A while back I wrote a post about being an NRSP (non-Religious, Spiritual Person).
This morning, I want to expand that a little, to the realm of politics.
For some, politics and religion are basically one and the same. So, in that sense, this post may risk redundancy.
But, in my mind, there is at least a subtle difference in the real world, if not the one inhabited by habitual watchers of the Fox News channel.
When I say non-political, I don’t mean abstaining from involvement in causes that have political impact. Many great changes in our society came about as a result of that…the Civil Rights Act of 1964 immediately comes to mind.
What I’m getting at is this “game” of politics that we enjoy playing perhaps a bit too much. The one that presupposes winners and losers, like any typical sporting event. Except, in this case, people and planet are at stake, not championship trophies, or rings.
The game that pits the blues against the reds. The one that’s the frequent source of vitriol seen in Facebook comments and Twitter feeds. The one that propels the status quo. The one that assures nothing ever gets done in the nation’s capital, or in the capital of your state.
The one of political ads claiming that the Ebola virus is the greatest threat civilization has ever faced, while continuing to deny the scientifically proven planetary threat of climate change.
I tend to stay out of political arguments. Now, is that always the case? No, I sometimes wade in gently, if I feel that things are being said that defy logic and common sense.
But it usually only results in getting called names, like libtard. Not sure where that one originated, but you see it a lot lately.
Why is that?
No, I’m not about to play the race card. So, please read on…
Obama has been a politically polarizing figure like no other. There are some who think he can do no wrong…others that he can do no right…and a few in the middle.
I believe the middle is the safest place to be, unless you feel the need for gang affiliation. Because it’s those on the fringes who always seem ready to rumble and rip each others throats out.
And it’s those fringes that represent the zones of political discourse experiencing the most rapid growth.
That’s too bad and actually quite threatening because we need change in our society, now like no other time in my lifetime.
The rich will keep getting richer and the poor poorer and more alienated from the idea of the American Dream…
The “too big to fail” Corporatocracy will continue to control the economic and political system for their selfish benefit in the name of capitalistic freedom…
And the weather will keep getting hotter and weirder, species will continue to disappear, oceans will rise, storms will rage and the human race will rapidly head towards the next great event of planetary extinction.
I don’t believe the answer to our problems will be found in any political argument.
I rather believe that it lies within a shift in the paradigm of thought.
To one that recognizes that we’re all in this boat together…
the reds and the blues…
the us and the them…
And really the last thing that matters is what your voter registration card might say.
And, no, this is not an admonition against voting, ala Russell Brand. After all, we can’t just sit back and blame the politicians…they’re just puppets and we hold the strings that pull them via that important constitutionally granted power.
It’s an encouragement not to participate in the game of polarizing political discourse.
To be a non-Political Spiritual Person.
To take the politics out of discourse and turn all that into discussions of mutual benefit.
image credit: Truthout.org via Compfight cc
