Wisdom from Civilized Men for an Era of Growing Intolerance

In 2008 I was enthralled, dazzled and inspired beyond words at the tectonic shift when Barack Obama was elected President. What a tremendous achievement for a society, for African Americans, for people of all races, what an example for the whole world! From slavery to this! From a silly-minded President beholden to the military industrial complex who let the country slide into the toilet to a man of depth, hope, faith and vision and the knowledge of how to stop the hemorrhaging and repair the damage. 

I felt certain that those who voted for Obama would stand by him through the harshest of obstacles, would take arms against a war of misinformation if it was leveled at him. Defend him to the death.

They had every reason to. And in the post election euphoria it was easy to believe that everybody heard him when he said he couldn’t rescue America on his own. Everywhere I went I saw and heard “Yes we can!” We, not I. It was a magnificent time in history and to be part of it in any way was thrilling, an honor.

What happened? Did Obama turn out to be less of a man than everybody thought? Was he less intelligent, less committed, less courageous, less capable of making rational decisions? Less able to understand the complexities of how to recover from economic melt-down? Did he, with his thoughtlessness and spinelessness, throw away this precious opportunity? Did he abandon the people who had trusted him enough to vote for him?  

No he didn’t. Too many of them didn't have his strength of mind, his vision. They abandoned him, even turned on him. And opened the doors and windows to the ill-wind that has always hung in the air, occasionally blowing at gale force but more often dropping to a noxious evil whisper. Now it blew across the country right out in the open and with a vengeance.

Aah. It’s painful to think about. Obama did and does his job anyway, and superlatively. He is appreciated by many but not as many as he deserves considering what he's given and accomplished. America is better off for his policy direction and so is the world. He was and is an honest man doing an honest job particularly well. And despite the obstacles thrust in his path, the hatred and the vitriol and the sheer, mindless racism sometimes overt often covert but just as recognizable, he maintained his commitment and his dignity and even his sense of humor. And grew in stature. Most of all his respect for Americans, regardless of their political affiliations and beliefs, remained the same.

Imagine being strong enough to rise above all of that. I think about how hard it is for me when spite is directed at me or I’m judged; how deeply frustrated I get when a person who condemns me doesn’t know the truth and doesn’t want to know, even though it’s not that complicated. The pain of it defies description and it rocks my foundations.

Obama has had millions of people doing that to him for over seven years. Even though he’s a really great President. I stop and think about that for a minute. The quintessential civilized man, the modern day hero. 

Six months ago I was sure that the next President would be a Democrat who would build on all the great things that Barack Obama has initiated. There’s plenty to still build, which he has always acknowledged, but he’s left a legacy, laid down a path into a good future. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders would do the Presidency very differently but neither would tear up that path and build one in a completely different direction. Definitely, I thought, Americans will vote for another Democrat. So even if Barack Obama didn’t get the kudos he deserved, at the least the good that he achieved would be honored and sustained.

Now I’m not so confident. This era is fast turning into one where intolerance is burgeoning like a grotesque, rotting, foul smelling fruit on a deadly poisonous weed that’s reproducing as weeds do—in a manner that’s getting out of control.

Presidential candidates are growing in popularity the more foul-mouthed, intolerant, pro-violence and fascist they are. What has happened to America, the land of the free, home of the brave? Well it always was the home of many brave people and it still is, but it was never the land of the free for everybody. Maybe it’s really time to face that and say out loud that it’s also the land of the intolerant, the coward, the bully, the land of the still terribly disenfranchised…  

On December 10 2013 Barack Obama spoke eloquently at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. You can see his whole speech in text here. Or watch it on YouTube here. I recommend it.

One of the things he said that stayed with me was, “The struggles that follow the victory of formal equality and universal franchise may not be as filled with drama and moral clarity as those that came before, but they are no less important.”

He wasn’t just referring to South Africa, but to corrupt leaders throughout the world. On the books America has [kind of] achieved equality but the moral clarity has been/is being smothered. We can point fingers at the Republican candidates and the right wing media that promotes them and we’ll be justified. Their ideas and beliefs are unconscionable. But the biggest danger lies with the conservative voters who will work hard to elect one of them—because they're driven by anger, hatred, fear and paranoia which are all very powerful energizers—and with Democrat voters who might not bother to vote at all.

