Why Trump? Why Now?

Why Trump?

Have you been listening to main-stream media pundits wringing their hands and scrambling to be the first to figure out how their pollsters and professional prognosticators failed to predict the outcome of our 2016 election? Maybe instead you’ve been rejoicing with the alt-right media and others who claim to understand and celebrate the victory of Donald Trump? (If that’s you, you’re probably not reading with an open mind any further). Perhaps you’re among those incensed at the coarse speech and insensitive comments by our new POTUS about women, Muslims, Mexicans, racial minorities and disabled journalists. Then, again, it may be that you’re among the happy Americans who are glad our next Chief Executive and Commander in Chief is (apparently) a wealthy and successful businessman who has “what it takes” to say publicly your quiet thoughts, who doesn’t observe “political correctness”, and who “tells it like it is”.

The past couple months have been entertaining, whether we are chewing our nails in terror or strutting with renewed pride in this “USA! USA!” Hardly a day goes by when something sensational doesn’t emerge from “Trumpworld”.

I think we need to face it. Entertainment is what Americans expect from our politics these days. The entertainment industry has taken over the central role we used to assign to the business of manufacturing and engineering in the country. “News” – whatever that means anymore – is produced and packaged as entertainment. Today we veritably live for movies, pay-per-view TV productions, casino gambling, global travel, tourism, Caribbean cruises, sports paraphernalia, amusement parks, theme parks, water parks … even shopping trips to the malls fall flat if they’re not spiced up with something that grips or startles us emotionally, raises our heartrate or resonates with our hidden aspirations.

Of course, that includes our darkest ones.

I find it instructive that the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus will be closing this coming May after 146 years of entertaining audiences. Donald Trump appears to me as the 21^st century incarnation of P.T. Barnum.

“Entertain” is a word that comes from Latin words meaning "hold together”, “stick together” or “support".  It has the sense of galvanizing attention or coalescing energy. This is exactly what the “entertainment industry” has accomplished in the modern era. My parents’ generation was enthralled by post-WWII musical recordings like “That’s Entertainment”, sung by Judy Garland:

“Everything that happens in life can happen in a show;

You can make 'em laugh, you can make 'em cry,

Anything, anything can go!

The clown with his pants falling down, or the dance

That's a dream of romance, or the scene where the villain is mean,      

That's entertainment!

The lights on the lady in tights,

or the bride with the guy on the side,

Or the ball where she gives him her all,

That's entertainment!

The plot can be hot, simply teeming with sex,

A gay divorcee who is after her ex, it could be Oedipus Rex,

Where a chap kills his father, and causes a lot of bother.

The clerk who is thrown out of work

By the boss who is thrown for a loss

By the skirt who is doing him dirt,

The world is a stage; the stage is a world of entertainment!”

Clearly, this is the world according to Donald J. Trump, our American President in 2017.

So, my answer to the first question in the title of this article is as follows:

Donald Trump is now the President of the United States because Trump was the only entertaining candidate to step into the center ring of the 2016 campaign for President of the United States.

Donald Trump is nothing if not a master of holding our attention. We hear him referred to as a “businessman”, “real estate tycoon” and “commercial developer”, but his real business is promoting his “brand”, aka his last name – “Trump”. “The Donald” is nothing if not an entertainer. He keeps us tuned in. His brand IS unpredictability. We love the thrill, the drama, the suspense, and the surprise endings. Media pundits desperately try, and uniformly fail to predict his next move.

We Americans have to come to terms with the truth that we are first and foremost consumers of, and ever more deeply addicted to, entertainment.  We have just inaugurated our Entertainer in Chief.

Why Now?

Asked another way, what are the circumstances that have led up to the U.S. Presidency of Donald J. Trump? My answer to this question has several components.

Geo-political. American global economic and military superiority has been steadily increasing almost without a dip from the earliest days of the republic. These United States, beginning as 13 colonies in the coastal northeast portion of the middle section of the north American continent, now are constituted by 50 states from sea to – and across – shining seas. That expansion over a mere two and a half centuries has involved purchases of land from previous imperial owners, and armed incursions and installations among people who resisted (and continue to resist) European domination. American empire, like every empire, must expand to survive. Capitalism, in fact, only works when it can expand into new markets. It can only build capital by expanding the empire’s boundaries. That means getting access to resources that belong to people in other lands. In 2017, most planetary real estate is spoken for, and there is growing pressure to leave remaining resources alone for the survival of life on Earth.

