This is not part of my Wisdom's Daughters book but I feel Lady Wisdom is calling me to write about something I feel passionate about.
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I’ve been following to our
political dialogue for many decades now, and through the years there are always
new fallacies in our common belief system about America that bother me. Probably the longest-standing complaint I
have is the belief that America somehow means the Economy and therefore it should be run like a business. That
seemed to be the theme of the Republican National Convention.
That’s so wrong-headed it makes
me want to send everyone to their bedrooms
without supper! Or put
coal in their stockings…
America is not a business! If I had to pick a metaphor for the United
States of America, I would say that America is an organization of Tribes, a
people who share a HOME together. When
we share a home, we are either family or friends or a tribe. If nothing else, the thing we have in common is
that we share a space together.
If America is our Homeland, than
perhaps we’d better figure out what we believe: is our home a business or is it
the place we live in, thrive in, share in?
This idea that America is somehow
a business is the endgame of the capitalist system. We are the most corporate state in the world,
founded by the East India Trading Company during the start of the Industrial
Revolution. So let’s look at the needs
of a business and see if this is really what our collective desire for our home
is.
1.
In business, the bottom line is profit. And the more money you have, the more power
and prestige. If this was a family home,
there would be a never-ending competition with other homes to have more and
more things to prove your worth. Unfortunately, this has become the standard
American goal. (Time to watch The
Story of Stuff again.)
2.
The business is of central importance, so anything
not related to work and profits is secondary.
If our home were run like this, there’d be no time to raise a family, indulge in pleasure, have a conscience or exercise
our creativity or our individuality.
3.
The environment is also captive to business’
needs. So if the business needs to
poison the air and water of our house to be profitable, then tough luck,
kids! Just cover your mouth when you cough.
4.
In a business, not everyone can be boss! There’s a
hierarchy involved and a system of merits and demerits. Although
if you work hard, maybe someday you too can help run the show.
5.
A business often demands competition and
ruthlessness. So we have to train up our
people to be ruthless and domineering.
6.
And sometimes a business just fires everyone and
moves overseas. Sorry kids, you have until midnight to move out! And leave all your stuff – we bought it for
you and it’s ours.
Is this beginning to sound like
patriarchy at its worst? The image I got
as I was writing this was of Viking warriors raising their sons to compete and
kill for the throne. The paradox is that
business is just as savage, and yet it seems so much more objective. Our
capitalistic business model demands the annihilation of all feeling values and
common interests. Except of course,
profits.
I, for one, have never wanted to
live in an economy. I want to live in a culture. I want to live in a tribe. So perhaps I’d
better define what a tribe means to me. The group of friends I have refer to
themselves as a tribe, people with common interests. They are independent and individual and yet
are available to work for the good of the whole. Of the ancient tribes, the Celts are the ones
I know best. The Celts were an
independent and yet fiercely loyal people.
Yes, I know they were so independent that they couldn’t unite to fight
the Romans, etc. etc. That’s only
looking at them from the outside. We
need to look within ourselves before we turn our attention out to the rest of
the world. We need to know who we are,
what we believe and what we are willing to do to live up to our own myth.
What I see in Celtic tribes is
the responsibility of the queen or chief to keep the people secure and
prosperous while taking into account all members of the tribe. The
Celts felt the tribe was the
family. What happened to one happens to
all. It might seem idealistic, but I am
a mythologist and I believe these ancient archetypes still live within us. Another image I use to denote the equality
and group consciousness of the Aquarian Age is also a good description of a
modern tribe – The Round Table. It symbolizes the totality of talents, values
and people which form the foundation of the tribe. It is
the table where equal individuals sit to solve their common problems. Only a tribe will care to look at all the
aspects of our common life and work to enhance them. A business isn’t in the business of caring.
So what would America look like
if we thought of ourselves as a Tribe?
We would be a group of people with common interests and common
goals. We would work to make sure all
our people were fed and clothed and working for themselves and for the
advancement of our common goals. Like a
family, we would care for the sick among us, share in the joys and pains of life,
and yes, do work that is satisfying and necessary.
If we thought of our country as a
Tribe and America as our home, would we poison the air we breathe, the water we
need for life or the dirt we grow our food in?
Would we rip up the house for the profit of the few and let the many go without
shelter? Wouldn’t we try to make peace with our
neighboring tribes so our children would have friends in the neighborhood
instead of enemies all around? If we
were a tribe instead of a business, would we see that each person has worth in
themselves instead of basing our idea of their worth on something external like
money?
If we thought of ourselves as a
tribe, we would honor all our people, men and women alike. I love the Celtic women, for they were as
free and independent as the men. There
would be no trying to control them, legislate what they could do with their
bodies or leave them so destitute that they would turn to prostitution to feed
themselves. Celtic women could take any
lover they wanted, even if they were married.
In this tribal America, women would have total equality with men and
complete self-ownership.
Our children are our future. In a tribe, we would make sure that they were
educated so they can grow up to be responsible men and women. We would teach them to use their imaginations
and to use their critical thinking to solve problems. We would also teach them how to work. When they reached adolescence, with all the
bodily changes that occur, we would free them from the classrooms and let them
learn how to be in their new body in a
new way. If all our communities grew
their own food, our children would learn how to sow the seeds and reap the
food. Then everyone would know how to
sustain themselves. We would make them
part of our community instead of trying to keep them ignorant and
childish. During their high school
years, we would teach our children the skills that they are best at, rather
than making them fit into a rigid system that doesn’t teach them about how to
survive and thrive. We would send them
off to ‘college’ without fear that they couldn’t afford it or would be in debt
for the rest of their lives.
If we saw ourselves are one
people, we would take time to balance work and play, contemplation and
striving, creativity and experimentation.
We would honor the Earth as the source of our life and honor each other
for sharing our gifts.
I want to see America run like a
tribe and not like a business!
So after watching the Republican
National Convention and news commentaries, Jon Stewart and Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom
segment on Republican machinations, I’d be even more horrified by what’s going
on if I didn’t feel so saddened by all those people being manipulated by a
wrong-headed belief.
I stopped being
angry when I saw Samantha B’s interviews on Jon Stewart’s August 29th
The
Daily Show. Samantha interviewed ‘the
party’s base’ during the convention; she asked what they thought of Romney
being against the party plank of no
abortion for any reason. All their
answers mentioned his right to make his own choice, and for all of us to have
the right to make our own choices without government interference. The people interviewed said it with a
straight face and really meant it. They
couldn’t see the obvious contradiction. They
couldn’t get past their blind belief system that makes them think they are
saving little babies’ lives and yet allowing all other ‘government-sanctioned’
killing.
I feel sorry for them but that’s
no excuse. They’re all asleep at the
wheel! Their shadow is showing – their fears,
their unconsciousness, and at the bottom line, their hypocrisy. They
babble on about being ‘real Americans’ and yet they don’t realize that what they’re
really being is the American Taliban.
And so, I will fight their
stupidity in a peaceful and graceful way.
I will stand up for the Truth. That’s
all any of us can do.
