By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
“Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.”
–Albert Schweitzer
This week, American citizens — or at least the more than fifteen million of them that tuned in to the debate in Las Vegas — were stunned to discover that politics does not have to be a contact sport, blood letting and circus act. They’d largely forgotten, if they knew at all, that intelligent people have no need to talk over one another, toss out insults, and behave like loons in order to make their point.
Don’t get me wrong, there were diverse personalities on stage and not all of them above throwing a jab, as did Clinton about Sanders’s voting record on gun control, although both candidates have earned a solid and disapproving F from the National Rifle Association on gun rights. But by and large, the conversation was stimulating, the proceedings respectful and the politics progressive, except for ex-senator and military minded Jim Webb, whom one pundit described as a “perfectly respectable Republican.”
By the way, if you’re interested in finding out where each of our candidates — right and left — stand on policy as reflected by their record,you can find that information here.
If you read on-line and watch cable news, you will discover that everyone won the debate (except Webb and poor Lincoln Chaffee, who seems a very nice man but not up to the rigors of a presidential run). Polls, blogs, and forums all report that whoever you liked going in, you thought won at the end of the evening. Obviously, we like the sound of our thoughts echoed back to us.
Big Bill sent out an e-mail to the faithful, crowing that Hillary had swept the event, and mainstream (read that corporate) media agreed. She seemed poised and polished, having been at this ‘public scrutiny’ thing for most of her adult life, and offered an authentic and passionate moment when she discussed the Republican attack on Planned Parenthood. Hillary has an impressive record working with and for women.
On the other hand, alternative media and progressive sites all agreed that Bernie had won, having set the agenda that the Warren Wing of the Democratic party had embraced, heart and soul. Sanders led in all the casual polls and forums, and raised over a million dollars that evening, and two more million over the next two days, all from small contributors. The loser of the evening was probably Joe Biden, who, should he still be looking for a reason to run, found none.
The Pubs behaved as expected, most of them either professing boredom or referring to the debate as a conversation about “giving away free stuff,” like Medicare and Social Security. Lindsey Graham couldn’t bring himself to watch the whole thing, Trump couldn’t figure out why everyone was so nice to each other, and Karl Rove called Bernie “an elderly dyspeptic Bilbo Baggins,” still unaware, I suspect, that those on the left — and even much of moderate America — would gladly vote for Bilbo over any of the narrowly drawn bully-boys running on the right.
Now, if things go as currently projected and Hillary gets the most caucus votes, it seems clear that she has plenty of energy and confidence for the run and, although an Establishment politician, will have the loyalty of voters on the left. If, however, Bernie captures the nomination, there is very little about the man’s politics to object to in terms of where he wants to take domestic policy, even among many Republican voters who view Hillary through a filter of literally decades of disdain. Those wobbling righties who refuse to vote for a Democrat under any circumstance might look at their own candidate and decide an Independent who wants to take on Wall Street is not so bad.
That’s the report on the political week, up to the actual topic I want to discuss today, which is character — national, presidential, and individual. I think of Eric’s discussions about the Pluto/Uranus energies, echoed again this week with the activity in Virgo, when I consider how far we’ve slid down the zip line since the sixties. The antithesis of the altruistic, spiritually-inclined anti-establishment qualities I knew as a kid is represented in the needle-swing of today’s Republican Party, whose mistrust of government verges on manic, along with a frightening disregard for intellectual discourse and the measured but secular response of science or social science.
They are no longer interested in electing the smartest candidate in the crowd, they’re going for the brashest. They have no love of religious scholarship that asks big questions seeking larger answers, they’re more comfortable with snake-handlers and creationists. They cotton to Ayn Rand’s manifesto that the superior man takes what he wants and deserves what he takes, with no mind to the ideals of the republic and its commonwealth that have provided them the freedom to think so.
And ethics? When Donald Trump declared that God was awesome — because He’d made that wonderful golf course he was so lucky to have purchased at a heckuva bargain — and lost no polling points, had no evangelical pastor thunder against his shallowness from the pulpit, caused no mainstream media pundit to question the ineptitude of his response as a sop to the Religious Right, it is easy enough to surmise that ethics has no place in the right-wing. That’s the same right-wing whose purity tests are so stringent that very few Pubs can live their life ‘out loud’ and pass them — and so they don’t.
