One day (hopefully soon) the incumbent president will no longer be president but his supporters will still be Americans. Without them, the president would not have had a chance. Without them, Republican office holders and candidates would not be jockeying for the Trumpism torches to be passed to them. As someone who has an appreciation for our system of government and a firm knowing that it can function to our collective benefit — that is its point, is it not? — it seems unlikely so long as a consistent and persistent 35-40% or so of us are mired in and gripped by fear, which is one way to look at what connects the president to his supporters and vice-versa. We can afford for some of us to live in fear, but I’m not sure we can afford for 35-40% of us to do so, particularly if it is matched by office holders from the highest levels of government on down.
Today is a great day to remember that the fear to which I refer not a thing in and of itself. Rather, it’s a set of beliefs. That’s all it ever is. I know conscious politics practitioners like you love to talk at the level of belief because beliefs matter. Now, in our daily personal lives, it is most assuredly not good practice to make assumptions about people’s beliefs because to do so is to judge and to ask is to be compassionate. So there’s that. But in our collective political lives as citizens who, perhaps, do not have direct access to certain people, we do what we can. As such, I did some secondary research, which itself confirmed similar research I’d done before, tossed in some professional primary research for good measure, all of which is to say that I am reasonably confident about making some assertions here about the beliefs of others who are not me.
Do you see and can you feel the powerful field of energy that creates the bond that connects people who all fear losing what they have…
The president and some supporters of his ilk — let’s call them the rich, the super-rich, and white — tend to believe they will lose what they have (e.g., wealth, status, freedom). They believe they will lose control (e.g., of Wall Street, which provides the infrastructure by which they create and maintain their wealth and of the U.S. Congress, which can minimize regulations and taxes). They also often believe themselves to be superior to non-white people.
The president’s non-wealthy supporters — mostly white — believe they will lose what they believe they have always had (e.g., a white, Christian country; a way of life). They believe they will lose control (primarily of said country). They typically believe themselves to be superior to people who do not look like them/people of color.
Do you see and can you feel the powerful field of energy that creates the bond that connects people who all fear losing what they have, who all fear not being in control, who all fear losing to people who are not like them and whom they deem to be inferior to them? Is it clear that the energy of fear is so different from the energy of rationality/inspiration/creativity/innovation that they cannot exist in the same place?
The only thing for the rest of us to do, then, is 1) join the fear or 2) inspire people to change their beliefs. I vote for inspiring people to change their beliefs. Anyone? It will not be as hard as you may think (says the guy whose business entails showing people how to change their beliefs). Consider:
all of them are spiritual beings having human experiences with every right to the beliefs they have;
all of them (all of us) are wired for pleasure;
it only takes one documentary of an ex-con, an ex-cult member, an ex-skinhead to show everyone that people can change and I dare say we’ve all seen at least one such documentary;
there are countless “exes,” activists, communities, artists, entrepreneurs, and organizations who have vast experience in this work by doing it all day every day, year after year, decade after decade.
Are you telling me that we Americans cannot scale this work? Of course we can. Are you telling me we can’t cultivate in our youth a collective sense of purpose and belonging such that invitations from the Proud Boys are not the most compelling ones they receive? Of course we can. And we can do so quickly, particularly if it is advocated for by, oh I don’t know, an American president?
Realize, too, that underneath the antics is the fear; underneath the fear are specific beliefs; underneath the beliefs we touched on is the issue of identity. Who am I? Wealthy people interviewed about their fears will not offer up an articulate paragraph about how threatened their identity is, but it is. Who am I without my wealth and power? The most angry, militant supporters of the president will not tell you how much they fear losing their identity because they’re likely not conscious of the threat. Fair enough. But guess what? Reevaluating our identity is what humanity is up to. The shift from I am an accountant or I am an activist or I am a Trump supporter to I am an eternal, spiritual being having a human, physical experience is what we’re all up to. It’s hard enough when we’re conscious of it and it can be downright life threatening when we’re not.
We can have compassion for that, too.
NOTE: Authentically inspired likes, comments, and shares facilitates more eyeballs on these pages.
NOTE: If you are in one of the categories above and feel misrepresented with regard to fears and beliefs, I hope you’ll correct the record.