KUCINICH COMMUNITY - LET'S APPRECIATE OUR PROGRESS
I have witnessed a great deal of pushing and shoving in the world of online grass roots campaigning recently as well as four years ago. There are so many personalities with so many points of view and it is easy for people to feel the deep need to debate their points of view regardless of whatever shared values they may have. Which is fine, I'm all for debate.
But, there is something else that goes on when people start to talk politics and philosophy, some kind of desperate struggle for identity which causes these kinds of discussions to trigger deep feelings of angst, hope, anguish, frustration, optimism, pessimism, anger, annoyance, madness and a host of other emotions/mental states.
The important thing to keep in mind when addressing the extremes of how people emotionally or mentally react to the issues of the day and those they discuss them with, is the idea of stepping back to look at the big picture. Step back as far as you can and look at the historical ramifications of our current situation and that may help put some of the smaller details in perspective.
If you do attempt this exercise, what you may find, for example, is that we are very lucky not to be living in a time of overt slavery. I say overt because there is plenty of covert slavery going on in the sex trade and plenty of semi-covert slavery going on in the wage/cost of living department. But there was a time when ethnic minorities in a given area were bound by chains and enslaved by the majority.
There were also times when marauders of many stripes would ravage and destroy towns and cities the world over. Granted there are currently American marauders raping and pillaging towns and cities in the middle east and that is something which must be halted as soon as humanly possible. But we here in the land of the oppressor don't have the room to get all outraged about our crooked elections or monopolized media considering we are all part of that corruption and living large because of it.
We are not being occupied by a foreign invader (other than the Bank of London through the Federal Reserve) and therefore should not place our own frustrations ahead of those who are suffering because half of every dollar we give to our government goes to crushing mostly women, children and civilians in the middle east. What we should instead be feeling is appreciation that the whole world is not as bloody and savage as the middle east has become under our guidance and then go about doing everything in our power to fix our crooked election systems and consolidated media.
My point being that there is too much out there to be thankful for in the world to allow ourselves to get sidelined by distress. It is inauthentic for those of us in the first world to be feeling so sorry for ourselves when there are people whose families and personal lives have been so devastated by the current wars that we are paying for. What gives us the right to act like the big victims of anything. After the war that's what a lot of Germans did and we absorbed thousands of Nazis under the guise that they had seen the light. Sure many here in America are more on the victim side of the equation that on the perpetrator side but compared to so many around the world the distinction is incremental.
The truth is that the people in the so called first world nations have a modicum of control over their lives and their systems of government no matter how bleak things are in the US and GB these days. We have much more freedom to challenge authority than so many do in places where the CIA have made sure that ruthless dictators and/or death squads eliminate dissent wherever and whenever it rears its head.
One of the most important things about Dennis Kucinich, the thing that distinguishes him even from the other just minded public figures with integrity is his hopefulness. The fact that he can see what there is to be proud of and encouraged by in the world. He is not blinded by the spectacle of shock and awe playing out on tv screens everywhere. He simply turns away from it and looks at the goodness in peoples hearts and draws fuel from it.
There is plenty of reason for hope. The runaway train that the US has become in the last number of years has actually slowed down a great deal and changed course somewhat. That is something to celebrate. Not a victory celebration, mind you, but progress never-the-less. Not the results we need, but a clear indication that something large is underway. Don't let the corporate establishment fool you into thinking that our empowerment as a community is futile.
There will never be a victory celebration because life is best when it is not reduced into victories and defeats. There have been too many lives lost to ever say that we have won any kind of victory over our own slide into tyranny - even if we do suceed in changing course. Further if there are winners than that means there have to be losers and that is never a good idea. For todays tyrants are yesterdays losers who got their feelings hurt real bad in the sixties (and even the forties and fifties) and have come back for revenge. No the only victory is for one and all alike when we rid ourselves of our worst impulses and own the mess that we all created together instead of pointing fingers at someone else.
Granted some should be held more responsible than others and those who commit crimes should be put in jail. Not killed but incarcerated. Those who have compiled great wealth based upon illegal activity should pay reparations to all those who suffered from their actions as well as the descendants of their victims.
