On Losing Faith

[bobd]

This is a posting about faith and its loss. Not religious faith – as in “I believe it despite evidence to the contrary” – but faith posing as trust, as in faith in democracy, or faith in wisdom of the American people. Actually, those two examples are indeed what I’m interested in – especially in YOUR opinions as to your continued faith in or against those very things and things of a similar nature.

Living these 53 years has made me, for better or worse, a died-in-the-wool pessimist and cynic. I was born in the great can-do milieu of the 50’s (1951 to be exact) and actually remember a time where the US was considered a “saint” nation by a great deal of the world. Given our service in WW2 and things like the Marshall Plan it’s no wonder. We done good. Maybe even real good. Things were bumping along just fine, at least for me, until JFK was gunned down. I can point to that one event as the point in time where I began my steady and inexorable slide into pessimism and cynicism. I was 12 years old.

The Vietnam war, the draft, and the rise of in-your-face, mean-spirited religious fundamentalism and conservatism in the US sealed the deal. Oddly enough I continued to vote and occasionally work for liberal candidates. I even made TV spots for the dem candidate in one of our congressional elections (1974 I think it was). The bottom line: None of it mattered. Not one bit. Conservatism continued (and continues) unfettered, and stronger than ever. For the most part (with the exception of Carter and Clinton) my votes for Democratic presidential condidate have been lost in the great frothing ocean of conservatism. That’s 5 out of 8 presidential elections in which my vote was as good as trashed. For the first time in my life I’m actually asking myself: Why bother at all?

Why indeed.

After a bit of reflection I realized that, for me, I dutifully went to vote because I somehow seemed able to grasp and catch the very brittle threads of faith in our major American institutions. I’ll list them for you now: Democracy, spirituality, constitutional government, the electoral process (one person one vote and that vote counts), and the criminal-justice system. One by one these institutions have been co-opted and trashed by the conservative juggernaut.

Spirituality in the form of organized religion – Christianity, and now Judaism, have been successfully redefined by the conservatives into a mean-spirited, greedy, hateful thing. It will take decades to undo what they’ve done.

The criminal-justice system has been re-tooled into a veritable killing machine. The public seems to automatically assume that if you’re arrested you MUST be guilty. If you’re accused of a murder you WILL receive the death penalty. I maintain that prosecutors knowingly and willingly send people to trial they know to be innocent simply to notch another win on their belts.

Our Constitutional government is perilous at best – dependent on an uninformed, apathetic, conservative, and fearful electorate. The lack of generalized anger and outrage over the Clinton impeachment shattered the illusion of any robustness to our form of government. The entire federal government is now fully controlled by right-wing conservatives and functionally enabled by frightened “centrist” Democrats.

The electoral process was exposed as a transparent sham and a fraud by the SCOTUS Gore vs. Bush decision and by the Diebold Company’s sweetheart black-box voting deal, despite the fact that the company’s shareholders are huge Republican contributors and the CEO of the company publicly vowed to deliver Ohio for Bush in 2004. Does the overall electorate care? Yeah, right.

The bottom line here is that I’ve completely lost any remaining faith in the major societal institutions of this country. I find it increasingly hard to even get out of bed each morning and drag myself to work. DU is indeed a respite from the angst and evilness of “outside” but it also insulates us from a reality that is increasingly difficult to deny: That the American Public is going to elect Bush in 2004. I really don’t see how I, as a bone-tired, stressed-out, depressed individual can make one whit of difference to the inevitable outcome. Even my lone, pathetic vote will undoubtedly be lost in the fevered shouts and fist-shaking by the conservatives.

I desperately want the conservatism to stop and go away but, once again, I see no relief in sight. I’m so tired of it all. So very, very tired.

[alterfurz]

1. keep lighting that match...

Interviewer: How does social change happen?

Howard Zinn:

We know how it has happened, and we can sort of extrapolate from that, not that you can extrapolate mathematically, but you can sort of get suggestions from that. You see change happening when there has been an accumulation of grievance until it reaches a boiling point. Then something happens.

When I say, look at historical situations and try to extrapolate from that, what happens in the South in the 1950s and 1960s? It's not that suddenly black people were put back into slavery. It's not as if there was some precipitating thing that suddenly pushed them back. They were, as the Southern white ruling class was eager to say, making progress. It was glacial progress, extremely slow. But they were making progress.

But it's not the absolute amount of progress that's made that counts. It's the amount of progress made against what the ideal should be in the minds of the people who are aggrieved. And the ideal in the minds of the black people was, We have to be equal. We have to be treated as equals. The progress that was being made in the South was so far from that.

The recognition of that gap between what should be and what is existed for a long time but waited for a moment when a spark would be lit. The thing about sparks being lit is that you never know what spark is going to ignite and really result in a conflagration. After all, before the Montgomery bus boycott there had been other boycotts. Before the sit-ins of the 1960s, there had been between 1955 and 1960 sit-ins in sixteen different cities which nobody paid any attention to and which did not ignite a movement. But then in Greensboro, on February 1, 1960, these four college kids go in, sit in, and everything goes haywire. Then things are never the same.

