{"id":62311,"date":"2012-11-09T19:37:57","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T00:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=62311"},"modified":"2012-11-11T11:24:52","modified_gmt":"2012-11-11T16:24:52","slug":"the-new-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/fe-911-2\/the-new-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Dick Morris, conservative pundit on the 2012 election results:<\/a> “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.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

Like the lyrics in that beautiful song \u201cDon\u2019t Cry\u201d, there would be flowers in the spring underneath all the detritus of the last twelve years. I just didn\u2019t 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\u2019s most vulnerable communities \u2014 the voiceless and vote-less among us \u2014 something erupted. Like a new bud.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 \u2014 was the Uranian-Aries shift upending the old Plutonian Capricorn big money, white males only private club of America.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 a browner America with fewer male-identified women and enthusiastic young voters \u2014 is being born under Uranian-Pluto skies. It\u2019s about time. Before you think I seem too gleeful, I am not. I\u2019ve 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\u2019re standing on pulled out from under you, flipping you over.<\/p>\n

But the post 2012 election denial out in punditlandia<\/em> \u2014 still minimizing the enormity of what has just happened, even while in the act of admitting that the voting demographic has shifted \u2014 is hilarious. The immediate response to remedy the demographic shortfalls of the Republican party \u2014 such as the appearance of Marco Rubio in Iowa yesterday \u2014 will not cut it.<\/p>\n

Unless you can bottle sincerity and true inclusivity without the price tag of buying and selling our souls, I don\u2019t 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019re watching Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. Perhaps that\u2019s the reason why Eric says \u201cvoting is not enough\u201d. Because it really isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Its about staying awake in the midst of a badly manufactured dream. It\u2019s about vigilance, taking personal responsibility, and pursuing action without fear. It\u2019s 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\u2019ve 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\u2019s not be so easily fooled by a politician\u2019s pander. Soon enough, these and their pursuits will be rendered ridiculous. We\u2019re fighting over who holds the water hose while the house is burning down. Welcome to the New Nation. We need all hands on deck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1740],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}