If anyone hasn't heard or read Maria Ressa's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech from 2 days ago, please do. She covers a lot of the same ground we have discussed here and has the courage of 1,000 people. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/ressa/lecture/
This guy works for the Aspen Institute, which is funded by a bunch of billionaire's trusts. Join a club? Give me a break. Why doesn't he talk about joining a union? I don't think that changing the "norms, values, narratives, assumptions about what's okay in everyday community life" are going to be enough to stop the powerful authoritarian forces that are now gaining strength.
Collective cohesion breaks down in society when any country has a sociopath in power. He becomes a role model and is emulated. Sociopaths are not guided by morals or ethics because they have no conscience. Many fascist nations have been led by sociopaths and the results that ensued were incredibly destructive. Sociopathic leaders tend to bind together those like minded people around them, while turning his clan agaist the outside enemy. It creates a very binary way of thinking with no compromise. It creates an "us vs them" mentality that demonizes their fellow citizens. The sense of victimhood and the feeling of being besieged is in keeping with past fascist nations. It is immensly important for our electorate to recognize sociopathic behavior (APD) in those running for office to prevent a calamity like we had with Trump. Preventing a calamity is easier than trying to fix a broken society after the fact.
The divide in America is a function of its vast media balkanization. As long as it exists there will be two clubs or should I say two Americas. One is fact and science based and values liberal democratic values the other is propaganda based and lives on lies, disinformation and conspiracy theories.
Yes, and this forum is one of those public places where we honor one another and understand that we can ask questions of one another to gain greater understanding and emotional support.
This forum is precisely the sort of social space Eric Liu is referencing. There is power in dialogue and understanding.
They fear diversity because it entails the loss of their status and white privilege. Hence the longing for the past when they reigned supreme. Racial anxiety is at the core of their fear and distrust. They're being told daily by propaganda outlets that they're being replaced.
Yes, and that points to what I think is the core anxiety: fear of change. I hear it often from my friends and acquaintances around here. They don't mind people of color in other places, or general solutions towards equality; they just don't want those people here, and they don't want to have to adapt their own life to any of these changes. They don't want to be told what to do, even if it will save their life (like vaccines). They want cheap gas, like it used to be. (I seriously think this last point -- not just cheap gas, but the pressure to shift away from fossil fuels, will end up causing greater fissures than we imagine.) Even if they have little, they are terrified of having less, and it's no good convincing them that the game does not have to be played by zero-sum rules.
The irony, getting back to the subject of Ruth's interview, is that what suffers the most from this attitude is the trust of community. I've already noticed it, over the last few years, both in myself and in others. I've stopped spending time with some friends because I can't cope with their ignorance and conspiracy theories of Covid or 'socialism,' or their neo-KKK statements. Hence, I'm not getting invited into their dwindling community, and they aren't getting invited into mine. It's quite troublesome.
Yes, it feels very uncomfortable, and I, like others, wonder when the other boot will fall. But I try not to focus on my feelings entirely. I try however I can to do whatever lies in front of me. For example, renewing my membership in a local political group focused on building more responsive city government; maintaining my membership in a city club fostering open public discussion of social issues and civil discourse; maintaining personal relationships with persons in the community actively working to make positive change, discussing ideas with them, reviewing what they have written.
In short, working to keep the life of the mind and heart alive. I am not changing the world, but at the same time, I'm keep positive ideas alive.
And yet, here we all are. We have a forum. And we can articulate for ourselves what it means to use this forum with kindness and responsibility. For me, I want to be able to ask questions in a civil manner and have folks know that I do not have some hidden agenda. I also want to have response to what I have written so that I can understand my thoughts better.
There is a tremendous amount of confusion out there as you have pointed out. But I cannot solve the confusion of others. I can only work on my own confusion, my own thoughts. And this can only be done in communion with others who honor the sacred space of discussion.
Part of the function of community is being able to raise questions and voice thoughts otherwise held perhaps too close. I sometimes regret voicing my on-the-ground experiences and observations, because they seem cynical and depressing; but then again, I think it's important to observe what's happening around me in this rural area, as it often feels much different than what I feel in more urban places. TFG, the media, Congress, etc., may be easy entities to blame for our problems, but what I care more about is their negative effects on the people around me, neighboring communities, and on myself.
