to put away the pacifiers, and get back to ‘imece’ for the world’s sake.