Samain Thanksgiving Moon
from The Atlantic
Category Archives: Politics
Feed the Undocumented
Samain Thanksgiving Moon
Joining
Samain Thanksgiving Moon
Here’s an odd outcome of the election. I’m planning on joining Congregation Beth Evergreen. Strange, huh? Turns out you don’t have to be Jewish. Weird, to me, but true.
Why join? Well, there’s the mussar group. It’s a disciplined approach to character and spiritual development. I’ve always gravitated toward groups that encourage introspection and using that introspection to grow as a person. Mussar is intellectually satisfying, but even more emotionally so. It speaks to the everyday of lived ethics, how to be true to yourself and others. The group itself is supportive, non-judgemental, and full of bright, inquisitive folks. I’ve made the beginnings of friendships there.
Then, there’s Rabbi Jamie Arnold. He’s an unusual guy: an athlete, a good musician, a composer and arranger, too, an intellectual, and an embodiment of compassion leavened with toughness. This combination of skills and character make him a compelling leader.
Kate, too, of course. She’s on her spiritual path and reveling in it. It’s a place we can both go, a place that’s more than movies or jazz or theatre, a place we can both ease our way into.
But mostly there’s the potential for action against the impending Trump regime. Politics is not a solo sport; it requires allies. Congregation Beth Evergreen seems to have a core of folks who’ve done actual work in political situations. It clearly has a number of folks who want to do work on the Trump watch. That includes me. My politics and my spiritual journey have always been tightly wound together so working with folks at Congregation Beth Evergreen seems like a continuation.
Finally, there is, of course, Judaism. It’s so different up close. It’s long history of scholars, activists, philosophers and theologians is a rich resource as is the cultural achievement of having lasted this long as a people. I don’t feel drawn to becoming a Jew, but I can learn from the long history of Judaism, even participate in it.
And, I find I want to.
You Can Stop Waiting
Samain Thanksgiving Moon
Some people say wait. Give him a chance to lead. I say, he’s had a multitude of chances already. He’s responded with mocking the disabled, promoting sexual assault, referring to immigrants as rapists and murderers, challenging a sitting Federal judge who happens to be both Latino and an American citizen. His followers chant lock her up, stop the cunt, White Power and fly the Confederate battle flag. The KKK held a celebration in honor of his election, North Carolina, and David Duke says he has ratified their beliefs.
This was all prior to the win, of course. So, would the awesome responsibility of being President of all the people change him? It did not take long to find out. Myron Ebell, appointed to head the EPA is, the NYT times writes, “…someone to follow through on his campaign vow to dismantle one of the Obama administration’s signature climate change policies, President-elect Donald J. Trump probably could not have found a better candidate for the job than Mr. Ebell.”
This week he appointed Mike Flynn as his National Security Adviser. Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis told CNBC on Friday, “I think he will play to the darker angels of this administration in terms of adopting very, very aggressive stance, very hard power, very anti-Islam,” he said in an interview with CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”
Not stopping there, he appointed former senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general. The ACLU says, “Senator Sessions once called the ACLU “un-American and communist” for “trying to force civil rights down the throats of people.””
And, of course, I’ve not mentioned either Reince Priebus or Steve Bannon. Priebus, former head of the RNC, is a party insider, a Republican’s Republican. Easy to understand this appointment.
Steve Bannon. Sigh.
“In an interview with Mother Jones in August, Bannon acknowledged that white nationalists and anti-Semites are drawn to the so-called “alt-Right” movement.
“Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe,” he said. “Are there some people that are anti-Semitic that are attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobes, right? But that’s just like, there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard left that attract certain elements.” (Mother Jones, August 2016)
— In a 2011 radio interview, Bannon had a hypothesis about why progressive women vilify prominent conservative women like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin.
“That’s why there are some unintended consequences of the women’s liberation movement,” he said, according to BuzzFeed. “That, in fact, the women that would lead this country would be pro-family, they would have husbands, they would love their children. They wouldn’t be a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England. That drives the left insane and that’s why they hate these women.” (Political Vindication Radio, 2011)” Both of these quotes found here.
OK. So I waited. This all came while I was waiting. I have seen his leadership, his choices for important government positions. They are consistent with crony capitalism, crony Trumpism and the selection of mediocrities rather than the best minds possible for the jobs. Wait no more. The political apocalypse is already here.