And you are right to worry about the negative effects of what's going on around us affecting negatively the people around you, the people of your community.
My sense is that all this fear, hatred, and division is fogging our minds, making us less mindful, closing out information that we should be getting, hindering our ability to see connections and draw inferences. In short, a dangerous dumbing down of mind, making us more vulnerable to emotional manipulation.
Folks sitting around a table having lunch in the basement, say, of a local church to raise funds for a local school, are probably going to be more grounded in themselves and confident to speak with one another.
I have gone to gatherings where I have known that there are several folks who cannot handle political discussion. I purposely do not engage in those topics, choosing instead to engage on a safe social level -- easy conversation. I want these people to see me as a person, just a guy like them, trying to make it through. By maintaining some of these relationships, I do my small bit to try to help my community to see one another as human.
I have absolutely no idea whether what I do is enough. I never will. But I continue to believe that there is intrinsic value in doing however much goodwill it produces.
Mr. Liu's admirable mission might have been possible 5 years ago...before Trumpism had overtaken tens of millions of minds, but people who would ignore a life-saving vaccine are wholly uninterested in civil conversations. In fact, they crave the opposite...the crueler the comments, the more energized they seem. From their standpoint, they have joined a club...it's a club whose only principles are hatred of liberals, a distorted sense of freedom, and a judgment-free zone where crudity and bigotry are rewarded. We need to stabilize our country before we can hope to instill shared values. I suppose that there's a sliver of hope that the media might actually focus on the imminent implosion of democracy, or the Senate might pass meaningful legislation to preserve a skeleton of democracy, and the House and Senate might remain under Democratic control and expand SCOTUS, but frankly this sounds like a fairy tale. The groundwork to harden our democracy should have started 5 years ago, but Democratic leadership had neither will nor messaging discipline to make their case. Media failed repeatedly while facilitating the erosion of norms. Does anyone see a path to stop the slide into autocracy in less than a year?
Don’t know about the time constraint, hw, but … like Ruth, Paul Sloan (author HOW TO STOP FASCISM) and Chauncey DeVega (writer at salon/self-named podcast, recent guest at Jared Yates Sexton MUCKRAKER podcast) all have been reporting on the rising tide of autocracy here, globally, in great, distressing detail for years …. but all remain hopeful. They remind us that we voted out Trump and swung Georgia … and say our challenges in 2022 are greater … but, United, there is still hope. Personally, I try to remember my emotions are REALLY good at perceiving threat, but terrible at assessing level of threat. Ancients like Plato (story of cave of shadows) and Moses (Numbers ch13, 12 spies story) wisely counsel being skeptical, and questioning, of my limited perceptions ….. so to evaluate actual level of danger, I notice the feeling of my heart in my throat, and listen to experts like Ruth (who are undoubtedly feeling deeply the same fears) who are still calmly, confidently guiding passengers to the lifeboats.
I appreciate the desire to feel hope, but hope without action is meaningless. I'm also not clear what 'lifeboats' you are referring to. I see a Republican machine working 24/7 to disseminate lies and propaganda, install partisans at every level of state and local governance, and fight the current administration even at the expense of preserving life via vaccine mandates or national security via confirmation of ambassadors. Schumer has not succeeded in getting even 1 piece of legislation passed that would harden our democracy or protect voting rights, Biden refuses to support overturning the filibuster, Congressional Democratic leaders have no coherent messaging warning citizens about the dangers of 1 party autocratic rule, SCOTUS is openly partisan and gunning to roll back a host of civil rights and workers' protection legislation. Democrats have no plan, no strategy, no messaging...they're hemorrhaging Independents by the day. Garland is refusing either to prosecute Trump for multiple obstruction as outlined in the Muelller report, or to publicly describe the threats posed by voter suppression and gerrymandering. Because most people don't understand the threats to democracy (because their Democratic leaders are failing to sound the alarms), they're focused on inflation and Covid fatigue. By every measure, Democratic leadership is failing this moment. The only reason that the 1/6 Committee has come as far as it has is that they're temporarily borrowing Liz Cheney's spine of steel and excellent communication skills. Where in this morass do you see a lifeboat? If there were action, I would feel hope. But I see an administration and leadership in steadfast denial. The Senate will recess for their 50th vacation of the year without passing either BBB or any legislation protecting democracy. A real leader would refuse to allow anyone to leave until at least 1 piece of legislation protecting democracy was passed. How should I derive hope from such passivity, inertia, complacency?
