wwHome
 
July 2004


Back to Current Issue





 To send us your
Op-Ed for publication:


Click Here





• Submissions must include a signature. You may use your initials, or first name as your signature.


• Content must not contain any obscene, offensive, or hateful content.



•Contents will be updated as new entries are recieved.










Can the Progressive Democrats (Or Anyone Else) Overcome “Necessary Illusions”?

Swami Beyondananda and His Alter Ego Journey to the Progressive Democratic Summit
by Steve Bhaerman

In the early part of last century, Jack Johnson was an audacious black man who held the paradigm-busting notion that he could be heavyweight boxing champion of the world. In keeping with the custom of the day, no white fighter of note would agree to a match. Finally, in 1910 Johnson got a match with then-heavyweight champ Jim Jeffries -- and knocked him out. While movie newsreels captured the knockout punch, none dared show the white man hitting the canvas.

 Lest we chuckle at this quaint and naive attempt to maintain the illusion of white superiority, let’s fast forward ninety-something years to the media coverage of election fraud and intimidation in Ohio -- or should we say lack of coverage? Despite testimony of voter intimidation, voting machines turning into vote-changing machines, and startling discrepancies in always-reliable exit polls (a University of Pennsylvania statistician declared that the odds of such a discrepancy occurring the way it did were 250 million to one), what should have been front page news was relegated to no-page news. To protect the delicate psyche of the American public (and not incidentally the powers that be in power), representative democracy could not be shown “hitting the canvas.”

 Welcome to what Noam Chomsky calls “necessary illusions.” For the same reason the apocryphal little boy tugged at Shoeless Joe Jackson’s sleeve in the wake of the Black Sox scandal pleading, “Say it ain’t so, Joe,” for the same reason that people reportedly killed themselves when they believed Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds” was a real newscast, for the same reason a grown-up confronted with the proven perpetrations of our current administration said without a trace of irony, “It may be true, but I don’t believe it,” seemingly-awake human beings cling to the thinnest of evidence to support belief systems they mistake for reality.

 That’s why people agreed to believe the single-gunman theory of the Kennedy assassination. That’s why no mainstream reporter wondered in print after 9/11 how a massive Boeing 757 could disappear through a 25-foot wide hole in the Pentagon. That’s why no one seemed to blink when on the day of the inauguration newspapers dutifully reported that exit polls (which we rely on internationally as a litmus for election fraud) were flawed due to their hiring too many young people and Kerry supporters being too willing to proclaim their support. That’s why two thirds of Republicans (and one third of Democrats) in a December Pew research poll believe we should support our country at war, even when we are wrong.

Novelist Arundhati Roy has said, “You can wake someone who is sleeping, but you cannot wake someone who is pretending to be asleep.” So, how do you wake the sleeping and tear down the wall of “necessary illusions” that those feigning unawareness hide behind?


A Re-Grouping of Progressives

 It is with this question in mind that I flew to snow-covered Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago for the Progressive Democratic Summit, a strategy meeting for progressive Democrats, Greens and other citizen activists. The event, billed as a counter to Bush’s $40 million inaugural celebration, was organized by Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), the national grass roots organization that, among other things, has helped keep the national spotlight focused on voting irregularities detected in Ohio and other states during the past election.

Featured speakers included Code Pink activist Medea Benjamin, Tom Hayden, Rep. John Conyers of Detroit (who almost single-handedly brought the Ohio election fraud issue to public scrutiny), pollster James Zogby, Illinois representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb, and journalists Amy Goodman (Democracy Now) and William Rivers Pitt (Truthout).

 Washington, long ago described as a city of southern efficiency and northern charm, was totally flummoxed by the dusting of snow, resulting in hurried presentations and schedule changes. Having booked my flight based on the original information that the conference would begin Friday evening, I arrived late that afternoon only to realize that there had been a last-minute change. Tom Hayden had already spoken at an opening session in the afternoon and was headed back to L.A. William Rivers Pitt -- whom I hoped to interview -- presented Saturday morning, then made a hasty dash to the airport. John Conyers, originally scheduled for Friday evening and then Sunday, was unable to make the cross-town trip due to the weather. And my friend Caroline Casey, who was scheduled to emcee the Saturday evening fund raising concert, also canceled due to weather, pressing my alter ego Swami Beyondananda into service in her stead (more about that later).

 Steve Cobble, a smart progressive veteran with a sharp sense of humor, officially opened the conference on Saturday morning. He contextualized the conference with an analogy: 1965 and 2005. Just 40 years ago, the conservative Right had just lost a landslide election. Lyndon Johnson had roundly defeated their standard-bearer, Barry Goldwater, and they were considered a fringy band of kooks who believed water fluoridation was a communist plot (we have since discovered it was a capitalist plot). Sixteen years later, they had their first victory with the Reagan Presidency. Thirty years later, they had the Gingrich revolution and regained control of Congress. And today, they have every branch of government -- not to mention mainstream media -- under their control.