Which brings me back to Tuesday night’s debate. A few things happened that made me think ethics might be making a welcome comeback. Most everyone heard about Bernie’s deflecting the heat off Hillary for her e-mail dilemma, winning him approval and applause from those who consider the issue another of the time-wasting tactics the right likes to employ. I suspect that’s where Trump would have pounced, and where he began to scratch his head at such polite behavior. Indeed, nobody was expecting Mr. Sanders’ exasperated response to a loaded question, especially Mrs. Clinton whose face showed not just relief but absolute joy.
Now we could say that Bernie made that comment based on his dislike for political posturing and personal attack, that he was just living up to his pledge not to bash other candidates. Or we might say that his answer was an extraordinarily clever hop-scotch over a Hillary-centric question in order to make way for his own message (which he then delivered). But since Bernie is not scripted, I’m going to take him at his word; an explanation given to a reporter right after the debate, who asked why he’d done it. “It was,” said he, “the right thing to do.”
Sanders typically does what he thinks is right. For instance, when asked about black lives mattering, Bernie had the right answer, which drew thunderous applause and preempted the question. In his response, he mentioned the name of Sandra Bland — the young black woman who was arrested for a traffic violation in Waller County, Texas this summer, found hanging in her cell three days later — which he’d promised her mother he would do when they lunched together recently.
The meeting was accidental, and remained confidential, despite the kind of political volume it would have engendered, much like the dust-up over the Pope’s meeting with Kentucky’s anti-gay poster child and religious zealot, Kim Davis. Clearly, Sanders’ decision not to exploit that occasion was an ethical decision that would have gob-smacked the average politico, who would have found some covert way to leak his growing bona fides with the black community, pre-debate.
Doing the right thing — despite the consequences — is within Bernie Sanders’s character, and I can’t tell you for sure that such ethical politics won’t disqualify him for the American presidency. That will be largely up to us as a culture and a constituency, able in the next months to push the nation into a return to ethical rule of law designed to meet public need, committing ourselves to that movement — or not.
I’m not bashing Hillary in this piece, as she’s doing a fine job of leaning as left as she can without cutting the threads she’s spent a lifetime weaving into the monetized politics of corporate neo-liberalism. If the left holds her to campaign promises, she may overcome her moderation to make some waves on domestic issues. I’m less hopeful about international entanglement.
But doing the right thing is something many of us have found a resonance for — some even a passion — not just in our own lives but projected into the community and beyond to government. So much that we see on a daily basis seems the wrong thing to do, institutionalized, politicized and stubbornly unyielding. So much is just plain unethical.
For instance, it’s hard to argue against a call for free (or even reasonably priced) public education when we discover that outstanding student loans amount to over a trillion dollars, a good portion of that in profit to the government, or hear of seniors dependent on Social Security having their checks garnished for back payment.
It’s difficult to justify multi-billions in corporate welfare to businesses that not only don’t need a hand, but don’t pay a cent in taxes to the nation that continues to feed them with perks and public money, while still playing with the notion of further cuts to the safety net.
It’s ridiculous to note the uptick in medical insurance and pharmaceutical costs when it’s clear that the prices being charged are “all the market can bear,” even though the free market isn’t free, the fair market is only a glimmer in a progressive’s eye, and all the market can bear is akin to Ayn Rand in perpetual orgasm. And that’s just the obvious.
It’s not the right thing to continue doing so much that we do these days, including celebrate bogus holidays that were politicized from the git-go. Since we’re just past it, let’s take Columbus Day as a likely example of how much we got wrong — and how diligently some of us are trying to make it right.
As I’ve already exceeded my word limit (!) I’ll offer a few quotes and links, for your exploration. This is a topic dear to the heart of natives of this nation and continent, and those of us who identify with them. I like what David Swanson has to say about Christopher Columbus, who we should all acknowledge was cruel to the point of sadism, possibly even a sociopath, and responsible for beginning a genocide that eliminated over 90% of this continent’s indigenous population even BEFORE the Pilgrims landed:
“Columbus was not a particularly evil person. He was a murderer, a robber, an enslaver, and a torturer, whose crimes led to possibly the most massive conglomeration of crimes and horrific accidents on record. But Columbus was a product of his time, a time that has not exactly ended. If Columbus spoke today’s English he’d say he was “just following orders.” Those orders, stemming from the Catholic “doctrine of discovery,” find parallels through Western history right down to today’s “responsibility to protect,” decreed by the high priests of the United Nations.
