[Dialogue] beyond the Republican meltdown: some further thoughts

[W. J.]

Thank you all for putting up with my existential angst. I got some wonderful responses off-list, including one from one of our token Republicans.
 
Upon further sober reflection, my mind went to the Social Process triangles (of course). 
 
To stick with the obvious, we're seeing more econimc tyranny played out in alliance with an impotent political process that accepts payoffs/influence/collusion and refuses meaningful regulation. This imbalance is leading to severe global economic 'wobble' (my term) which requires painful quick bandaid fixes that are totally irrational from the perspective of the famous Republican unregulated free-market philosophy.
 
So where does that leave me and my colleagues? I think we're squoze together way up in the tiny cultural corner of the social process trinagle and trying to decide what the hell to do from there. 
 
Empowering the political makes a lot of sense this fall. I see Obama as a cultural figure working to shift the context of the political process, with a lot of resistance and not a lot of experience in taking us all to a new place. Remember, 'It's not that easy bein' green.'
 
And that nightmare image of Miss Piggy in the Oval Office...well, if you'll forgive me for invoking her again, I see her too as a cultural phenomenon, coming from a highly reductionistic context and invading the political process as a kind of political messiah figure with lipstick, waving the right wing Republican banner.
 
These two figures clue us in to the absolute necessity of the cultural dimension for articulating the meaning(s) of where we are globally, as oposed to political 'business as usual.'
 
And for what it's worth, I see the destruction of the Twin Towers as a cultural attack, or an attack on our primary Western cultural values (that one's so obvious, maybe that's why it's so hard to get it).
 
So, as we all continue to watch in horror at the Republican meltdown, keep in mind that its an economic meltdown (DUH!) as well as a political meltdown, and finally a cultural meltdown . . . as the Reagan Revolution finally runs outa steam. Jelly bean, anyone? There's not much of anything else left to offer.
 
Marshall
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20080918/14961960/attachment.html