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Addendum to Bush, Kerry, or World 5.0?
by Stephen Dinan
stephen@radicalspirit.org
After further reflections on my article of yesterday, I want to provide an addendum, which I would be grateful to you to circulate wherever the article is circulating (or attach this if you are sending the article). Internet forwarding can be a blessing for outreach but a problem when people think I'm a neo-fascist or, on the flip side, that I speak for the campaign or for Dennis Kucinich. Neither are true. Kucinich has stated unequivocally that he would support whatever nominee is chosen. I spoke only for myself and I now realize that I was doing some manipulating in the article that wasn't about truth but instead about my own fear. For that I apologize.
The thing which made some folks angry about my article was my suggestion that we might be better off in the longest-term view with four more years of Bush than of Kerry. They read that as me championing Bush and telling people to vote for him. I slipped over a certain line here and I see now how I was being provocative rather than just truthful. I stated the case more strongly knowing that it would provoke people, not because I thought it definitively true but because I wanted to detach people from the fixation on Kerry. In my mind, I am more worried about Kerry getting the nomination than a Bush victory because I think Bush is going to lose to whomever runs. It would be a very sad day for me to watch Kerry be sworn in instead of Kucinich, who I think can lead us to another level as a country. It would feel like a lost opportunity and I would take little pleasure in it. It would feel like a small hop rather than a leap
To be clear, I would vote for Kerry against Bush if it came to that (which I hope it won't). And it is true that I wouldn't be as impassioned about it for many of the reasons I outlined.
But here's where I got manipulative in that article. I was trying to tip the momentum towards Kucinich by undermining Kerry and playing the division card that has so wracked the Democratic party and resulted in Nader being the scapegoat for so much anger. In doing so, I was manipulating the state of heightened fear about the possibility of Bush's second term and the disasters it could bring to undermine the establishment candidate. The underpinning logic was, "Oh yeah, if you want to trot out a the same old kind of establishment candidate, then maybe I'll quit playing for the team." Which is manipulative, no matter how much other stuff I pad around it.
In reality, I'm personally not worried about Bush having a second term because I don't think it's going to happen and, if it did, I think the World 5.0 forces will be much more active, engaged, and exposing of the lies and corruption and thus catalyze a pop the next time around, just as I wrote. Whether true or not, that is my reality; I am more worried at the moment about a Kerry nomination than a Bush victory.
What I should have done in the article is be more direct and transparent about my actual goal, which was to dissolve the ABB fear-fixation. I think ABB is putting in danger the possibility of the Democratic party doing anything bold or interesting this year, when we've got an enormous opportunity.
The psychology of ABB is a form of personal disempowerment because it orients our power around the other, in this case Bush. There is no positive declaration of what we want in the world, no advocacy for what we see as true, right, and beautiful. We become so wrapped up in the oppositional stance, driven by fear, that we lose our sense of who we really are and what we believe in.
I think the ABB psychology reinforces a sense of weakness in the Democratic party rather than strengthening it. Swing voters and those who are typically unengaged are turned off by the ABB stance because it seems so negative (and it is). If anything undermines a victory this year, it will be the ABB stance, which also tends to make people more risk-averse, retreating to the center, hovering over polls, and generally being reactive, even attacking others in the party who voice alternative opinions because those are signs of division. In this way, I believe that the ABB psychology leads us to be more out of alignment with our democratic principles. I thus think it needs to be challenged in order for people to open to their deeper truth.
Nonetheless, I do have compassion for the ABB stance. For most, it comes out of personal suffering or an acute attunement to the suffering of others. And I know that there are a lot of very real people in very real pain. However, I think that when we set our compass by ABB, which is mostly what seems to be happening around John Kerry right now and the whole electability question, we undermine our very foundation and the positive, creative potential we have in us. And we could well elect someone who offers very little in the way of fundamental change.
So my article was meant to challenge the ABB worldview but I did cross over the line from speaking my truth into provocation. I have been afraid that we aren't going to make that deeper shift this time, even though we have a legitimate shot at creating World 5.0 leadership in America this year, which is what I personally really want. There is still an opportunity to make that happen but the horizons are short.
I apologize if my article tweaked you rather than provoked a better understanding, especially the parts where I went from truth into provocation.
All I really ask is for you find the truth in your heart and set your compass from there, working for the world you want to create. If Kerry is your man and gets the nomination and you feel passionate about him, then support him with everything you've got!
The thing I want us to remember, though, is that we do not yet have a Democratic nominee. We have a front-runner and 75% of America has yet to tally their vote. Before this month, people assumed it was all over and Dean was the nominee but campaigns can change quickly. We can still nominate Dennis Kucinich, not just for our country but for the new operating system for the world.
