A lot of people are defending American
voters and blaming the politicians for the terrible voter turnout in the 2014
US midterms, the lowest since 1942. I recently talked to somebody who said
America has no leaders worth voting for.
No leaders? It has probably the best
leader in the world as President in terms of vision; down to earth
understanding of the problems and ability and willingness to create
intelligent, workable solutions; integrity and absence of ego in decision
making; clarity of thought; wisdom and courage; humanity; generosity. It’s
an almost unprecedented package in a President.
Yet a huge number of voters have been
choosing to hate him since he was elected. Their hatred isn't based on fact and
they choose not to look at that, either. They believe whatever they read. So
should we blame the media? We can't really do that because the media provides whatever attracts the most readers. The
percentage of truth in media reports is a direct response to what the majority
of people want to read. FOX News, whose capacity to distort facts is unbeatable
also has unbeatable ratings. It has recently reached its 150th month as #1
amongst cable news. That's a lot of misinformation reaching a lot of people who
want to hear it, for a long time.
What about Democrat politicians who didn't
have the courage to stand up for their President, should we blame them? To some
degree, yes we should. It's ironic that they didn't and they lost anyway. Proof
that courage is a winning attribute.
But politicians respond to opinion polls.
So we’re back to ordinary people in the street making simple choices. Do I
believe what I read, or do I use my own brain? Do I face my prejudices and
fears and deal with them courageously so I can look for and recognize the
truth, or do I take the easy route and feed gluttonously on junk? It’s very satisfying
at some level but it’s addictive and the more you imbibe the harder it gets to
kick the habit.
Politicians aren’t a causative element in
democracy; they’re a symptom. If we don’t want to accept that we don’t have to.
But it’s a choice that will have a consequence, which we won’t like. And who
are we going to blame then?
When life is challenging it’s about the
hardest thing in the world to say “okay, what am I doing to contribute to where
I’m at?” Usually we can’t because we judge ourselves so harshly that it’s
easier to avoid accountability altogether. But it’s the only thing that effects
real change in our lives. America’s democracy looks like it’s under threat but
it isn’t; this is what democracy is about; learning to be accountable at a
personal level for the choices we make with regard to those who make our
laws.
Barack Obama being elected was a symptom
of the beginnings of immense social change in the US. But change doesn’t happen
easily and overnight, especially the kind that he signifies. The state of
politics at the moment is a symptom of everything in the American psyche that
is resisting real change. And that resistance only rises up in response to real
change happening deep within.
On the road to change, nothing is as it
seems. When you think you’re over the worst you’ve really just rolled up your
sleeves and embraced, accepted, the idea
of change, and that’s what happened when Barack Obama was elected. It’s a point
of no return, though, because that acceptance highlights everything in you that
has stopped you from moving forward until this point, and that made it
necessary for you to change if you want a better life. Once you engage in facing all of that stuff
you go through a period that seems unrelentingly dark, a downward, backward
slide. You hit your lowest point, which seems the worst. But actually it’s the
best because it means you’ve faced all the obstacles and from then on things
get better. Slowly at first, then exponentially.
The first African American President was
never going to have an easy time. There’s too much deeply buried prejudice and
fear in too many Americans’ psyches. As it’s risen to the surface and
manifested as allegiance to right-wing media misinformation and hatred within
the middle class of the man who’s been rooting for them, it’s been an ugly,
distressing and depressing thing to see.
But at least it’s visible now. You can’t take on an enemy you can't see and don't even know exists. Changing deep-rooted beliefs and fears in individuals and societies isn't fun at one level. It's terrifying, uncomfortable, it tears you apart as you build allegiance to a new, broader idea more embracing of the good things in life but cling to the old ideas because they're safe and comfortable at some level even while they're strangling you. Unfortunately, though, in this it's no pain, no gain.
And the pain is in itself a symptom that things are getting better and there's something about wrestling with change that makes you feel so alive, despite the discomfort. So democracy in America isn't dead, it's just waking up after a long sleep that was comfortable for some but at the cost of too many to last.