So … hope with action is meaningful. What is that action? You’ve succinctly, accurately described the elaborate, scripted entertainment that our elected national leaders are performing, hw, … again … to distract us from their service to the oligarchs, and NOT to the perfecting of a more perfect Union of all of us. No hope they will do anything helpful . Frustrating. Unfair. Dangerous …. perhaps fatally for our democracy. One hope seems to be that we common folk, much more numerous than the 1% and their servants, unite around democratic leaders like Stacey Abrams and India Walton … connecting locally. Betcha there is someone, some group doing democracy near you. In my little corner of Oregon, thousands of us have been sickened, hundreds dying from CoVid because our city and county officials are mostly anti-vaccine mini-trumps preventing implementing public health measures. GOT TO REPLACE THEM IN THE UPCOMING ELECTION!! It’s one cause among many to support …. 2 young black men have recently been murdered locally by racist vigilantes … a fossil fuel pipeline is proposed across our coastal mtns, threatening wilderness and coastal pollution …. our new congressional district could swing Democrat. Groups of people have organized around these concerns … these groups are the lifeboats … I’ve jumped in one to join others pulling on the oars … Trump was fired and Georgia swung … real hope? I don’t know …. but certainly, there is no hope if we do nothing together.
You're right, of course. If enough of us are active locally, it makes a difference. Thank you for playing a part in saving our shared humanity, if not our democracy.
All the problematic points you so correctly list lie at the heart, I think, of my fear. It would be a kind of madness to deny them.
It is the mess we are in. These are some of the difficult facts facing us. What are we to do about it?
Certainly to recognize the true threat to our democracy as you have done. And next?
I do not see an easy roadmap of action to follow that leads us with certainty out of this mess. As an individual citizen it is my challenge to continue hold faith with democratic ideals and to do whatever I can to support them, however banal, however seemingly trivial these actions may seem. And also to help support others to keep the faith to enable them to do what they can.
We are on own together here, if we choose to be. We could fail. We could prevail. But a necessary condition of getting through this mess is our keeping the faith and supporting one another.
My only advice to myself is this: continue to continue, letting the authoritarian creeps know I'm not going away without a struggle.
And your point about Democrats not broadcasting how they are continuing to work toward ensuring the right to vote and to secure broader social policies is correct.
Perhaps what we can do in this forum is consciously remind ourselves to be on the outlook for any media coverage showing the positive achievements of the Democrats. In a recent Guardian article Robert Reich explained that he wrote for the Guardian because it had a more open approach to the efforts of the Biden administration, and that the New York Times continued to view things from a Wall Street point of view.
The economy is improving. We are making headway on the covid pandemic. We are pushing ahead on the Jan 6 investigation. Demonstrations for abortions rights are taking place. Starbuck employees at one of its locations have voted in a union, which will have broader ramifications throughout the country. Biden is working to use diplomatic efforts to deal with the current Ukraine issue and Russia.
And Biden has stated that he is committed to passing legislation to protect the vote.
When we see something positive going on out there. I know it would be helpful to me in so many ways to hear about it from my Ruth Ben-Ghiat Forum friends.
Randolph, you are not alone in having your heart in your throat. We all perceive the threat out there of authoritarianism. We can support one another to stay focused, to look for opportunities to support our democracy and positive values, and to keep calling out to one another, staying aware that we are not alone in this struggle.
You articulate the fear that gnaws at me and many others. And the poor performance that got us here is quite broad. But we are where we are. And I do not think we can know, at this point, how it turns out. We can only focus on what is in front of us to do. What it is possible for each of us to do. And from an individual's point of view, it will always feel emotionally inadequate against all forces you have pointed out.
