Grass Root Soliloquy

[H2O Man]

ACT I

"In the beginning, seeing, they saw amiss,
and hearing, heard not, but like phantoms huddled
In dreams, the perplexed story of their days
Confounded."
-- Aeschylus; Prometheus Bound

What is congress? Is the House of Representatives a collection of individuals? Individuals advocating for their constituents? Upholding that Constitution? Or is it the bee-hive, an entity that transcends the individual representative, with a life of its own?

Is the Senate like a brain, with two separate, conflicting hemispheres? Are conservative republicans other than the reptilian complex that inspire the darker impulses of our society? Was there a lobotomy that disconnected our senators’ awareness of the Constitution?

Is this a bad dream? Is congress asleep on the job? Or is it as Erich Fromm noted, that a lack of sleep has resulted in their temporary regress into "a primitive animal-like unreasonable state of mind?"

Would the current congress be cause for Carl Sagan to add another chapter to "The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence"?


ACT II

"The royal palace of Belgium is still what it has been for fourteen years, the den of a wild beast, King Leopold II, who for money’s sake mutilates, murders and starves half a million of friendless and helpless poor natives in the Congo State every year, and does it by the silent consent of all the Christian powers except England, none of them lifting a hand or a voice to stop these atrocities …. In fourteen years Leopold has deliberately destroyed more lives than have suffered death on all the battlefields of this planet for the past thousand years. …. It is curious that the most advanced and most enlightened century of all centuries the sun has looked upon should have the ghastly distinction of having produced this moldy and piety-mouthing hypocrite, this bloody monster whose mate is not findable in human history anywhere, and whose personality will surely shame hell itself when he arrives there ….."
--Mark Twain; Mark Twain Himself; page 256

Oh, that Mark Twain. When I think of him, I am reminded of his speaking of "the Gilded Age." This followed the Golden Age of the US Senate, when there were outstanding leaders. Those leaders were human, and had warts and other imperfections, but they tried to honor the US Constitution.

After the Civil War, things changed. Rather than honoring the Constitution, many elected leaders went whoring after other gods. Many of them would betray the Constitution for 30 pieces of silver. Some were willing to sell their souls.

Are we entering another Golden Age? A Gilded Age paid for by increasing the national debt? Or has the congress paying for previous greed, by being reduced to something akin to a high school student council? Is it possible that we are watching High School Musical III ? How will the student council deal with King Leopold?


Act III

"A military station in the desert.
Can we resolve the past.
Lurking jaws, joints of time?
To come of age in a dry place,
Holes and caves."
--Jim Morrison; To Come of Age

The Cheney administration is a tumor on our body politic. It is threatening the life of the Bill of Rights today. The best medical text book that we have recommends removing such tumors by an operation known as "impeachment." But some of our family is too upset by the reality of the tumor. They begin to recite the reasons to avoid the unpleasant surgery.

"Doesn’t the medical text merely list surgery as an option? What if we don’t get the whole tumor? Isn’t it better to wait, and see if the tumor just disappears in 2008? And what will the tobacco industry say? It’s not that we’re against surgery; we just want more tests."

There are reasons that many of us are convinced that we do not have the luxury of dilly-dallying.


Act IV

"I remember sitting down to Christmas dinner eighteen years ago in a communal house in Portland, Oregon, with about twelve others my own age, all of whom had no place they wished to go home to. That house was my first discovery of harmony and community with fellow beings. This has been the experience of hundreds of thousands of men and women since the end of World War II …. Hence the talk about the growth of a ‘new society’."
--Gary Snyder; Earth House Hold

About a month ago, watching a documentary ("Commune") on the Sundance Channel, I couldn’t help but think of progressive internet communities. The film was about a commune of hippies, called the Black Bear Ranch, in California. In the turmoil of the 1960s, there were many similar communities across the country. They were trying to create that "new society."

The people at Black Bear Ranch were doing pretty well, until a quasi-cult came to visit. These were a group of people who called themselves the Shiva Lila. The Shiva Lila were not cops or narcs or Young Republicans. Rather, they were intelligent people, who wanted to be hippies, but who had such severe personality pathology that they disrupted the commune. The good folks at the Black Bear Ranch eventually found it necessary to ask the Shiva Lila to pack their bags.

Within the progressive communes on the internet today, there are similar things taking place. This is related to, but yet distinct, from the normal give-and-take that can and should be found on sites that feature discussions about progressive political/social issues. Debate is good; disruptions are not.