Fellow traveler news
Samain Thanksgiving Moon
My journey on the fringe of Congregation Beth Evergreen continues to fascinate me. In our mussar class yesterday the conversation turned to postelection feelings. Jews are an interesting subgroup in these matters, mostly part of the educated elite, often part of the moneyed elite, yet vulnerable to shifts in public attitudes, very vulnerable, as all post-holocaust, post-pogrom Jews know. I know this intellectually, as I imagine you do, too.
It’s different up close and in person. One woman yesterday talked about her postelection reality. She couldn’t sleep. She had, very uncharacteristically, purchased a gun and headed off to a shooting range. She’s maybe 65-70. She’s getting her homes ready for sale and has looked into landed immigrancy in Canada and requirements for becoming an Israeli citizen.
She sees, she says, the signs of a pre-holocaust Germany. The holocaust devastated her family and left a deep imprint on her soul. Heads nodded around the table, no one dismissed her as hysterical. Her position was extreme for this group, but not at all off the spectrum of reactions.
Other reactions to the postelection time were offered in a round table discussion last Saturday morning. This was the service for that shabbat. The most common words, echoed yesterday in mussar, were afraid, sad, depressed, fearful, angry. I emphasize this because this is not a group lacking power, financial and political. And yet they still find this election disturbing at a primal level. The woman I mentioned senses her survival at stake.
My Beth Evergreen experience has put me in touch with the dread that must be filling African-Americans, Latinos, anyone here without documentation, LGBT folks, Native Americans, the disabled, the destitute, the homeless. This cannot be, must not be our nation. Whole subgroups should not live in fear of their lives or in fear of their lives being reduced from miserable to untenable.
The safety pin is not much, but it’s a start. Let’s at least do that while we get our heads and hearts around what must come next.
The Fight Ahead
Samain Thanksgiving Moon
A fraught topic. It has become a canard of post-election coverage that racism and other identity based prejudices drove Trump’s outsize performance in rural America. And, there is no doubt that racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia and nativism were part of Trump’s very cynical-and ultimately successful-campaign strategy.
But, nothing is monovalent. Each one of these diseases of the clash between modernism and yesterday played some role in motivating some Trump voters, maybe most of them. But, I’m not convinced they are primary, which is not the same as saying they are either insignificant or not very dangerous. They are both significant and dangerous.
How you define is how you solve. “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it,” Albert Einstein said. If you have a desire to resolve the current political abyss separating the peculiar combination of the Pharaoh’s and the white working class from the rest of us, you have to decide what the problem really is.
Let’s get started on those 59 minutes. The hollowing out of the American working class has been underway since the late 1960’s. We have gradually worn away the American dream, first eliminating good paying union jobs, then creating jobs to replace them at the so-called minimum wage, all the while creating a knowledge based economy that relies on college educated workers and high technology.
Violent conflict between and among members of the working class occur over the distribution of economic resources: jobs, home loans, good education, accessible and affordable health care, housing and food available at reasonable prices. This is where racism and xenophobia get reinforced as African-Americans, Latinos and recent immigrants compete with non-college educated whites for a vanishing supply of living wage jobs. There are few such jobs now available to persons with a high school education or less.
It is in the political interests of the elites, which include most if not all of you who read this blog, to keep the working classes struggling against each other. That keeps them focused on their individual circumstances and on barriers to their immediate prospects, usually seen as each other.
In this sort of analysis then a major driver for racism, misogyny, and xenophobia is economic dislocation. If this is the problem at the heart of this recent electoral tragedy, then how we get to a different electoral result relies first of all on economic policy. How can we ensure good paying jobs, decent futures for all Americans, not just those gifted by the genetic lottery with enough intelligence and cultural support to attend college? There are many answers to this question, I’ve mentioned some of them below.
If we can become the ones who offer real solutions to this devastating economic reality, then we will gain the political support of those whose lives have been changed by them. This is not cynicism, this is politics at its highest and best purpose, resolving public problems communally.
Even if we solve these problems will the four horsemen of racism, sexism, xenophobia and nativism still exist? Yes. Of course, they will. And we must be prepared to fight them whenever and wherever they manifest.
That city on the hill Reagan kept referencing could be America, not Donald Trump’s America; but, an America rededicated to the proposition that all of us are created equal, that all of us deserve certain basics like food, housing, medical care, education, and that we as a nation are a beacon to the world, not Trump Tower.
The next four years will require our mutual dedication, time, money and influence. The clock starts today.