 And now, here WE are, Cobble continued, a scruffy band of progressives fresh from our most disheartening loss, completely out of power and virtually off the radar, ready to start our march on to victory. While this is a heartening analogy designed to inspire much-needed courage, there are only four things wrong with it:

 1. We don’t have forty years to turn things around. In fact, we don’t have sixteen years. With peak oil peeking just around the corner, with global warming and deforestation, and with privatizing privateers sticking their privates into every fertile crescent on the planet, there may not be much of a world to win by the time we get around to winning.

 2. We don’t have Adolph Coors and other big spenders to provide us with infinite funds for think tanks, etc. (In fact, the organizers of this conference were so financially challenged that they had to parse out the last few bucks to make a Taco Bell run.)

 3. We don’t have millions of unchristian Christian soldiers willing to follow in lockstep. Even in these dire times when we are all-too-aware of the need for a united front, organizing progressives is still a lot like herding cats.

4. While the conservatives of forty years ago may have been fringy, they had a cool, dark place to grow in. They faced a government that was at worst indifferent, not one seeking to -- figuratively if not literally -- exterminate them. Perhaps most important, they had lots of powerful allies in the military-industrial complex and intelligence community.


Why Now? Because It’s Too Late to Do It Sooner

 Nonetheless, the only place to begin is where you are and the only time is now, because as Swami Beyondananda says, “it’s too late to do it sooner.” And so the opening keynote panel addressed the issue, “Challenges and Opportunities for Progressive Democrats in 2005.” Kim Gandy, president of National Organization of Women, said, “What we are up against is a battle for the soul and principles of the Democratic Party.” Indeed, James Zogby and several other speakers faulted mainstream Democrats for failing to admit the mistake of supporting the Iraq war.

Said Zogby of our failed Middle East policy, “It’s not that Muslims don’t like our values. It’s just that we don’t apply those values to them.” And it isn’t that they don’t understand us, he continued. “They understand us. We just don’t understand ourselves.”

 Perhaps the most compelling speaker during this morning session was Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Illinois), so it was possible to forgive his running over (and over) his time limit. (That poor young woman charged with being the timekeeper held the “0” sign aloft a good fifteen minutes. Several times I noticed she pinched herself, probably to make sure she still existed.) Besides being a good, old fashioned orator, Jackson Jr. offered a truly compelling idea: Since the Supreme Court in their 2000 selection of George Bush as President admitted that nowhere is there a national Constitutional right to vote, why not press for a Right to Vote Amendment?

 Indeed, he said, Republicans are more than willing to propose Constitutional amendments for all sorts of partisan issues (e.g. gay marriage), so why not an amendment for a real Constitutional issue? This was one of the few overarching strategic ideas during the weekend, and it received well-deserved applause. Green Party Presidential candidate David Cobb echoed this sentiment when he said, “The biggest threat to democracy is the belief we have it.”

 The next panel was on “Communicating a Progressive Message to the American Public Through the Media.” Sadly, it consisted more of horror stories than of effective ways to “press the press.” Jeff Cohen of FAIR, who himself has been on mainstream media offered the disturbing story of Phil Donohue being taken off the air despite good ratings specifically because his liberal slant would impugn the war effort. Cohen also reported that MSNBC was given orders to slant coverage to the right. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now) echoed these sentiments, saying, “The U.S. media is the most valuable weapon the Pentagon has” and describing a dazed populace as the “silenced majority.”

Leila McDowell, a former CNN reporter, bluntly offered her take on the public’s complicity in media deception: “Many Americans are willfully ignorant.” She offered the most encouraging story of the public successfully pressing the press to cover a story they planned to ignore. Prior to an action “taking over” the Halliburton building, ABC and CNN were specifically targeted with phone calls and e-mails about the action. In the end, they were the only two networks to cover it.


Backbone for the Body Politic

 Citizen activist Liz Herbert offered another encouraging story. As a stay-at-home mom looking to be politically effective, she founded Rapid Response Network (www.rapidresponsenetwork.org), one of the homegrown efforts that sprang up since the Iraq invasion. Rapid Response offers citizens an opportunity to respond to (and in some cases pre-empt) media distortions. With the muscle of a national structure, this organization -- via e-mail -- encourages pressing the issues in local papers and stations, where the news is less controlled.


continue to top of next column




Welcome to the Op-Eds!

This is the place to share your views, opinions, and concerns on the Metaphysical, Spiritual and Healing Arts, as well as the world around you (yes, even politics).









