Planet Waves | June 25, 2005 With the political rhetoric heating up in the last days, I've been pondering the deep differences that divide this country -- they haven't changed since September 11, 2001. We all took a sharp in-breath ... and became the prototype of our understanding of the Universe. Some of us have grown into larger understandings since then ... others of us have retreated back behind the supposed safety of the walls that bind us to our oldest belief systems and tribalism. We could speculate that whichever way our opinion fell was "learned behavior" -- attitudes that were taught to us in our families and socialization patterns. Aren't we the product of our environments? Certainly the current Red State v. Blue State mythology points to some kind of essential socialization producing political thought [although even the simple act of defining states as either/or is divisive, and pits us against one another. The states are all various shades of purple.] But you and I know that "nature/nurture" thing is still up for grabs, don't we? How many of us have family, perhaps even in our own home, that are directly opposed to us, politically -- and we didn't even know to what degree we disagreed until the Towers came down. That was the day we each found out who we were. Bush may not have pulled the trigger on his war until months later, but in essence we all went to war that day ... the war of world view, the war of heart's call -- perhaps even a very personal war within ourselves about what it all means, and where we stand. While I see it as a required evolutionary process, making our way through the intensity of it, the power of it, the pain of it is difficult, exhausting work. Mankind does indeed have the seeds of war within him, but to live within its energetic signal 24/7, month after month, year after year is hellish -- so if you're overwhelmed, depressed, given to fits of anger and/or tears, that's because this war isn't just a couple thousand miles away, on foreign shores ... it's also at the dinner table, in the office, at the grocery store, and on the freeway [reading the bumper stickers as they whiz by.] This unending "war on terror" is happening around and within us -- either we believe the world is a dangerous, frightening place or we believe its a wonderful, collaborate one ... and if you believe the latter, you're gonna have trouble convincing those that believe the former, who are scared witless and snarling. That's what happens when you're perpetually "terrified." Some of us are see-sawing back and forth between the two, and that's where we find hope for the future -- if we're even the slightest bit open to the possibilities, they will rush in to meet us. None of this is simple, of course -- if it were simple, we could talk to each other; we can't. We are experiencing what a friend and I call "missing arrows" ... we are not "hearing" one another. Take the "support our troops" rant. How lame is that! No one in this country wants our warriors compromised or put in harms way, but some of us want them home, Now. Our brothers on the Right can't hear that argument because it doesn't fit their definition of support, the lens of their understanding is evidently not wide enough to encompass such a notion. I posted a "blowing off steam" rant on Political Waves the other day by comic Will Durst, who made the case beautifully: "Okay, get this and get this straight. Criticizing our Government is not the same as criticizing our armed forces. Okay? The same way that criticizing our Government is not the same as criticizing our postal workers." As well, I read that the President is troubled by the news reports he see's on tv -- they will "give encouragment to the enemy," he says, suggesting of course that they shouldn't be shown. Harmfully unpatriotic ... perhaps even treasonous, as is the Democrat's criticism of Republican leadership. Would he mind those reports being shown if we were "winning," I wonder? I can pretty much guarantee you that the Republican faithful won't question Bush's motives in making such a statement, nor will they see how dysfunctional it is not to consider the possibility that it's misleading. They don't hear, they don't see, because their own agenda is served by Bush's remarks. They don't think outside the box because they ARE the box. For instance, today the Huffington blog reports that Dick Cheney has gone to see a heart specialist under an assumed name. The blog response from the Right is plain hateful, along the lines of "I know you rat-bastards just want him to die!" I don't think many of us on the Left want Cheney to die ... most of us would just like to see him prosecuted for Halliburton frauds. On the other hand, when Bill Clinton had his heart surgery, there was a LOT of viscous "pray for his demise" going on in the Righty blogs -- you know, like when Pat Robertson asked his faithful to pray for the Lefty Supreme judges to keel quickly. Some of these folks seem awfully quick to kill or want someone killed -- and they project their own thought process out on us, assume the Left thinks just like they do. But we don't -- and that's why we can't hear each other. Yesterday's Flap of the Moment was revealing in how the human psyche gets stuck in the "attack/defend" loop -- it's the same kind of tit/tat that lost the Democrats momentum in the 2004 election. Karl Rove told the world that liberals are wimps and only interested in coddling terrorists. That fed the Pubs a little red meat and solicited their howling agreement ... the Dems are outraged, of course, since that is both divisive and untrue, a transparent smoke-screen to cover the current wobbly numbers and lame-duck'ness of the president. While this sort of thing is entertaining and engages our passion, look at how that works -- when the energy of attack spikes on one side, it is met with a spike on the other. This is natural law. