Balancing Optimism and Realism

Over the last year, I’ve been writing columns that aim to create an evolutionary path forward that brings the higher expression of both ends of our political spectrum together in a more sacred whole. Now, with 11 days to the midterm elections, I find myself at a crossroads: the time is now for specific, short-term recommendations for how to engage politics in a more conscious way in the following days, but I’m still unclear on what to recommend.

The simple answer is to rally for Democratic candidates: taking one or both Houses back from the Republicans can reinstall the checks and balances that are at the foundation of our democracy. Scandal after scandal has racked Capitol Hill. Our political situation has degraded to such an extent that last week’s Rolling Stone’s headline declared it the “Worst Congress Ever,” and showcased ten of the worst offenders who are shamelessly lining their pockets, their family’s pockets, and those of lobbyist friends. And many may well be reelected.

While the “take back Congress” refrain may be invigorating, from what I’ve seen documented of the scale of voter disenfranchisement and computer manipulation in 2000 and on an even grander scale in 2004, I suspect that the amount of vote manipulation in this election will only grow. Democrats have rolled over and accepted this disenfranchisement with barely a whimper. If it happens again this cycle, the hundreds of millions sunk into winning elections may well prove to be a bad investment, like betting on a shell game in which the ball has long since vanished from the table.

If elections are not fundamentally clean, all of the electoral fanfare will be for naught. We will sit on election eve watching results come in with the same surreal feeling of the last election, with a gullible media declaring their surprise as contested state after contested state miraculously rolls over to the red column.

One of my most politically-savvy mentors has said the only thing worth spending effort on in this election is to radically reform our corrupted election process. Without voting integrity, we do not have a democracy. To maintain the charade serves no one. Unfortunately, the awareness and safeguarding of our voting process has not reached a critical mass yet such that we can feel confident in the results of Nov. 7th. Will we reach that critical mass in 11 days? Likely not.

If we understand the depth of corruption of our voting process, we may choose to focus less on candidates and more on the voting process itself, making whatever progress is possible in the next 11 days. The trouble with this approach is that it tends to take the wind out of people’s sails – we like to feel optimistic, enthused, and excited by the prospect of advancement. Focusing mainly on vote suppression, theft, and manipulation tends to reduce our passion for politics and our hope for the future. Many begin to write it off as a dirty game that soils us when we play it.

When I assess strategies for this election, what I see is that the first strategy of merely rallying for Democrat victory may prove to be naïve. And the second strategy of focusing mainly on voting manipulation may reduce our passion and vision.

As I reflect more deeply on what would be an enlightened approach to this election, what comes to me is to encourage people to vote sincerely with heart and conscience, to truly express their highest aspirations for America and the world. Voting in this way is an affirmation of goodness, a compact between us and the universe regarding what we would like to see in the world. In this way, our votes are logged in our minds and hearts, no matter what happens in the polling places. Sitting out the election does nothing but undermine hope.

While making the positive affirmation of voting for what we want to see, though, I believe it is imperative that we not shield our eyes from shadowy truths. We need to understand the depth of corruption now happening in our government and in our election process or we become unwitting accomplices. As we cultivate visionary optimism then, we must also cross-train with a dose of more sobering truths. For example, after studying the measures on a ballot and choosing those we feel will truly help us evolve, we might spend fifteen minutes reading Robert F. Kennedy’s brilliant Rolling Stone expose of the last election’s voting fraud:


As another example, we might first make a donation to the DCCC to ensure that Democratic messages are not drowned out by Republican attack ads, but then we could make a parallel “donation” to expose more shadowy truths in the form of buying Mark Crispin Miller’s brilliant 2004 expose Fooled Again for ten of our friends. When we keep a foot in both camps, we balance our optimism with realism while also retaining enough hope to move forward.

Election day is not the final goal but another step in the process of waking up from a long cultural trance in which we’ve become a corrupted democracy. The real imperative is to reclaim our right to be fairly represented in our government, just as our Founding Fathers once had to do. Even a landslide victory for Democrats would result in only one step towards that goal, while another rigged election could prove an equally valuable step if we approach it in the right spirit.

Keeping the long-haul perspective better prepares us to take the next steps if the election results turn out to not be truthful or desirable. Will we follow the lead of the Mexicans and Ukrainians when it seemed their elections were tainted? A lot depends on the balance between our optimism and our realism. Without optimism, our realism can turn into apathy and cynicism. And without a dose of realism, our optimism may naively undermine our actual goals.

So let us all fully engage the political process in the coming days, optimistically voting our conscience while realistically watching with a skeptical eye.

