Election 2020

[Eric the Green]

I think one side, so clearly represented by Pence tonight, wants to hold back the changes in society over the last 60 to 90 years and make America great again, meaning the way they liked it: more uniform in race and religion, more male dominated, more sexually closeted, more preferential to the wealthy, more abusive to those perceived as weak, more straight in their style of living, more self-reliant as they see it, more restrictive about who can vote, more militaristic, more about the business of America being business regardless of who gets hurt, and more willing to sacrifice our environment to the dirty energy industry.

Another side, somewhat embodied by Kamala Harris, wants to continue the arc toward justice whose foundations were erected in the progressive movements which began 120 years ago, 80-90 years ago and 50-60 years ago, as well as at the founding of the republic in the age of revolution. Since I am on that side, I will call it "our side." Our side wants a functioning and not a stalemated government, as well as individual and entrepreneurial activity, that addresses problems and creates a better world for all. We want equal respect, justice and opportunity for people of many and diverse races, religions, genders and sexual orientations. We want to unleash our personal creativity, fulfilling relationships, and the unfolding of human potential and higher consciousness on all levels, so repressed by some of our ancient authoritarian traditions. We want more democracy, more opportunity for the less fortunate, more science and freedom of thought, more action to save our environment and climate, more dedication to building peace instead of the military and a gun-obsessed society, and an end to the trickle-down libertarian-economics ideology dominating our country, so that repealing needed regulations and taxes are not falsely held up as boosters of "job creaters," when in fact this neo-liberal philosophy creates a banana republic.

As the need for change becomes ever more pressing, and the power of the dominant status quo becomes threatened, the two sides, and the parties that more-or-less represent them, have become more polarized. That always happens in a 4T as the need for decisions becomes more pressing. There are a number of folks too who are a mixture of the two sides to some extent or another, and some of them feel caught in the middle of a squeeze. But these are times called a fourth turning, whose nature it is for neglected issues to be forced, and a national decision is to be made about how to move forward. And the forward side has always won. Our side must win, therefore, because ours is the forward side, and theirs is the side of defending America as it was. What emerges from this decade may be like a different country from what it was in 2008.

Important decisions must be made in this 4T, substantially favoring our side over the other. But the conflict, the contest, the political game, whatever you call it, goes on. Reactions will recur again, and still more progress will break out again, and new ideas and cultures will emerge again. More decisions on lesser scales will happen as the saeculum begins its next cycle, and as a new consensus develops around the winning side-- and as, possibly, some of the victories in the 4T are put back in the closet in the first turning, only to re-emerge again sooner or later. The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice for all of life and spirit.