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Election Projection
November 8, 2016
— 2 Comments
Pogo predicts
I am not making a prediction on the outcome of the election. Projection in this instance refers to the defense mechanism of projecting our own faults onto others. This is one of the common ways we control our environment and defend our self image. They include denial, intellectualization, repression, regression, displacement, compensation, and projection, also sometimes called transference. I took a quiz the other day that has disturbed me. Here it is. It may disturb you too. I scored a few points in regression and intellectualization and my highest score was in projection. I understand that his quiz is not a shrink and there is nothing conclusive about how I defend my position. I instantly became angry at the idea that I project blame on others because that is what I dislike about others….well, there it is….. some crazy downward cycle of blame operating in my very own psyche. I am contributing to our mutual distrust and blame my own self. This is known as the shadow…the hidden secrets we hide even from ourselves. Kooky stuff. This political season has damaged us all with the nasty rhetoric and new levels of dirty tricks.
It is very easy in this political environment to slip into a simplistic view about how “the other” is ruining everything. As a nation we will go even more haywire than we are now if we can’t see this blame game as the destructive habit it is. Language about reaching across the aisle will fall on deaf ears if we don’t take a close look into our own hearts and minds. We have met the enemy and he is us. We all have some work to do. Mother Nature is watching.
Pogo predicts
Transforming Apathy To Empathy
October 19, 2016
— 1 Comment
fall flora
There is despair in the air. Our society’s collective adrenal gland is shot from the constant stress of our current political battle. Fight or flight, a reasonable healthy reaction to scary circumstances, has been exhausted by the season’s campaigns. We are sick of the fight, and there is no place to flee from reality. The blame and shade is flying freely. Our weary spirits are drained of faith hope and charity. By charity I mean extending the benefit of the doubt to those with whom we disagree. The most charitable act to make is to listen with care. The most civilized goal to set is mutual understanding. After this election we will still be living with each other, so our current problems will not vanish in November.
To dig ourselves out of this mess we will need to:
- Set much higher standards for performance from our lawmakers
- Scrutinize the taxation policies in order to reduce and eliminate loopholes
- Focus on improving education quality, and close predator private colleges
- Base health care payments on patient success rather than per procedure
- Find real solutions for our opiate and exotic prescription drug addiction
- Stop bickering about every little thing
This is a tall order, especially when everyone is bracing for total disorder. We have our work cut out for us after we finish counting votes. Our futures depend on our ability to listen, which means we will need to be quiet for a while. We will need to be still and know. How hopeful are you, gentle reader? I am optimistically neutral. We have survived tragedy in the past. This too will pass.
History, Politics, Fate
October 17, 2016
— 2 Comments
My parents
History teaches us that political and religious movements go through transformation on a continuous basis. While in the eye of any storm it is impossible to assess the impact it will have. We find ourselves embroiled in a serious vortex of change that promises to be destructive. It remains to be seen in what ways we will endure this shift. My ancestors all come to mind as well as into focus on Day of the Dead. My parents are buried in a section of the cemetery where holiday decor is the norm for the dead, especially at the end of October. I upgraded my parents to solar decorations this year. They have been popular with their neighbors, and my parents were always competitive about their yard. Leaving them without attention this time of year would signal some major abandonment, so I make sure they have a little seasonal something on their grave.
their ‘hood
their neighbor
their neighbor
They voted Republican their whole lives. I have no idea how their parents voted. I have followed my ancestry back for centuries and can only detect very large trends in my family. They were pioneers, many early European residents of Massachusetts or Virginia. They followed different religious persuasions, predominantly Protestant in nature. My parents were not religious, but they carried the inherited beliefs of their respective families in their subconscious minds. I very recently learned that my mother’s grandfather William Ellison Taylor, who was a preacher in the Church of Christ, was not raised in that church. He was converted to his faith and began an itinerant preaching practice in East Texas after the Civil War. I had always assumed his parents and their parents had given him this idea. This recent discovery has shown me this was not the case:
William Ellyson Taylor was born in Alabama, November 22, 1839, and was reared in that state. His education was received in the common schools. When the war broke out between the states he enlisted in the 4th Alabama Regiment and went to Virginia. In the battle of Manassas. July 21, 1861, he was wounded, which made him a cripple for life.
Dec. 27. 1864, he was married to Lucinda Armer, who has been his faithful help-meet, and to the present shares his joys and sorrows. To this union six boys and two girls have been born.
