I feel the same way Jeanne, and the longer the right wing holds the levers of power the stronger they seem to become. I just read recently that Sinclair Broadcasting (which had an agreement with Jared Kusher to give Trump favorable coverage during the election) is poised for a merger that will enable them to purchase local TV stations all across the country, bringing right wing propaganda to local news. They're already doing it now, and Trump's FCC will make them more powerful. They're going to stack the courts as well, which will be devastating to the rule of law. If we have the federal courts filled with right wing fanatics the people will have no recourse to right the wrongs that a gov't can inflict.
While I've been in a funk since the election, this past week I've been feeling a sense of dread and panic that I can't shake. I'm wondering if anyone else is feeling the same. I hope I'm wrong, but I feel worse things coming.
I have to say that in spite of all the visions indicating Trump's diminishment, I am aware that there is almost nothing that will get the hard right GOP Congress to dump Trump. They march in lock step.
While I hope I'm wrong about this, I feel people will stand by expecting an impeachment or resignation and watch in disbelief while the GOP Congress does nothing to hold the President accountable. FOX news and WSJ continue to harp that this is a politically-motivated investigation, even though Mueller is a Republican and the FBI has always leaned to the right. We will see that in spite of their hypocritical use of the American flag on many GOP doorsteps and the obsessive use of an American flag pin on their lapels, they will do little to rectify treason. The Dalai Lama said that his religion is kindness. The GOP's religion is personal profit for the ultra rich, truth and ethics be damned.
I have hope for the American people, and for the people of the world. I know that light will break through this dark cloud. But the GOP lawmakers and their oligarch bosses are, for the time being, behaving like lost souls. And I feel that anyone who hopes we are going to see a big turnaround in the GOP Congress from Mueller's evidence may be disappointed. I could be wrong but I feel this. And our visions of the next six months don't contradict me.
The positive outcome is that more people will see the truth of this lawless organization. I am so grateful that we have this investigation, that the vestiges of light still prevail in our democracy, despite how much the GOP oligarchs in charge wish to stamp them out. I am grateful that we have a competent, resolute man like Mueller who can't be bought. However, there are plenty of members who will never see the truth. They are brain washed. Some of them are friends of mine and it is a wonder to behold.
All that said, I will continue to pray for those lost souls in my stronger moments. We will prevail. Life and light will prevail. Patience is needed. And even now, the good is here and it is germinating. ?
<Runestone spews coffee laughing!> Zoron, no kidding, it's the Roman Empire all over again. Possibly including Murder Most Foul! on the Capitoline Steps. Et tu Brute all over again?
Only this time, Caesar fulminates himself into a stroke, or is biochemically assisted thereto. The unloved, dark, Deep State has to earn its keep and serve its Masters after all. Ahh, Brute, how the worm doth turn.
I'll see your Shelley & raise you a plot worthy of Shakespeare!
<still cackling madly> -R1-
Thank-you Lynnventura! Runestone and Zoron-- priceless.
Interesting article about how Donald Trump screwed over a Scottish town over his golf course.
Jeanne, How do we move towards the visions seen in the mid 2020s? The GOP gets oppressive...do we, the people, fight back?
Every Empire falls. Roman, British, Mongolian, Byzantine, Ottoman, American. The way I see it, empires fail when they become too invested in, and dependent upon, an archetypal Authoritarian leader. As primates, we're biologically wired to invest faith in our Monkey Kings. Which is great if they're an Augustus, but absolute horses**t if they're a Nixon or Trump. Then the jockeying for position beneath the King starts tearing apart the body politic. The GOP is doing so right now--and will keep the walking corpse of Orange Julius upon the throne (All Hail Caesar!) until a clear victor emerges.
Just as the dissolution (in both senses of the word) of the Roman Empire paved the way for the rise of the European Nation State, the dissolution of the American Empire will pave the way for new forms of self-governance. My feeling is that vertical, authoritarian heirarchies give way to horizontal, more social-democratic collectives. As a species, this time of trauma will force us to grow (some) beyond our primate wiring and become more collectively self-reliant. (The paradox inherent in 'collective self reliance' points to a larger frame than current ego-consciousness can encompass. The work we do here is an example of such.)
