We need more power, Scotty: Why nothing changed and how that might just destroy us

Contempt, condemnation and cancellation live on in 2021, just as they did in years past. Nothing has changed, and it sure seems unlikely anything will. 

Although I often try to pawn myself off as one, I’m no political genius (as I type those two words I suddenly see that expression for what it is: an oxymoron). So far it appears nothing has changed despite the recent regime switch.

And why would it?

The painful truth is, we exist in a culture that prizes power over everything else, especially the healing virtues of love, compassion and true understanding. Power, as the saying goes, corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Such corruption slithers between political party lines, not along them. It barges through the aisle separating the Democrats and Republicans, it doesn’t tiptoe around it.

People in power are rarely content with what they have; history is filled with evidence of that (more on history in a moment). Consequentially, those vapid calls for peace and unity from pompous politicians were neither heartfelt nor sincere. They were manipulative, virtue-signaling messages designed to play upon the goodness of real Americans who genuinely desire unity and peace.

If the vindictiveness, divisiveness and tactless gamesmanship of the previous administration represented all that is wrong in Washington, why are we still seeing and hearing the same old partisan rhetoric today?

Now, I don’t doubt that there are many inside “The Beltway” who went there intent on making a difference; who arrived determined to dutifully represent their electorate ahead of party-line politics. But, again, there is that thorny issue of power and what it does to people.

Power has always been the currency of politics, while fear, hatred and division are the hackneyed ways in which it is obtained. Lies, distraction and misdirection are the straws that stir the putrid concoction. And finally, knowingly false information from political leaders — delivered in the form of credible news from inside echo chambers — are the sweet-smelling additives that hide the poison we drink daily.

And that poison is killing us, although it is such that the destruction happens slowly, over the course of years (centuries, really).

But don’t be fooled; it will destroy us as a society. 

After all, while fear and hatred are always in rich supply, much like a cheap drug, the affect they have on us is not sustainable. They will eventually consume us. They always have and always will because that is their chilling nature. At first we try them reluctantly, almost apologetically. Then we use them quietly — secretly — because they make us feel warm and foster a false sense of hope. Then, of course, we use them with greater frequency because we’re chasing something that has become all too fleeting. Perhaps we feel like we’ve got it “under control” but of course the truth of it is, we don’t. Eventually, almost unknowingly, we’re essentially “strung out,” which is to say we devolve as people. We withdraw and stop seeking real joy in the form of meaningful connections. We cease to become inclusive, but instead become reclusive.

Don’t believe me? Pick up a history book. 

Humankind has been living this cycle for millennia. In fact, so pervasive is that cycle, it’s remarkably easy to spot a society caught in its grips: it wants to banish history (or at the very least revise it).

It wants to cancel that which doesn’t fit its preferred storyline.

I hesitate to type the following sentence, only because it comes off so hokey as to be cliche; and yet there is an unequivocal truth to it. If we do not choose to see our history for what it is — if we simply wish it away, or change it to assuage our feelings — we will never emerge from its cycle.

What’s that oft-used definition of insanity? Repeating the same mistake over and over again while expecting a different result?

That’s where we’re at as a society. We’re caught in a destructive cycle. It’s not a red cycle or a blue cycle; not a Right or Left wing cycle; not a Conservative or a Liberal cycle. It’s not a racial, a religious or a lifestyle cycle, either. And to think otherwise is to remain caught in that cycle’s centrifugal force.

The only way to break from the cycle is to truly change course in a meaningful way; to not just speak wistfully of change, but to actually do the hard work required to make it happen. That means not just saying “unity” but actually showing it by stiff-arming partisan politics in favor of actual human beings. It means recognizing the difference between clever slogans on bumperstickers and campaign placards and actual leadership.

It means giving up a little power here and there to gain the hearts and minds and trust of the people who actually voted against you. See, a well-delivered zinger on the debate stage, or a fantastic campaign slogan might get a candidate elected to office, but there is nothing cute or clever about a country split in half.

We have a responsibility to one another to do good, not because we want to make ourselves feel better or because we think someone else is watching. Rather, we ought to do it in order to make a difference. We ought to do it for a greater purpose; for something larger than all of us. Call it “God” if you want; or call it a “higher power.” Call it “karma” or simply doing good for the sake of goodness. As hokey or cheesy or pollyanna as it may sound, we really don’t need any other agenda than that.