Evil is almost always mundane, is it not? A feisty little Italian, given to overreach, trying to impress the leaders of his country and church, while making a little stash for himself? A man not unlike some we know today. So long as we continue this antiquated notion of Manifest Destiny and colonialism, pushing ourselves where we’re not wanted in search of resources not ours — as long as we pretend that might makes right and profit is all that matters — we continue to be the anachronistic evil that infects the human race.
There are communities all across this nation changing out Columbus Day activities for celebrations of their native peoples, like Seattle’s Indigenous People’s Day. All it takes for that kind of sanity to spread is an educated population, respect for humankind and yes, a determination to do what’s right. Besides those already indicated, here are a couple more links worth your time — weekend reads, if you will — the first from people’s historian, Howard Zinn.
As Cities Give Columbus the Boot, Indigenous Peoples Day Spreads Across US
Doing the right thing is a matter of personal consciousness, of course, but it should look like, feel like, a higher calling than self-seeking and aggrandizement. An easy enough template to follow: whenever it looks like an ego-stroke, you can bet it is one.
When we live our life reaching up for that ‘right thing,’ integrity not only becomes easier, it becomes easier to notice when it’s absent. That’s where many of us find ourselves today — sensitized to what’s gone missing, and longing for it. The magic of transformation is found in doing what’s right instead of what’s easy.
If enough of us adopt that philosophy, the collective mind will change for the better, and perhaps in exercising those spiritual muscles we will find that we’ve discovered our purpose. Like Albert Schweitzer — a man of great compassion and a lifetime of service — told us, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”
It does seem to be Bernie’s thing, and a number of others I can think of, but few of them with a stomach for politics. Maybe we need to make it our thing, too, if we’re to create the personal, as well as collective, world we’re yearning for.
So, at the request of the Afghani President and pressure from the Pentagon — greatly disappointing millions, himself included — a reluctant Obama has announced that he’s leaving the remaining ground force (a little under 10,000 troops) in country through 2017 due to growth of the Taliban, who have now captured more territory than they’ve held since 2001. The brief announcement by the Prez ended with the words, “It’s the right thing to do.”
I suspect when you’re standing on the machinery of war, trying to slow it by fits and starts, and responsible to the people who it has chewed and spit out, that does seem the right thing. Should mention that the generals wanted considerably more than simply non-combat troops at this juncture, but when haven’t they? And when can this war conclude for American’s if we don’t just bite the bullet, as they say, and walk away?
As discouraging as is that decision, another from the White House is cause for celebration. “The Interior Department is canceling future lease sales and will not extended current leases in Arctic waters off Alaska’s northern coast …” Great news for those of us who love the planet, and for the Polar Bears, who have enough struggle trying to survive climate change to cope with probable glitches from (fresh) sHell.
Thank you for the quote(s) Judith. . perfect. Thank you for the great news for polar bears too. I love your whole piece – as I always do – and once again, tell you that you provide an incredibly nourishing sense of stability in these most unstable of times. It appears, through the chaos, a focusing is taking place. Thanks to you, we (I) have a word for it. Ethics. An inner sense of what’s right. I wonder, if the Democrats had had the 1st debate of the silly season, instead of the Republicans giving us 2 opportunities (in case the 1st one didn’t “take”) to see how low a politician can stoop, would it have had the same impact on viewers? I don’t think so.
Can any self-respecting astrology lover deny the power of the Universe/God to guide/lead us out of the wilderness when, on the big screen of America we see the best and the worst of human nature played out in realtime, and then get to CHOOSE which we prefer? Good grief. The Universe is playing to the lowest common denominator!
The churlishness of the Republican candidates, and all they represent, in stark contrast to the respectfulness displayed by the Democratic candidates has the effect of a lighthouse beacon on a foggy night. Can’t see ahead? Trust the light to let you know when you are too close to the shore, or need to be re-assured you that you’ve not lost your bearings.
With astrology’s recent emphasis on our feeling sense to balance out the weight of logic and reason, when logic and reason don’t explain the down-the-rabbit-hole experiences that leave us wondering which way is up, our intuitive sense of what’s the right thing to do is bringing us to the surface. It allows us to put our foot down safely in the blinding fog of reality, moving in our forward motion called evolution by many, or ascending by others, or a parting of the seas by still others.
With so many evils in the world today it is difficult to prioritize them. I suppose for me, the climate abuse, including the seas, is first and then inequality is a close 2nd. Equality covers a lot of ground; people of color, the impoverished, women, the disabled, the hungry . . .