Life does, in fact, go on
Samain Thanksgiving Moon
In spite of the political upheaval life, as it always does, continues, mostly in its old grooves. Here on Shadow Mountain for example the divorce process has entered its waning days. Final orders will be issued late this month though the outline for them, largely fair and equitable is already known. Jon’s anxiety level has receded. Good and heartening to see.
We had Asplundh tree service here on Friday and Monday clearing out the tree cover from the power line easement. I spoke with the workers, current day lumberjacks operating outside the timber industry.
“That’s hard work,” I said.
“Yes, but it’s honest. No shortcuts.” replied the bearded young man in charge of the crew. He’s right about that.
The utility bills from IREA, Intermountain Rural Electric Association, have been, since May, $10, a line fee that supports such work as the Asplundh team. The electricity we use has been produced by our solar panels.
I continue to write, now upwards of 63,000 words (I was a little too early when I said I’d reached 60,000 last week.).
Kate and I are becoming more and more a part of Congregation Beth Evergreen. It’s an interesting experience for me. I’m a participant, not a leader. I like it, being part of a community but not being responsible for it. I can help in modest ways and that feels appropriate to me for right now. That may change though with the political work that is brewing.
It’s dry, no snow. According to the weather services, this could reach a record snowless period for Denver. We’ve had a little snow on Shadow Mountain, but only two instances, rare. This, plus the winds and the low humidity, means the potential fire situation here remains at an elevated risk.
This morning at 10 I have my pre-op physical for my December 1st total knee replacement. The pain in the knee worsens, it seems, by the day. That’s good, I tell Kate, because it’ll feel so much better after the new knee. I’m grateful there’s something that can be done about it.
And, improbably, it will be Thanksgiving next week. There is no hint of over the river and through the woods weather to stimulate that Thanksgiving feeling. We may get a storm on Thursday. That would help.
We’re going to smoke a small turkey. Annie will be here from Waconia, Jon and the grandkids. Unlike the nation we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving on Wednesday because the grandkids go to their mom’s for Thanksgiving this year. Under the new divorce terms holidays alternate and this year is Jen’s Thanksgiving. It will be good once again to have family (and dogs) underfoot during the holiday.
Just realized in all the election fun I’ve allowed holiseason to get started without any remarks. Look for that to change as we head into the most holiday rich season of the year.
Considering Possible Next Steps
Samain Thanksgiving Moon
We are not yet in the Trump era. Not yet. Not until January 20th. That doesn’t mean he’s not already stirring the waters. Nope. Just that he doesn’t have his hands on the levers of power right now. But, he will.
What to do? Here’s an e-mail I sent to Rabbi Jamie Arnold. I share it because I think the more we consider how to respond, the better organized we get right now, before Trump’s small hands start to twirl the nuclear codes, the better chance we stand of staving off the worst and perhaps creating space for some real advances.
Rabbi Jamie,
As I see it, they are three broad areas for action that will be necessary, not optional, over the next four years. I’m putting them in what seem like a logical order to me.
1. Climate Change As Kevin Trenberth pointed out in his excellent presentation, we are in a critical time for climate action. There are goals we must reach as a planet by 2050 and by 2100 in order to keep the earth habitable for humans. I believe, with Thomas Berry from his fine little book, The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, that our generation’s great work is creating a sustainable presence for human beings on this planet.
2. Economic Justice I believe that the root problem exposed in this election is the hollowing out of the working class. I grew up in a small eastern Indiana town where my friend’s and classmate’s fathers worked for General Motors. Without a high school education it was possible to earn a living wage, a wage sufficient for a house, a car, advanced education for the kids, healthcare and vacations. By 1974 my vibrant home town had plywood on its main street shop windows. People closed the drapes and left town in the dead of night, unable to pay their mortgages and face their neighbors. Those good union jobs were gone. The people who held those jobs and their children voted Trump in this election.
This is a bill that is long past due. And, it affects working class people of color as well as white working class folks. These are the non-college educated folks whose lives look bleak from within their communities. Solutions to this problem are known, just not emphasized any more. They include creating affordable housing, passing substantial unemployment benefits, providing job transition education especially when whole industries collapse (think coal mining right now), making sure that health care is available to all.
This is a particularly poignant issue for those of us with a college education or beyond. We have let working class pain go untended for years while we focused on identity politics, environmental politics, immigration and LGBT rights. All of that work, successful in many cases, was important. It’s just that while we were working on those issues we let the economic future of working class families dim, then go out.