But change comes from an aggregate of actions. And I believe we do not have certain knowledge of all the causal connections which lead to effective action. We have only pieces. But a large part of effective action is to keep our positive values alive and to do this wherever possible: to thank over-worked and stressed servers and checkout persons and pharmacists who struggle to provide essential services to keep our lives going; to consciously smile at people we encounter and to say please and thank you. And to do all the other things that we can do in our immediate environment while supporting larger political efforts however we can.
The uncertainty will not go away. Edward Deming, the great master of quality management, remarked that the most important numbers of any system are not known and are unknowable. But we do have knowledge of our positive values and we can see immediate opportunities to apply them, to model them without become over-bearing.
Dr Deming was a big believer in people working together in teams to accomplish the mission in business. He thought that people competing against each other was counterproductive. He was right. The Japanese listened to him but the US mostly did not. His sense of working together can be translated to society as well. I am fortunate to have a signed copy of his "Out of the Crisis".
Yes, he was a true philosopher, wanting to created a workplace without fear where everyone participated meaningfully in achieving the vision. He believed in democracy and he had a deep respect for the labor of humans, almost a sacred respect. He showed clearly that the workplace can be humanized.
Well put, John. As Ruth mentions in the interview, caring and curiosity are critical among us, and Eric Liu has important points and suggestions. They feel small and inadequate most of the time for all of us. Timothy Snyder's book "On Tyranny" also suggests things like making small talk with strangers and other personal gestures in everyday life that can make a difference to the larger community. The new illustrated version of that book is a gem and a must read for Lucid folks.
That book is a gem, just like this forum, for which it is our responsibility to form and to function to serve our purposes, which we need to constantly remind one another about as you have done.
Absolutely! And what are we attempting to create in this forum? A social vision of what our communities should be? A vision of being to be modeled to others, in the hope that we may attract others and ultimately be surprised by what learn?
Only a get out the vote drive that can scale and overwhelm the walls of the new voter suppression laws that have been put in place. Stacey Abrams thinks she can do it in her rematch with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp? I'm not saying it will work or not and I share your grave concern that we're teetering on the edge of falling over into autocracy.
Stacey Abrams built a grassroots movement with littkechelp from the DNC/DCCC, which is why it's been so successful. Other than Ben Winkler's mighty efforts in Wisconsin and Beto O'Rourke's youth movement in Texas (with the ever-present question as to whether the young will actually cast their votes), I'm not aware of grassroots efforts in the other 47 states. Maloney seems to think that 1,000 events hammering home the infrastructure plan is sufficient, while Harrison believes that everyone clearly sees the abyss. They are both wildly wrong. There are no strategic GOTV bottom-to-top efforts in 47 of the 50 states. The GOP continues to run unopposed for countless state and local seats. Leadership is failing to educate the country about the consequences of authoritarian rule. So, the people who think things are so bad that they can't get worse will continue not to vote, those residing in denial of the stakes will vote on pocketbook issues, not enought will vote to save democracy, and the rest...well they have the passion and zeal of the newly radicalized.
I would add...they don't necessarily have to cheat in 22 to win them back control of congress because they have so aggressively and corruptly gerrymandered their state's districts. Dem's lose big despite their majorities.
It doesn't have to be inevitable, but Democratic leadership has self-surrendered. Absent a full court press by the Biden administration, and a pro-democracy about-face by the political media, we're in for 2 years of vengeance theatrics in Congress, then decades of revenge politics by a vengeance-fueled Trump and a corrupted SCOTUS. A rollback of 1st Amendment protections is already occurring across state legislatures. The lack of imagination to acknowledge how nightmarish life will become is yet another weakness of this country, and a central feature of Democratic leadership.
Finally, we are seeing CNN begin an assault on autocracy. It took them long enough to figure out that our quasi-democracy was under assault! Better late than never.
If anyone hasn't heard or read Maria Ressa's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech from 2 days ago, please do. She covers a lot of the same ground we have discussed here and has the courage of 1,000 people. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/ressa/lecture/
This guy works for the Aspen Institute, which is funded by a bunch of billionaire's trusts. Join a club? Give me a break. Why doesn't he talk about joining a union? I don't think that changing the "norms, values, narratives, assumptions about what's okay in everyday community life" are going to be enough to stop the powerful authoritarian forces that are now gaining strength.