Economic-technological.  “The Media” has become the principle provider and purveyor of entertainment. Scientific advances in communication, and new technological applications have, over a momentary span of history, exponentially empowered our species to wildly amplify and transmit sound and light. Information (what we now call “data”) arrives to our eyes and ears instantly. We “communicate” constantly, our flat-screen TVs, laptops and “smartphones” bring us immediately whatever sponsors pay for. Yet, we appear to remain under an illusion that “The Media” passively “transmits” information that originates elsewhere in our political, social or natural environment. We haven’t yet recognized that “The Media” mediates information. That means “The Media” collects, organizes, distributes – and bills us for - information according to “market demand”. “Market demand” is today modulated and regulated via algorithms – complex strings of computer commands that operate our “smartphone apps”. These algorithms are designed, ultimately, to accelerate transactions (movement of money from our wallets to corporate bank accounts) and maximize profits and stock values for the 1%. Information itself is now among our chief commodities. The distinction between marketing and propaganda has all but evaporated in this age of cell phones, wireless internet and satellites.

Ideological. Ideas are powerful. Ideas are constructed by human thought. “Ideology” occurs when a person or a group is singularly attached to a particular set of ideas. Religion has classically been associated with ideology. As religion’s influence has waned in the aftermath of the scientific revolution, other powerful ideas have filled that vacuum. Ideas like the primacy of the individual, life as an evolving phenomenon, natural selection and the un-centered, universe-as-morally-relative – among lots of other ideas - now exercise almost universal influence over American decision making and behavior.

What Now?

Good question. Who knows? Possibly the most important thing each of us can do now is whatever it takes to snap ourselves out of the trance we have gradually been falling under. Maybe it means watching fewer video clips on our cellphones, less of the television drama that lures us into vicarious thrill. Maybe it means reading again, when we’d rather get lost in the seductive miasma of our latest techie toy. Maybe it means learning how to enjoy the richness of civil, respectful, face-to-face conversation around the dinner table, and leaving social media to the cat videos.

The popularity and ubiquity of dystopian movies, serials and books might suggest there is a considerable amount of imaginative work being done to express our cultural apprehensions about the future. That isn’t a new phenomenon. And it still offers a clue to how we’re feeling. We all should read H.G. Wells and George Orwell. (Sorry – I hate to “should” on people). We could all benefit from some form of meditation, some discipline of mind and heart to center ourselves in order to “walk our walk” in a balanced way.

I intend to re-assert my rights and privileges as a U.S. citizen, which include laboring to protect and extend liberty and justice to my fellow human beings. I also intend to participate in organizing other citizens – and those who are being deprived of citizenship – to exercise “citizen power” in a collective way. “Citizen power” depends on organizing people, whereas “political power” and “corporate power depends upon mobilizing money and resources. Revolutionary America has always emerged as a movement of people-power in defiance of all other forms of power, each of which is susceptible to abuse. It’s going to mean training for the coming fight.

Maybe “what now?” also means learning about and practicing effective, non-violent means of social change. These have been refined, tested and practiced, and are available to those who will dedicate ourselves to fighting for a safe and beautiful world into which to welcome generations yet to come. Our species has endured and propagated more than enough violence in our short visitation upon this planet. It’s time for all of us to step up and do battle on behalf of what really matters. In my heart, and in my mind, what matters is love.

Will You Swear Allegiance to Fear?

Terrorism. We all know what it means. It refers to violent, often religiously motivated acts against civilians. Terrorists. We all know who they are. Mentally unhinged, often religiously motivated people who blow themselves up in crowds of civilians, killing and maiming innocents. Terrorist organizations. We know what they are. Non-state militarized collectives of insurgent fighters, some of whom plan and execute assassinations, suicide bombings and shootings like 9/11, Fort Hood, San Bernadino, Brussels, Charlie Hebdo.