You never know, and this is, I think, an encouragement to people who do things, not knowing whether they will result in anything. You do things again and again, and nothing happens, but still knowing that you have to do things, do things, do things; you have to light that match, light that match, light that match, not knowing how often it's going to sputter and go out and at what point it's going to take hold, at what point other people, seeing what happens, are going to be encouraged, provoked to do the same.

That's what happened in the civil rights movement and that's what happens in other movements. Things take a long time. It requires patience, but not a passive patience, the patience of activism.

[mmm]

2. there ya go

we must be always vigilant, always ready to take up the fight.

[kstewart33]

3. I share your despair

As a 51-year-old, I am increasingly tired and fed up with the state of our government. Democracy only really works if the public is involved and informed, and largely, the public is neither. This allows the hard right to exercise a control that far exceeds their numbers in this country. Why? Because they are linked with wealth and corporate America and in this country, money matters a great deal in politics. They are also able to achieve what they do because the public does not care. As long as the public has their big-screen TV, fast food, SUVs and televised sports, everything is just fine. Sounds terribly cynical? It surely does.

People get the government they deserve. I truly believe that. But continue to vote. I vote every election and give what I can to candidates who need the money. We have this responsibility. Just because so many are apathetic and so uninformed, that does not excuse us of our responsibility to vote and help. We must do that.

Here's another idea. It's the holiday season. Tune out the news. Try not watching cable news channels which can get terribly depressing. Try not reading any news at all. I've been cutting way back on my reading. I check the DU site, but that's it. No TV news, no screamers, and I've stopped reading the news sites in the last week. You know what? It helps, a great deal. I actually feel my blood pressure dropping. Try it, and give yourself a break.

[AndyTiedye]

6. We Deserve Better

>People get the government they deserve. I truly believe that.

I don't.
The people deserve better than Bush*. Most voted for the other guy,
despite the efforts of the Republican media.

We got robbed, and a Senator was murdered.
It does not follow that we deserved to be robbed! :grr:
Certainly Senator Carnahan did not deserve to die.

We got robbed again in 2002, and Senator Wellstone was murdered.
What did we (or he) do to deserve that?

If the Diebold Republican Electing Machinez steal even more votes next year,
does that mean that they have a mandate to rob us forever?

Did we deserve Nixon in 1968, or LBJ in 1963?
They came into office over the dead bodies of the Kennedys
to pursue another war that the people didn't want.

I don't think so. :grr:

[devinsgram]

12. Amen, absolutely agree with

not watching any news, reading papers and all the rest. I've said for some time that all I do is come to DU because even if someone posts the crap that's out there I always know there will be others here that will put it into the right perspective, making me feel a lot better and have some hope. I thank you all for that.

There are so many times I feel really down about all the lunacy going on out there so much that I wish could leave. But then I realize we can't run away from the problems, we have to stand up and fight for what is right and get our country back from the liars, theives and murderers that now control it.

[carolinayellowdog]

4. Individuals sustain faith in humanity while society destroys it

Hey,

The faith that keeps me getting out of bed every morning isn't in any of those major institutions. If Congress, the media, or the justice system determined my level of happiness I'd have long since jumped off a bridge. But individuals haven't become any worse as society has gone to hell. If you focus on friends, family, community, small organizations (like ecological groups), you will find your faith in humanity sustained and even deepened. Somehow people are still noble and kind and generous at the microcosmic level even as society becomes ever more cruel and selfish and brutal.

The fundie wingnuts *want* you to be miserable. Don't give them the satisfaction.

CYD

[kstewart33]

7. Yellowdog makes a good point

Middle age and a lot of experience has taught me that one individual cannot change any large system of things. But if you focus on something local, you can make a difference. Yellowdog is right; there are a lot of good people in the community. Find something worth working for and stop focusing on the national scene which is too brutal, too phony, and just too depressing to watch.

[FlemingsGhost]

5. I simply cannot offer comfort...

Other than to reinvent yourself as a global citizen, and find another home elsewhere.

The fall of the American empire will be of epic proportions.

[Karenina]

8. Hallo, lieber Bobd!

HAPPY HANNUKAH! May G_d bless you and yours with health, happiness and abundance. There IS enough fuel to keep OUR lights burning.

You are right. What we're dealing with is utter bullshit and what appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel is more often than not, an oncoming train. I, too, have lost faith. Our collective values are in the sewer, alles geht um Geld and we are IGNORING the very real threats to our continued existence on this planet. We're of the same generation and I've been screaming for decades only to wake up each morning to yet another assault. I, too, am VERY, VERY TIRED.

I have NO OTHER RECOURSE than to cling to the idea that OUR LIGHTS WILL CONTINUE TO BURN. I ask that you hold my hand here in cyberspace that we, by the very fact of our our existence, CAN make a difference.

