Sarah Palin is Not the Problem

It happened most recently in a conversation I was having the other day with a wonderful woman who was in at least some degree of upset - my perception was it was a relatively high degree - about something Sarah Palin had said or done and, more to the point, how much she represented, for this woman, so much of what is not right in our world and at least in our politics. She had a lot to say or, at least, I think she did, but I cut her off before too long (ever so gently, I hope) and then launched into a rant about how any degree of focus on Sarah Palin or any of what was so wrong was, ultimately, not very helpful. At all. In fact, all it does, all it can ever do, is guarantee that the problem persists because in a world where everything is energy and the law of attraction is always on, no amount of moaning about what what isn't right will get us any closer to what is wanted. Which is why we have to be able to say what we want which is why I have begun the What Do You Want, America? series in this blog.

Having had ample time to rant and rant some more to someone who was brand new to me and Spiritually Responsible Politics, I also said much about the connection between who we are individually and who we are collectively, even as I spared her a dive into too much of her own personal stuff. But what was most remarkable to me, as we strolled around for a while and morphed our conversation into another, she ended by thanking me for easing her fears about the world and, if I got it right, changing her perceptions about Sarah Palin. Now I did not, specifically, intend any of that. But what I find remarkable - in this situation and so many others - is the degree to which people respond to the ways in which these concepts help everything to make sense. For that was what we were really talking about - the ways in which these concepts show up anywhere and everywhere. She was lighter and smiling and I didn't try to convince her of anything nor did I try to tell her she was wrong about anything. All we did was couch her anxiety and fear and anger in the context of a few of these concepts and, voila!

I'm just sayin', is all.

What Do You Want?/Economy #1

The beauty of seeing and experiencing things we don't want is that they point us, when we stop to think about it for a second, in the direction of what we do want. Thus, it should be relatively easy today to sketch out the basics of what we would, as Americans, prefer to see with regard to our economy and the related subjects of our federal budget, taxes, and how we do commerce. And remember, none of us needs to be a Nobel prize-winning economist in order to have a say in what we would like to see. Lord knows, I'm not one, which will be made obvious when you read the following sketch, but I and you and all of us have a vested interest in seeing our economy do a whole lot better than what it's doing now and it's never too soon to hold the vision. Remember, it's all in an ideal world where nobody can say no and money's no object.

Here, then, is "economy sketch, draft one:"

• Our economy is healthy and thriving. Economists of many stripes agree that employment levels are consistently where they should be to support sustainable growth. Those of us who choose to work are working and we are secure in knowing that good jobs are virtually always available in America. As such, we are, collectively, relaxed about our abilities to earn a living wage, regardless of where we are and for whom we are working. We easily function in the ebb and flow of this powerful energy.
  
• America is a place where entrepreneurship is encouraged and rewarded. Incentives to develop new technologies and new industries and to hire workers are part and parcel of the spirit of innovation that we treasure. We count on those who are willing to invest time and dollars in the businesses and industries of the future and we make it as easy for them to do so as possible. Ultimately, we rely on truly free markets for the final verdict on the efforts of our entrepreneurs.
  
• In America, we are citizens before we are consumers and we place our collective needs ahead of the needs of particular businesses or industries. Thus, if an industry like, for example, coal mining (and production and consumption) is seen as detrimental to our overall physical and/or environmental health (as many argue that it is in the form of acid rain, deforestation, and black lung disease), a cooperative spirit of public-private partnership helps us to transition from industries and jobs that do harm into industries and jobs that contribute to our overall health and well being like farming and mountain restoration. Our willingness to be nimble in the face of such circumstances is reflected back to us as we trust an equally nimble government to act, when needed, as a facilitator of such transitions, not as the driver of them.
• We know that what we do in America affects every other economy on the planet and while our capitalist system continues to perform at a consistently high level and is viewed by many as an example of a system that works well, we do not impose our ways on others. Rather, we look for opportunities to support the growth of other economies as we do our own.
  