Addendum to Bush, Kerry, or World 5.0?
by Stephen Dinan
stephen@radicalspirit.org
After further reflections on my article of yesterday, I want to provide an addendum, which I would be grateful to you to circulate wherever the article is circulating (or attach this if you are sending the article). Internet forwarding can be a blessing for outreach but a problem when people think I'm a neo-fascist or, on the flip side, that I speak for the campaign or for Dennis Kucinich. Neither are true. Kucinich has stated unequivocally that he would support whatever nominee is chosen. I spoke only for myself and I now realize that I was doing some manipulating in the article that wasn't about truth but instead about my own fear. For that I apologize.
The thing which made some folks angry about my article was my suggestion that we might be better off in the longest-term view with four more years of Bush than of Kerry. They read that as me championing Bush and telling people to vote for him. I slipped over a certain line here and I see now how I was being provocative rather than just truthful. I stated the case more strongly knowing that it would provoke people, not because I thought it definitively true but because I wanted to detach people from the fixation on Kerry. In my mind, I am more worried about Kerry getting the nomination than a Bush victory because I think Bush is going to lose to whomever runs. It would be a very sad day for me to watch Kerry be sworn in instead of Kucinich, who I think can lead us to another level as a country. It would feel like a lost opportunity and I would take little pleasure in it. It would feel like a small hop rather than a leap
To be clear, I would vote for Kerry against Bush if it came to that (which I hope it won't). And it is true that I wouldn't be as impassioned about it for many of the reasons I outlined.
But here's where I got manipulative in that article. I was trying to tip the momentum towards Kucinich by undermining Kerry and playing the division card that has so wracked the Democratic party and resulted in Nader being the scapegoat for so much anger. In doing so, I was manipulating the state of heightened fear about the possibility of Bush's second term and the disasters it could bring to undermine the establishment candidate. The underpinning logic was, "Oh yeah, if you want to trot out a the same old kind of establishment candidate, then maybe I'll quit playing for the team." Which is manipulative, no matter how much other stuff I pad around it.
In reality, I'm personally not worried about Bush having a second term because I don't think it's going to happen and, if it did, I think the World 5.0 forces will be much more active, engaged, and exposing of the lies and corruption and thus catalyze a pop the next time around, just as I wrote. Whether true or not, that is my reality; I am more worried at the moment about a Kerry nomination than a Bush victory.
What I should have done in the article is be more direct and transparent about my actual goal, which was to dissolve the ABB fear-fixation. I think ABB is putting in danger the possibility of the Democratic party doing anything bold or interesting this year, when we've got an enormous opportunity.
The psychology of ABB is a form of personal disempowerment because it orients our power around the other, in this case Bush. There is no positive declaration of what we want in the world, no advocacy for what we see as true, right, and beautiful. We become so wrapped up in the oppositional stance, driven by fear, that we lose our sense of who we really are and what we believe in.
I think the ABB psychology reinforces a sense of weakness in the Democratic party rather than strengthening it. Swing voters and those who are typically unengaged are turned off by the ABB stance because it seems so negative (and it is). If anything undermines a victory this year, it will be the ABB stance, which also tends to make people more risk-averse, retreating to the center, hovering over polls, and generally being reactive, even attacking others in the party who voice alternative opinions because those are signs of division. In this way, I believe that the ABB psychology leads us to be more out of alignment with our democratic principles. I thus think it needs to be challenged in order for people to open to their deeper truth.
Nonetheless, I do have compassion for the ABB stance. For most, it comes out of personal suffering or an acute attunement to the suffering of others. And I know that there are a lot of very real people in very real pain. However, I think that when we set our compass by ABB, which is mostly what seems to be happening around John Kerry right now and the whole electability question, we undermine our very foundation and the positive, creative potential we have in us. And we could well elect someone who offers very little in the way of fundamental change.
So my article was meant to challenge the ABB worldview but I did cross over the line from speaking my truth into provocation. I have been afraid that we aren't going to make that deeper shift this time, even though we have a legitimate shot at creating World 5.0 leadership in America this year, which is what I personally really want. There is still an opportunity to make that happen but the horizons are short.
I apologize if my article tweaked you rather than provoked a better understanding, especially the parts where I went from truth into provocation.
All I really ask is for you find the truth in your heart and set your compass from there, working for the world you want to create. If Kerry is your man and gets the nomination and you feel passionate about him, then support him with everything you've got!
The thing I want us to remember, though, is that we do not yet have a Democratic nominee. We have a front-runner and 75% of America has yet to tally their vote. Before this month, people assumed it was all over and Dean was the nominee but campaigns can change quickly. We can still nominate Dennis Kucinich, not just for our country but for the new operating system for the world.
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