Politics and the Pendulum of Change
Some elections were held the other day. A couple Democrats lost and Republicans won, with the exception of a district in upstate New York that doesn’t know which way is up.
So now Dems are wringing their hands and Reps jumping for joy, thinking the pendulum is swinging back the other way after its tilt to the left with Obama’s election.
Sorry to burst that bubble, but I don’t see it.
For once, I think the electorate is beginning to awaken. Not to shenanigans between elected officials and special interests of one sort or another. Not to efforts to rig the system to benefit one group or another. Not even to expand the role of government, loss of individual rights, or the agenda of some who are trying to use it to implement a redistribution of power and wealth to advance their social agendas.
Heck, the people have seen those things all along, but for the most part turned a blind eye so long as they were bought off through benefits of one sort or another, or lip service given to assuage our personal hot buttons.
Now, though, it just may be different.
It looks to me like the people are getting a conscience. Average Joe and Jane are beginning to realize there’s a price to all their self-indulgent ways, not to mention pretending there was nothing they could do to stop the abuses of government these many years.
As a result, they just may be asking themselves why they continue to allow themselves to be played like pawns in the power games used to usurp their freedoms and expand the intrusion on their personal affairs.
Libertarians are jumping up and down, giddy at the prospects of finally being heard by something more than a small fraction of the populace, their protests of overreaching, fraud and abuse no longer falling on deaf ears. Yet they are being portrayed as being more right than Republicans, lumped into the same pot as “right wing crackpots” by the “left wing loons.”
In short, they are no longer being seen as outside the system, but as a fringe element within it that shouts and screams to such an extreme that it’s easy to ignore the substance of what they’re saying.
The people, though, are starting to come around. Whether it’s the result of so many voices now speaking out about all the things that are seriously wrong with our system, or simply triggered by their own awakening consciousness, the result is the same.
The hold of the status quo is loosening. And the question that’s arising is, what will come of it?
Will the people simply go along with the flow and throw their support toward the entrenched powers on the other side of the aisle, playing the pendulum game once again? Or will they withdraw their support for the system, and demand a time out from its impact while they consider where it is they really want to go?
Libertarians can help them decide. But it’s not to become just another shrill voice shouting about how bad Obama and his cohorts are, or how both parties have turned the hen house over to the foxes of one type or another.
Rather, the role of libertarians I recommend (note I use the small “l” libertarian, and not capital “L” Libertarian denoting those who are are just another part of the system they profess to oppose) is that of light bearers, illuminating not only the causal factors behind a status quo that doesn’t serve us any more, but possibilities among which the people can choose to begin their long trek back from the precipice.
To do that, they must emphasize not only individual rights, but individual responsibility. Responsibility to ask the hard questions, not just of their leaders, but of themselves as to why they have been so easily manipulated, and how they might become less so.
Responsibility extends not only to expanding freedom, but also to our relationship to our fellow man. Part of the reason government has expanded so greatly is to combat the harshness of a system that rewards only those who play the game well, with the losers be damned.
Libertarians have traditionally seemed to take the position that the losers made their bed, now they have to lie in it. And though it may seem harsh, that’s just the way it is. But that doesn’t sit well with many who empathize with the struggles and suffering of those who lack the ability or means to excel within the game of life as it is currently played.
Somehow they must build into their platform of liberty a plank of compassion and caring, with practical suggestions on how to empower and raise up those who are beaten down by life or by a system stacked against them.
Until libertarians can balance freedom with compassion, the expanding consciousness of the people may deny them a viable seat at the table where the course of our future is being written. It is their responsibility to their beliefs, and the principles upon which they’re built, to find a way to make that happen.
Otherwise, Edgar Allen Poe had it right in The Pit and the Pendulum. For the political pendulum is really a sharp blade that swings at us all, forcing us to choose between being sliced and diced once again by the powers that be, or pushed to our doom by our inability to set course in a direction that better serves us all.
Only time will tell if we can be freed from such fate. My bet is that somehow we will find a way.
