Some final thoughts and take aways from this thread. I hope others are feeling understood and appreciated, None of us can deal with this mutation in consciousness that is happening without support.
These procedural moves that Rick and TJ point to are important. The Founding Fathers worked hard to create a separation of powers with an independent judiciary. They were very procedural. They also had a very Euclidean outlook ( all men are created equal).
When Washington stepped down after his final term in the Whitehouse, Europe was shocked. No general who got into power ever left voluntarily before. It is noteworthy, perhaps, that Trump is probably the first president to act like an aging movie star clinging to his favorite role.
But we are talking about the Future on this thread. And when you speak of the future you are inviting imaginative faculties to take over. Anticipating the future is what most people are doing more of the time than not. Fantasy can lead to infantilization. Vision is not to be confused with reverie, fantasy, and daydream as important as those functions are in tuning into different phases of human consciousness. And Vision is not personal, It is more about the aesthetics of our living arrangements in the future when we are dead and gone. Vision puts into play dynamics that most of us will not see the benefits of in our lifetimes. Politicians, with fixed term limits, and corporate sponsors, aren’t good at Vision. That is why we need citizens who are willing to volunteer and work long hours for no pay, to take risks and experiment, to make time for time, and to collaborate.
It is not easy to do the Vision thing, Most politicians don’t even try. They make pretty speeches. That is why the people need a Vision and can co-create desired outcomes for themselves. Movements can implement a Vision over multiple generations, not fearless leaders. Prophecy and Vision create instability at first, but, in art and philosophy and music they can make vast long term contributions. Culture leads and Politics follow. I think Chris Hedges makes much of this. And there is a long Emersonian tradition in our culture which is essentially Gnostic.
Mitch McConnel and Trump are not Visionaries nor are they prophets, they are profiteers. They have a mission and that is to make lots of money for themselves and their corporations, in the short term. Vision is grounded in how we might live with others, in rhythmic harmony, with forces that far exceed the Mental structure, in efficient or deficient forms.
The Founding Fathers were in some respects futurists. Biden and Trump are not. They are trying to oversimplify and gerrymander and so far the courts have not been fooled by Trump’s theatricals but we are wobbling badly.
In some ways, the Visionary, the Realist and the Critic functions are installed in the three branches of government already. Technology has changed us and our relationship to Time, The legislative branch is trying to codify what can’t be codified. Laws cannot govern the commons, which are much more like weather patterns in motion than like an axiom in a geometry textbook. We are moving towards a fractal world that will make the legislature wither pretty quickly with a short term, profit driven, quick fix orientation. We can’t blame our Founding Fathers for this non-linear mess. I am hopeful but not that optimistic in the short term. Lots more to think about, thanks to all,
) to empire.