And now, Nice, France.

Citizens of the United States and of nations around the world are, of course, terrorized by the actions of terrorists. Terrorists are not bound by international conventions. The sudden acts of terrorists make us feel “unsafe” and “unprotected” from violence that seems to erupt randomly in places where any of us might be “going about our business”. We get afraid. That’s the goal of terrorism. Many of us cry out for protection from this frightening and imminent possibility. The powerful among us promise to keep us safe, either by violently retaliating with overwhelming force, or by more nuanced diplomatic strategies. Few among us trust any of these political promises; we remain afraid. We become paralyzed, or our fear becomes rage, and we get our guns and prepare to shoot anything that (we think) looks or moves like a terrorist.

The Geneva Conventions are international agreements ratified by 196 nations. They represent an attempt by the so-called “civilized world” to place some limitations on their conduct of war among themselves. These signatories agree to treat POWs and sick and wounded soldiers honorably. They are also expected to provide certain attention to “protected persons”. They are supposed to extend humanitarian aid to victims of wars, and observe certain protocols and exercise restraint during military occupation of another nation. They agree to treat civilians – citizens who are not officially participating in combat as armed members of a nation’s military services – as “protected persons”.

Empire. We have all learned about the Empire from “Star Wars”. It refers to one nation’s economic and military control of other nations (think galaxies and solar systems). In Earth history, Babylonia, Egypt, Assyria, Ottoman, Persian, Roman … these are the empires taught in classes.

Emperors. One had new clothes, but we probably don’t think there are any real ones left in the world – Ceasar, Napoleon, Alexander, The Ramesses, Tito, Hirohito, the Georges of the British Empire, the Khans of Asia – but these are names belonging to a galaxy far, far away in a time long, long ago.

Imperialism. We all have heard this word. It is related to “empire”, even though it begins with “I” instead of “E”.

Imperial Margarine had a crown on the box – “Crowned with Quality”. Chrysler’s top of the line model was the “Imperial”.

The US state of New York is “the Empire State”, and the “Empire State Building” is on Manhattan Island.

“Imperialism” is the collective strategies and tactics employed by one nation to extend its influence and control over other nations and tribal groups, extracting its human (slavery) and natural resources, and furthering the goals of imperial domination. Empires take many forms in history, and each has unique characteristics. Sometimes beneficent tyrants exert their military power to restrain inter-tribal mayhem. Sometimes powerful, democratically elected presidents, beholden to capital, try to balance wisdom and expediency. Most times there’s some kind of hybrid situation.

Today … well … I think we could have a more substantial conversation about today.

In my view, there is, today, a global uprising against the Empire. It is an uprising of the Earth and the life Earth has birthed. And, of course, it is being organized by the human – and other – creatures who are awakening to the devastating consequences of the Empire’s exploitive, multi-generational campaign of terror. Island nations are drowning. People and other creatures are desperately seeking refuge from too much bloody chaos. Desperately impoverished men, women and children are lashing out in desperate violence simply to be seen, let alone heard. This uprising won’t be crushed. Not any longer. It has been rising for generations. For millennia. And there is no way to be neutral, or impartial; to be a spectator or a bystander. We are each compelled to take the side of the power we swear allegiance to. The Empire, or the Rebellion. Which will it be for you?

When "Faith Leaders" Perpetuate American Myth

I'm horrified that my people - Americans and people of faith - are raising up potential national leaders who exploit our fears and fuel our hatreds. I also think it's time we leave behind some of the mythologies this letter

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1k1Uyv1wIcN4fSLY8MDTaoLaVrNqLs8HwBTUrjHaTrpc/viewform?c=0&w=1] 

from "faith leaders" perpetuates.

From the letter:

"America is an immigrant nation. We know that many have come to our country, and continue to do so, seeking religious freedom and an end to persecution."

America is an imperial nation. The people who originally civilized this continent were nearly exterminated by European soldiers and sailors of fortune during the 17th and 18th centuries. As western empires competed for domination of this land, a minority movement of settled colonists threw off their British citizenship in favor of national sovereignty. With a thriving slave trade, [apparently] limitless land to the west, and growing industrial and military capacity, America didn't need the protections of the British crown. We could compete for global domination with the "big boys". During the 19th and 20th centuries, America got to be the "top dog".