The book of world records lists the missing Nazi's loot as the largest heist of all time. That was one of the biggest mistakes of our century, letting the billions of dollars that the Nazi's looted slip through the cracks instead of being given to those who suffered most from Nazi tyranny. That money has helped fuel this entire resurgence of fascism that we see taking place today.
But make no mistake, the Nazis were at the very least philosophically rejected along with their entire way of life and point of view. Sure there are a number of elites and some of their underlings would would like to bring that supposedly darwinian world view back into fashion but even they know that it will never happen. That is the good news. Even they know that they must use trickery in order to consolidate power and even then people catch on eventually.
So the reason to be hopeful is because in the past the ultra powerful didn't have any need to resort to such duplicitousness in order to control the lives of millions. They only had to exert their power and people quickly fell into line taking hundreds sometimes thousands of years just to muster the courage for minor revolts. The ultra powerful were so frightening on one hand and appealing on the other that they were often worshiped by many as god like by people whose lives they were simultaneously crushing. Not so any more.
Now the ultra elite stay as hidden from view as they can and have surrogates stand in their places at the helm of nations and corporations. Now the ultra elite hide out in bunkers and in tucked away mansions and meet secretly because they know better than anyone that their days of being ultra powerful are getting shorter.
They know better than anyone the losses in prestige they have suffered due to the rise of both democracy and socialism. Sure mass culture, mechanization and other advances have provided them with an outrageous consolidation of wealth, military might and high tech propaganda machinery - BUT that is part of my whole point.
How is it that with such consolidated power and ownership of just about everything they are still on the run, they are still in hiding, they are still loosing the battle for hearts and minds, they still can't whip the population of the world into the frenzy of war and greed that would best serve their purposes. How is it that we, the people, the unorganized masses are winning the cultural battle which will determine the future course of the world. I believe it is because that is the way nature works. Slowly but surely water erodes rock just as humans erode tyranny.
How is it that with all of the power standing in opposition to Kucinich does he manage to keep gaining popularity and dragging the corporate candidates over to his positions. It is the way life has always worked. No matter how long the truth is buried it always comes back.
If you can't appreciate the good things in your life, in the world and in the people around you than you won't be very good at discovering the solutions to the problems that plague us. Sometimes hope, real hope based on real truth is itself a solution.
But, there is something else that goes on when people start to talk politics and philosophy, some kind of desperate struggle for identity which causes these kinds of discussions to trigger deep feelings of angst, hope, anguish, frustration, optimism, pessimism, anger, annoyance, madness and a host of other emotions/mental states.
The important thing to keep in mind when addressing the extremes of how people emotionally or mentally react to the issues of the day and those they discuss them with, is the idea of stepping back to look at the big picture. Step back as far as you can and look at the historical ramifications of our current situation and that may help put some of the smaller details in perspective.
If you do attempt this exercise, what you may find, for example, is that we are very lucky not to be living in a time of overt slavery. I say overt because there is plenty of covert slavery going on in the sex trade and plenty of semi-covert slavery going on in the wage/cost of living department. But there was a time when ethnic minorities in a given area were bound by chains and enslaved by the majority.
There were also times when marauders of many stripes would ravage and destroy towns and cities the world over. Granted there are currently American marauders raping and pillaging towns and cities in the middle east and that is something which must be halted as soon as humanly possible. But we here in the land of the oppressor don't have the room to get all outraged about our crooked elections or monopolized media considering we are all part of that corruption and living large because of it.
We are not being occupied by a foreign invader (other than the Bank of London through the Federal Reserve) and therefore should not place our own frustrations ahead of those who are suffering because half of every dollar we give to our government goes to crushing mostly women, children and civilians in the middle east. What we should instead be feeling is appreciation that the whole world is not as bloody and savage as the middle east has become under our guidance and then go about doing everything in our power to fix our crooked election systems and consolidated media.
My point being that there is too much out there to be thankful for in the world to allow ourselves to get sidelined by distress. It is inauthentic for those of us in the first world to be feeling so sorry for ourselves when there are people whose families and personal lives have been so devastated by the current wars that we are paying for. What gives us the right to act like the big victims of anything. After the war that's what a lot of Germans did and we absorbed thousands of Nazis under the guise that they had seen the light. Sure many here in America are more on the victim side of the equation that on the perpetrator side but compared to so many around the world the distinction is incremental.