Much love to you and yours.

[kentuck]

9. bobd, we've made it this far....

we may as well see it to the end. I understand where you're coming from...

[BiggJawn]

17. Another way of saying it, Kentuck...

"I'm too curious to give up. It's morbid, but I can't help myself wanting to see what shit these people are gonna pull NEXT...."

I've been a cynic for so long I can't remember being any other way. Life sucks sometimes, but it's still better than the alternative. Maybe the camps won't be so bad....

[frustrated_lefty]

10. Hey bobd

Carolinayellowdog has it right. We find hope, inspiration, and faith within the microcosm, on the individual level. Small people with limited power and oftentimes no authority do amazingly kind and generous things, they frequently display acts of generosity which truly touch the heart. Here is where you find the motivation, a fire within. This is where we find the energy to transform the world, to try and make the macrocosm more closely resemble what occurs within the microcosm you experience.

I frequently experience dismay and sleepless nights thinking about the state of our nation, so please don't take this as the blind-eyed enthusiasm of youth. To make the world better, we have to do it on a personal level. It has an impact. It just doesn't always make headlines.

[eridani]

11. What if?

You had been an abolitionist in 1840, a suffragist in 1870, a union organizer in 1924, anti-segregationist in 1948, a gay rights activist in 1955? Nothing looked any bleaker than those causes at those times, yet people fought for what they believed in anyway. Who knew what was around the corner?

We don't know now either--for all we know, we could be only putting on our special bulletproof Ghost Dancer shirts in preparation for the coming battles. But I really don't give a flying fuck-- either way, I intend to rage, rage against the dying of the light.

http://www.kucinich.us
Fear ends, hope begins!
Light up America!

[maggrwaggr]

13. an excellent post!

thanks for the reminder.

[Yupster]

14. Agree with you eridani

People have lived generations through much worse than we have today in our bleakest moods. Historically speaking, we have it awfully good. There's so much to be thankful for.

[sweetheart]

15. restoring goodwill

I agree, but think the word "goodwill" a better term for the erosion you describe. Without goodwill, there is no law, there is no society and no community.

I have no goodwill at all towards any american national institution... none at all. If they were all wired to blow, and i handed the detonator, i'd push the button in a heartbeat.

Goodwill comes directly between people, and i think it will only return when we nuke the television networks... that people start to talk face to face and eat meals together.

For me to have goodwill these days, i've left the USA, i'm very selective of any news media i touch... and i only trust face-to-face people.

Use this solstice time to smash your television cable box, and restore goodwill to your family.

[Mairead]

16. Vote for Kucinich, Bob -- he's the revolutionary, restoration candidate

Or Al Sharpton, if you're willing to take a somewhat bigger risk (inexperience).

We can fix things, but we MUST take risks. Otherwise, we'll still be sitting around wringing our hands and moaning when they've got us cyberchipped and working for bread and water.

[BiggJawn]

18. What bigger "risk" of inexpereince than Dumbya?

Hell, that guy has fucked-up everything he's ever put his hand to, yet he's pretzeldent.

What gets me is when I hear or read people say "I don't like candidate 'X', because they're too inexperienced, argumentive, confrontational, black, female, etc. to win..."

Maybe that's exactly what this moribund society needs. A good "shaking up".

But all we hear from the Right, instead of reasons why Dumbya is so good for Murka, is endless crap why "X" will be so bad for us.

[Jim Warren]

19. Well said

bobd, I don't post often but your sentiments move me to.
We're about the same age though I'd bet there are many of us regardless of age who are feeling close to many of the things you write about.
It is difficult seeing a country and culture that had so much promise, the progress(ive) of a New Deal, the ideals of a Great Society take a turn back of the clock to a plantation culture where inequality is considered to be actually the right nature order of things by a ruthless ruling elite.
I'd only like to add, to reach out and say hang on, we are not few. You have said what I'd like to say and done it in a far more clear and articulate manner than I ever could and that ability, the ability to write it well, is more than enough reason to get out of bed every day.
Write it often, write it big.

[PissedOffPollyana]

20. Doing what I can to make just one thing better helps.

It can be overwhelming sometimes, all the progress toward anger, cynicism and negativity in our society. I have found one way to keep myself sane, do whatever I can to bring positive change to the smaller world & people around me.

I think many people get bogged down looking at the huge expanse of society around them and want more global change. In this mindset, it is easy to lose sight of the world that surrounds each and every one of us. Every wide-spread, pervasive change has been inspired by countless individuals inspiring others to follow their example, not by an individual 'campaign' of any kind. Real change happens at the personal level, with the hearts and minds of everyone our lives touch for the better.

If you can effect just one person for the better in even a small way every day, you are part of making the world a better place. Who knows what one small good deed can do in the end? When each person takes that positive energy and makes something else better in turn, that makes a dramatic difference.

Anyway, don't let the bastards get you down!