November, 1869, he moved to Texas. In August, 1874, Dr. W. L. Harrison preached the first sermon he ever heard. Afterward and and David Pennington became a Christian. In 1877 he began preaching and though he works on the farm, he has preached as he found opportunity. Entering the firgin field he has established congregations in Montgomery, San Jacinto and Walker counties and is now preaching monthly for congregations at Willis, Bethan and Ne Bethel, Montgomery County. When confined for nearly two years through sickness his brethren administer to his every need. All who know Bro. Taylor love him for his intrinsic worth and work in the Lord.
Gospel Preachers Who Blazed the Trail by C. R. Nichol, 1911.
Originally posted by: Tom Childers
my great-grandfather
This is very interesting to me since some of his distant ancestors seem to the Presbyterian in a serious way in South Carolina. I wonder if the religious idea or the gene to get into religion is carried through generations. My father has a large number of teachers in many of his branches. My mother has a plethora of preachers. I am talking about over centuries, as well as in their lifetimes. They had to feel influenced by these people because their own image of reality came from them. William Taylor fought for the Confederacy, moved from Alabama to Texas on an ox cart, and became a preacher. He must have had some strong political views. We do not know what they were exactly, but we have in his own hand the Rules for the School, which must have to do with Sunday school for his congregation. This is pretty formal stuff:
handwritten rules
Do you ever wonder what part of your own political belief system you have inherited from your ancestors? I do. Many people say what would the founding fathers think. I don’t care what famous people in history thought. I care what my own relatives were thinking and doing that defined their lives and the future. That subject fascinates me. Do you know about the politics of your forefathers, gentle reader? What do you think of them?
The Art Of The Shun
October 9, 2016
— 3 Comments
10th St school
841 Tenth St
I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania in the 1950’s. We were a suburb of Pittsburgh, but had a very fancy golf club to distinguish our borough from all others—The Oakmont Country Club. Membership in this much sought after institution was costly as well as tricky to obtain. The members generally lived on top of the hill, near the club, in the neighborhoods developed for them. I lived near the Oakmont Country Club but my parents did not play golf or care about the snob appeal. This infuriated me because rather than walk to the swimming pool I had to wait for a ride to the Alcoma Country Club where our family belonged. Alcoma was less expensive, but still had all the country club trimmings. I was invited frequently to the Oakmont club pool with my member friends and neighbors, and never lost my desire to join. I believe I was absorbing not so subtle messages about social and financial status. I would have said it was because I wanted to walk to the pool, but I am sure I also desired the status that accompanied belonging to the fancier of the two country clubs. Today I have chosen the fancy, clean, multi functional Tucson JCC over the Tucson Racquet Club, even though Silver Sneakers provides free membership in both for me now. I do always prefer an upgrade if I can afford one. Perhaps it is all because of my upbringing.
Our town was on a hill, with a steel mill and barges full of coal floating down the Allegheny River at the bottom. The area by the river was dedicated to industry and commerce, with small working class homes scattered into the mix. Ascending the hill, the houses became larger and more elaborate. The streets were numbered from 1 to 14 climbing the hill. I lived on Tenth Street. One could almost tell by the address in our town how much money the family had. I lived in the upper middle category of housing, but very close to my home was a row of mansions belonging to robber barons. These super wealthy neighbors provided all manner of recreation for the kids in the area, including a trampoline, a very large field for sledding, and some woods for exploring. The mansion kids all went to public school and were part of our regular play group as youngsters. Still, we were aware that their parents were not in the same financial league with ours.
My parents put their own status emphasis on appearances. The wardrobe and/or landscaping needs of those two consumed most of their free time. They spared no expense on the clothes they wore and their precious yard. My mom was active in a garden club, and my dad just naturally loved to mow his lawn in his coveralls. They were a 50’s cartoon of suburban pride of ownership. I had to play along, helping with the yard work and dressing up to go to the country club, the University Club downtown, their friends’ homes, or to travel. I was also costumed to the hilt for the many parties they held at our house. I was fine with it up to a point, or up until I decided to have my own taste in fashion. When I was over the white gloves and the little white ankle socks I waged a war on fascist control over my wardrobe. My parents bemoaned my fate and warned against a hellish life ahead unless I started to want to dress more like they did. Life would never smile on me again without those white ankle socks. This was the beginning of our political differences. They were appalled to think I did not want a life like their life. How silly of them. I could not have a life like theirs because I was born in another generation with another set of circumstances, yet to be discovered. All we knew was that my white ankle socks would not be part of that future reality.
Today I am pleased to say that I understand that attachment or revulsion to any kind of status can only end in heartache. Possessions, titles, offices, locations, are just data dust in the true meaning of life. If we come to identify too greatly on the situation, how will we cope when the situation changes? My parents had their own giant cultural revolutions to endure. They came from the south, but spent many years freezing their bones in Pennsylvania because it furthered my father’s career with Gulf Oil Corporation. I learned by direct experience to stay aloof from judging circumstances. Nothing is ever a simple as it seems. There are generations of beliefs and traditions at play in every moment. Learning to define one’s own status rules and symbols is perhaps our essential role on earth.