• Our tax system is fair and balanced. We are confident that our tax dollars - be they from the contributions of individuals, families, or businesses - are at rates that are equitable and reasonable.
  
• Needless to say, we don't all agree on everything. But year in and year out, we are confident that our federal budget reflects the priorities of the majority of us. Where we choose to spend our collective dollars is (and must be) a positive statement of our values. We recognize that needs shift and our budgets reflect our changing needs as well. Congressional appropriators are tuned in to collective needs and those who care to monitor how our federal dollars are spent can do so easily. Efficiency and honesty are hallmarks of how we manage our federal budgets.

Some questions to consider in response:

• What, if anything, has been left out of your vision of the ideal American economy?
• What are you willing to change in your personal financial life such that you can see it reflected in our collective financial life?
• What thoughts do you have about our ability to create an ideal economy?
  

NOTE: This series of "What Do You Want, America?" posts began on November 2, 2010, if you are looking for some context.

What Do You Want?/Safety Net #1

The fact that we have, in various ways throughout world and American history, striven to provide economic security to those in need or, said another way, to take care of one another - from medieval feudal lords responsible for the economic security of the serfs who worked on their estates to the guilds that formed throughout Europe in the middle ages by merchants who came together with others to provide benefits to their members including financial help in times of poverty to the Civil War Pension program in America for widows and children of fallen soldiers to Social Security in the 1930's and the more recent Medicare and Medicaid that emerged in the 1960's - is a testament to our compassion as human beings and as Americans.

I take it as a given, then, that as we grow forward in America, we intend to continue to act with compassion toward those who suffer and who are in need or, as President Lincoln once said, to be inspired by our better angels.

There is no point in decrying the ways in which America's current social safety nets - Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Aid to Dependent Families, the Women, Infants & Children program - are failing us today, nor any need to lament the high levels of distrust around not only the programs themselves, but toward those who benefit from them, either as deliverers or recipients of aid. The What Do You Want, America? project is about how we would like it to be, so we begin with this one note: when we talk about engaging the law of attraction in a conscious manner, which is what we are doing here, we speak in present tense language. It may feel funny to you at first, but you will see in time the appropriateness of doing so.

Here, then, is "safety net sketch, draft one:"

• In America, we have a social safety net for those who simply cannot ever - for physical or mental health reasons - fend for themselves. It is also available for those who, for whatever reason, fall on extended hard times or find themselves in some sort of economic crisis. It includes assistance for widows/widowers and children as well as pensions for people who have retired.
  
• Our system is rooted in and inspired by our commitment to be compassionate, for our nation was founded on providing its citizens with the freedom to pursue happiness. To be compassionate, after all, is to allow people to be who they are. When people need to access assistance, it is easy for them to know how and where to find it. They are treated with dignity and respect by administrators who are, themselves, compassionate people.
  
• We value personal responsibility and our economic safety net system is, for most people, designed to be a bridge from crisis to complete independence. Most people who access services never need them again. We have a vast cooperative network whereby the federal system connects aid recipients to all manner of private, non-governmental agencies and organizations and that help people to be responsible for themselves.
• Our system is a source of pride. The vast majority of Americans see it as fair and we are more than willing to allocate a portion of our national budget for this purpose. We know that we are strongest when each of us is functioning at his/her highest potential and so this system is an investment in our strength as a nation.
  
• When we think of how we care for one another and how we respond to those in need, we feel a sense of pride, to be sure. When we think of how our system is needed less and less as we progress as a society, our pride increases. It gives us a feeling of satisfaction and a sense of purpose.
  

So there's a start. Your input will now help to shape this sketch into a clearer picture of what it is we want with regard to our economic safety net. Here are some questions to consider:

• How would you expand the vision begun here? What would it look like to you? Remember, this is in an ideal world where nobody can say no and money is no object.
• What are the "yeah, right" or "yeah, but" thoughts you have as you read this sketch? An important aspect of setting intentions is rooting out any and all beliefs we may have about whether or not what we're wanting can even happen. It's important, then, to know what those are so we can work with them.
• What might opponents of an economic safety net have to say?
• Are you someone who has ever received these services? What is missing from this picture created by someone who has not received services?
  