Many factors have contributed to the diminishment of American prestige, power and influence as the 21st century begins. One of the important ones is that Americans have slowly been awakened to the truths of our history, and to the jingoistic lies that have enabled us to pretend our international affairs have always been conducted to "spread freedom and democracy" among "pre-industrialized" people. Many still come to America to escape poverty and religious persecution, but that poverty and even some religious persecution was created by centuries-long western imperial and commercial exploitation.

Trump is popular among Americans who don't care to know historical truths, and are perfectly happy believing the myths taught to them by their primary school curricula. These will not be discouraged by the pleas of "faith leaders". There are those who know the history, and cynically seek to "double down" on it, perpetuating prejudices and bigotry, guaranteeing a next generation of enemies upon which to conduct wars, and extract the last drop of wealth (of life) from the Earth.

I hope and pray that God, Allah ... that presence or power to which we ascribe many names ... will not bless any nation or people that hides behind its parochial myths, or raises up champions who promise to resurrect the veil of historical deceit. May we find our blessings in pursuing truth. Amen.

The Dark Heart of American Violence

The Dark Heart of American Violence

In 2013, two studies determined that the rate of gun homicides in the U.S. had dropped from 7 per 100K to 3.6 per 100K population from 1993 to 2011 (NPR via NRA). There were 18,253 homicides in 1993, and 11,101 in 2011 (Bureau of Justice Statistics).

On the other hand, Dan Diamond in Forbes online magazine (More Young Americans Now Die From Guns Than Cars) this past August, cites statistics that suggest firearm violence is occurring in the U.S. at a rate far above what other countries experience, and is commensurate with per-capita gun ownership in America.

Figures lie … and … you know the reciprocal truth. Beyond the stats, it seems to me the puzzlements and pronouncements of pundits might gain some ground by considering a number of factors.

1. 1.     Firearm violence is endemic to U.S. history.

Christian people fled Europe in the 15^th century to launch a new kind of life in a land free of the corruptions of religion and monarchy. The “new world” was created and shaped by the violent “conquests” of the indigenous population. Firearms were not the principle weapons of the early invasion, but metal blades ruthlessly cut through the largely wooden weapons of the native fighters and killed effectively. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (video talk) finds the evolution of the flintlock and revolving rifles merely accelerated the extermination and subjugation of the people who were already here.

Military expansion into the rest of the planet’s populated lands to extract labor and resources during the 19^th and 20^th centuries has been accomplished through the constant application of more powerful and accurate firearms.

The initiative violence of our national history has, of course, been erased and muted in its telling and teaching. Who wants to belong to a country that’s very existence is rooted in violence? However, that history is finally being taught and exposed.

1. 2.     Given a terrifying world, humans will sometimes act violently.

We know the “fight, flight and freeze” responses to threat. We are the beneficiaries of rudimentary and biologically rooted instincts that enable us to survive. Neurologists have located these in the limbic, or mid-section of the human brain. Sociologists and psychologists have studied how we can be manipulated within social structures to become either immobilized or hyper-active depending on levels of stress. The labels of “terror” and “terrorist” and “terrorism” contribute to the already high level of stress most Americans are feeling due to economic, health and other factors.

Under low stress, we can manage threats by leaving the situation, or being very still. As stress rises, the likelihood of violence rises, and the social response is often to repress violent actors, rather than attend to the factors contributing to stress.

How high is the stress level among people living in this country these days?

1. 3.     Technology and industry depend on, and promote violence.

I know … this is a tough one to swallow. Most Americans – myself included – are the beneficiaries of technological advances. Our lives are profoundly interwoven with the mechanisms we have invented to manipulate our environment for our comfort and convenience. We (or some of us, at least) are only recently beginning to acknowledge that our comforts and conveniences have been achieved through our treatment of the environment as disposable or automatically self-renewing. Just as western civilization has expanded by defining indigenous populations as “not people”, so has industry and technology advanced by defining the earth as “not living”, and thus justifying human violence against the land.

