The American political landscape is moving in a dangerous direction and the counter-revolution for which the republican party has hoped and dreamt for decades is now at our doorstep. It is deliverance for the racists, bigots, and war mongers of the Christian right, and the ‘white nationalists,’ ‘neo-confederates’ and war-mongers of the tea party secular right.
They are bolstered by books by people like Mike Huckabee in which he tells those living in eternal bliss that “You are really the smart ones, not these people with education, culture, and any semblance of a progressive mind-set. No. You, with your hateful God, your idiotic guns, your nasty grits, and your delicious gravy are the smart ones. You are on this pedestal because you do not seek deeper understanding; you simply accept prima facia, and when the Texas textbook commission hands your children textbooks that portray Moses as one of the elitist oligarchy of men who engineered our separation from the British crown, you will cheer and accept that too.”
In fact, it has been my experience that no counter-revolutionaries seek to understand anything other than that with which they are already familiar. They do not question, they obey. They accept the voices of FOX noise and the hatred of Rush Limbaugh without question, and this embracing of democracy-destroying ignorance, hatred, and harsh judgment of those who are different than them, they are told, is what makes every one of them great Americans.
These forces have coalesced into the modern 21st century fascism they told us could never happen here, and their vision of an America in which white men once again dictate who lives and who dies is given voice through the three-ring circus which is the entire field of republicans vying for the office of president of the United States. If we allow them, they will turn the ‘Statue of Liberty’ into the ‘Statue of Bigotry.’
The ‘Revolution,’ of course, has been going on since the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment and continues today. This is the revolution that took western European culture, from the age of faith in God by superstition, and guilt of the accused by association into the age of scientific method, innocence until guilt is proven in a court of law by a jury of one’s peers, and faith in God by adherence to His command; that we love one another.
The problem is that the revolution became bureaucratized and fell victim to the political wing of the Age of Enlightenment. The ideals of equality of and equality for all people before all people, and beside all other people in their theoretical mist are still beautiful and relevant, and I am certain that all but a small handful of people in this world possess an intrinsic understanding of the justice inherent in them, but practice can often become a contagion.
Creating a gentle rainstorm of practice out the of the theoretical mist of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” is not easy and has not been done well. This is not to say that those who have made the mistakes that have ground the revolution to a halt were possessed of malicious intent. Quite the opposite; their intentions have been pure, and they have been courageous in their continuing attempts to bring about the ascension of mankind to a higher level of relationship with each other and with God.
Unfortunately, if one is to pierce the darkness of ancient judgments and hatreds, they must have a dagger of sufficient length and sharpness, and that dagger must be the bureaucracy. If you ask me, that is a real catch-22; the primary tool necessary to bring positive change to all of humanity is the very thing that will, in the end, inhibit fulfillment of that change.
Now we have the counter-revolution before us. The white nationalists, neo-confederates, tea party activists, and pro-birth christians of the political right have emerged from the shadows of their previous status as ‘fringe’ elements to execute a coup d’état in the republican party. The kingdom of hell is at hand; all they have to do is reach out and grab it.
The self described ‘Goldwater republicans’ are a thing of the past and are no longer welcome. The new republican party is here! The new republican party wants to to know what consenting adults are doing in their bedrooms, and intend to police the gender of the participants: More than two is to be declared unsavory, but as long as there are more women than men, charges will not be filed. The new republican party wants civil rights for all…white, protestant christian males. The new republican party wants boundless economic opportunity…for the wealthy. The new republican party wants no money to be spent on programs that enhance people’s lives; including education and health care. After all, the wealthy can already afford all of the education and health care they need.
That may sound grim (and it is), but this is what your reward will be when you spend your time and money appealing to a minimally educated, culturally illiterate, and openly racist base in order to acquire votes. Those beer drinkin’, gun totin’ hill folk are eventually going to demand their payment, and payment is being demanded now. This why the republican party has drifted farther right than Hitler. The candidates are all trying to sound crazier and more full of hate than the next one in order to appeal to this freak show base.
That is the eye of the storm of the counter-revolution hurricane and I know it is difficult to understand them. I wish I had time in this short essay to delve into the psyche of this phenomenon, but I will have to reserve that for the various one-on-one conversations on this subject I am certain I will have. For my purposes here, I need to return to the revolution and the counter counter-revolution we must initiate and carry out if the American republic is to survive and all of mankind is to advance.
“The revolution will not be televised!” Chuck D shouted that in the late 1980s as the voice of Public Enemy. That may be true for a portion of the revolution, but part of the revolution must be televised.
The part of the revolution that will not be televised is that portion that happens within our hearts. It is the change within each of us that becomes dedicated to the revolution; it is God’s participation in the revolution. When we allow His portion of the revolution to take hold of us, then the revolution cannot fail and will not become petrified in a forest of antiquated systems and processes.
When we surrender and allow His gentle voice to urge us on to even and ever more and greater love and compassion for others; for the poor, the immigrant, the refugee, those who have been or are in prison, all those who are marginalized by consumerist society: in short, for all of the least of these, then the revolution lives and breathes in each of us. When we include and not exclude, we are living the revolution. As we do to them, so we do to Him.
Part of the revolution must be televised so that all can see the injustice against which we rise. We, as revolutionaries, need those who have the skill and the courage to televise the revolution. Better yet, we need those with the skill and the courage to televise the counter-revolution. Only then will the ugly truths of our world enter the eyes of those who either sit on the sidelines, or oppose us altogether. Only in this manner will the seeds of the revolution spread to those who can not yet see.
“The eyes are the window of the soul.” I don’t know who originally said that, but I believe it is the truth. Also, I know that Jesus said this: “The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, if your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light” (Matt. 6: 22). That is what televising the revolution can do; fill the body with light so that the part of the revolution which can not be televised can take root in the heart, establish and then nurture the revolution of the King.
It is time, my friends, for the counter counter-revolution: the revolution which will chip away at the crust that has immobilized the revolution and sets it once again on its path toward Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood for all people. It is a revolution that marks another step in the ascension of man to community with the living God who wants nothing more than to have community with us; to be our father and us his children. However this new revolution looks to you, we know its core values and its core messenger; Jesus, the Christ and his sermon.
Each of us know its truth, and we cannot believe the lie anymore. The lie of consumerism, racism, bigotry, wealth, and exclusion has been allowed to fester in this world because people will not debate each other peacefully. Therefore, we do not work things out like adults are supposed to do. So, if I can offer any practical advice in this essay, it is to never be afraid to talk peacefully (yet with all of the conviction your heart possesses) and in an adult manner of the revolution.
It is time. No, it is beyond time.
VIVE LA CONTRE CONTRE RÉVOLUTION!
Peace and love to all,
Niemand