Democracy is the luxury of elites who have plenty to share between them, who feel they are safe to share their power. Then, who is "elite" in this democracy can be defined to include non-property owners, non-men, non-whites, non-cis-gender, the non-wealthy, even non-nationals! Who is elite, and for whom democracy operates, can be defined to be an entire nation, as long as there is enough to share, and as long as everybody is ok with sharing. Correction: Capitalist Democracy is a luxury of elites.
Unfortunately, as the Non-s proliferate and demand shares of the fruits of a democratic society, some folks freak out. Their freedom, wealth and privilege having been premised on the oppression of some of these Non-s, and they get less willing to share. They see all these OTHERS, all these Non-s, gathering around, and they see the water rising around them, in many cases very literally, while others escape in their yachts, sometimes literally, and they see the value of their wages going down, and their health care getting too expensive to use, they’re losing their homes and jobs and they’re not better off than their parents, and the for-profit system is stripping all the value out of their paychecks and they’re feeling super-stressed and when they look for a reason for this stress, the words of a demagogue are soothing. Don’t practice humility, don’t be vulnerable, don’t ready yourself to take responsibility for unspeakable horrors, don’t ask “What can I do better?” Blame everyone else. Blame the OTHER. Blame the Non-s. Blame for your embedded guilt for the acts of genocide and slavery of your ancestors, blame for your embedded guilt for hoarded wealth, everyone else. But don’t blame the elites. Don’t blame them with the bullhorn. Don’t blame them with the checkbooks. Don’t blame them who can do something about it. They have what we want. And why would that include democracy for everyone else?
And while some people freak out because the Non-s are coming for their share, the Non-s might have some pent up rage, and hate at them who ain’t willing to share. So there might be some tension in the air. And danger of riots.
And if we get Donald Trump for another term, it may be a very long term, maybe the terminal term, not just because he has so cleverly crafted his rhetoric and used his powers of manipulation, but because the conditions under which democracy, and sharing, are possible, are collapsing from our self-serving neglect of our democracy.
How is it that democratically controlled town boards cannot set building standards for the residents of their towns, so that when fires rip through, those houses will not be destroyed? If this is democracy, democracy is about to kill itself on the altar of personal freedom to choose to die in an inferno. If a scientific fact cannot be accepted by the democratically elected Congress, and that Congress cannot write legislation to fight global warming, what good is democracy? Correction: capitalist democracy.
Because democracy doesn’t work when you’re selfish, when you’re only asking “Where’s mine?”.
Meanwhile, autocratic China is able to declare — credibly — that it will be net carbon zero by 2060. Meanwhile, research I have read informs China policy makers on how to preserve ecosystem services by reducing sprawl. I hate the genocidal aspect of the Chinese government, I hate their brutal methods of restraining population growth, but it may be the autocratic Chinese government that saves most of the people of the capitalist, individualist west from their own self-annihilation. But only if the Chinese succeed soon enough.
How to avoid both of these possibilities? How do we avoid both democratic-hedonistic self annihilation, and autocratic assimilation? We have to do things I don’t count on us to do. We have to share: political power, wealth, food, opportunity, the benefits of trust and caring. Radical equality. The rich have to give their money away, have to unwind the privileges rigged into the system, to make the system work for everybody. They have to pay very heavy taxes, so we can have health care, affordable housing, The best child care and education for every child in America and the World. We have to live by the maxim “I can only be safe if I am safe for you.” We have to stop hating on each other. We have to listen to those who oppose us, who want to hurt us. This lesson from the prophet Jesus redounds brilliantly to this moment. We have to vote for leaders who will act in the best interest of the country and the world, we have to ask ourselves “Which candidate is the best for everybody?”.
We have to give up on our own personal importance. We have to re-imagine our personal value as the value we derive from the happiness and survival of everyone we know — including those we used to hate on. Please stop hating. Time is running out. When you are staring into your own death, don’t your priorities get reset? When you are staring into the death of your planet, could it be time to reset how we, as humans, do things?
Because every other path leads to Global Flood and Global Inferno, leads to the planet purging us, and all of life as we know it, in a great fever.
Pop-quiz! List everyone you know. Include yourself. Imagine a car careening at this huddled group, and one person could stop that car by standing in its path. Would you step forward?
No comments:
Post a Comment