The next post will begin another sketch on another issue.

NOTE: This series of "What Do You Want, America?" posts began on November 2, 2010, if you are looking for some context.

What Do You Want, America?

Regardless of what happens today, It's time to change the conversation. That, of course, is the intention of Spiritually Responsible Politics in the first place.

I honestly thought I would have been blogging throughout this midterm campaign, but I just couldn't summon the energy. The desire to respond to whatever was happening nationally and within the hundreds of individual campaigns, large and small, just fell flat. Today, however, I am on fire again because changing the conversation is, to me, an exciting project and I have a plan.

In the language of spiritually responsible politics, it is about engaging the law of attraction - that thing that is always on - in a way that moves us in the direction of what it is we are wanting instead of keeping us mired in that which we don't want. If, for example, we don't want dishonesty in politics yet all we do is see examples of dishonesty in politics and then complain to our friends about dishonesty in politics and hear radio and television reports and stories about dishonesty in politics and, on top of all of that, feel rage and disgust and shame about how our country's politics are mired in dishonesty, guess what we are going to get more and more of?

When, on the other hand, we can clearly articulate our thoughts and feelings about what our desire for honest politics looks like - elections where we trust that our vote is being fairly counted, for example, and the ability to know without a doubt who is funding which candidates and campaigns, for another example, and feel the feelings of pride and security that accompany it - law of attraction says we will get more and more of that. It simply is the way things are.

So here are ten overarching issues for us to begin with:

• Reputation on the world stage
• Economy/Commerce/Taxes/Budget
• Education
• Environment/Energy
• Immigration
• Health Care
• Cities
• Politics
• Defense
• Social Safety Net/Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid/Aid to Dependent Families
  

Certainly, issues will overlap with each other. But in the coming weeks and months we will create clear pictures of what we want with regard to these topics, in the manner that I just touched on with the issue of honesty in politics. We'll do it by concentrating on how we would like things to be - in an ideal world where nobody can say no and money is no object - rather than how they are now or how they have been. This is how we change the conversation.

So in the next post I will begin by taking one of the issues and sketching out what we might want it to look like. I say we because I intend for this to be a collaborative process that includes as many people who care to be included in a way that builds and builds. To that end - and given that I have a total of zero readers at the moment - I thank you in advance for sharing this previously un-promoted blog with anyone you know who might be interested - by way of the 15 concepts with which we work here - in helping to change the conversation.

Your comments are most welcome starting now.

BP/Gulf #3 - Personal Edition

The overarching intention of Spiritually Responsible Politics is to elevate the public discourse; the crux of it is the responsibility we take as individuals, knowing that because of the law of attraction, who we are being, what we are thinking, and how we are feeling absolutely contribute to the whole: we are all connected. So here's a bit of what that all looks like in the Gulf using myself as an example.

While I have written that the blame game was one of the first thing I noticed when the news of the leak first presented itself, two months in I have yet to see anything close to anyone making the connection between the personal and the political or the environmental. Yet starting with we belong to the planet, not the planet to us, we are reminded that we are connected to Earth, made of the same stuff, and what we do to it we do to ourselves and what we do to ourselves we do to it. Plus the idea that, law of attraction-wise, we don't ever see anything "out there" that isn't a reflection of who we are "in here."

I realize this we are all connected idea can get a bit difficult to comprehend. I mean, there you are in your body, here I am in mine, there is clear and distinct separation, but only when viewed from where we are viewing. What this means with regard to the planet is that the planet represents our own physical bodies, so here we go. One of the things that stuck out to me, personally, was how ridiculous it was that we, collectively, however we did it, would take such a risk with drilling a mile below the surface of the Gulf when we were not at all sure that we could contain an accident.

