Lessons from the 2014 election

Random and opposing thoughts regarding the mid-term election:

Our political system will continue to be corrupted by and in the grip of those obsessed with money and power.

We will rely on the leadings of the spirit and the spiritual.

Gross inequality will continue.

We will distill our lives, or our lives will be distilled for us.

The militarism will continue.

We will learn by the riveting experience of suffering…and forgiveness.

Secrecy in government will increase. Our privacy will continue to be invaded and diminished.

We will be clearly shown that we are one, that we depend on each other, not as "The other" but as "The one.” We ARE the enemy and the enemy is us. (Pogo was right, sort of....)

Purveyors of fear (still the great motivator) will continue to shape our culture and attitudes toward our neighbors, be they on our street or in the rest of the world.

The Great Unraveling will teach us compassion and humility.

Global warming will continue. “Natural disasters” (Nature shaking off our toxic species) will grow more and more severe.

The manifestations of environmental disintegration and the power of nature will force themselves upon us. They will require us to change.

Ignorance will spread…thanks to fundamentalism, corporate media, distorted values, amplified media demagoguery and impoverished schools and families.

We will discover truth through experience.

The homeless, many of them veterans, the mentally ill or both, will continue to find homes only in the streets. They will continue to be neglected, even scorned. Children will suffer in growing numbers. Homeless, hungry and abandoned.

We will learn that change begins with us acting as individuals and as communities (including ‘communities of interest’). Change begins in “small places” within the "oneness."

Technology will grow with little or no consideration given to unintended consequences. Escapist sports, games, consumerist values and other fantasies will define our culture. We live in a drop-out, fabricated, media-manipulated world of distorted and corrupted values.

We will withdraw from corporate media, consumerism and their contrived values. There will be a growing suspicion of technological change masquerading as “progress."

Crime will increase, including that committed by our “system of justice.”

We will be forced to examine and re-examine deeply, and then reshape, our values and our actions. Restorative justice, compassionate listening and non-violent communication are manifestations.

The good (love) in religions will be muted; the bad (prejudice, anti-intellectualism, self-righteousness and judging) amplified. Religions will grow as a problem, not a solution.

We will turn to spiritual “leadings” and reject religious dogma and dictates.

Government and politics will grow as a source of our fear and despair.

We will focus on and do what is possible. We will live and act more closely to our communities and homes. We can not afford to be distracted by events (news?) we can do nothing about. We will govern ourselves.

Our infrastructure will continue to crumble. Private profit will reshape and then destroy “The Commons.”

We will be called upon to act together and independently in new, sustainable, cooperative, humane and creative ways.

We may not have “fallen far enough.”

We will evolve to new awareness and, then, a new consciousness.

Would you volunteer to pay more — much more — for gas?

It’s pretty clear that our next president, whoever he might be, isn’t going to do squat about global warming. The oil pipers in Washington DC are going to continue to call their profit-driven, business-as-usual tune of climate change denial.

Hey, so we have a few more forest fires, higher acid levels in our rising oceans and record-breaking heat waves. Mere anomalies, friends. Keep on truckin’!

So here’s an idea for 2012 and beyond to make sure there are more beyonds...beyond beyond....

I just checked on-line and the pump price of a gallon of gas in Europe is now roughly $10. Yes, a fill-up of 12 gallons costs the Sweds, the French, the Italians and other continentals a cool $120.

The European overage is about $6.50/gallon from what we pay. In other words, they pay $78 more each time they fill up.

For a long time New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and others have advocated a tax that would force us to pay closer to what our European friends pay.

Good luck with that (see above).

But what if those of us not in media-inspired disconnect about global warming and unprecedented “natural disasters” VOLUNTARILY paid the difference between Europe’s price and ours every time we gassed up?

We’d do it on a special “Green” credit card that would do the computation and redirect the difference to....

To whom? The government? I don’t think so. Somehow the money would simply finance more tax subsidies for Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell and agribusiness, more money for drone attacks and more bail-outs for banks “too big to fail” etc.

No, because the Green Credit Card is a voluntary program, we donors get to decide who gets the money. One idea is a blue-ribbon consortium of organizations working on “The Great Planetary Turning” that will save this blue-green pebble in space from being turned into a black cinder.

For now, be patient. We can get to the details of who gets the money later. Your homework is to think about how the consortium should be governed and whether it should be (could be) a tax-exempt non-profit. (Maybe government could help by making the tax exemptions especially attractive, just as long as Washington keeps its mitts — and Mitt — off deciding how our donations are spent.)

Sitting on the back porch with my wife this evening, I dragged out my little calculator and we ran our own numbers. We aren’t particularly big drivers and one of us (me) drives a hybrid. We estimated that together we manage to burn through about 500 gallons of gas a year. That’s probably a conservative estimate, but let’s work with it.

If we use the European benchmark of $10 a gallon (if they can do it so can we), the two of us would voluntarily contribute roughly $3250 a year (500 gallons X $10 = $5000 minus $1750  for the gas itself). That’s $3250 from two Americans contributing to the cause of saving the planet for us and future generations. (Did I mention that we’re slated to be grandparents for the first time next month? A sobering reality...a grandchild entering a world of record heat waves and melting ice caps.)

So is the contribution worth it?

Is it worth it if it’s a tax deduction? Is it worth it if it encourages us to buy more fuel efficient vehicles or use mass transit? Is it worth it if the money helps build high-speed rail, more electric buses and trolleys, more solar generators?

Is it worth it if it catches on and contributes mightily to saving the planet for our grandchild and millions of other grandchildren?

I think so.

What do you think? Would you volunteer?

Addendum: A variation might be to offer cards in different "editions." One might phase in increases in your donation. You pay $5 a total of gallon this year (that might be an "orange" credit card), $6 next (pale orange...on the way to a "cooler" color) etc. Another version starts you at the $10 a gallon maximum but then "rewards" you as you meet goals in lowering your gas consumption. Of course if you go 100 percent electric, you pay nothing to anyone. At which point we might consider the source of your electricity. But that's another story...

HERE's a link to an even more modest approach by fellow Quakers in Berkeley. Every dime helps.

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Joys amidst concerns

Out of silent worship, Quakers often share “joys and concerns.” Someone might cite a birth or reconciliation as a “joy”; another might speak of an illness or dispute as a “concern.”

These days, of course, we’ve focused a lot on concerns that have come with this deepening economic crisis: unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcies, homelessness, stress, etc. When those are applied to individuals, families or businesses they grow to personal tragedies.

But oddly, we are seeing some unexpected joys as well.

Here are four:

• Discovery of what’s important. In short, friends, family and community. Charity and simple kindness mean so much. Taking the time to listen, to be together. Celebrating nature. Breatheing. The best things really are free.

• The decline of consumerism. We have way too much stuff. We are not what we have but who we are. Advertising seems all the more deceitful and absurd in these times. We see and find joy in simplicity. Tight budgets make distinguishing between needs and wants so much easier.

• "Swamps" are being drained. I think particularly of a corrupt financial system, executive greed and an ethos that chooses short-term rewards and riches at the expense of the environment and the planet.

• We have the opportunity to start anew. When we rebuild, we will do it much more holistically, much more environmentally and even more compassionately. This crisis is re-educating us — refining and redefining our values.