Third would be the evil of animal abuse. It is hard to focus on just one evil to redeem since there are so many, but ethics, or the foregoing of ethics has made it easy for some to turn their back on all those evils. Or so it would seem. We are in the midst of a Neptunian tactic; a kind of blindness with no assurance we will survive the madness that surrounds the whole planet. Ethics could be the first step, the beacon to follow and trust. We are grateful for your sharing Judith.
be
Glad you mentioned Columbus, Jude. I think I asked everyone I came in contact with on Monday “why do we (still) celebrate Columbus Day?” But then, I don’t think most of us do, it’s “just a Federal Holiday”. That some are finding alternatives deserving of celebration is good news.
Thanks, as always, for your reporting and perspective.
why not Cortez day>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-b76yiqO1E
Cortez has a sea named after him, enough accolade for any sociopath — but I’d vote for Neil Young day. Great link!
Glory be! There’s been a genuine shift in political possibility among the chattering class. This began last week among Sunday Pundits as a reluctance to predict outcome, and today? It’s solid — all bets are off, the silly season is getting more serious and we may finally have the beginnings of a presidential race.
Trump and Carson are still leaders on the right, but now they’re both seen as buffoon’s, truly DANGEROUS due to credibility issues. FINALLY we talk about that! Still, their personality issues might win them the nod at hands of the deluded right, and put them up against actual politicians with factual data to support their positions. The Establishment right is getting worried.
And, finally, Bernie’s a contender, as illustrated by the respectful attention shown Katrina vanden Heuvel (of The Nation magazine) who, amazingly, GOT TO FINISH HER SENTENCES! That hasn’t happened in twenty years.
And while Joe Biden might still decide to thread the needle between Hil and Bernie, most everyone thinks he’s unnecessary. It’s also being pointed out — somewhat reluctantly — that it was he, himself, who ‘leaked’ the info about his son wanting him to run. Most of us would rather not be cynical about that, but …
Here’s a good read by (well respected) Eugene Robinson on Ben Carson’s strange brand of truthiness:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/10/13/dr_ben_carson_crackpot_128391.html
Bernie had an interesting interview with Bill Maher on Real Time, Friday night, explaining how he’d pay for the programs he’s promoting (tax hikes on wealth,) and that was addressed again today by Stephanopoulos. It seems not just credible, but obviously needed to buoy the middle class and begin to mend the internal fissures in the social infrastructure. Huffy has the Real Time youtube here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-tax-the-rich_5622670ae4b0bce34700f168
And one note about that: I’m in sympathy with Bill’s take on this, that the talking points are fine and got the needed attention, but that needs to be expanded now to something easier for the less engaged (I’m being kind) to grab onto. Bernie’s message needs to sound less like statistics and more like narrative, and at this point, he seems stuck in it, unwilling to change what’s (obviously) working.
I think his message would be much more effective if he’d give rewording a try, but I’d guess that — having shouted the same message for close to forty years with few Americans listening — finally having the nation’s ear is part of his reluctance to make creative changes. He’s going to have to, in order to stay in the race IMHO.
Thanks for the kind words, be — and I agree with you about humankind’s unkindness to self and others as a matter of low density and darkness. Me, I can deal with most of it but NOT — repeat NOT — the animal stuff. I was about done in by the pic of the starving polar bear that passed around the websites earlier in the month. I do a lot of animal/environmental activism and it takes an emotional toll just to read and respond to it all. That said, per the theme this week, here’s another of Schweitzer’s quotes:
“A man is really ethical only when he obeys the constraint laid on him to aid all life which he is able to help, and when he goes out of his way to avoid injuring anything living. He does not ask how far this or that life deserves sympathy as valuable in itself, not how far it is capable of feeling. To him life as such is sacred…..”
… and another favorite:
“By ethical conduct toward all creatures, we enter into a spiritual relationship with the universe.”
… and this one, remembering that Dr. Albert Schweitzer was, according to his bio, “Theologian, Philosopher, Journalist, Scholar, Missionary, Doctor, Preacher (1875–1965)” :
“Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends, the animals. Especially for animals who are suffering; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death.
We entreat for them, all thy mercy and pity, and for those who deal with them, we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words. Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals and so to share the blessings of the merciful.”