And since I saw that "out there," I had to take a look "in here." And what do you know? I take risks with my body all the time. I deliberately put things in it - pollution - that I know are not good for it like, for example, and I'm just talking about myself here, sugar. An addiction? I have a battery of rationalizations as I go for the instant gratification like, oh it won't be that bad just this time and I'm sure my otherwise healthy body will be able to assimilate it and on and on and on. So, frankly, who the hell am I to look at what's happening in the Gulf and express such dismay that our government was lax enough and BP was irresponsible enough to take such a risk when I do the same exact thing myself?

It's not about shame or guilt, people, just a (rather large) dose of responsibility. Not sure about what you can do about the whole mess? Just look at what it is that most irks you about what's happening in the Gulf and you will find your answer. As for me and my sugar thing, it sure would be a lot easier if I were on this ride with some others. Any takers?

Oh Please

I wasn't even going to comment on this one: the hubbub over the president's lack of emotion with regard to the situation in the Gulf. But I can hardly take it anymore and I can be brief.

Here's the spiritually responsible deal: 1) to exercise compassion is to allow people to be who they are without judgment, period; 2) when we are judging someone for being something or not being something, we are only and ever talking about ourselves. As one caller into C-Span's Washington Journal so eloquently put it recently - and I'm paraphrasing - do we show enough emotion when we see a homeless person die? When soldier's families are torn apart by war? When people die because of lack of access to health care? Etc. Etc. Etc.

The evidence is fairly strong that, as of the moment, this is truly a made-up-by-the-media-non-scandal-appearing-to-be-scandalous thought with which "the American people" are not necessarily aligned. But for anyone who is, please oh please take a look in the mirror and let us talk about some of what is really going on.

BP/Gulf #2 - Sarah Palin Edition

I was struck when I read that Sarah Palin was blaming "extreme environmentalists" (whom she also called "radical," "misguided," and "nonsensical") for what is happening in the Gulf. (Her Facebook entry is here.) As is so often the case when viewing our political landscape through the lens of the 15 concepts, there are so many directions in which to go but as Spiritually Responsible Politics is, above all, about elevating the public discourse and so "debating" at the levels of beliefs and intentions is a really good way to do that. So here we go with one stipulation: We can never really know what someone else's intentions or beliefs are unless they tell us directly, so there may be some genuine guessing going on here, for argument's sake.

When I first heard about what Governor Palin wrote I thought it would be a great opportunity to simply point out that beyond all the name-calling (judgments) are simply differences in beliefs - figuring it would be relatively easy to show how Ms. Palin's beliefs are not the same as the beliefs of your average radical environmentalist. She may or may not consider me to be that, but I certainly have a belief that says, we belong to the planet, not the planet to us - also a concept, yes - and that means to me that we are made of the same stuff and that what we do to it we do to ourselves and what we do to ourselves we do to it and that we should put its health and well being on a par with our own and radically change our approach, legislatively, to what we do and do not consider to be acceptable treatment of the planet. And then I read this: "Some of these countries don't care for planet earth like we do - as evidenced by our stricter environmental standards."

I had thought maybe that Ms. Palin didn't have a belief anywhere near the neighborhood of caring for the planet so I was pleasantly surprised to see that she did. Clearly, however, her belief(s) about caring for the planet are different from mine because mine would not include ever doing something as risky and dangerous as what was done by BP in the Gulf and hers, apparently, would. And there's no doubt that the conversation or debate would continue, but keeping it in terms of what we each believe would undoubtedly keep the level of discourse relatively high. For example, she may have a belief that says oil exploration and drilling is the best source of energy for our country whereas my belief is that America has an addiction to oil that can and should be broken. In this way, we'd be talking about beliefs which would, undoubtedly, lead to conversations about facts and, ultimately, intentions as well.

I just think it's a better way to go than name-calling and blaming and as I have said many times before, it starts with us. What are your beliefs about what's happening in the Gulf? About using oil? About our ability as a country to solve this problem? Etc. and so forth. When we are clear and willing to talk about our own, we will be in a much better position to demand the same of our politicians.