October 30, 2018: The Politics of Division and Derision Instead of Stewardship?

When you discover you’re riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. Attributed to an old Dakota saying

All politics are both interpersonal and intrapersonal, which is as local as it gets. Hoo-nōs

Two seemingly disparate ideas and emotions that exist at the same time and in the same space can be like living in a Gestalt figure/ground world. Sometimes what seems separate is really a matter of attention and perception. As the opposites both actually exist, perhaps we don’t have to “choose” one over the other, even if they seem to conflict. We do have to acknowledge the differences and we can go with our favorite, but to deride others who hold another probable and salient view violates the principles we supposedly embrace.

The mid-term elections are close—and again, especially important. However those elections turn out, if a sense of connection is not established, even in the midst of disagreement, this election or any election is nothing more than pretending.

It is some 242 years after the founding of this nation, which is not nearly as important as the founding principles. From inception, those principles have struggled to thrive in the midst of fear-behaviors that seem to survive.

Can we lose the fear-behaviors that have to be kept on life support via the politics and behaviors of division and derision? Is there more at stake than trying to maintain life-support for what is actually dead? Are there are things much worse than the death of the familiar?

What we have is obviously pretty Frankenstein-ian. It is not necessary except to politicians and others who want the resource of us and the power that goes with it. That currency is voting—the resource-gathers need our vote. However, it is one thing to gather resources and another to have a distribution system. And so far that distribution involves a lot of nepotism and class (really—trickle-down distribution while vacuuming-up resources?).

Go vote. Consider voting to dismount from the dead horse. Consider that the dead horse does not need to be kicked. Consider voting to enhance interpersonal connections even if they’re not familiar (that’s one of the principles of this country, eh?). That kind of vote is not a vote that requires us to friend everybody. And yes, consider the intrapersonal, because the individual also matters. That kind of vote is not a “Brexit” vote.

Perhaps the Gestalt figure/ground world is both “don’t tread on me” as well as “don’t tread on us.” Consider that’s a vote for the well-being of individuality as well as culture as well as the entirety of humanity and the entirety of the planet we inhabit. Seems like a pretty comprehensive and inclusive consideration—a vote for widespread and considerate stewardship. That’s not a directive to vote a particular platform, but a it is a call to vote for consideration and stewardship. And that polling place never closes.