Obama Comedown and Getting Unstuck from the Politics Addiction Some considerations for furthering enlightenment
Your's truly confesses to be as guilty of political addiction as anyone else. Through this election season, however, and probably for the previous
8-12 months, I've become aware of just how the political news hits me with such highs and lows. It's like a gambler who has far too much skin in the game to be at peace either way it goes: if his team wins, he's on Cloud 9 and the world is wildly euphoric; if his team loses, he turns fearful and angry—the bottom falls out. You, too? Well a preoccupation with idealistic causes can become unhealthful. [1]
Pre-Obama Realities
But I believe I'm seeing through it now. What's helped is the persistent prosecution of this here little Web column. In the course of writing and being obliged to read and review so much conceptual material—books, movies, commentary—some patterns of resolution are beginning to materialize. For one thing on the existential level—where the National Neocon Nightmare has seemed so unrelenting and impregnable—the horrors have at last shown signs of receding.
And for very good reason.
A large part of the literature of liberty, not to mention other input from thinking beings who do not exactly share the libertarian premises, has illuminated the course of action to take for setting things right in the political world. The forces of darkness cannot survive having the bright light of truth shine upon them.
Humanity—by which I mean at this stage its active intellectuals[2]—is figuring out exactly what's wrong and exactly who is responsible. More important in the long haul, these intellectuals (and a broad cross-section of conscientious citizens) are seeing the role of what I call the Sacred Nonaggression Principle (SNaP) in any benevolent, humanitarian future.
Post-Obama Hopes
So, even if we see setbacks—for example the drug treatment alternatives initiative in California was defeated soundly—we can be confident the long term trend is toward more intelligence. And more consciousness. Which is getting me to the point (finally) of this column.
Largely through the work of Eckhart Tolle—The Power of Now—I've come to grasp that the achievement of political freedom, the elimination of coercion from society, the liberation of humans from an effectively alien subspecies of deception and plunder, will occur from the inside out. Not the other way around. An important passage regarding politics (and political or humanitarian cause addiction) from The Power of Now:
All evils are the effect of unconsciousness. You can alleviate the effects of unconsciousness, but you cannot eliminate them unless you eliminate their cause. True change happens within, not without.... If you feel called upon to alleviate suffering in the world, that is a very noble thing to do, but remember not to focus exclusively on the outer; otherwise, you will encounter frustration and despair. Without a profound change in human consciousness, the world's suffering is a bottomless pit...
So, too, is the world's ignorance. The only robust way to resolving ignorance is to go to the root and raise consciousness... not quite the same thing as knowledge. And in order to get others "right with God," you need to start by getting yourself "right with God." As Jesus says "Why do you point out the speck in your neighbor's eye and ignore the log in your own?" When you achieve the peace of mind available to you through connecting to your own Being (which per Tolle equals Being in general), it's contagious:
I've spent a good share of my life in heated argument because it's so important for someone else to be right. If that isn't a a colossal loss of Self or a loss of Being—to the reactive monkey brain inside me—what is? In fact, I was in the middle of such an argument the other night after golf: a younger guy had this totally FUBARed[3] notion of gold and money, he made breezy categorical assertions that were so bizarre that I just launched. The second beer helped. :) Fortunately, I dialed it down and made some constructive references and we parted in good humor.
A Profound Discovery?
Does the incident portend my end of politics addiction? I sure hope so, for now I see clearly how losing Presence and succumbing to the false lures of the excitement of "being right" publicly not only diminishes my power—it takes an inordinate amount of mental energy to suffer the reactive mind thru its binges and busts—it doesn't spread consciousness effectively. True consciousness is ever at peace, secure in the haven of continuously yielding to the universal truth: such awareness is joyful and perhaps sometimes playful... not angry. Passionate, often, too, but a passion bred of a deep love of all the life that lies about it.