The internet allows people, including those that Gary Snyder spoke of, to sit down together in another type of communal house. It presents the opportunity to discuss and debate important issues, to harness our energies and coordinate our efforts to create that new society. An electronic neocortex of sorts.

[maddezmom]

1. another great post

:applause:

[H2O Man]

7. Thank you. n/t

[Me.]

2. This Is Fantastic

As to your question: Are conservative republicans other than the reptilian complex that inspire the darker impulses of our society? I believe the answer is yes and I offer for an example the story regarding the reason Ted Stevens was going to try and stop the ethics bill from passing, because he liked riding home to Alaska on the private jets of lobbyists.

We do need to speak with each other, now more than ever. And there are disruptions happening, for there are those who do not want us to hear each other's voice. Ignore them, trust yourself, each of us is worthy of that trust.

[H2O Man]

8. A couple of weeks ago,

TIME ran an article that noted the power of the internet .... and that progressive grass roots forces, including a significant segment of the democratic party, are harnessing that power. It is safe to say that other people are aware of this. Thus, we see moderate and conservative democratic forces attempting to frame the discussions on progressive sites. And, of course, this leads to some of the tensions on even a forum such as DU. But it also results in some of the most important responses from progressives to be found anywhere.

[Annces]

3. This was very nice to read - thanks n/t

[H2O Man]

9. Thank you.

(Note: There is a large and growing frog poulation in my pond. More, there are huge quantities of frog eggs, and so I anticipate a significant polly-wog population quite soon.)

[Annces]

11. I suppose you are going to need

a few snakes or snapping turtle to keep things in check. I don't think many animals like to eat frogs though.

I have been saving the bull frogs that jump into the metal pits around the building where I live. I think they must sense a hole and jump in. They come after every rain.

I hope it not to late to apologize for thinking you might be a hunter. Sometimes my imagination melds with my facts and I get carried away. Plus I have a lot of scorpio in me. :evilgrin:



edit to add pic

[H2O Man]

15. We saw an

enormous water snake at Seneca Lake last week. My daughters were commenting that they hope we do not have snakes in the pond.

Birds tend to eat frogs. There are a lot of large birds in the area, including several Great Blue Herons .... and they eat a lot!

[Annces]

20. Wonderful picture

Maybe you could teach them to like snakes. There are only 2 poisonous ones in Wisconsin, easy to identify.

[Me.]

24. How Long Before That Pond Is Filled

I envy your girls having one

[H2O Man]

25. A lot of ponds

in this area take a good year to fill. Ours is about 2 feet deep now, and will get up to about 4.5 feet deep. With rain and the spring feeding it, it might be full sooner.

A few hundred polly-wogs hatched today. The girls are having fun watching them.

[The Magistrate]

4. An Excellent Piece, Sir

The idea of a community like this as sort of collective brain, in which each individual is a sort of synapse or thought, has often occured to me. Just as a surprising range of thought and feeling may be found in any individual, so will a tremendous range of thoughts and feelings be found in this sort of a collective mentality. Like the various drives and urges and contemplations and decisions within an individual will vie with one another, and wax and wane, so do these various views and attitudes do here. Some may wish to subordinate or even extinguish others, but that is no more possible in the collective mind than it is in an individual's mind and personality: you cannot cut out or wholly suppress parts of yourself, and do yourself injury by the attempt. It is the tension between disparate elements, the communication between them across the gaps, from which self and personality issue.

[H2O Man]

10. When I was a teenager,

one of my school teachers provided me with a quote from Ben Franklin to consider: "When passions drive, let reason hold the reins." I think that it is unlikely that Franklin was anticipating DU when he said this, but our community can still benefit from his wisdom, just the same.

[The Magistrate]

12. That Is Excellent Advice, Sir, That You Would Seem To Have Taken Deep To Heart

Violent conflict arises from passions and un-reason, but vindicates reason in the end, as the side that directs its actions with the most well-reasoned calculation is the one that will prevail.

Most disagreements among our membership here are over tactics and strategy, rather than aim, and it is unfortunate when people mistake them for disagreement in aims. To try and do more than can be accomplished and to try and do less than can be accomplished are equal follies, and both invariably lead to defeat. To calculate correctly what can be achieved requires dispassionate regard, and a willingness to accept bad news and inconvenient facts.

[rosesaylavee]

13. This thread and sub thread

are very comforting. You, sir, are the voice of reason. Thank for the small respite in the storm.

BTW, how did your roses do this year?