Collective cohesion breaks down in society when any country has a sociopath in power. He becomes a role model and is emulated. Sociopaths are not guided by morals or ethics because they have no conscience. Many fascist nations have been led by sociopaths and the results that ensued were incredibly destructive. Sociopathic leaders tend to bind together those like minded people around them, while turning his clan agaist the outside enemy. It creates a very binary way of thinking with no compromise. It creates an "us vs them" mentality that demonizes their fellow citizens. The sense of victimhood and the feeling of being besieged is in keeping with past fascist nations. It is immensly important for our electorate to recognize sociopathic behavior (APD) in those running for office to prevent a calamity like we had with Trump. Preventing a calamity is easier than trying to fix a broken society after the fact.
The divide in America is a function of its vast media balkanization. As long as it exists there will be two clubs or should I say two Americas. One is fact and science based and values liberal democratic values the other is propaganda based and lives on lies, disinformation and conspiracy theories.
If you'll permit me to rephrase: one is based on valuing hope and the future, the other based on valuing fear and the past.
I split my time between rural and urban areas, and this hope/fear future/past dichotomy underlies almost everything I hear or see.
Yes, and this forum is one of those public places where we honor one another and understand that we can ask questions of one another to gain greater understanding and emotional support.
This forum is precisely the sort of social space Eric Liu is referencing. There is power in dialogue and understanding.
They fear diversity because it entails the loss of their status and white privilege. Hence the longing for the past when they reigned supreme. Racial anxiety is at the core of their fear and distrust. They're being told daily by propaganda outlets that they're being replaced.
Yes, and that points to what I think is the core anxiety: fear of change. I hear it often from my friends and acquaintances around here. They don't mind people of color in other places, or general solutions towards equality; they just don't want those people here, and they don't want to have to adapt their own life to any of these changes. They don't want to be told what to do, even if it will save their life (like vaccines). They want cheap gas, like it used to be. (I seriously think this last point -- not just cheap gas, but the pressure to shift away from fossil fuels, will end up causing greater fissures than we imagine.) Even if they have little, they are terrified of having less, and it's no good convincing them that the game does not have to be played by zero-sum rules.
The irony, getting back to the subject of Ruth's interview, is that what suffers the most from this attitude is the trust of community. I've already noticed it, over the last few years, both in myself and in others. I've stopped spending time with some friends because I can't cope with their ignorance and conspiracy theories of Covid or 'socialism,' or their neo-KKK statements. Hence, I'm not getting invited into their dwindling community, and they aren't getting invited into mine. It's quite troublesome.
Polarization and division are at a dangerous and historical high. Feels like the metaphorical first shot is about to be fired on Forte Sumter.
Yes, it feels very uncomfortable, and I, like others, wonder when the other boot will fall. But I try not to focus on my feelings entirely. I try however I can to do whatever lies in front of me. For example, renewing my membership in a local political group focused on building more responsive city government; maintaining my membership in a city club fostering open public discussion of social issues and civil discourse; maintaining personal relationships with persons in the community actively working to make positive change, discussing ideas with them, reviewing what they have written.
In short, working to keep the life of the mind and heart alive. I am not changing the world, but at the same time, I'm keep positive ideas alive.
Being active, involved and connected is a great form of self care!
And yet, here we all are. We have a forum. And we can articulate for ourselves what it means to use this forum with kindness and responsibility. For me, I want to be able to ask questions in a civil manner and have folks know that I do not have some hidden agenda. I also want to have response to what I have written so that I can understand my thoughts better.
There is a tremendous amount of confusion out there as you have pointed out. But I cannot solve the confusion of others. I can only work on my own confusion, my own thoughts. And this can only be done in communion with others who honor the sacred space of discussion.
Thank you for explaining so lucidly (!), John.
Part of the function of community is being able to raise questions and voice thoughts otherwise held perhaps too close. I sometimes regret voicing my on-the-ground experiences and observations, because they seem cynical and depressing; but then again, I think it's important to observe what's happening around me in this rural area, as it often feels much different than what I feel in more urban places. TFG, the media, Congress, etc., may be easy entities to blame for our problems, but what I care more about is their negative effects on the people around me, neighboring communities, and on myself.
