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I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm becoming a hedonist.
It's not that I'm the proverbial party girl, although like the philosopher John Stuart Mill my natural instinct is to choose pleasure over pain as long as I don't harm anyone else. My vulnerability -- a growing tendency to throw up my hands and say "let's party" -- has more to do with the state of affairs politically in this country. To paraphrase a famous movie line, "I'm madder than hell and I don't think I can take it anymore!"
To put it bluntly, I have just about given up hope that we can rise above the mired mess in Washington, D.C. in time to save ourselves. I despair that we can ever get anything done that will impact positively on our futures amidst all the signs that we are collapsing into a polarized, eternal limbo. My ennui is in direct proportion to the political paralysis gripping the nation. And when people like me politically active and involved representatives of an engaged electorate start to feel powerless and apathetic, we are in real trouble.
Apparently I'm not alone. As I pen this essay, polls and pundits alike are now speaking out about the unprecedented lack of productive bi-partisanship in the nation's capital. Some news analysts and respected spokespersons have ventured to air their own fears. When someone like David Gergen says that party animosities have never been this profound in all of American history and that he's really worried, I get spooked. It's getting harder and harder to put a positive spin on the situation. Scary questions are increasingly being raised: How long will we be the world's number one economy? What happens if the Chinese call in their loans? It's beginning to look like Rome is burning and still the fiddling goes on.
We all had such high hopes when the Obama Administration took over. It's probably premature to give up on them altogether. After all, Congress just passed a marginally bi-partisan jobs bill and now it looks like we stand a good chance of getting some form of less-than-ideal health care reform. It remains to be seen how successful the administration will be with regard to educational reform, environmental clean-up, ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the military, foreign policy imperatives, and more.
But in the last few months overall, the political process has seemed to squeak to a halt like an engine without any steam. The well appeared to run dry. The bridge to tomorrow was collapsing. Pick your metaphor but the bottom line was clear: Just as banks have become too big to fail, government has become too fractious to govern. The implications are difficult to contemplate.
Some people talk about the need for a third party. What, I wonder, do they think will make another political group any more effective than the two we already have? Do we really need a modified version of the Progressives or the Blue Dog Democrats or the Teabaggers in the mix? How many silos of discontent will it take before we all throw up our hands and in lieu of picking a party, just party?
I admit that on my bad days I exhibit a few nihilist tendencies and I can quickly become existential in my negativity. Like Jean Paul Sartre I begin to believe that only by (over)reacting can we understand the insanity around us. More importantly, like other existentialists, I think we are responsible for what we do, or don't do, and therefore we are responsible for what happens. So I don't think it's overly pessimistic to worry about climate change and infrastructure failures and people dying because they can't afford health care and China becoming the next superpower when, in fact, the people we've elected to conduct the nation's business can't stand to be a room together.
Buddhism, a kinder and gentler philosophy than existentialism, teaches that all human experience is colored by suffering and that in order to overcome that suffering we must let go of our egos and focus our energy on conscious living which includes having the right intentions and behaving properly, with a deep awareness of others.
Sounds like a plan to me in these troubled times, because if we can't ward off further suffering, what will be left but to let the good times roll? Now the question is, how can we get Congress to dance?