3. Defense Another emphasis might be on rapid reaction teams that can respond to gay bashing, race baiting, rape culture and general disregard for those who are other. These teams must be ready to defend recent hard won victories like samesex marriage, the organizing of Black Lives Matter, the coalescing of women’s groups against the pussy-grabber in chief. But in my opinion this is a time for defense on these issues.
The safety-pin idea seems congruent with this action area.
I’m not imagining here what Beth Evergreen’s response to these issues could be, might be. I’m still too new to the area, two years, to have the kind of political knowledge and connections I had in Minnesota. But, I know there are local, county, state, national and international dimensions to all three of these areas. Discerning what those are and how Beth Evergreen might work on them is, to me, the next step.
Two Foci Needed Now
Samain Thanksgiving Moon
As the sky begins to brighten over Black Mountain, this spinning Earth reminds me that after night comes the day. The gradual ratcheting down of temperature reminds me that spring follows the fallow time. The spiral nature of the days and months as they peel away from yesterday yet follow the path of the Great Wheel as they do, reminds me that mother earth preaches patience. Wait, and the season will change. Wait, and dark will become light. It is the message of the Tao. Follow the watercourse way.
It is sound counsel. No good thing lasts forever, neither does any bad thing. We could just wait and history will turn the tide against the Donald and his band of wreckers and exploders. Yet.
Not the way I’m made, however. As I said in an earlier post, I’m more of a take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them sort of guy. It’s still early days in this sea and the waters have only begun to roil. The seas will get worse, heavier, more dangerous. It will be tempting to recruit fingers for every dike, to follow every insult with a counter move.
That would be a mistake. We have to choose which dikes must be defended. Must be. I think it’s possible to make those decisions and, if we concentrate our resources, to win some real victories. Won’t happen if we are in reactive mode all the time.
As a preliminary thought, I have two foci to recommend for our attention. This may change as circumstances arise, but right now they seem the most urgent to me.
Two articles in today’s NYT set them up. Bernie Sanders: Where Do the Democrats Go From Here and Trump’s Climate Contrarian Myron Ebell Takes on the EPA.
These two foci have very different implications, but share a these must happen now exigency.
Foci 1 Climate Change
This is a long term survivability issue for the human race. Unfortunately, the time frame for action to alter climate warming’s long term trajectory is now. Between 2016 and 2050 drastic reductions in carbon emissions must take place. Even more drastic ones by 2100. Without efforts more ambitious than the recent Paris Accords the human race will suffer for millennia and this planet may become too hot for us. Literally. And Trump has just appointed a climate change skeptic to head the EPA.
Foci 2 Economic Justice
This is a short term survivability issue for our nation. Democrats used to have economic justice as a key rationale for the party. Unions. Affordable Housing. Unemployment benefits. Job retraining. Financial and health resources for the elderly, the disabled and the poor. Restraints on the financial sector. Support for local economic development. Infrastructure maintenance.
More than any single cause this election laid bare the casual disregard both parties have given to these issues over the last 30 to 40 years. Clinton’s third-way moved the party farther from these bedrock issues. Obama tried, but after his first two years, the GOP became the party of obstruction, the party of no.
The narrower focus within Economic Justice must be jobs, healthcare, housing and good education for the working class. Many of the fissures in our common life root themselves in hopelessness borne of economic dislocation. Creating a solid working class for all, people of color and non-college educated whites alike, will soothe some of the most fractious.
No, I’m not saying that we ignore the very real dangers posed by racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic, cisgendered bigotry. I’m saying that there are two policy areas that rise to the top of a political program for the near term future, say through 2075.
Yes, another emphasis must be on rapid reaction teams that can respond to gay bashing, race baiting, rape culture and general disregard for those who are other. These teams must be ready to defend recent hard won victories like samesex marriage, the organizing of Black Lives Matter, the coalescing of women’s groups against the pussy-grabber in chief. But in my opinion this is a time for defense on these issues.
Again IMHO the policy focus for the next few years should be: climate change and economic justice.
An Ally? Wear A Safety Pin.
Samain Thanksgiving Moon
Why I’ll be wearing a safety pin when I go out. From now on.
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A safe person to sit next to on a bus, walk next to on a street, even have a conversation with.
miss pommery 1926 I quite like the idea of just putting a safety pin, empty of anything else, on your coat. A literal SAFETY pin!