And you are right to worry about the negative effects of what's going on around us affecting negatively the people around you, the people of your community.
My sense is that all this fear, hatred, and division is fogging our minds, making us less mindful, closing out information that we should be getting, hindering our ability to see connections and draw inferences. In short, a dangerous dumbing down of mind, making us more vulnerable to emotional manipulation.
Folks sitting around a table having lunch in the basement, say, of a local church to raise funds for a local school, are probably going to be more grounded in themselves and confident to speak with one another.
I have gone to gatherings where I have known that there are several folks who cannot handle political discussion. I purposely do not engage in those topics, choosing instead to engage on a safe social level -- easy conversation. I want these people to see me as a person, just a guy like them, trying to make it through. By maintaining some of these relationships, I do my small bit to try to help my community to see one another as human.
I have absolutely no idea whether what I do is enough. I never will. But I continue to believe that there is intrinsic value in doing however much goodwill it produces.
BArton Gellman's portrait of the retired 64 year old fire fighter is spot on.
Mr. Liu's admirable mission might have been possible 5 years ago...before Trumpism had overtaken tens of millions of minds, but people who would ignore a life-saving vaccine are wholly uninterested in civil conversations. In fact, they crave the opposite...the crueler the comments, the more energized they seem. From their standpoint, they have joined a club...it's a club whose only principles are hatred of liberals, a distorted sense of freedom, and a judgment-free zone where crudity and bigotry are rewarded. We need to stabilize our country before we can hope to instill shared values. I suppose that there's a sliver of hope that the media might actually focus on the imminent implosion of democracy, or the Senate might pass meaningful legislation to preserve a skeleton of democracy, and the House and Senate might remain under Democratic control and expand SCOTUS, but frankly this sounds like a fairy tale. The groundwork to harden our democracy should have started 5 years ago, but Democratic leadership had neither will nor messaging discipline to make their case. Media failed repeatedly while facilitating the erosion of norms. Does anyone see a path to stop the slide into autocracy in less than a year?
Don’t know about the time constraint, hw, but … like Ruth, Paul Sloan (author HOW TO STOP FASCISM) and Chauncey DeVega (writer at salon/self-named podcast, recent guest at Jared Yates Sexton MUCKRAKER podcast) all have been reporting on the rising tide of autocracy here, globally, in great, distressing detail for years …. but all remain hopeful. They remind us that we voted out Trump and swung Georgia … and say our challenges in 2022 are greater … but, United, there is still hope. Personally, I try to remember my emotions are REALLY good at perceiving threat, but terrible at assessing level of threat. Ancients like Plato (story of cave of shadows) and Moses (Numbers ch13, 12 spies story) wisely counsel being skeptical, and questioning, of my limited perceptions ….. so to evaluate actual level of danger, I notice the feeling of my heart in my throat, and listen to experts like Ruth (who are undoubtedly feeling deeply the same fears) who are still calmly, confidently guiding passengers to the lifeboats.
I appreciate the desire to feel hope, but hope without action is meaningless. I'm also not clear what 'lifeboats' you are referring to. I see a Republican machine working 24/7 to disseminate lies and propaganda, install partisans at every level of state and local governance, and fight the current administration even at the expense of preserving life via vaccine mandates or national security via confirmation of ambassadors. Schumer has not succeeded in getting even 1 piece of legislation passed that would harden our democracy or protect voting rights, Biden refuses to support overturning the filibuster, Congressional Democratic leaders have no coherent messaging warning citizens about the dangers of 1 party autocratic rule, SCOTUS is openly partisan and gunning to roll back a host of civil rights and workers' protection legislation. Democrats have no plan, no strategy, no messaging...they're hemorrhaging Independents by the day. Garland is refusing either to prosecute Trump for multiple obstruction as outlined in the Muelller report, or to publicly describe the threats posed by voter suppression and gerrymandering. Because most people don't understand the threats to democracy (because their Democratic leaders are failing to sound the alarms), they're focused on inflation and Covid fatigue. By every measure, Democratic leadership is failing this moment. The only reason that the 1/6 Committee has come as far as it has is that they're temporarily borrowing Liz Cheney's spine of steel and excellent communication skills. Where in this morass do you see a lifeboat? If there were action, I would feel hope. But I see an administration and leadership in steadfast denial. The Senate will recess for their 50th vacation of the year without passing either BBB or any legislation protecting democracy. A real leader would refuse to allow anyone to leave until at least 1 piece of legislation protecting democracy was passed. How should I derive hope from such passivity, inertia, complacency?