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On April 16 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from the Birmingham jail, “More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of good people.” You can download the full letter or listen to the audio here.

What he predicted has come to pass. His words apply to fighting intolerance of every kind, to the 
nurturing and then preserving all that is good. And to ensuring that democracy creates a world where everybody's rights are respected. 

Democracy isn't Dead or Dying in America

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. 

Environment's Knight in Shining Armor Tom Steyer Takes On Climate Change Deniers

As a race we’re slow to face the consequence of our actions, especially our polluting ones, but we’ve also been blind to how much big money was thrown at keeping us stuck in the dinosaur age where environmentalists were laughed at and called whack-jobs and tree-huggers.

Drexel University environmental sociologist Robert J. Brulle, PhD, conducted a study on the climate change countermovement and found that between 2003 and 2010, 91 climate change denial organizations spent over $7 billion on a climate change countermovement. This movement is “a well-funded and organized effort to undermine public faith in climate science and block action by the U.S. government to regulate emissions. [It includes] conservative think tanks, advocacy groups, trade associations and conservative foundations, with strong links to sympathetic media outlets and conservative politicians.”  These 91 organizations currently have an annual income of almost $900 million at their disposal, 75% of which comes from untraceable funding. 

But at last environmental consciousness is main stream and big money is backing it. Environmentalist knight in shining armor Tom Steyer, a retired financier currently worth about $1.5 billion, recently pledged to spend $100 million ($50 million of his own and $50 million which he plans to raise) targeting climate change denier politicians and supporting politicians who actively work towards safeguarding the environment. 

It’s easy, when Wall Street is more like the Wild West than ever before, when crooks get away with destroying economies, and individuals have fortunes that are indecent in a world where so many starve, to assume that all billionaires who have earned their fortunes in the financial world are sons of bitches. Whether Steyer is one of that commendable species or not is hard to say since up until a year ago he stayed under the radar. But in 2010 he (and his wife Katheryn A. Taylor) signed the Giving Pledge to donate the bulk of their wealth to charity which says a whole lot of something good about them both. He’s also an ardent environmentalist and committed to devoting his energy and a lot of his money to the cause, which also says a lot about him. 

These days that means engaging in political campaigning and to that end Steyer founded NextGen Climate in 2013 which acts “politically to avert climate disaster and preserve American prosperity… we are committed to supporting candidates, elected officials and policymakers across the country that will take bold action on climate change—and to exposing those who deny reality and cater to special interests.” 

NextGen Climate is set to be one of the largest outside groups in the US, rivalling in clout the Koch brothers’ conservative political network. But not every liberal body and mind is happy about what Steyer is doing. 

The Guardian ran an article by Andy Koll more or less condemning all super-wealthy individuals who use their fortunes to influence politics regardless of whether they’re conservative or liberal, calling the latter hypocrites. They lament the Citizens United ruling that allows individuals to spend as much as they want in political campaigns but they also say that until things change they’ll play the game. Koll said these liberals are inflicting as much real damage on democracy as conservatives. 

But the reality is that the Koch brothers et al pour millions into influencing politics so environmental laws restricting them won’t be passed. If nobody steps in to counteract the influence that those conservatives’ money buys, who will stop them? 

The voters who have been conned into believing that Democrats just want to take their jobs in the fossil fuel industry away and that burning fossil fuels doesn’t really impact on the environment at all? The conservative Judges and Justices who rule in favor of conservative corporate interest regardless of how their rulings impact on the whole of humanity, not just America? I don’t think so. 

For me the problem isn’t that liberals get involved and competitive in the spending. I think Liberals with a fortune that they’re willing to spend are right to say that until things change they need to play the game as well, otherwise we all lose.

What worries me is that some of these big spenders only want to see their issue resolved and can have tunnel vision. This year Steyer hosted a gathering of liberal donors and environmental philanthropists at his ranch in California as part of his campaign to raise that other $50 million. The New York Times quoted one of the attendees, David Topper, a New York private equity investor as saying “You need to be agnostic as to party. If I find someone who has the right position on climate change, do I care if he owns six guns? Not at all.” So America could possibly end up with a cleaner environment, but everybody could be armed with as many assault weapons as they want.

