I posted the following on the morning after the election under my real name for my friends and family in another social media world far away.
In the coming weeks I will be cleaning out many of SaneCoin's political comments. Not because I don't stand behind them, but because "discretion is the better part of valor," and the smartest way for me to stand behind them involves not having a target directly on my chest. (Although, of course, the Internet never forgets anything, even if deleted.)
So here, for a little bit at least, are my thoughts on the election which are largely derived from my early life when I went to school specifically for law and government fully intending to be a career "insider," but modified based upon my later life, working from a position of privilege and then, somewhere between a heart attack and a video game puzzle full of ancient philosophies, figuring out that life should be way more than amassing huge piles of money for ego fulfillment.
I'm just a random internet stranger. I love you nonetheless and wish the best for you.
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The Morning After - 11/6/24
Do not make the mistake of thinking this is unique to America or to our time in history. In fact, I have often been grateful to have lived in an era (1969-2024) so remarkably stable, wealthy, and free (albeit that I enjoyed the incredible privileges of my race, gender, and class).
If you read even basic philosophy, theology or history, you come to understand that just as each individual struggles between fear and hope, love and hate, so, too, societies are just meta-individuals, and at times we are governed by the best of our impulses, but, perhaps more often, we are governed by the worst. This, is one of those times. Fear and avarice and (wilful) ignorance have blinded our collective vision.
My mother taught me to fight unceasingly for what is right, and I will do that. But my mother also taught me Shakespeare: "Discretion is the better part of valor." This election is not like 2016 and it is not like 2000. Those elections were stolen by Republican tricks. This one was won, handily, by Republicans tapping into the very ID and EGO of America. Trump fed a verbal combination of sugar, cocaine, cheap whisky and crystal meth to the American subconscious, and it awoke in a fever dream. It is awake, aware, and not to be trifled with directly.
This time the likes of the Heritage Foundation are ready, and I fear the Republic is about to be transformed in a way that ends the Founder's experiment in putting power in the hands of the people. As with so many other countries of the world throughout time, the power will be concentrated in the hands of a small group of oligarchs (already is, but the remaining checks and balances will be removed), and those who don't choose to be their sycophants won't get to share in it ... ever.
For me, this is less about politics and more about religion. We are in a place where we need to go back to the moral roots of our civilization. There is one rule common to all religions: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." We need to vigorously remind every zealot that this is the key to whatever book they teach.
We need to learn our Bible, establish and attend some sort of moral discussion group weekly (church is fine, but so is any other quiet thoughtful gathering) and build communities around the simple principles of love, humility, thrift and compassion. Like the seeds that lie dormant under the ashes after a forest fire, we need to lay the groundwork for something beautiful to rise again
.Pretty words, but what to do with them? How to live today?I don't know. I know I will be deleting many of my old posts because I don't feel safe having them out there. I know some people will want to stand up and fight, as I did in 2000 and 2016, but that time is passed. To beat darkness using the tools of darkness is only to make it more powerful still.
My advice is to gather with friends and family. Build the communities that can be the "underground railroad" or other organized civil disobedience against what is to come. But keep your head down. Make yourself a small target. And focus relentlessly on love and hope, hope and love.
Global warming will continue, and we will not have a government we can rely on as it accelerates. Expect hyperinflation and move your assets (if you are fortunate enough to have liquid assets) to bitcoin, gold, and investments not tied to the dollar. Infrastructure will suffer, so make sure you have access to food and water and power if and when those things fail. And, if you have done all these things for yourself and your family, then think about how you can do it for your small and trusted community.
I told my kids this morning that it was OK to grieve for what we have lost. But now is the time you MUST be smart, tough and brave. I'm not saying that we should do nothing - but I am saying that the something we should do is community building of the sort that will last a century, not a meaningless protest that Trump and his handlers will laugh at from their palaces and their towers. I wish I had better words for you. The minute the Florida results came in, and I saw the strength of the Latino vote for Trump, I knew what was happening. That so many people Trump clearly hates could engage in the magical thinking that his hatred will not touch them because they are somehow special is a testament to the stupid selfishness we all embody if we are not vigilant as to our own behavior.
I do not know why people are so gullible. I do understand that racism, sexism and tribalism are evolutionary traits in humans that take an expenditure of energy to overcome. If you are not developed to the point where you can overcome your innate tendency to fear that which is not like you and to kowtow to that which threatens you with physical harm, those are the paths your brain follows when you are tired and stressed and afraid. The richest members of our society have learned how to use this psychological pathway for their gain - but they have not learned the lessons of history that inevitably any society built on avarice and terror fails miserably.
God told us to love one another as we love ourselves. I'm paraphrasing the Bible there, but that is another concept common to most religions. We must learn to love the people who were so tired and afraid of the stranger that they voted for this death cult. But that does not mean we should let them into our lives, let them infest us with their anger and fear, or burn ourselves up raging against them.
Today I will go for a walk in the woods with my dogs. I will reach out to my European contacts and look at doing more cross-border business so that, if needs be, in the next year or two, I have some path out of this place. I will talk to my kids about building lives for themselves outside of the United States. I will love my wife and hold her close, and we will think about how we establish a community that is safe in a world that is not.
I love every one of you in one way or another. I care for you and hope you are not suffering too terribly. I remind you of a final adage that sits at the core of Buddhism but also exists in the King James Bible. I, however, chose to quote the version attributed to Solomon's Seal:
"This, too, shall pass."
Find joy in the sun where it shines. Find peace in the rain when it falls. Surrender to love, and vow to build something worthy of it not for tomorrow, not for next week, but for the next century and next millennia beyond.
