There is real fervor in this country that is going unnoticed or unacknowledged by many. This is why we got Trump in 2016 and in part why I came to this forum; the energy is massive and I wanted to know if it was just me who felt it. I started to feel the waves “offshore”, as you called it, last year. The thing with energy this massive is that it is also volatile. It’s going to channel itself towards the path of least resistance which is also the path of most change, like a flood breaking through cracks in a dam. This is why thinking about politics in left-vs-right terms is no longer accurate, and if you look at the numbers in recent elections the left-right lines are incredibly blurred. I feel massive, massive changes coming. Upheaval - not violent (that is not my sense at this time), but big. This much energy feels like a mountain balanced on a needle. It can go in one of two directions - Trump or Sanders. There is no center when a mountain falls over.
So now what happens? Candidate place holder may win the nomination, he will then have a neck and neck race against trump and there is no guarantee that he will win. If he wins he will change precisely nothing which will entrench the current divisions even further. In 2024 the sizable progressive base will abandon the democratic party and focus more on what they can do locally. This election will put the final nail in the coffin for the idea that any change can come from the two main political parties. And the republicans will nominate a better fascist, one with a brain and that person will likely win if only because the progressives will be so disgusted that they will have abandoned the DNC. The end result, we are worse off than before.
The alternative is Sanders who if he wins will change a lot and make a second trump a near impossibility in the future. So for me the choice is radical, change the system to ensure that our slide towards fascism is halted and reversed or simply put a pause on it and wait until someone else pushes it forward again.
Those of us who support Sanders and to a lesser extent Warren want radical change, the kind of change that is dramatic and greatly improves everyone's lives. These are philosophical and political discussions we've been having for years, debating everything and coming to a conclusion that a compassionate society means things like health care for all and a fundamental rebuilding of our systems. My office voted Biden yesterday, all I said to them was Ok boomer.
I can no longer disguise my anger at the older generations. Starting in 2014 I began to see them negatively, today I view them as having betrayed the future for their own selfish interests.
I am angry and I am blowing hot air, especially since I can't vote so who cares what I think. I won't post again because I may very well say things that are deeply unpleasant. I hope I'm wrong and if Mr. place holder wins that he will be smart enough to make the necessary changes to get this country to a healthier place, but his record (which by the way we will be hearing a lot more of in coming months and it's not pretty) suggests otherwise.
Yes, @anumidium, we are at the height of a wave that has been traveling across an ocean of our collective for many years and that wave is about to crash on the shore. We spoke about this wave at length last Wednesday night on line after the Circle of Light event I held. Am holding another one tonight (see event box on this page).
Big change is coming. The reason many Bernie supporters do not want to support Biden is that they want a new paradigm.
Biden does not offer a new paradigm, however for many it will be a welcome return to normalcy in the Oval Office. But while the Oval Office may be more sane under Biden, the system he will inherit is not sane. It's pathological. I don't know how he can stop the direction it has been going, a direction that has been building for 30 years.
If you take antibiotics for an infection you need to take enough to kill off all the bugs or they just grow back. Electing Biden will be better, but I don't know if it will be enough.
As for a violent revolution, I haven't seen that happening, and pray it won't. I see something eventually that brings on a new paradigm. The Covid19 virus, if strong enough and long lasting enough could do that. Climate change would do that. A financial crash, if severe enough. These developments can break the economic system and cause people to take up a new lifestyle - -more peaceful, more laidback.
Those of us who support Sanders and to a lesser extent Warren want radical change, the kind of change that is dramatic and greatly improves everyone's lives. These are philosophical and political discussions we've been having for years, debating everything and coming to a conclusion that a compassionate society means things like health care for all and a fundamental rebuilding of our systems. My office voted Biden yesterday, all I said to them was Ok boomer.
I can no longer disguise my anger at the older generations. Starting in 2014 I began to see them negatively, today I view them as having betrayed the future for their own selfish interests.
Hi @natalie. A compassionate society begins with each of us. One way to start bringing it about right now is to look past your anger and try see your older colleagues as just other humans who make mistakes and are here to learn from those mistakes. Can you empathize and sympathize with the fear they feel towards the drastic change younger generations are advocating? Can you understand why they are afraid, having lived through previous periods of chaos brought about by sudden, drastic changes? Compassion doesn't mean giving up on your ideals, it just means showing love and understanding to those who may not be there yet.
Compassion is something I am still working on. I too have been through hell and seen my life turned upside down more than once so it's hard for me to feel sympathy for those elders who are comfortable and determined to stay that way at the expense of others. Quite honestly no I don't have compassion, I wish I did but I don't.
Compassion is something I am still working on. I too have been through hell and seen my life turned upside down more than once so it's hard for me to feel sympathy for those elders who are comfortable and determined to stay that way at the expense of others. Quite honestly no I don't have compassion, I wish I did but I don't.
Maybe one of the lessons they're here to learn is that there's no need to fear sacrifice in order to help others and perhaps one of the reasons you are here is to help them learn that lesson...
I have had a very traumatic life too....it teaches us.. quite a lot if we allow it to.....as you work through it - it's tough going and tolerance is hard to feel.. Once you do grow on through it....your Empathy/Sympathy will return. That does not mean that you will tolerate being mistreated or abused again... only that you will understand who and what they are...and.. that some are doing a great service having shown us how we don't wish to be. Compassion is a crop that has to be tended with care to grow it well. Start with compassion for yourself, you have to heal your own trauma first....then put yourself in other peoples shoes not to judge but try and understand . Give the Gift of listening and kindness..without being a people-pleaser. You don't have to share lifestyles,ideals..remain true to your visions...nor do you have to push everyone away... you are able to give them space to travel the Journey they have come for. Truly...we are... all in this together.
I understand how difficult it all is, these are emotionally hard times and I feel for everyone who is hurting. I want to point out that I am dismayed at the expanding epithet - Okay, Boomer. This is the second time I've heard that in this forum.
I'm a boomer. I voted for Bernie. There are many boomers in this community. They are good people. At some point, climate change is going to ramp up, as well as the rage of the younger generations. Some members of the younger generation are already throwing out the Okay, Boomer epitheth. We can be angry at specific people who are from the older generation. That's fine. But as @Coyote pointed out here a month ago, we need to keep our frustration specific to specific people.
GenX launched the behemoth Google and the AE craze. Millenials created Facebook and the social media that has made the disinformation campaign around the world so successful for electing Donald Trump and other right wing authoritarian-types. When GenXers were at Harvard I read that 75% of the graduating class was going into finance. There is darkness in every generation, and there is also much light.