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© 2009 John Dennison. John is a spiritual lawyer who writes and speaks on how to build a new world, and overcome the obstacles that stand in our way. He can be reached and you can read more of his ideas at peaceoptions.com/.
your compassion can be built into voluntary arrangements that help rather than hurt. dignity and lack of coercion. my take on the election district 23 NY a disaster but otherwise overall not bad. democrats have been/are out of control. republicans have also (out of control tendency– perhaps a little bit less bad) been/may be reformable (or not). a better hope is third party specifically Libertarian. maybe your spiritual input can help in the refocusing/repackaging of various concepts in liberty to bring about much needed cultural/educational/electoral change.
Compassion is not something that can be legislated or imposed by edict. Nor can people be shamed into it. Rather, it is an expression of love that comes from our innate connection to others, a connection too often denied or ignored. Unfortunately, we frequently don’t recognize it until some mass tragedy befalls us or others, bringing out our “best” as we step forward to help those in need.
The easiest way to develop it is to expand awareness that we’re all in this together and encourage people to communicate and come together in support of each other. When such a consciousness takes hold, there will be no need to use government to impinge upon our freedoms. Only then can it become a conduit to expand opportunities for all rather than repress them in favor of a select few.
you wrote
“Only then can it become a conduit to expand opportunities for all rather than repress them in favor of a select few.”
given the proposed new consciousness among people how would that change the nature of government (not eloquence but force) into something peaceful, useful or generally tolerable for those of us who value liberty above all else?
Leadership — and what they use government to accomplish — is a reflection of the consciousness of the people. For so long our awareness has been focused on our own needs and interests that considering them vis a vis those of anyone else, much less the society at large, has been a challenge.
Consequently, we’ve had a government used to manipulate those interests and aggrandize power, much like individuals have tried to aggrandize power over their own lives and affairs in the chase of their desires, self-interests, and agendas.
The result is an us against them mentality, or in this case, some of the people (those whose personal affairs are infringed by it) vs. the government (or its use to achieve personal ends).
The difficulty of having any government is establishing an orderly society that allows for the creative expression of its citizens through the lives they create, particularly where there is a wide diversity of interest (not to mention consciousness) among the populace. So what happens is laws are made to reign in the lowest common denominator, often in a way that appears to (and in fact does) infringe upon the rights of those who don’t need such restraints or interference.
This alone creates opportunity for oppression and impairment on individual liberties. Factor in the effort of those with power to influence its operation for the benefit of select groups and that interference grows exponentially.
Since government reflects the consciousness of its people, that consciousness must expand to where people 1) know how to create the lives they need/want; 2) have the ability to do so; 3) have the awareness of their interrelationship with others trying to do the same; and 4) go about their affairs in a way intended to balance those interests.
Today, government is operated in a way where people either do not have that ability/awareness/willingness, or those seeking power convince them they don’t and need government to do it for them.
Therefore the transformation of government must begin with a widespread re-education of the people, not just in the proper role of government (a value judgment made based on one’s perspective in that process), but in their empowerment to exercise their liberties in a meaningful way (giving them greater ability to have lives that serve their needs and intentions for it).
The transition must include a period illuminating the abuses of power and encroachments upon their ability to do, just like is starting now. The purpose is to get people thinking about what they really want, need and expect from their government, along with how they can begin to balance the many competing interests that need to be accommodated in doing so.
Then, as they discover and perfect their ability to create meaningful lives in a way that does not require them to force their will upon anyone else (or have to fight to keep others’ wills from being forced upon them), they can combine that knowledge with what they want government to be/do. The result will lead to the necessary transformations of the system.
Whether that will come peacefully is of course a matter that will be determined based upon the state of consciousness of those demanding change, as well as those resisting it.
John,
I couldn’t have said it better. When people realize that they are in fact in control over themselves and take responsibility for that, we will have a much freer and happier society. For a long time now I have been trying to get people to realize that their freedom comes from within themselves, not granted by the government. The massive re-education needs to begin soon before we end up with a society of complete slaves.