[H2O Man]

14. This is not

a good year for roses in the northeast. I had about 1000 blooms this year, which isn't really that bad, but the weather caused a relatively short season. Some of my friends had very few, at all.

One was among the very best roses that I've ever known, though. I'll look for a picture of it.

[rosesaylavee]

30. ...

Here's one for you then. I appreciated your posting of rose pics from last summer - it was during a tumultuous time here on DU then too! :)

[TahitiNut]

19. Excellent use of metaphor, imho. In particular ...

... the recognition that motivation and direction can be distinct ... but let's consider the difficulties inherent in a troika harness.

:hi:

[xultar]

5. Pure Brillance H2O Man. If I had 1/100000th of your brilliance I'd be happy....

"The people at Black Bear Ranch were doing pretty well, until a quasi-cult came to visit. These were a group of people who called themselves the Shiva Lila. The Shiva Lila were not cops or narcs or Young Republicans. Rather, they were intelligent people, who wanted to be hippies, but who had such severe personality pathology that they disrupted the commune. The good folks at the Black Bear Ranch eventually found it necessary to ask the Shiva Lila to pack their bags."

What most people forget is that on the basics we agree and that we are all on the same side. No amount of insulting one another is ever going to solve the problems we are facing. So, don't throw shit in my face call me names and tell me that you're doing it because you're concerned and that you're trying to help. If people understood that simple fact the big tent would be a harmonious place and not the depressed hellhole it has become.

I'm not optimistic about 2k8. We will lose if this is the route we continue to take. I know of only one group who will be happy about that. Well maybe two groups.

[H2O Man]

16. One of the things

that is helpful to me is to study the group dynamics from the late 1950s through the 1960s in the civil rights movement. I also find comparing it with the group dynamics in Native American work in the 1960s and '70s to be of value.

None of the friction, the tensions, or even the intended disruptions that the progressive democratic grass roots experiences today is new. I can remember a few decades ago, when I discussed political group dynamics with Onondaga Chief Oren Lyons, and he said that what was happening then in "Indian country" would soon happen in the non-Indian society.

[snappyturtle]

6. Agreed.

"There are reasons that many of us are convinced that we do not have the luxury of dilly-dallying."

[H2O Man]

17. For some reason,

when I was trying to think of the correct expression, I could hear Malcolm X's voice (from one of my old LPs of his speeches), saying that we don't have time for dilly-dallying.

[snappyturtle]

28. Fitting. In my family if the term dilly-dallying came up it was

always used as an admonition!

[OzarkDem]

18. Happy to recommend

You distilled the issues in our nation and here in the grassroots very well. Thanks!

[H2O Man]

22. Thank you. n/t

[blogslut]

21. In my day job

The folks in my industry meet on message boards 24/7. One board is about the same size and has traffic comparable to DU. Being that a lot of business gets done via our message board/community format, there is inevitably a lot of drama. Some real. Some manufactured. The basic philosophical assumption is that everyone has an agenda.

There are no perfect societies and frankly, I prefer imperfection. I love the inbred cynicism, the self-policing and the volatility of Interweb communities. It's like one big, group therapy session. We'll never be perfect but as long as we keep examining and correcting ourselves, we will not devolve or stagnate into extinction.

[H2O Man]

23. Any time that

any two individuals think exactly the same, it is because only one is thinking, as Malcolm X used to say. I think that the same holds true for larger groups of people. We can find strength in unity, and also in being able to make our differences work for us.

[merh]

26. thank you

*thumbsup*

:hug:

[H2O Man]

27. Hello, Merh!

Hope all is going well your way.

[Usrename]

29. Top-notch. I really like this piece.

I'm no doctor, but I'll agree with the diagnosis. And although an immediate Cheney-ectomy provides the best chance for survival, it appears the disease has infected both hemispheres of the national consciousness. It's going to take a lot of hacking around in there, much more than just Cheney, in order to get healthy.

[hfojvt]

31. but what is a disruption?

Twain was a little bit hyperbolic too. If Leopold killed half a million a year (and I wonder how tiny Belgium could have that much power) for 14 years that is seven million people. That's not "more lives than have suffered death on all the battlefields of the last 1000 years". Some scholars estimate that 10 million Germans died in the thirty years war 1618-48.

[mzmolly]

32. "Debate is good; disruptions are not."

Indeed and recent, orchestrated disruptions have created a climate in which "productive" debate and conversation is lost.

Sorry I didn't see this soon enough to recommend.

Thanks again H20Man. :hi: