In her most recent book, Getting a Grip: Creating Clarity and Courage in a World Gone Mad, Frances Moore Lappé offers an enlightening statistic. A century ago, the native population of India outnumbered the British civil servants ruling them by a ratio of 300,000 to one. It wasn’t until Gandhi awakened the people of India from the trance of powerlessness that they were able to organize and become an independent state.
We Americans are in a trance of powerlessness as well, but it is even more insidious. Here we have the right to vote, the right to speak out, the right to petition -- and we even have a founding document that tells us that we have the right to overrule our rulers when they go astray -- yet we the people seem to have silently resigned ourselves to being ruled by “they the very, very few people.” Our job? Shut up and go shopping.
Each election cycle, those of us who still care enough to get involved fervently work for whichever lesser evil most closely approximates our “tribal” affiliation. “Red” tribe polarizes against “blue,” “blue” against “red” and Americans on both sides are continually reminded why they are supposed to dislike and mistrust one another. Consequently, we have been so divided by our differences that we have failed to defend the core values that unite 95% of us.
All of this is starting to change, and perhaps the most surprising manifestation of this change is the Ron Paul for President campaign. Who would have imagined six months ago that right there in every Republican Presidential debate there would be a candidate speaking so much truth that he would embarrass the others by winning the straw polls conducted at the end of each debate?
Somehow, Ron Paul has managed to coalesce the support of libertarian Republicans, antiwar progressives, Christian fundamentalists -- in short, anyone who sees through the illusion of neoconservative and neoliberal policies in the service of empire. While his candidacy is still a long shot, his supporters are acting as if he has a real chance, and consequently he does. Over the past few months, he has raised as much money as anyone on the Republican side, and he has raised more money from military personnel than any candidate on either side. Regardless of how he fares in the primaries, Ron Paul’s campaign represents a growing “up-wising” that will continue to grow.
So, how can we act now to turn this up-wising into an actual evolution? Here are three simple steps that will move us in the right direction:
1. Cultivate Courage and Truth. 2. Expand the Nonvoter Vote. 3. Put Your Money Where Your Mouse Is.
1. Cultivate Courage and Truth
A key part of political evolution is realizing that our individual psyches aggregated collectively have a lot more to do with what happens in “reality” than we might imagine. Two years ago, the growing awareness on the part of the body politic created a “field” that made Cindy Sheehan’s campaign possible, a campaign that helped bring about a mass awakening about the war. And look what happened this week. Out of left field (or perhaps right field) comes an intelligence report that undercuts the entire Bush-Cheney “let’s make war on Iran” juggernaut.
We can simply take this as happy coincidence, or understand that the more we pull our collective consciousness out of denial, the more we will create a container to hold and “metabolize” disturbing truths. The hardest thing we have to face is the betrayal at the highest levels of America’s founding principles and fundamental security. How difficult is it to face betrayals by trusted authorities? Just ask the individuals who were molested by pedophile priests. Just ask their families. A few weeks ago, I heard a man talking about his own molestation by a priest when he was eight years old. The most tragic thing of all, he said, was the silence. He knew he could never tell his parents, because they couldn’t handle such a betrayal, and they would simply go into denial.
Pretty much the way Americans have gone into denial about the likely complicity of our government in the 911 attacks. Once you cross that “Rubicon”, however, you are able to recognize the collapse of the Twin Towers as no different than any other planned demolition of those hotels in Las Vegas. You are then able to encompass the testimony of 911 hero William Rodriguez who claims there were explosions in the basement a few seconds before the first plane hit the Towers, or the testimony of 232 architects not in the employ of our government or foreign officials who are familiar with “false flag” operations and see 911 as one of these. (Be sure to read about Operation Gladio in the “false flag” links, or read more here about it in my article on David Ray Griffin.)
As of 18 months ago, half of all Americans think there is something funky about the official 911 story. Those of us who do suspect the official account must build a bridge for those who are afraid to face the implications of such a massive betrayal. Facing this together will help restore the heart and soul of America, so here is my oversimplified boil down: In regards to the powers that be in power, their greatest weapon is fear and their greatest fear is the truth. Please consider how empowering this information is.
Like the monsters in the movie Monsters, Inc., these powers feed off of our fear. And while they may seem super-powerful, truth is their “kryptonite.” So, the more more of us reduce our fear and build a container to hold the truth, the more likely it is that the wall of lies will finally crumble in 2008. As I suggested earlier, the key to political transformation is the transformation of our own individual psyches. We have to simultaneously be able to see disturbing truths -- and yet minimize their disturbance to our own heart, mind and field.
This past weekend, I participated in a workshop with Howard Martin of the HeartMath Institute. He offered a simple process to calm the heart so we think more clearly. Next time you find yourself feeling despondent, discouraged, or disheartened about the news you are seeing, take a break and try this. Calmly focus your attention on your heart, and begin to breathe into and out of the heart. Then bring thoughts of love, gratitude and appreciation into your heart. This has a tendency to synchronize heart and brain, and shift us from our reactive hind-brain and put us into our creative forebrain.
Remember that an important quality of the awakened heart is courage. The way we bring forth the courageous leaders is through our own. Build it and they will come!
Steve Bhaerman is a writer, humorist and uncommontator who's been posing as cosmic comic Swami Beyondananda for the past 20 years. As the Swami, Steve is the author of four books including his latest, Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction. His website is www.wakeuplaughing.com.
Until we return to hand counted paper ballots none of the sugestions will be effected. In 2000 when we were jumping throough hoops, the people to the North held an election with millions of hand counted ballots.They were able to count the ballots in less time than it took the supreme court to over throw our elected goverment a replace it with one appointed by them. Two of the appointers had family members employed in one party's election machinery.( Thomas & Scalia's wife and son )
So until we replace black box voting with actual not virtual votes we are going to be fed B/S about who the winners and losers are.Does any one believe its not possible to throw the last Bucks County commissioners election by changing a 1000 votes to come out looking like winners.
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tjb (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 228 comments)
on Friday, December 7, 2007 at 7:38:50 AM
1 comments
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