In my wanderings around the booth area, I found a number of organizations launched by individuals seeking to apply their talents and make a difference locally. One of these is the Backbone Campaign (www.backbonecampaign.org), started by artist Bill Moyer of Vashon Island, Washington. Moyer seized upon the idea that the Democrats needed more backbone in standing up to Administration bullying. Through his website, he has a downloadable “Spineless Citizen Citation” and the corresponding “Backbone Award.” Like many of these creative projects, the Backbone Campaign can be used to augment other actions around all kinds of issues. Moyer and friends also went to the Democratic National Convention in Boston in a Chinese dragon-like spinal costume. As I watched a video of the spinal column marching in Boston, I noted its flexibility. Yes, we need backbone -- but not a rigid one. I wished him great and continuing kundalini, and made my way into the afternoon session.


Teaching an Old Dogma New Tricks

 This session, on “Organizing Spiritual Communities to Heal a Divided Nation,” was the most interesting to me, particularly with the dire need to find a more genuinely Christian alternative to the Christian Right. Panelists included moderator Damu Smith (Black Voices for Peace), Philadelphia-based Rabbi Arthur Waskow (The Shalom Center), Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. of the Hip Hop Caucus, and Rev. Carolyn Boyd representing what she called the “mystical perspective.”

As an example of the severe “irony deficiency” afflicting the body politic -- especially when it comes to defining “Christian values” -- Damu Smith offered up a quote that actually came out of a real person’s mouth: “I support the war in Iraq because it’s the Christian thing to do.”

 A groan went up from the secular humanist portion of the audience, already religion-averse. And yet, as Smith and subsequent speakers would point out, there is a need for a spiritual foundation that traditional religious denominations -- and secular liberalism -- have not addressed. Consequently, membership in mainstream Protestant sects like Methodist, Episcopalian and Presbyterian has declined in the past thirty years while the more fundamentalist and evangelic churches have been growing. The fact that nature -- particularly human nature -- abhors a vacuum might explain how the Christian Right became the “grinch that stole Christianity.”

 Smith suggested a reframe of Christian values that actually reflects Jesus’ teachings to love thy neighbor as thyself: “Care for Creation.” Thus, “honor thy mother” would actually include Mother Earth, and care for the “born feed-us” would supersede the social Darwinism that some creationists apparently find totally acceptable. Or, to quote Rev. Lennox Yearwood, the focus needs to be taken from “who’s sleeping with whom” to “who’s sleeping in the street.”

 Rabbi Waskow spoke passionately about his ecumenical project to restore trust and bring peace to the Middle East, which he called “The Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah.” According to tradition, he explained, Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah kept their tent open in all four directions, the more easily to share their food and water with travelers from anywhere. In that spirit, he has gathered leaders of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities to stand together as a force for peace.

In contrast to the “we’re going to heaven, and everyone else can go to hell” attitude that characterizes the un-fun kind of fundamentalist thought, Rabbi Waskow -- like the other speakers on the Spiritual Communities panel --presented an example of the “one Spirit, many paths” approach that could become the foundation of a progressive spiritual movement.

Which brings us to Rev. Carolyn Boyd’s presentation, which was the most profound, and I suspect, the least understood. While most progressives, being tolerant, spoke about inclusiveness and relating to all sides, still they were part of a dualism -- Democrat vs. Republican, progressive vs. reactionary, religious liberal vs. religious fundamentalist. Rev. Boyd went further in offering three stages of spiritual development: Empire theology, liberation theology and enlightenment.

 Empire theology is the easiest for progressives to identify -- and disdain. It is the hierarchical religious structure that keeps the existing power structure in place. Liberation theology, as practiced by the radical Catholic clergy in Latin America and the Catholic Worker in the United States, takes Jesus’ message as a cue to liberate the poor and downtrodden. In some form, each of the other three panel members represented this progressive impulse. But there is a third way, Rev. Boyd insisted, which she termed “enlightenment.” This is a state that transcends religion, where everyone is connected as one family.

To a crowd where any kind of theology was a stretch, the concept of enlightenment -- you should pardon the expression -- went over many heads. And yet, in their heart of hearts, many of these non-theists instinctively knew that this state of relatedness is our human potential. It’s just the association with religion, or even spirituality, that tested their secular humanist foundation. At the same time, I noticed many, many people nodding affirmatively during all of these talks, and that’s a good thing. Because, as Einstein said, a problem cannot be solved at the level of the problem. Resisting Republicanism -- or religious fundamentalism -- only strengthens the dueling dualities and keeps us from a solution that is bigger than either side.


Gee, You Are YOU!

