Many of us who voted for Democrats in last week’s election did so with a somber sense of foreboding, having been primed by the pundits to expect the “red wave” that they were predicting was about to wash over America. Instead, we woke up on Wednesday, and on the next few mornings after, to a steady stream of favorable results confirming that the forecast wave had failed to hit land. The Senate remains in the hands of the Democrats, and while the House appears likely to tip over to the Republicans, the size of their majority will fall well short of the anticipated gains.
Surprise and relief have been the constant components of my mood for these past seven days. But much as I’ve been enjoying this week-long respite, it already feels like time to re-focus on the work that still lies ahead, after the midterms. What we’ve had is less a victory than it is a reprieve - and perhaps only a temporary one at that.
One way to frame this work ahead is to embrace the Buddhist notion of wisdom, which calls on us to continually strive to see things as they really are, and not as we crave for them to be. Accordingly, I would suggest that such wisdom requires us to hold in our awareness the fact that, while many election-deniers and supporters of the January 6th insurrection lost their bids for office this time around, they have not lost their extremist beliefs about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, and are more than likely already planning their strategies for assuring their preferred outcome in the 2024 election.
As if to underscore the last sentence above, I am writing this next sentence on the morning after Donald Trump’s unsurprising announcement of his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. What more potent reminder could we be served that the midterms were no more than a brief rest stop along the marathon-like course that we still need to run? The current outcome will certainly determine the political machinations that will play out in the Capitol for the next two years, but it has by no means redefined the body politic at large, which remains all but paralyzed by its polarization.
The work that lies before us, I would suggest, has at least two dimensions. In the short-term, we need to rally support for the intense political efforts that will be required to hold back a potential second “red wave” in 2024. And in the long-term, we need to devise more effective ways of transcending the partisan echo chambers that we all inhabit and that hinder us from meaningful conversation about the critical global issues that threaten us all.
This long-term task will become a primary focus of TLBR in future issues. For now, though, let’s all take advantage of the temporary breather that the midterms have bestowed upon us, and enjoy the upcoming year-end holidays to the fullest.
Additional reading:
Here’s a troubling examination of the increasing embrace of political violence on the far right … “The Reagan-era ‘government-is-the-problem’ ideology has been transformed into a philosophy that casts the government as not just a problem but as evil, a threat to the values MAGA supporters hold dear. Under Mr. Trump’s leadership, groups on the right have felt increasingly comfortable incubating, encouraging and carrying out violence. The consistency of the rhetoric has ingrained dehumanization of Republican opponents in parts of the political culture; conservatives have often painted their critics as enemies who must be annihilated before they destroy you.”
This essay looks at the interactive dynamics of contemporary crises, reminding us of the important Buddhist teachings on the interconnectedness of all things … “Humanity is dealing with a complex knot of seemingly distinct but actually deeply entangled crises. Precisely because these crises are so entangled, they’re causing worldwide damage much greater than the sum of their individual harms. Rates of global hunger, numbers of migrants forced to move within countries and across borders, levels of political authoritarianism, violations of human rights and the occurrence of violent demonstrations and ongoing conflict — these measures of harm are all up, and in some cases by a lot. The simultaneity of crises we’re experiencing hints that something else is also happening — risk synchronization. Complex and largely unrecognized causal links among the world’s economic, social and ecological systems may be causing many risks to go critical at nearly the same time. If so, the apparent simultaneity isn’t just a temporary coincidence. It goes back to the ecologist Barry Commoner’s first rule of ecology — everything is connected to everything else — but with a crucial amendment: some kinds of connections matter a lot more than others.”
This commentary warns how Trumpism may outlast Trump … “This election is being read as a referendum on the dwindling viability of maga-style Republicanism, as well as on the former President’s prospects in 2024. Republicans are, tentatively, distancing themselves from the Trump brand, and media observers have noted the stream of criticism emanating from Rupert Murdoch-owned news properties. The cumulative effect of these developments is a barely concealed hope that the G.O.P. will jettison Trump like loose cargo on a storm-battered freighter, and that the most volatile and dangerous elements of American politics will sink along with him. But, for reasons that should be more than familiar to us by now, the path the maga movement takes toward irrelevance is likely not so simple—if, in fact, it is headed in that direction. In the seven years since Trump took his ride down the gold-colored escalator in Trump Tower to declare his candidacy for President of the United States, the movement that coalesced around him has died a thousand deaths, only to climb out of its shallow grave before the first trowel of dirt hit the casket.”
Closing notes:
One of my favorite contemporary authors is the philosopher Daniel C. Dennett, the author of a number of influential books, among my favorites being “Consciousness Explained” and “Darwin’s Dangerous Mistake”. I’ve just finished reading his 2006 book “Breaking the Spell”, and in its closing pages, Dennett offers his personal definition of spirituality in this eloquent passage, quite possibly the best description I’ve ever encountered of the puzzling Buddhist concept of “non-self” …
One of the best secrets of life: let your self go. If you can approach the world’s complexities, both its glories and its horrors, with an attitude of humble curiosity, acknowledging that however deeply you have seen, you have only just scratched the surface, you will find worlds within worlds, beauties you could not heretofore imagine, and your own mundane preoccupations will shrink to proper size, not all that important in the greater scheme of things. Keeping that awestruck vision of the world ready to hand while dealing with the demands of daily living is no easy exercise, but it is definitely worth the effort, for if you can stay centered, and engaged, you will find the hard choices easier, the right words will come to you when you need them, and you will indeed be a better person. That, I propose, is the secret to spirituality.
Here’s a wonderfully hopeful poem by Seamus Heaney, The Cure at Troy. Contrast the brightness of his envisioned “longed-for tidal wave of justice” with the bleakness of the “red wave” we’ve just eluded.
See you with the next issue of TLBR in four weeks, on Wednesday, December 14th!
As usual your offerings help make space for us to acknowledge what's happening now and look forward with the kind of support that will help keep us grounded and hopeful!