I watch the political scene today go wildly off the rails with wonder. The United States has become very distracted by our own self image. The will to shun has outweighed the will to live in this country in peace. The electorate is behaving badly. Law and order is threatened. The fabric of society is frayed and damaged. Public faith in institutions is understandably at an all time low. As a nation divided we stand ready to implode if we can’t get a grip on the difference between rhetorical status and reality. Politics maintains status …quo or otherwise. Mother Nature maintains reality…harmonious or otherwise. It is time to strip away the political aims of these two parties and look directly into the soul of the tax paying nation. What did you learn from your childhood that influences your views today, gentle reader? Were they positive or negative? Do you belong to the same party as your parents?
#TheTruthMatters Power and Authority
August 17, 2016
— 1 Comment
LBJ
I have been watching the HBO John Adams series about the American Revolution and the first American continental congress in Philly. It helps me see that our politicians are not in the worst situation in our history. Neither are they less favorably aligned than in the nation’s past. This congress we have today is about the same as all ruling bodies have always been, since the Roman Senate. The use of power by humans on earth has been punctuated with misery and cruelty. Conquest, political or military, has been imposed on nations, colonies, and entire continents. War and Peace have hung in the balance more times than we know, but always for the same reasons. War is an archetypal situation that repeats itself.
When we say history repeats itself we mean that archetypal events continue to occur. In the arch of recorded history we have seen the pendulum of power swing from feudalism to anarchy. Leaders have been both born and created in the struggle to survive. We think of those leaders as the representatives of the entire culture, but they may merely be the most famous. We know less about how the common person lived than we do about the fancy and well born. I know this very well from my study of my own ancestry. I learn more all the time about America by studying my ancestors’ lives. None of my forefathers was famous during the American Revolution, but many did fight in it. Power does flow through the events of man, but my religious ancestors would all say that fate is sealed by divine providence. Man is just a player on the eternal stage.
Bring Back the Dunce Cap
July 27, 2016
— 5 Comments
class clown
ain’t too proud to wear it
I think the time is right to bring back the tradition of wearing the dunce cap. John Duns Scotus ( yes, exactly like SCOTUS) created the dunce cap as an educational tool. He was born in Scotland in 1266, so he might well have been hanging out with my ancestors, perhaps even influencing their upbringing. Both of my parents have Scottish ancestry. The Subtle Doctor, as Scotus was known, was a famous philosopher, teaching in Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris before his fall from grace.
It seems the doctor was stabbed to death for his school of thinking. His students used their pens to kill him because he was trying to “make them think”. Now we have to ask ourselves which one of these “schools of thought” was crazier than the other, and also is the pen mightier than the sword.
For modern use I think we just make corrupt officials who are caught breaking the law to fashion their own caps out of construction paper. They all need to sent to sit in the corner for public humiliation until they repent of their stupidity. Do you think this could work, gentle reader?
Scotus
The Road to Truth is Paved by Politicians
May 10, 2016
— 4 Comments
vehicle
“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not sharing.”
The Buddha
The truth for a grade school student is not the same as the truth for a senior citizen. Perspective is the reason we believe one thing or another at any given time. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. This means that we have more knowledge of the bigger picture as we mature and travel along the road to truth. We should be acquiring sophistication and compassion for other living things as we become more visionary on this path. Observation of the world political situation leads us to believe that we are failing at that mission. We have wandered off the route into unmapped territory. Dark ignorance and evil intent appear to be taking ground in the battle against harmony and peace.
In all fairy tales and mythology the hero learns from tragic mistakes. At the end of the story the moral is clear and the lesson is imprinted in the mind of the audience. Once committed the hero has no choice. Like Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, the hero is taught mastery through trust in divine guidance in freaky circumstances. He fights the symbolic battles he finds obstructing his way. The hero is fated to go all the way. That is what distinguishes his character from others. He finishes the difficult job, then shares the wisdom he has found within his quest. He saves the day and teaches an important social and political object lesson to the people.
Action without attachment was the lesson Krishna taught Arjuna during the heat of battle. It is impossible to know the moral of a story until it ends, so it is imperative that the hero finish his job. As I experience the presidential politics of 2016 I certainly hope there is a blue guy driving the chariot who will lead us into a surprise ending. These are certainly freaky circumstances with strong catalytic tendencies. How do you think this story will end, gentle reader? Fill in the blank.
