To Create What's Next in American Politics, I'm Starting Here
Issue 130 | But for these three conditions, we wouldn't be where we are so...
That’s the premise today, conscious politics practitioner: but for these three1 conditions, none of what is happening today on our American political landscape could or would be happening:
A huge segment of the citizenry that, through no fault of its own, is ignorant of basic American civics. A huge segment of the citizenry that, through some fault of its own, is mis- and disinformed.
Citizens United.
Oath-violating, character-less, responsibility-abdicating Republican cowards in Congress.
To be present is to accept it all as it is, no resistance, no judgment. That’s conscious practice. And if what is, is less or other than what’s desired we create, on purpose, what’s desired — that’s the practice, too. The law of attraction is always on, after all, and we humans attract with our thoughts and words and actions and, yes, our feelings, which means, as conscious people, we think and speak and act and feel in terms of what what we want to experience. Intentions matter; it’s not that complicated. So, some examples of intentions that would ameliorate the stated conditions are:
Intention: A WELL-INFORMED, FULLY ENGAGED CITIZENRY
What’s the ideal? A society that takes pride in its system of government. A society of hundreds of millions of individuals — from disparate races, cultures, religions and non-religions, genders and non-genders who occupy spaces across a wide spectrum of socioeconomic possibilities and experiences — that connects wholeheartedly with one another via the glue that is our system of government, America’s organizing principle. A citizenry cognizant of its responsibility to insure that our system of self-determining government functions healthfully. A society that boasts 95% voter turnout in all its elections.
Intention: REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT
What’s the ideal? Truly representative government — representative of its citizens. In a truly representative government, a clear majority of we the people believe that government works in our collective interests, that it effectively and nimbly responds to our needs. In a truly representative government, we have access to our elected representatives while they are in office. In a truly representative government, officeholders are of the highest integrity and are touted for their character. And we the people agree on what the purpose of government even is.
Intention: TRUST
What’s the ideal? A trusting society. A society that trusts its elected representatives to represent their interests legislatively. A society that trusts, honors, and respects government employees at all levels who take oaths to do their jobs and make government work. A society with strong, trusted institutions overseen by fellow citizens who have been professionally vetted to manage the responsibilities they have been asked to assume. A society that trusts the word of its elected and appointed officials when they speak. A society based on truth and transparency. A society that remains unified after each and every election and policy debate.
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(You need not think a whit today, by the way, about how any or all of what we desire may come into being. You don’t even have to believe it’s possible, today anyway, as we’ll get to that later. All you have to do today is decide whether you want any of these things, too. It’s a yes or no question. If the answer is yes — to one, two, or all three of these overlapping ideals — read on.)
Now, instead of fighting and resisting, we align. We create. We cultivate. We build. Which means, in this milieu, that we look very closely at any and all ideas and projects and the like that already exist that align with what we want and we propose new ideas as well. For example:
Things For A Well-Informed, Fully Engaged Citizenry
This is about an all-hands-on-deck, 10-year civics education campaign on a national level, reaching into every American nook and cranny. It’s about graduating to being a mature society that’s worked out sorting facts from fiction when it comes to “news” and “information” because “a well-informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.”2 It’s about a relentless, newfound national policy and campaign of encouraging voting and making it easier and easier and easier for more and more eligible citizens to vote in a system that is, year after year, more and more fair, more and more inclusive. It’s about reclaiming and re-championing how locally-controlled American elections insure, as they always have, that voter fraud is a non-issue.
It’s about fairness with things like, for example, outlawing gerrymandering and increasing the size of the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s about experimenting with ranked choice and other forms of voting. It’s about looking beyond winner-takes-all representation in congressional districts in favor of proportional representation. It’s about a streamlined approach to ballot access for anyone who wants to run for office as something other than a Democrat or a Republican. It’s about ending systemic over-representation of anti-democratic Republicans in our politics via the Electoral College, the U.S. Senate, and extreme gerrymandering. It’s about correcting and rebalancing a sustained, purposeful campaign of good, old-fashioned American-style vote suppression.
It’s about electing people who pledge to support: The Securing Our Elections Act; The DISCLOSE Act; The CLEAN Elections Act; The Freedom to Vote Act.
Things For (Truly) Representative Government
Legislate over, under, around, and through Citizens United, no matter what it takes to end it. It’s a unifying issue with more than 80% of we the people supporting ending it, which doesn’t matter at all. And that’s the point: majorities of us actually agree on many policies, virtually never seeing our preferences addressed in Congress in consistently meaningful ways. Most of us do not even know what it would be like to live in a responsive, truly representative government, but we do know what it’s like to fight for crumbs after outdated industries like fossil fuel extraction companies get their corporate welfare and modern behemoths like Amazon, Apple, Google, and X avoid paying taxes and government contracts for billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk go untouched. None of this will change until and unless we outlaw money in politics at the federal level and legislate for public financing of all campaigns for federal office.
It’s about finding candidates and campaigns and projects and non-profits and citizen groups who are advocating and advancing such policies like EndCitizensUnited.org and Citizen.org.
Things For Trust
This is about a full-court, never-ending championing of truth and transparency (new-consciousness hallmarks) in our government at every level, every day. It’s about standing up for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Yes, that. It’s about trusting government agencies and institutions. It’s about trusting one another, our fellow citizens, whether we agree with them or not. It’s about candidates for office who are serious and above reproach. It’s about whoever wins the most votes for president — what we are forced to call the popular vote while every other democracy on the planet calls it the vote — actually assumes the office. It’s about reforming the U.S. Supreme Court by doing away with lifetime appointments and expanding its size. Oh, and here’s a great case for trust itself.
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So I’m choosing, for now, to invest my precious political time and energy doing what I can to cultivate these intentions for one simple reason: When I think in terms of what we can transform our society into, when I think in terms of everyone being engaged and participating, when I think in terms of getting money out of politics, of citizens trusting citizens because they’re citizens, of actually feeling safe and secure because our government is strong, healthy and functioning and when I think about connecting with like-minded fellow citizens who are equally eager to engage political transformation in America in these ways, I feel excited. And to live consciously is to follow what excites us.
NOTE: This month’s Conscious Politics Free Monthly Training will take place, as usual, on the third Tuesday — March 18 to be exact. Trainings are open to all comers and all political subjects. If you haven’t attended before, sign up right here:
NOTE: The smattering of links in this piece are provided just to help us think in terms of what we want and to show us that we are not alone. They are not meant as an exhaustive, comprehensive list.
NEXT ISSUE: “The Name of the Game is Transformation”
I’m writing so I picked, but enough about me. What do you see as reasons why we are where we are, politically speaking? What would you advocate for between now and the next election(s)?
Thomas Jefferson and others…quoted in a multitude of ways…while founding our country.
Great column Steven. Three intentions that will make a huge difference.
❤🤝🏻🤍🤝🏻💙!