… and go here, for a whole page of them:
http://www.all-creatures.org/aro/q-shweitzer-albert.html
Tell me, aWord — did those you asked about Columbus Day have anything interesting to say about it? Those links I provided gave the political rationale for it (to bring the country together under one banner of mutual immigration, not something that would play so well today) and I still remember learning “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue …”
ALL of this is about abandoning the superficiality of black and white thinking in order to witness that life is, indeed, gray. We could have used some sense of that on, for instance, 9/11 — maybe we wouldn’t have destabilized the Mideast with our vendetta, or trusted the Decider to do same, in our name..
History tells us that famous and important historical figures were flawed, in the case of Columbus (and Cortez,) massively. While it’s not always necessary to throw the baby out with the bathwater (like, for instance, MLK for his sexual indiscretions,) by using our best intuition and discernment, it seems quite reasonable to scrap Columbus Day, especially since he never stepped foot on this nation — and still managed to damage an entire continent.
I’m thinking Bernie’s lack of planets/points in water (which is probably how he got this far) would explain his less than warm approach to “the facts”. On the other hand, Elizabeth Warren’s abundance of water energies gives a really nice balance to Bernie’s solar earth Sun energy….
The Democratic Nat’l Convention starts on July 25, 2016, 3 weeks following the U.S. solar return on July 4, 2016. In both cases, transiting Uranus will be at 24+ Aries, having recently made a conjunction with Bernie’s Mars and Elizabeth’s North Node, both at 23+ Aries. That will take place in June, and coincide with transiting Saturn (the real) at 12+ Sagittarius retrograde, conjunct the U.S. Sibly ascendant, in a square with transiting Neptune (the Memorex) in a stationing retrograde period at 12+ Pisces (in the U.S. 3rd house of communication).
This suggests to me that maybe a kind of breakthrough surge in Bernie’s poll numbers would induce Elizabeth to come on out and endorse him as the Democrat Party’s choice. I could be wrong of course but. . .
The Dem’s convention starts with the Sun at 5-6 Leo, conjunct Bernie’s Pluto (5+ Leo), Elizabeth’s Pallas the Planner (6+ Leo) and the U.S. Sibly chart’s north node (6+ Leo). Gasp.
At the same time, transiting Mars at 28+ Scorpio will be conjunct Bernie’s PROGRESSED Sun, which is where transiting Saturn stationed direct this past August, square transiting Jupiter who was conjunct Venus at 28+ Leo, while Saturn (+ Bernie’s PROG. Sun) trined Mars at 28+ Cancer. That’s when Bernie Sanders was getting his mojo on if I’m not mistaken. Jupiter and Venus were opposite the U.S. Moon at 27+ Aquarius, while Saturn in Scorpio (and Bernie’s PROG Sun) were sextile the U.S. natal Saturn at 27+ Capricorn. You didn’t really think you could get away with no astrology from me this week did you?
Anyway, I believe that Warren will hop on board the Sanders train (good Lord willin’) just before the convention or just as it starts, and she will be passionate, I tell you PASSIONATE, about Bernie’s numbers and the crowds will be ecstatic. The convention concludes just as transiting Jupiter returns to the U.S. Sibly’s Neptune (22+ Virgo) and transiting Chiron at 24+ Pisces retrograde trines the U.S. Mercury in Cancer. Dancing in the streets quite possible.
By late August, transiting Mars conjunct the by-then-stationed-direct transiting Saturn at 9+ Sagittarius, opposite Warren’s Mars (9+ Gemini) conjunct her Mercury (10+ Gemini) which are conjunct the U.S. Uranus (URANUS!) at 8+ Gemini. Saturn will then move forward and, early in September, will challenge (square) transiting retrograde Neptune, which, by then will square Warren’s Mercury in Gemini . .again.
As it happens, the U.S. solar return chart’s Moon (symbolizing The People) at 19+ Cancer which conjuncts Elizabeth Warren’s Venus at 18+ Cancer and I’m betting she remains unscathed. I dare go no further except to note that the U.S. solar return has an emotionally powerful grand trine in water signs that could tap into a feeling energy on a very personal level with its citizens. Venus in Cancer trines Mars in Scorpio and Chiron in Pisces. The Jupiter trine Pluto will still be in effect too. Prepare yourself.
be
By the way: another reason why Neil deserves a day …
https://www.popularresistance.org/neil-young-launches-conservation-themed-website/
Consensus was that Columbus is not someone to celebrate. We’ve gotten that far with our awareness, at least.
We surely need to re-discover ourselves under a new social, environmental, and political paradigm in order to have reason to celebrate the “discovery” of America.