We are a powerful species by virtue of our brains and other unique biological attributes. We are only now awakening to the truth that although we can violently dominate or exterminate other lives, or living systems, our very survival depends on evolving a respectful relationship with all these relations.

1. 4.     Public sanctioning of violence by soldiers and law enforcement officials does not exempt American citizens from responsibility for national security.

Citizenship is a rich and profound concept. It means I take part in the work of self-governance, and assume responsibility for my country’s defense and security. Those principles began evaporating during the second half of the 20^th century, as we were led to believe we could exercise our responsibility as citizens through our labor and consumption of products. Citizenship became identical with contributing to a growing economy. 2^nd amendment and militia movements have grown out of rising awareness that national security is every citizen’s responsibility, and from personal experiences that working hard and buying stuff are no guarantee of public safety or security.

We once expected every male citizen to spend part of his young life in service to the country, largely in military service. It was considered an honorable thing, a public demonstration of one’s commitment to live as a citizen of the U.S. It was a risky thing. One could be summoned to fight a war, to defend American ideals. That call to duty has been betrayed by those who continue to use violence to advance empire. That betrayal was exposed in my generation by the tragedy of the Vietnam adventure.

When I hear Americans at campaign events calling us to “take back our country!”, I hear two voices. One is the voice of frustration and desperation, a rebellious voice, impatient to reclaim power, and promising violence if not listened to. The second is the voice of encouragement, a cheering voice, committed to and inspired by a non-violent, radical renewal of citizen participation in American democracy.

Atheism redux

I have to write a response to my son's recent (and very excellent) post on atheism. Jordan's blogpost. It is punctuated with a number of cartoons and graphics which I found (for the most part) both helpful and hilarious. Having made a living as a professional religionist for much of Jordan's life, I am not unfamiliar with some of the ridiculous presumptions and behaviors of religious people. I also think that ALL people are "religious". Thus, ALL people behave (to one degree or another) ridiculously, and ALL people hold some ridiculous presumptions. God! What a sweeping and ridiculous generalization! Sure, but permit me to elaborate a bit.
There is some debate concerning where the word "religion" comes from. It has found its most popular use in the 20th century to define the major systems of belief found among the various populations on the planet (Christian religion, Hindu religion, Muslim religion, Jewish religion, etc). Most of these certainly postulate a "transcendent" dimension, a God or pantheon of deities. Those who participate in the rituals or presumptions associated with these systems are "religious". Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher of the early 19th century, was probably the first to describe the "religious" person in psychological terms. He used the phrase "leap of faith" to describe an individual's psychic development past the limitations of strict ethics or amoebic aesthetics, to arrive at a personal commitment to a chosen way of life.
Today, I often hear "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual". It would appear that to be labeled "religious" today is considered out of fashion or a social liability. In this context, "religious" means "commited to a ritual practice and prescribed belief system". "Spiritual", it seems, refers mostly to one's openness to new transcendent possibilities, without being attached to any particular system. Thoroughly modern, very American.
I came to my own "faith" after significant ambivolence toward religion in my teen years. I found a kind of love and acceptance among the the people of our family's church that I didn't feel at home or in other settings during that phase of my life. At the same time, I was perplexed by what I judged to be a strange paradox - this love and acceptance seemed to emerge from this community's primary commitment to a big book with odd language, and to certain ritual activities and practices that were difficult to understand. Over the years, I came to trust the book and the rituals, and to acknowledge the comfort and connections they offered.
Which brings me back to why I believe all of us are "religious". The root of the word "religion" is in Latin. "re-" is a prefix meaning "again". "-ligare" means "to connect" (we get "ligament" from that root). We are "religious" to the degree to which we experience disconnection  from our world, and seek to re-connect with it.
Thus, Jordan's injunction that "what matters is that we treat each other according to nature's moral code" is a religious statement. We re-connect with our world when we recognize that we are part of  this world. Formulaic religions too often seem to emphasize the "other" world where we "really" belong, with the consequence that we treat "this world" as expendable. Jordan recognizes that the moral codes created within parochial belief systems have widely missed the true mark of religion: reconnecting humans with our world. In fact, these codes have often served to deepen the gulf between us and "nature". The remedy - to restore the bonds we have broken - is to rid ourselves of the codes of behavior imposed upon us by religious agencies, and obey instead the basic natural impulses religious authorities have taught us to control and silence.
I want to conclude this by saying that "atheism" is not a new phenomenon. It has always had a fairly strong representation in western culture, though muted by the ubiquitous character of Judeo-Christian norms. We are fortunate (in my opinion) that courageous and scholarly voices have come forward in the past decade or two, to make public the atheistic arguments. I respect Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and the late Christopher Hitchens for stepping up to this task. I am also grateful for comedians like George Carlin, Bill Maher and others who have helped many of us "religious" types not take ourselves so damn seriously. I am actually thrilled to be able to engage in meaningful conversations on the subject of God or not-god these days, and look forward to renewing the tradition of civil debate about issues that matter!