Originally published at OpEdNews.com

Creating a Wonder of the World

With midterm elections looming and partisanship on overdrive, I find myself curiously disengaged. So much energy, money, and time are being poured into short-term attempts to win power, much of it directed towards generating more fear – fear of terrorism on the one hand and fear of further Republican misuse of power on the other.

While Democrats taking control of one or both houses would undoubtedly check some of the most egregious excesses of the Bush administration, it will not solve the fundamental problem at the heart of America right now: we have lost sight of a vision for our future. What do we dream of becoming as a nation?

When this country was founded it was with a noble spiritual purpose, backed by a practical strategy in the form of a Constitution. America was founded to become an oasis of enlightened understanding that could embody a new and more just form of politics and to do that in the service of all of humanity.

In some realms, we have made great strides, becoming a leader among nations. In other realms, we have failed badly, allowing our political processes to be overrun with special interests and our foreign policy to be corrupted by base motives.

If a global poll were taken asking about the world’s most deeply respected democracy, I would wager that we would no longer make the top ten. Other nations have passed us in many measures of happiness, democratic participation, and overall quality of life. Where we now lead is in the categories of economic and military might. We are no longer the conscience of the world and the greatest purveyor of freedom. We are becoming a self-interested empire. I believe that we have nobler stuff in our blood - a higher purpose for our existence than to sit at the top of the economic food chain and feast on our planet’s resources.

A news story on CNN today illuminated our core problem in an interesting way. A global vote is now underway to nominate a new set of Seven Wonders of the World, since most of the ancient seven wonders have been lost to history. There have narrowed down to 21 candidates, including the Pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel Tower, and the Taj Mahal.

Curiously, the only American wonder to even make the candidate list of 21 finalists is the Statue of Liberty – a gift to us from France. Here we are, a country that claims to be the greatest nation on Earth, with the most extraordinary wealth ever accumulated by a single people, consuming 1/4 of Earth’s resources, and we have not constructed a single edifice that would qualify for the voting roster.

Very illuminating

What does it take to create a wonder of the world? First, it takes vision, a vision that is breathtaking in ambition, expansive in scope, and typically spans generations. Second, it takes an ability to bring large numbers of people to work together in community towards shared goals, often in extraordinarily creative and innovative ways. Third, it takes a sense of awe, reverence and respect.

We view structures with wonder when they put us in touch with the cosmic dimension of our existence, mirror our soul’s greatest hopes, or touch the sacred core of existence. Beauty, intelligent design, and heroic power must suffuse something in order to inspire wonder in those viewing it. Many of the candidate Wonders were created at the apex of an advanced civilization’s power, concretizing their values and highest aspirations.

A Stealth bomber, for all the innovation and money that goes into it, does not inspire wonder. A skyscraper built for the practicalities of business does not touch the heart deeply. So much of our national creativity is channeled to short-term profit-generation and machines that kill rather than monuments that inspire. For all America’s might, we haven’t yet generated a symbolic structure that is worthy of our presumed greatness as a civilization. We have not yet come together in a vision of ourselves that is bigger and nobler than individual self-interest, that reverentially and humbly bows down before something vaster.

What if we moved away from focusing on our military power and endeavored to build a truly wondrous structure, an enduring edifice that is worthy of our noblest aspirations as a nation, something that can thrill generations for thousands of years, something that transcends partisan politics and ideological warfare and nationalistic loyalties to represent our shared humanity. I’m envisioning a national temple of sorts, one that is inclusive of all the world’s people and all the world’s religions. It would reflect the extraordinary land we’ve been given and send our blessings forward into the future.

Ancient Egyptians dared to take on such a task with their pyramids and have left a legacy of awe that has spanned millennia. With our expanded technological prowess and larger population, what could we achieve today?

What if we were to dedicate this sacred national monument to peace, liberty, and global justice, and build it for thousands of years to come, infusing it with our deepest reverence and our most heartfelt prayers. Directing a few of the hundreds of billions that we now spend on the military could put such a project in motion, especially if the money were matched by philanthropy as others commit to creating a truly wonderful expression of our shared dreams. Churches have learned that a true spiritual community requires a structure around which to gather for worship. We could do the same as a country.

Such a manmade symbol would help in our transition from a fear and accumulation-driven people into a more mature nation, committed to projects bigger, nobler, and more enduring than our own individual lives and more constructive than warfare. A monument might not seem philanthropic at first, but it would help inspire us to take a larger view of the meaning of our lives, which ultimately leads to true philanthropy.

The strident, short-term warfare of today’s election season might seem an odd time to make such a suggestion. But perhaps if we take seriously the need to turn our collective awareness towards wonder-inspiring legacies for millennia into the future, we can begin to dream together again, as well as find opportunities to use our might to create a peaceful, sustainable, and wonder-filled future.

Originally published at OpEdNews.com:

Sacred America Series #30
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