Women wouldn’t have equal pay, minimum wage would never be raised, gays, lesbians and anybody not white wouldn’t have any rights, deep-rooted racism wouldn’t get addressed, universal health coverage would be done away with and it would be back to the insurance companies scamming everybody…

Even Tom Steyer’s core focus isn’t along party lines, it’s about politicians who advocate working towards climate change. As it happens, so far those politicians are for the most part Democrats, so for now Steyer’s political organization will help prevent the Senate going to the GOP, which will help the threat to America’s democracy on all fronts, not just on that of climate change. But if Republicans get smart and change their tune just about climate change but not about anything else, they could have Steyer’s money as well as the Kochs’. That would truly be the end of democracy in America. And we’d have to kiss goodbye the world as we know it even faster than we’re having to do now.

People with a lot of money might have a lot of money-making sense and they may be passionate about the right things and generous with their money and time, but they don't always have enough sense to see the bigger picture. In the light of the recent California massacre I bet David Topper is wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. Tom Steyer looks far too smart to be blinded by his own agenda - fantastically noble as it is - to how interconnected everything is. He doesn't look like somebody who would promote the environment at the cost of, for example, gun safety, equality and a healthy middle class.

Still I'd feel safer if I knew he was committed to the health of democracy first and climate change second because with Obama as President the second will ensue from the first, but the other way round isn't guaranteed with a Congress in the hands of Republicans.

We the People - Working for Democracy

Four days ago somebody called Eric Roth, in a comment to a Paul Krugman article in the NYT, wrote “…While [Presidents, Congress and the Courts] are all are culpable for horrific crimes… none match the toxic quality of deadly damage done by President Obama [who] within a handful of years… has managed to evoke, arouse, and then kill hope itself. That cementing of cynicism will stand as his one extraordinary and abominable accomplishment, for which he will be rightly reviled throughout history…”

From where I’m standing, I see that Mr. Roth's hope is dead and his cynicism cemented but to say that his opinion is what history will reflect is a bit of an over-reach, given the reality. For the record, my hope for America isn’t diminished, it’s alive and burning. And I think history will appreciate Barack Obama for being one of the greatest American presidents. It’s not even hard to find evidence of his achievements. If I can find it so can anybody else.

It's not unusual to blame somebody else for our cynicism and to project our own feelings onto others we’ll never meet, and also to extrapolate that our experience and conclusions are an accurate illustration of how the entire world works. What’s missing from that picture is our own personal responsibility for where we find ourselves, for keeping hope alive and avoiding the death trap of cynicism. And accepting that how we feel has a lot to do with how much real effort and independent thought we put into understanding the complexity of a situation or a person.

Barack Obama is still the same man, with the same core integrity, humanity, intelligence, courage and profound understanding of social and economic issues and how they are interlinked, who stood in front of millions of Americans and said ‘Yes we can’. He said it wouldn’t be easy, and that he couldn’t do it on his own, but that together a lot could be achieved. 

I think many people didn’t hear that part or if they did they didn’t register what it really meant. The operative word in ‘Yes we can’ was ‘we’. 

It’s easy to lose heart when life is difficult, when you have to work too hard at a crappy job for not enough money to do much more than survive if that. It’s understandable that people need somebody to blame and that their first port of call is politicians. They make the laws, they’re in charge; they should know what they’re doing. 

What’s hard to comprehend is when people point their finger at those politicians who haven’t broken their election campaign promises, who work diligently and even effectively against back-breaking obstacles to improve the lives of those they represent. 

The problem America faces right now isn’t Barack Obama. He hasn’t let anybody down. He’s delivered magnificently. He’s part of the solution, which is there for anybody to see if they choose. The other part is everybody actively participating in democracy, rising above difficult circumstances so hope isn’t replaced with cynicism. Searching for the truth, taking responsibility for ourselves as individuals and as part of a whole. Using our minds to discern the lies. Writing to politicians who represent us, calling them, making their lives a nightmare if they aren’t working towards the betterment of the nation as a whole. And voting of course. There’s that.

At some level the easiest thing in the world is destruction, whether of self or somebody else and the easiest society to live in is one where the ruler dictates everything. But at heart we don’t want that, we want our independence and our power. We revere democracy, where the ruler can’t just do what they want, they have to take everybody’s needs into account. 