So … hope with action is meaningful. What is that action? You’ve succinctly, accurately described the elaborate, scripted entertainment that our elected national leaders are performing, hw, … again … to distract us from their service to the oligarchs, and NOT to the perfecting of a more perfect Union of all of us. No hope they will do anything helpful . Frustrating. Unfair. Dangerous …. perhaps fatally for our democracy. One hope seems to be that we common folk, much more numerous than the 1% and their servants, unite around democratic leaders like Stacey Abrams and India Walton … connecting locally. Betcha there is someone, some group doing democracy near you. In my little corner of Oregon, thousands of us have been sickened, hundreds dying from CoVid because our city and county officials are mostly anti-vaccine mini-trumps preventing implementing public health measures. GOT TO REPLACE THEM IN THE UPCOMING ELECTION!! It’s one cause among many to support …. 2 young black men have recently been murdered locally by racist vigilantes … a fossil fuel pipeline is proposed across our coastal mtns, threatening wilderness and coastal pollution …. our new congressional district could swing Democrat. Groups of people have organized around these concerns … these groups are the lifeboats … I’ve jumped in one to join others pulling on the oars … Trump was fired and Georgia swung … real hope? I don’t know …. but certainly, there is no hope if we do nothing together.
You're right, of course. If enough of us are active locally, it makes a difference. Thank you for playing a part in saving our shared humanity, if not our democracy.
HW,
All the problematic points you so correctly list lie at the heart, I think, of my fear. It would be a kind of madness to deny them.
It is the mess we are in. These are some of the difficult facts facing us. What are we to do about it?
Certainly to recognize the true threat to our democracy as you have done. And next?
I do not see an easy roadmap of action to follow that leads us with certainty out of this mess. As an individual citizen it is my challenge to continue hold faith with democratic ideals and to do whatever I can to support them, however banal, however seemingly trivial these actions may seem. And also to help support others to keep the faith to enable them to do what they can.
We are on own together here, if we choose to be. We could fail. We could prevail. But a necessary condition of getting through this mess is our keeping the faith and supporting one another.
My only advice to myself is this: continue to continue, letting the authoritarian creeps know I'm not going away without a struggle.
Peace.
Good advice, thank you.
And your point about Democrats not broadcasting how they are continuing to work toward ensuring the right to vote and to secure broader social policies is correct.
Perhaps what we can do in this forum is consciously remind ourselves to be on the outlook for any media coverage showing the positive achievements of the Democrats. In a recent Guardian article Robert Reich explained that he wrote for the Guardian because it had a more open approach to the efforts of the Biden administration, and that the New York Times continued to view things from a Wall Street point of view.
The economy is improving. We are making headway on the covid pandemic. We are pushing ahead on the Jan 6 investigation. Demonstrations for abortions rights are taking place. Starbuck employees at one of its locations have voted in a union, which will have broader ramifications throughout the country. Biden is working to use diplomatic efforts to deal with the current Ukraine issue and Russia.
And Biden has stated that he is committed to passing legislation to protect the vote.
When we see something positive going on out there. I know it would be helpful to me in so many ways to hear about it from my Ruth Ben-Ghiat Forum friends.
Best,
John
Randolph, you are not alone in having your heart in your throat. We all perceive the threat out there of authoritarianism. We can support one another to stay focused, to look for opportunities to support our democracy and positive values, and to keep calling out to one another, staying aware that we are not alone in this struggle.
John
HW,
You articulate the fear that gnaws at me and many others. And the poor performance that got us here is quite broad. But we are where we are. And I do not think we can know, at this point, how it turns out. We can only focus on what is in front of us to do. What it is possible for each of us to do. And from an individual's point of view, it will always feel emotionally inadequate against all forces you have pointed out.
