"These Are the Days of Our Lives"

Since Donald Trump announced that he was a candidate for the Office of President of the United States, our nation has drifted toward a whole new way of living out our story.  Some may characterize this new national “show” as Reality TV.  But I believe we are more like an old-fashioned soap opera.

Reality TV depended on “truthiness.”  This word was coined by Stephen Colbert to describe language that sounded true, but wasn’t.  Generally, it sounded true because it played into our prejudices and beliefs.  Many want to believe that our country is a Christian Nation under the special protection of God.  The reality is far different.  Our founders specifically rejected the “Christian” origins of our national life.  Our population is a diverse tapestry of religious and non-religious folks.  But, truthiness comes into play when politicians play the “Christian” card in our national life.  Many believe it is true because they so desperately want to be true.

There are a whole range of truthy cards that have been played over the last 40 years.  “Trickle-down economics” and “Race Relations are Improving” are just two.  There are many, many others. 

One of the truthy myths that we all grew up with has led to the undoing of the “Reality TV” way of living was “In America, anyone can grow up to be President.”  We all wanted to believe that America was big enough and noble enough to allow a person to rise to the “highest office in the land” solely on merit.  Ironically, the undoing occurred when we actually lived into this truthiness.  When a Black man was elected President the dark underside of our national life was revealed.  And when a woman became the leading candidate to succeed him, the old ways of truthiness crumbled away.  Our Reality TV way of life was no longer enough to protect the beliefs and hopes for a significant part of our population.  We became a nation of liars.

You see, a Soap Opera is pure emotion wrapped around a storyline of stereotypes.  It is all a lie.  Almost everyone knows that it is a lie.  It is not real.  It does not pretend to be real.  It is pure fantasy for some and a campy satire on life for others.  Sane people recognize that it is just a TV show but they allow themselves to be emotionally moved by the storyline and the drama surrounding the characters.  However, the emotionally unbalanced cannot see the lie and actually believe that the drama is real life.  The movies “The Truman Show” and “Pleasantville” were grounded in this premise and acknowledged the dramatic shift that would take place 20 years later.

As we enter 2018, our national narrative reflects more of “Days of Our Lives” than “Survivor.”  There is more of “Dark Shadows” than “American Idol” in the America of 2018.  Our national leaders lie with impunity because they believe that if they say it often enough, a large percentage of the population will believe it.  (Hitler proved this to be true in pre-WWII Germany.)  Our leaders realize that roughly 30% of our population want to believe that we are a Christian and White nation and will set ignore any evidence to the contrary.  They will vote for the politician who is “honest” enough to speak this “Truth” rather than all that “political correctness” nonsense about diversity and fairness.  This 30% is motivated by their emotional ties to their beliefs and cannot be dissuaded.

However, 30% is not enough to form a majority, so these same national leaders commit lie after lie because they know that another 20% just do not want to be bothered.  They want to live their lives “under the radar” and if someone offers a convincing lie that others seem to believe, they will go along with it.  There will not be a great deal of emotion in this.  It is mostly a reasoned commitment to keeping the peace in their lives.  These are the folks who go along with Aunt Mabel as she argues about who really shot J.R. as if it was a real mystery.  They do not want to upset Aunt Mabel and so live with the cognitive dissonance.  They pretend to live with the lie because it is just easier.  This 20% can be dissuaded from accepting the lies of our leaders if they become more comfortable by rejecting the lies.

As long as our national leaders are able to attract the support of both of these groups, we will be trapped in Soap Opera not unlike “Pleasantville.”  The world will be “black and white.”  We will be driven by our emotions, not unlike cows to slaughter. We will watch as layer upon layer of lies cause the national fabric of our lives to become tattered and torn.

The first step toward a renewal of our national story is in revealing the truth to the 20%.  They hold the key to our future.  Once they see the damage being done by the “Liars Guild” that has taken over our national narrative, they will stand up to the “Aunt Mabel” and lead us to a new narrative, grounded in honesty and the common good.  What will that new story look like?  I do not know, but I want to believe that it will be better than the story we have been writing for the last 75 years.

Awaiting a Time to Listen

I wrote these words a little under a year ago as Donald Trump was preparing to take office.

"The Progressive Movement in the United States is at a crossroads.  A super minority of the US population wants someone to fixit.  They have little patience for policy, or party, or even the 'rule of law.'  They want someone to fixit.  A demagogue has emerged to claim that he can fixit."

"The Progressive movement must begin to listen to this super minority before they become the majority.  For totalitarian regimes are created by such majorities.  Listen with respect.  Listen with compassion.  Listen until the minority knows that we are listening and care about them.  And then, and only then, will be have earned the right to speak and show how we would fixit."

"We stand at a crossroads. Let us choose the path with heart."

I must confess that after I wrote these words my heart sank.  I never published them.  Frankly, I was angry, disappointed, bitter, and frustrated.  At that point I did not want to listen.  I wanted to hide in a hole and try and sort out what happened. 

Now that we have seen that 45 has lived down to everyone's expectations, I continue to feel all of the above along with a good dose of shame for my country.

I really do believe that I need to listen to the folks who feel disaffected by having having a black man in the White House for four years.  I really do believe that I need to listen to people who are so angry that the privilege that they were promised as children is being siphoned away by history.  I really do believe that I need to listen to people who are frustrated because the jobs they are qualified to do are disappearing in a changing economy and they believe that this President will rescue them.  I really do believe that I need to listen to the people who believe that the clock can be turned back by a failed snake oil salesman pretending to be a world leader.

But, I do not believe I am ready to listen to them.  Or rather, they are are not ready for me to listen to them.  Listening only helps when people are ready to be honest with themselves.  It only helps when there is a a desire to grow beyond their present circumstance.  Many of these folks believe that their prejudices and hatreds are being legitimized and vindicated by this resident of the Oval Office.  Listening to them now would only reinforce their feeling of vindication.

I believe we need to ride out this unfortunate time in our history, standing ready to listen and support these folks when their world begins to crumble.  We will need to be there when 45 proves that he is incapable of turning back the calendar to the 1950's.  We will need to be ready to listen when they discover that they have been used to further the agenda of men and women whose only concern is the cashing out of the American experiment.  I believe that all of this will come to pass. 

In fact, it is imperative that we be ready to listen, because if we allow our anger and bitterness to permanently alienate ourselves from our neighbors they will see no other recourse than to follow 45 and his masters through the gates of fascism.  We have the ability to welcome them back into the America we hold dear, but we must not allow our hearts to be hardened.  Neither can we be afraid of what the future may hold.  When the time is right, may we reach out and embrace our sisters and brothers as we all come together to build the America of our highest hopes and ideals.  Stay strong, the future awaits us.