 Meanwhile, the Progressive Democrats sought to address another issue: the whiteness (as in white folks) of the Kucinich-Dean branch of the progressive movement. Being somewhat red-faced about the white face of progressivism, the leadership took steps to expand the constituency by adding Rev. Yearwood to their National Policy Board. As President of the Hip Hop Caucus, Rev. Yearwood has worked with the likes of P. Diddy and Russell Simmons to activate the vote.

In fact, Saturday evening originally was designed as a fund-raiser and featured, among others, rapster Trick Daddy. But the Trick Daddy Upstairs had other ideas (like a snowstorm), and few of the performers (including emcee Caroline Casey) could make it.

And so Swami Beyondananda (my alter ego) was pressed into service to emcee an evening of entertainment which featured two rap artists (Shahead and Nina B.); L.A. singer-songwriter Keaton Simons; Becca Cooper, a Youngstown, Ohio steelworker and union rep who offered her powerful poetry; and Pokerface, a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania band whose favorite venues are machine gun shoots. Really. They gather up old washing machines, refrigerators, cars, and have a blast (literally) by shooting them to pieces. This, I imagine, is “rage against the machine” white-boy style.

 The first rapper, Shahead, was smart, sharp and pertinent. He was accompanied on bass by Joel Segal, chief of staff for Rep. John Conyers of Michigan (but, he insisted, really a musician at heart) and Brent, the drummer for Pokerface, the machine gun band. As Shahead was finishing up, something possessed the Swami to ask the band to stay on stage so the Swami could do HIS rap. That’s right. Years ago, Swami produced a rap song with Chicago-area musician and producer Ed Tossing -- the “G-U-R-U Rap Song.”

Throwing caution to the wind (actually, there was very little wind and even less caution), the Swami took the risk and jumped in. It worked, and we had the audience mental-flossing to the beat and chanting, “G-U-R-U, G-U-R-U, G-U-R-U, gee you are you!”

As I reflected the next day on Swami’s impulsive launch into rap, it occurred to me that the “Guru / gee you are you” message was most appropriate for this group. Other than Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., there were no high political officeholders or superstar luminaries on the bill, or for that matter, at the top of this organization. And yet, the Progressive Democrats of America already had a proven track record for getting results. Through lesser known leaders and on-the-ground activists, the PDA provided the physical presence in the halls of Congress that helped persuade Rep. Conyers to take a stand on the election.


We Have Met the Fearless Leaders, and They Are Us

 One of the “necessary illusions” which bit the dust after the Democratic leadership’s roll-over-and-play-dead trick in the face of voting fraud (they insisted they would stop at nothing to protect the vote, and that’s exactly where they stopped), is the notion that some fearless leader is going to save us. To paraphrase Pogo, “we have met the fearless leaders, and they are us.”

 While it is very likely a good thing that Gov. Howard Dean has wrested the Democratic National Chairmanship from the chicken-livered purveyors of “Republican Lite,” he cannot provide the necessary “air support” without lots and lots of ground troops. In late December, before Sen. Boxer -- or any other Senator -- had made the decision to speak out against certifying the Ohio delegation, I attended a meeting at Sonoma State where voter fraud issues were examined. An activist stood up and said his group had actually gone to Sen. Boxer’s office and asked her to stand up. Her response was, “show me the numbers.”

 Just as the physical presence of PDA activists convinced Rep. Conyers to move forward and ask that the Ohio vote be decertified, the numerical presence of thousands of callers and e-mailers convinced Sen. Boxer that her courageous move would be “covered.”

 Most people at the conference had already been disabused of the illusion that the election had been conducted fairly and legally. This is a pretty heavy-duty perpetration to accept, and it’s understandable why most citizens wanting to protect their sanity would be reluctant to go there. It’s also understandable why Democrats in denial have seemed to play “battered wife” to the Rove-driven “abusive husband” Republican machinery. So as the last vestige of wishful thinking dissolved that the current gang in power would start attending Assaholics Anonymous meetings, the Progressive Democrats seemed ready to face the awful truth and hopefully, the awesome opportunity.

 The Progressive Democratic organization is off and running, with chapters in 36 states and the intention to have a presence in all 435 congressional districts. But to lure the average American from the safe harbor of necessary illusions, they (we, actually) must provide the safer harbor of a more compelling future than the Republicans offer. As the opposition party, the Democrats have offered ... opposition. The real shift that must take place, however, is to stop being defined by problems and start defining possibilities.

 The Republicans are offering a future of never-ending warfare, loss of civil liberties, environmental destruction, growing gap between rich and poor, all to the tune of an unofficial state religion. Can we do better than that? Can we create a story that makes more sense to more people than the illusion that is being perpetrated?
I sure hope so.

Steve Bhaerman aka Swami Beyondananda is a nationally-known humorist and political uncommontator, who is the author of Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction. He resides in Santa Rosa, and can be found online at www.wakeuplaughing.com.