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction -- Newton's Third Law of Motion. This is also metaphysical truth -- what we resist, persists. No matter what state we live in, or what family we're born into, we either "see it" or we don't -- it's who we are, it's in the understanding we bring to the table. Course in Miracles says it this way: "You can be right or you can be happy." Half the country is like a big miserable dysfunctional family, and it keeps pulling the other half along into a miserable game of knee-jerk reaction by pretending that their "right way" is the ONLY way to save the world from unspeakable dangers. There is no discussion that will bring these folks around -- people this "right" will not tolerate being told they're wrong. And this very-human game could go on forever, my dears -- we have to find another solution. When people can't hear what you have to say because they're so threatened by their fears or their sleepy patterns of response to authority, there's nothing to do but appeal to their better angels ... again and again and again. We have to face the discouraging truth that nose-to-nose, in-face insistance doesn't work to change minds ... which is why trying to bring democracy to Iraq without it's permission isn't going to work, either. What is perceived as an attack will inspire no cooperation. The only bit of rhetoric that ever came out of the Bush administration that made any sense was the phrase "war for hearts and minds" ... you know, the "war" he hasn't waged [and of which he is evidently incapable.] That's the "war" that can be won by acts of understanding, not aggression -- respect, not antagonism -- diplomacy, not belligerance -- extended opportunity, not plunder -- taking responsibility, not side-stepping or finger-pointing. And it's a war We The People had better invest in now, not later. I found a powerful article [posted below] about a man who's mind has begun to change because of a "better angel" ... because of the response of someone he respected ... because the mirror that was offered to him has begun to crack under the weight of doubt and the inevitability of experience. That's how we're making progress, that's the work we have ahead of us ... one by one, to win hearts, change minds, offer options. That's a better strategy, a better angel, than the sword's point interactions we're involved in today -- it will take more courage, more intellect, more compromise ... but in meeting the Right with the same energy with which it assaults, we lose ourselves, and progress stalls. This "other way" is harder and less provocative ... and not nearly so exciting and addictive. We can promote core progressive values of respect, cooperation and tolerance, tell the truth in as non-threatening a way as we can, propose creative alternatives and put ourselves on the line to live the vision we embrace ... day by day, interaction by interaction. The simple truth that nothing is working as it was proposed will ultimately win the day, in this country -- it's already happening. There's a link to an article below that suggests that because the anti-war movement has been so tepid in the last year, the administration has had no one to demonize and been unable to rally it's faithful around the "liberal assault" issue -- completely silencing the Left has not worked as planned. There is some metaphysical truth to that. A "void" has been created that must be filled. The one-party takeover has forced the Left into the Kwai Chang Caine school of humble resistance -- less loud than present, less rhetorical than pragmatic, less hysterical than determined. As national policy continues to fail, there will be no one to turn to BUT the Left ... and that process is already begun. So we'd better, each and individually, be prepared to step up with our "core values." Politics is only "leadership," and leadership works on the same principals as daily life -- no more complex than that, ultimately, especially when the real "war" that is going on is within ourselves, projected outward. Day by day cooperation and dialogue is the only way to make something work Ask any [functional] family. Peace ~ Jude The Other Guy's Sacrifice -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301709.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns No One to Demonize -- Opposition to the Iraq War has been pretty quiet. That's why it's so widespread -- http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=9900 Scoundrel city: Reckless Republicans use troops as human shields -- http://www.buzzflash.com/durst/05/06/dur05007.html Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is sharing the blog with Eric. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/political_waves/