Regarding the 2024 Elections:
Am I surprised?
No. Disappointed, yes, but not
surprised.
I see all around me people with serious concerns about the
political changes of misfortune going on all around us and I almost feel guilty
for not feeling in a more sympathetic manner.
The reason I will feel empathy but not sympathy is because I have had
over 20 years to prepare for this time. I
sympathize with the feeling, but not the "shock" of the feeling.
Let me explain:
Many people will talk about 9/11 being a “watershed”
experience for them. 9/11 didn’t
surprise me. If I was surprised, it was
that such an attack didn’t happen before then.
We, the US, had been exhibiting our A/B (Arrogance/Belligerence) for such
a long time before then, such an attack was inevitable. Similarly, we, the US, had been exhibiting a
complete lack of Skills of Democracy for such a long time before now that this
election was inevitable.
Pure Democracy (as opposed to US Democracy) is based on two
principles: 1) that there is an educated
and informed populace; and 2) that the populace will vote for the good of
society – even at a personal cost. One
doesn’t have to be a social scientist to see that we do not have, nor have we
had, either of these two principles as a basis of our US Democracy.
By educated, I’m talking about being educated in the Skills
of Democracy – not educated according to STEM or even STEAM subjects.
My watershed experience happened in 2003 rather than
2000. I had been participating in
several “anti-war” demonstrations and protests against our invading Iraq at
that time. This included the largest
protest in the world up to that time with over 5 Million people in the streets
all on one day (Saturday). It was
evident that Bush, et al, was chafing at the bit to invade even to the point of
sending Colin Powel to fall upon his sword by addressing the United Nations
with obvious fabrications. The only
recognition this demonstration received was the sign of the President’s social finger as a few weeks
later he invaded Iraq and murdered/slaughtered well over 100,000 innocent men,
women, and children.
Although the invasion was a heinous crime, to me, the bigger
crime was that our society allowed this to happen without any
repercussions. Nada. Nil.
That was when I realized that I did not want to identify with US
Democracy any more. That is when I
decided to identify as a Global Citizen rather than a US Citizen.
One of the things I did was instead of blaming or accusing
just the administration as being in the wrong, I blamed our society for
allowing this to go unchecked. Just as
now I see the election as a manifestation that the problem is NOT with Trump,
but with our society. Just like the
televangelist charlatans who draw the sheep up to the front of the alter to be
bled of their money and allegiance - how much is that a problem with the
charlatans and how much is it a problem of the sheep?
So back in 2003, I made the proverbial “40 day wilderness
experience” to try to come up with the “root cause analysis" of what was
wrong with our society. Back then I came up with the observation that our
society was lacking in the Skills of Democracy in four (at least0 areas. These were the following: 1) critical analysis; 2) compassion and
empathy; 3) outsourcing of ethics and justice; and 4) conflict management.
Our lacking in critical analysis is largely based on the Age
of Marketing where everything is expressed in terms of hyper-hyperbole. Everything is exaggerated to the point where
people don’t even try to “learn to discern” the difference between Truth and
Non-Truth. I could go on, but I’m sure
you recognize the problem and don’t need me to elaborate.
I’m also sure that you recognize that our society is lacking in compassion and empathy
towards others, so I won’t elaborate here either.
The problem of “outsourcing of ethics and justice” should be
explained. As a society, we outsource
our ethics by listening to and following those ethics of religion, religious
leaders, gurus, and even politicians. As
a result, instead of setting up our own standards of ethics, we just accept
what we are told by others or by various interpretations of holy books like the
Bible, the Koran, or Eastern religions, etc.
We have shed ourselves of our own personal responsibility of
ethics. Instead of developing our own
list of ethical standards, we “use” the lists outside of ourselves.
The same is true with justice: We outsource our principles of justice to our
legal system which is so broken as to be pathetic.
So in 2003 we didn’t feel personally violated in either our
ethics of justice when we invaded Iraq.
So too, now, with Trump. Trump,
the demagogue of the 21st Century, is more than willing to be
outsourced and be the voice of ethics and justice for our society looking for a
source. Instead of individuals
developing their own principles of ethics and justice regarding Gaza, we just
outsource the responsibility to “our US Democratic Government”.
Back in 2003, I was so serious about these Democratic Skills
that I decided to take a course in Conflict Management. But I didn’t want to go to a Liberal,
Left-Leaning University and be taught the same things I had learned throughout
the Peace and Justice movement. So I
investigated and found an on-line course that was sponsored by the US State
Department. (With an Introduction by
Henry Kissinger himself.) This had been
designed by the State Department for several countries in Central and South
America. (Evidently the State Department determined that it would be
better to teach them the principles of Conflict Management rather than have
them follow our examples of how we responded in Cuba, and Nicaragua, and Chile,
ad infinitum. (smile) The key takeaways here were “To Listen –
Active Listening” and to “Dialogue”.
I also took a series of courses and became “certified” in
“Reconciliation Leadership” through the United Nations. When I began that series, I didn’t even
understand what “Reconciliation” entailed.
But I learned it was actually conflict management - dealing with areas
of minor skirmishes such as the Philippines and Kosovo, etc. And here I learned that the principles of
conflict management were not only applicable in international conflicts, but
also inter-personal conflicts, and even internal conflicts. You hear people doing all kinds of training
for internal stress, but I have never heard anyone taking any training for
internal conflicts. (Sigh)
Just as we were lacking in Conflict Management in 2003, so
too we are lacking in it today. That is
why we are defined by our divisiveness.
That is why a demagogue such as Trump can master the art of creating
conflict in order to control.
Just as I found us lacking in these Democratic Skills in
2003, I’ve been putting up with that lack for these 20 years. The main principle of American Democracy is
that the majority wins. If the majority
is uneducated in critical analysis, compassion and empathy, insistent of
outsourcing their ethics and justice principles, and lacking in conflict
management, it is only natural that a demagogue such as Trump will be able to
coalesce a majority. It’s only natural
that it will happen at some time. And,
lo and behold, that time is Now – just as Pogo’s statement is True: “We have met the enemy, and the enemy is
Us.”
So this election did not surprise me. As I mentioned, we have discovered that the
problem is not just Trump, but with our uneducated society – uneducated in the
Skills of Democracy.
Note: for both the Obama/McCain/Palin
election and the Trump/Hillary election I performed a correlative analysis
showing the States that went to which candidate as a correlation to that
State’s ranking educationally - 1 through 50.
Of the top 15 States educationally, all but 2 or 3 went to the
Progressive candidates; and of the bottom 15 States educationally, all but 2 or
3 went to the Conservative candidates – for both elections.
After reading all kinds of analysis by the various
politicos, I have yet to see one social critic suggest the long-term solution
of trying to educate our society in my list of Democracy Skills. (Sigh)
Enough.
Now you know why I was not surprised by the election’s
outcome. I’ve had over 20 years of
preparation for this time.
As a solid example of the need for these skills even today –
consider the situation in Gaza. 1) Lack of critical analysis; 2) lack of
compassion and empathy; 3) Lack of personal ethical principles and justice
principles; and 4) lack of conflict management skills. QED.
David