Are There Bad Beliefs?

“Religious tolerance” wasn’t popular in the early days of colonial America. It began with an experiment launched by Protestant theologian and activist Roger Williams. In the 17th century, Williams, with help from the indigenous people (Wampanoag) of what is now the state of Rhode Island, established, with tremendous resistance from “mainstream” colonial Christians, a settlement that welcomed people who held variant beliefs, particularly Quakers, Baptists and Jews. Williams’ vision and courage helped shape the ideas that ultimately were written into the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Thus, the government is constitutionally restrained from taking any action to promote or obstruct any exercise or expression of anything that presents as “religious”.

Federal, state and local governments sometimes act in ways that some believe transgress the boundaries defined by the First Amendment. Recall the controversies around the fed’s attack on the Branch Davidians in Waco in 1993, or the attempt by Roy Moore and his Christian Nationalists to retain the statue of the Ten Commandments at the Alabama state courthouse. There continue to be Americans who view these intrusions of the government to have violated Constitutional religious liberty. We need to stay vigilant, of course.

I’ve been stunned this week by the stir created by a guy with a religious moniker and the means to make a big banner. How is it that someone like Terry Jones can announce plans to burn copies of the Quran on 9/11, and attempt to extort the Islamic community in New York City to relocate their planned building project, without consequence? Plenty of more moderate religious leaders have decried Jones’ actions, and as I write this, there is still the possibility he may cancel his plans. Yet, he still could follow through with it. And there may be significant, painful consequences for people far from Jones’ church in Gainesville, Florida.

Ideologues disguised as “messengers of God” have, throughout history, always pointed to a convenient enemy to organize the frightened masses they depend upon for their power. These days, with instant media coverage, if you do or say the most outrageous things, you get the most hits on the google search, and attract seas of sensation seekers. In a culture that appears more and more to cultivate and glorify ignorance disguised as “access to information”, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we are witnessing an escalation of outrage. The frightened masses are massing and desperate for someone, anyone, to point them toward the most available enemy. Religion stands ready as the perennial hose through which the gasoline of xenophobia fuels humankind’s conflagrations.

Yes, I believe there are bad beliefs. And, like bad water, bad air or bad food, they can make us very sick. Our American freedoms grant us full exposure to all of it. How critical, then, to our well-being today that we be very careful about what we breathe, what we eat and drink. And what we believe.

Awakening

I've had this experience several times in my life. I'm just going along through a day, exchanging brief greetings and general observations with others, on my way to this or that meeting or errand. And suddenly something happens - not a crisis or a trauma, just a flashing, momentary shift of perspective - and my way of seeing the world is changed. Long ago the image of an impoverished indigenous African child appeared in my mind for a moment, and I never again was able to imagine my life apart from hers. One day while I was a seminary student, I felt the momentary presence of overwhelming comfort and love, and I knew there was a transcendent reality. I tried to shake it for years, embarrassed to be associated with the kinds of ignorance, cruelty and oppression demonstrated for eons by groups who profess to believe in God. But it stays with me, the conviction that there are higher, deeper, broader dimensions of consciousness that intersect my neural pathways and can transform my entire way of thinking. The Greeks had a word for it: "metanoia". Could be translated "expanded consciousness" or "broad-mindedness". There's so much wonder in life to make mental space for, and sometimes, I change.