As for coming down from the Obama victory, I really feel I'm not addicted to the new President. I actually like the man and his family, and that's a beautiful thing. I haven't felt this way about any president since Kennedy or Eisenhower, and I was too young then to know about them. As with Kennedy, Obama has a genuine sense of justice and desire for peace—you can't fake that. We'll see if he can help to weave these ends into society without the war-and-money machinery doing him in. (I'm watching JFK again. A 10 for a movie, that has a lot to say pertinent to hatred of the Big O... and to the nature of this sort of recurring unconsciousness.)
The SNaP and Letting Go
As for the rest, for continuing to prosecute the nonaggression principle, I believe the Obama election made it easier to do so successfully, as well as less difficult to let go of the strain of politics addiction. For one thing, we seem to be getting a new administration in which what we say and think and write matters. When I say we, I'm focused on present company, i.e. mainly the wholistic libertarian element. We know the libertarian idea is enlightened and that only those who embrace it can share that wisdom. We only need to put it out there consistently. Honest, conscious, conscientious humanity will come to us. They have nowhere else to go.
Seven Steps toward Political Enlightenment Right Now
Rachel Maddow of MSNBC has issued a call for viewers to assert the top six actions Obama should take when he's the man. It appears from the insertion page, you can only vote for one. But you can then go to a comment page and elaborate. I sent her the following list last Friday, November 7.
Close down Guantanamo, end rendition, end unlawful detentions, end US government torture (Ron Paul bill HR 3835).
Protect people's air, land, and water by development of suitable legal framework and by enforcing property rights in these areas.
End corporate privilege in law; pursue wealth recovery for citizens of $trillions against banks and corporations that fraudulently inflated currency via the central banking system for their private gain throughout the previous century.
Numbers 1 and 2 and 4 can be accomplished with one hand tied behind his back in a week. The others may take a year or two of modest effort. Please tell Mr. Obama that I—and large numbers of my freedom-recovery experts in the Free State—will be glad to come to Washington to help him sort through any difficulties he may encounter in restoring the republic. Although the humanitarian benefits are paramount in the above steps, the financial benefits are beyond calculation. Humanity comes into its own.
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All right, obviously a little tongue in cheek there. A large part of what I've written above was contained in a special VIP Beaniegram to my more sympathetic, understanding, and politically active readers. (If you would like to become a Beanie VIP in order to receive these special messages, please send me an email with "Beanie VIP" in the subject line.) One of the readers, Correspondent Dave, commented that he would add one important item:
I do think you missed one very important issue that should have been in the top six priorities (far more important than hemp) and that is that there must be accountability for the criminal wrongdoing that has brought our republic to this low point. I have addressed this matter by posting the following to the forum:[4]
Well put young David. Apparently, as I'm penning this column, the Obamas are meeting with George and Laura for tea. I can just hear the interchange now:
"Well, George, I would really like to issue a preemptive general pardon to you and to your co-conspirators for the incalculable crimes that you're going to be prosecuted for. But I'm afraid, the citizens would staple my privates to the wall for that. So, best wishes, and I hope they find an orange jump suit that fits you and enables you to strut about comfortably. "
[2] By intellectual, I only mean someone who cares about ideas and tends to spend a lot of time thinking about them and discussing them and presenting them and questioning them in the context of the literate, caring general public.
[3] Old military saying: "fouled up beyond all recognition." (Others that come to mind are SNAFU, "situation normal all fouled up," and JANFU, "joint Army/Navy foulup.")
[4]
"The damage that has been done to our republic over last 8 years is incalculable. There should be NO HIGHER PRIORITY for the incoming President than restoring confidence in our basic form of government. The way to do that is by immediately ending renditions, Guantanamo, torture, the assault on habeas corpus, and of nearly equal importance, prosecuting criminally those who visited all this upon our nation.
"When confidence in the integrity of government is restored many of the other problems will begin to get resolved by market mechanisms. The corruption in our government has spawned many copycat corruptions in our corporations and banks, because a belief has been fostered that there is never any accountability for anything anymore."