The truth is that the people in the so called first world nations have a modicum of control over their lives and their systems of government no matter how bleak things are in the US and GB these days. We have much more freedom to challenge authority than so many do in places where the CIA have made sure that ruthless dictators and/or death squads eliminate dissent wherever and whenever it rears its head.
One of the most important things about Dennis Kucinich, the thing that distinguishes him even from the other just minded public figures with integrity is his hopefulness. The fact that he can see what there is to be proud of and encouraged by in the world. He is not blinded by the spectacle of shock and awe playing out on tv screens everywhere. He simply turns away from it and looks at the goodness in peoples hearts and draws fuel from it.
There is plenty of reason for hope. The runaway train that the US has become in the last number of years has actually slowed down a great deal and changed course somewhat. That is something to celebrate. Not a victory celebration, mind you, but progress never-the-less. Not the results we need, but a clear indication that something large is underway. Don't let the corporate establishment fool you into thinking that our empowerment as a community is futile.
There will never be a victory celebration because life is best when it is not reduced into victories and defeats. There have been too many lives lost to ever say that we have won any kind of victory over our own slide into tyranny - even if we do suceed in changing course. Further if there are winners than that means there have to be losers and that is never a good idea. For todays tyrants are yesterdays losers who got their feelings hurt real bad in the sixties (and even the forties and fifties) and have come back for revenge. No the only victory is for one and all alike when we rid ourselves of our worst impulses and own the mess that we all created together instead of pointing fingers at someone else.
Granted some should be held more responsible than others and those who commit crimes should be put in jail. Not killed but incarcerated. Those who have compiled great wealth based upon illegal activity should pay reparations to all those who suffered from their actions as well as the descendants of their victims.
The book of world records lists the missing Nazi's loot as the largest heist of all time. That was one of the biggest mistakes of our century, letting the billions of dollars that the Nazi's looted slip through the cracks instead of being given to those who suffered most from Nazi tyranny. That money has helped fuel this entire resurgence of fascism that we see taking place today.
But make no mistake, the Nazis were at the very least philosophically rejected along with their entire way of life and point of view. Sure there are a number of elites and some of their underlings would would like to bring that supposedly darwinian world view back into fashion but even they know that it will never happen. That is the good news. Even they know that they must use trickery in order to consolidate power and even then people catch on eventually.
So the reason to be hopeful is because in the past the ultra powerful didn't have any need to resort to such duplicitousness in order to control the lives of millions. They only had to exert their power and people quickly fell into line taking hundreds sometimes thousands of years just to muster the courage for minor revolts. The ultra powerful were so frightening on one hand and appealing on the other that they were often worshiped by many as god like by people whose lives they were simultaneously crushing. Not so any more.
Now the ultra elite stay as hidden from view as they can and have surrogates stand in their places at the helm of nations and corporations. Now the ultra elite hide out in bunkers and in tucked away mansions and meet secretly because they know better than anyone that their days of being ultra powerful are getting shorter.
They know better than anyone the losses in prestige they have suffered due to the rise of both democracy and socialism. Sure mass culture, mechanization and other advances have provided them with an outrageous consolidation of wealth, military might and high tech propaganda machinery - BUT that is part of my whole point.
How is it that with such consolidated power and ownership of just about everything they are still on the run, they are still in hiding, they are still loosing the battle for hearts and minds, they still can't whip the population of the world into the frenzy of war and greed that would best serve their purposes. How is it that we, the people, the unorganized masses are winning the cultural battle which will determine the future course of the world. I believe it is because that is the way nature works. Slowly but surely water erodes rock just as humans erode tyranny.
How is it that with all of the power standing in opposition to Kucinich does he manage to keep gaining popularity and dragging the corporate candidates over to his positions. It is the way life has always worked. No matter how long the truth is buried it always comes back.
If you can't appreciate the good things in your life, in the world and in the people around you than you won't be very good at discovering the solutions to the problems that plague us. Sometimes hope, real hope based on real truth is itself a solution.