The crazed political situation is part of an evolutionary process. Evolution takes time, and death.
This process will require living through the death of the old order, then examining its stinking, putrid corpse. Disgust will demand we move in another direction. Those of us here already smell the decay, and are moving in a new direction, toward kindness. Those with less sensitive noses are going to have a harder time of it. Authoritarian GOP leadership have to have their noses rubbed in it, hard.
That will happen on its own, without our intervention. I see forces at play, the invisible hand unfolding.
If you can get to the view at 10,000 feet, all politics is lila, the play of illusion. "The slow, self-manifesting birth of God in matter," to quote Aurobindo.
It's okay. We make it. Lots of drama to get through in the process, but that is naught but lila, the birth struggles of divinity manifesting.
-R1-
First I need to clarify what I meant. It is my opinion, not an assertion of fact, that the Mueller investigation will show lawmakers enough information to impeach the president, but that the GOP's lack of response to do their job to protect the country, will show them, in my opinion, to be lawless. I think the mainstream press will write about the criminal behavior of the president's campaign and closest advisors but the GOP Congress will not take appropriate action.
It appears from our visions that the Mueller exposure may bring down the president via his sanity or a health crisis. Perhaps it will be because Don Jr and/or Jared are exposed and together with what they reveal about Trump himself, he cracks under the pressure. It's possible that this doesn't happen. I only know that I felt early on that Trump would fade and/or his bluster would die out within two years of his presidency. Then after that the Congress plays a bigger role and the picture more dark for the democracy. In other words, the quieting of Trump makes way for something worse.
So then how do we move towards the visions of the mid to late 2020's. (Remember I personally have seen the turnaround in the late 2020's. My time frame is a little later than the rest of us, not sure why. If I begin to see it happening earlier, I'll be thrilled. I know most of you do, but I need to stick to what I specifically see.)
Anyway, I think the turnaround happens because of something devastating that happens in 2019 or 2020. I have thought from the beginning that it would be an economic downturn that turns people against the GOP.
Jeanne, I agree with you completely--the investigation reveals collusion, reaching deep into the GOP, and their response is "so what?" This feckless treason will enrage 75% of the population, who will feel helpless and powerless. A desire to reclaim effective agency promotes more people turning their backs on Washington, and working for local change. That is part of the mechanism resulting in dissolution of the Federal Government.
That said, for me the positive visions are small and local--and unstoppably necessary. Urban farming, local power grids or solar/wind, permaculture, sharing platforms, local currencies, DIY skillshares, Transition Town movements. Anything and everything that requires local participation with your neighbors.
There is a deep, deep joy that will well up when we rediscover each other. **There is also a deep joy arising as the old order dissolves.** It's been incredibly oppressive in ways that won't be understood until we stand together on the other side of the shift.
Change is terrifying. That is what a lot of the 'negative imaging' is about. Fear. But if we take this time of dissolution as opportunity, then the rigors of change become challenges. And invigorating.
Runestone, thank you. Love your visions. The local movement is something I've seen coming for over a year. Love it.
So my own personal visions of the 20's turnaround were that in 2028 I saw two women in charge and the diminishment or marginalization of the GOP. I feel it happens as a result of a really bad period of time for the country. Sometime in 2019 or 2020 there's a downturn, I think it's an economic downturn, that causes people to turn away from the incumbent government. But it will take time for a complete turnaround. I don't know if there will be a political shift big enough in 2025 to see the GOP ousted in the federal government but many of you who meditated with me have seen it happen in 2025.
They've biased the elections in their favor and they've brainwashed millions of people with an enormous lie machine. They've also shifted state governments to the right with the redistricting, voter suppression and other voting biases. (Please keep voting, though, and make sure everyone you know votes because they don't have complete control over voting and if enough people vote, it will overcome GOP bias in the voting process).
(It is also possible that a surge in climate change will be the main factor or both climate and economics. A surge is starting that will affect storms and crops and even habitability in some parts.)
Jeanne, your last sentence, about climate affecting things, with a surge, is closer to what we know about what is happening, than most people want to hear. But true.