Insight
Politics vs Reality
March 20, 2016
— 2 Comments
Palm, symbol of victory
I think most people vote based on the state of their own economic situation. If they are feeling confident about their prospects and security they tend to choose the party that is in power at the moment. When insecurity and unhappy circumstances arise political elections become a way to express unease. This election year is full of wild rhetoric and many dramatic moments. Citizens are freaking out in all directions. The focus on our elected officials and policies of the government is never so intense as it is during the presidential season. Tension builds and money is spent like water on all sides. Anger, suspicion, and all the worst in our society, rears its’ ugly head to predict the future. We all think we know how the future will be if we elect one candidate or another.
We do not know what will happen after any election, and this time we seem to know less than ever. Many of the public institutions that have crumbled and decayed will need a total reform or rehab in order to once again serve the public. Politicians tend to protect and defend status quo, just because they exist within it, and that is the easy way to go. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. The GOP is finding it difficult to stay at rest, being challenged from within and by the candidacy of Donald Trump. In this era we do not remember any politics this rowdy or malicious. It is impossible to predict the outcome.
The reality is that after the election we will all go about our business without the suspense or the drama of politics in our faces. The only real change is managed on a personal local level with constant and uninterrupted effort. Figure heads and governing bodies have only so much power to implement or enforce laws and systems. The grass-roots, named for the front yard, is where either weeds or lush green comfort is cultivated. It is a mistake to put so much emphasis on elections while we turn away from our own neighbors and local issues. Like Smokey says, “Only YOU can prevent forest fires.” I believe this philosophy applies to reality and politics just as well. Only YOU can prevent the dismemberment of society, gentle reader. Think small, local, and real. Don’t let these political loonies stress your mind. Act like you want others to act, do unto others what you want done to you.
yellow rose, symbol of joy
Rhetoric in the Political Jungle
January 29, 2016
— 1 Comment
rhetorical triangle
The role of rhetoric in politics is to convince voters to take action. Politicians make speeches and conduct public meetings in order to share their views and opinions for the voters’ consideration. There is a difference between absolute empirical truth and rhetorical “truth”. Words meant to sway opinions are crafted carefully to leave impressions on the reader or listener. Theory rather than fact is the realm of rhetoric. Theoretic situations and projections onto the future can not be measured. They are emotional and unpredictable in their very nature. When a candidate tells us what will be happening when he becomes president he is using rhetoric to stimulate our imagination.
Cultural beliefs can’t be proven, but are held by a group to be factual. Prejudice is one of the many forms of cultural belief. Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are another kind of cultural belief. Now in American politics there are at least two camps with firm and opposing views about the Constitution. When a lawyer goes to court his arguments are built on rhetorical truths, but his emotional appeal to a judge or jury is often aimed at changing cultural beliefs. Tribal or group dynamics are hard to predict. Our two party system is going through a test in this election cycle. I wonder which way the cookie will crumble in November. I urge the gentle readers to vote and consider carefully all the facts while making a decision. This election is already a game changer. Your vote matters more than it did in the past. Please register to vote, and show up to make your voice heard.
Listen with Compassion
August 23, 2015
— 3 Comments
politics as usual
One skill that is central to peace of mind and well being is listening. We hear sounds all the time. People talk to us with varying degrees of sincerity and interest. Our job is to distinguish and sort the grain from the chaff. By paying attention it is possible to harvest harmony from the symphony of sounds and sentences we hear. To listen with compassion is a difficult task. Defending our own position rather than truly comprehending other points of view is one of the most common substitutes for listening. Understanding others is not a sign of weakness but a sign of maturity. We can’t agree with everyone, but we can look for ways to increase loving kindness in our lives. To love thy neighbor as thyself involves a degree of allowing that neighbor to express himself. As we in the United States fall deeper into the political season each day I expect some wild rhetoric. To remain happy, detached and centered is my goal. I am setting guidelines for myself ignored to keep my cool and enjoy life while those around me might loose it.
- No need to respond to political statements made by anyone on line
- When hearing news reports, suspend judgement and consider the facts
- Keep my own negative feelings about candidates to myself
- Attempt to understand the logic behind all points of view presented
- Realize that many factors contribute to elections, most of which have not yet happened. A wait and see attitude will serve me well as time passes.
By conscious meditative contemplation I will not only survive but will find my center during the presidential election hoo-ha. I can admit that the last two elections disturbed and distracted me. I became enraged at the robo calls and the parties making them. Now I know that this too shall pass. I am gearing up to listen with compassion and a distinct sense of humor during the political crazy season. I wish you a sane election season, gentle reader. Best of luck.
party
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