So why then does everybody expect President Obama to do it all on his own? He can’t order the House to do his bidding. He can’t force Democrats to the polls. He can’t stop Republican ads that are misrepresentative of the truth. He can’t force people to look further than those ads. He can’t magically wipe away the ill-effects of past administrations; all he can do is work incredibly hard at rebuilding America. And he’s doing that. Effectively. He’s pro environment protection, pro renewable energy, pro equality, pro decent wages, pro middle class, pro tolerance. 

Because of him, America didn't dip as badly as European countries in the recession. Because of him America is less at war - and they don't give you a Nobel Peace Prize for nothing. Obama is one of three sitting Presidents who received that prize. The last one was in 1919.

What more do people want? Another historical achievement? Well, they got that too. He's not the first President to try and accomplish universal health coverage, but he's the first to succeed. On its own that's award-winning stuff. Given the obstacles Republicans have put in his way - how many times have they tried to repeal it? 51? - it's verging on the miraculous. Given that Obama is up against conservatives like the Koch brothers, now worth $100 billion who use their money to control Republican politics and to try and destroy Obama and anything he achieved - forget about verging; it is miraculous.

President Obama is definitely doing his bit. But he can’t secure the Senate in the mid-terms.

It's not 'I the President' it's 'We the people'.

An Unremorseful Tea Party Already Spoiling for Another Fight

For people to learn lessons from their mistakes five things have to happen: they have to have an element of humility in their nature; understand that they are not the center of the universe; have empathy and a basic respect for their fellow humans; be aware of themselves and the impact of their behavior on those around them; and want to change very much. 

If any of those are absent, they might do little temporary shifts but it’ll only be to try and get out of crisis.  Essentially they’ll carry on doing the same old same old. Or else they might not even make any superficial move towards changing. Carry that to the extreme and you have a sociopath.

Since President Obama stood his ground, backed by Harry Reid and sane politicians, and the Tea Party experienced a resounding loss, many have expressed the hope that now the Tea Party will be sobered; will have learned their lessons. They’ll take a long hard look at how detrimental to everybody – including themselves – their actions have been. How they’ve undermined democracy by acting against the wishes of the majority of the electorate and underestimated Obama, Harry Reid and Democrats in general. 

How their behavior was so outside of the bounds of normalcy and decency that they turned even moderate Republicans against them, making enemies where before they had friends. How absolutely nothing good resulted from their actions. Nothing for them, nothing for anybody else.

The idea that this group has been sobered in any way at all is naïve. The Tea Party is already spoiling for another fight, congratulating themselves and Ted Cruz on a fight well fought. Bob Vander Plaats, CEO of The Family Leader (an umbrella Christian conservative organization), anti-gay, anti-abortion, who has become increasingly unpopular in Iowa, has backed losers and has failed in every run he himself has made in politics but believes he has a political future said of Cruz “[he] is a rock star sucking all the energy in the conservative movement. He’s making all the right enemies with the Republican establishment, which is taking him to unprecedented heights.”

And judging by the type of support the Tea Party is garnering, from organizations like the Heritage Foundation which has turned ultra conservative in the past six months and whose money helps secure seats in the House for Republican Representatives, they’ll never surrender. It isn’t going to bother them that the GOP job approval rating has taken a massive hit or that its chances of succeeding in any future election are diminished. That’s because they don’t want to nurture the Republican Party as a moderate party. They want to take it over. They’re taking the long view. 

It’s hard to take this group seriously when they’re so out of touch and are openly saying that what they’ve learned is how to be more effective next time, how to up the stakes, how to create more pressure. Or that’s what they think they’ve learned. How you believe you can up the stakes from government shutdown and defaulting on debt is hard to imagine. How you can imagine there’s anywhere to go against a President who just flat out says “no” and stands his ground is beyond rational. 

How you think you can take over a whole country which is ruled by democracy and retain power for any length of time when your support is 22% and on a downward trajectory – words fail.

They behave like fools and none of the normal parameters of rationality apply to them. But they’re fools with a mission and with money backing them. Which adds something sinister to the mix. Can you imagine an America run by super conservatives who have secured power by gerrymandering and some of whose members wave the Confederate flag in front of the Whitehouse? You might not be able to but they can. And they believe it’s a good thing.

They won’t succeed in the long run. But they can do damage in the short run and they’ve already illustrated that they have a talent for that, so it's probably not a good idea to dismiss them entirely.