But change comes from an aggregate of actions. And I believe we do not have certain knowledge of all the causal connections which lead to effective action. We have only pieces. But a large part of effective action is to keep our positive values alive and to do this wherever possible: to thank over-worked and stressed servers and checkout persons and pharmacists who struggle to provide essential services to keep our lives going; to consciously smile at people we encounter and to say please and thank you. And to do all the other things that we can do in our immediate environment while supporting larger political efforts however we can.
The uncertainty will not go away. Edward Deming, the great master of quality management, remarked that the most important numbers of any system are not known and are unknowable. But we do have knowledge of our positive values and we can see immediate opportunities to apply them, to model them without become over-bearing.
Do the possible. Again and again.
Hang in there.
Dr Deming was a big believer in people working together in teams to accomplish the mission in business. He thought that people competing against each other was counterproductive. He was right. The Japanese listened to him but the US mostly did not. His sense of working together can be translated to society as well. I am fortunate to have a signed copy of his "Out of the Crisis".
Yes, he was a true philosopher, wanting to created a workplace without fear where everyone participated meaningfully in achieving the vision. He believed in democracy and he had a deep respect for the labor of humans, almost a sacred respect. He showed clearly that the workplace can be humanized.
Well put, John. As Ruth mentions in the interview, caring and curiosity are critical among us, and Eric Liu has important points and suggestions. They feel small and inadequate most of the time for all of us. Timothy Snyder's book "On Tyranny" also suggests things like making small talk with strangers and other personal gestures in everyday life that can make a difference to the larger community. The new illustrated version of that book is a gem and a must read for Lucid folks.
That book is a gem, just like this forum, for which it is our responsibility to form and to function to serve our purposes, which we need to constantly remind one another about as you have done.
Without hope and vision the people perish.
Absolutely! And what are we attempting to create in this forum? A social vision of what our communities should be? A vision of being to be modeled to others, in the hope that we may attract others and ultimately be surprised by what learn?
Only a get out the vote drive that can scale and overwhelm the walls of the new voter suppression laws that have been put in place. Stacey Abrams thinks she can do it in her rematch with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp? I'm not saying it will work or not and I share your grave concern that we're teetering on the edge of falling over into autocracy.
Stacey Abrams built a grassroots movement with littkechelp from the DNC/DCCC, which is why it's been so successful. Other than Ben Winkler's mighty efforts in Wisconsin and Beto O'Rourke's youth movement in Texas (with the ever-present question as to whether the young will actually cast their votes), I'm not aware of grassroots efforts in the other 47 states. Maloney seems to think that 1,000 events hammering home the infrastructure plan is sufficient, while Harrison believes that everyone clearly sees the abyss. They are both wildly wrong. There are no strategic GOTV bottom-to-top efforts in 47 of the 50 states. The GOP continues to run unopposed for countless state and local seats. Leadership is failing to educate the country about the consequences of authoritarian rule. So, the people who think things are so bad that they can't get worse will continue not to vote, those residing in denial of the stakes will vote on pocketbook issues, not enought will vote to save democracy, and the rest...well they have the passion and zeal of the newly radicalized.
The stage has been set. All they have to do now is wait for 22 & 24 and run the play, game over..
I would add...they don't necessarily have to cheat in 22 to win them back control of congress because they have so aggressively and corruptly gerrymandered their state's districts. Dem's lose big despite their majorities.
It doesn't have to be inevitable, but Democratic leadership has self-surrendered. Absent a full court press by the Biden administration, and a pro-democracy about-face by the political media, we're in for 2 years of vengeance theatrics in Congress, then decades of revenge politics by a vengeance-fueled Trump and a corrupted SCOTUS. A rollback of 1st Amendment protections is already occurring across state legislatures. The lack of imagination to acknowledge how nightmarish life will become is yet another weakness of this country, and a central feature of Democratic leadership.
Finally, we are seeing CNN begin an assault on autocracy. It took them long enough to figure out that our quasi-democracy was under assault! Better late than never.
Agreed...
Sometimes you can't prove the worst consequences until they happen, unfortunately.