Year-End Reflections

Recently someone remarked that we can do little or nothing to affect what happens. I agreed, but suggested that as long as we're here, why not continue our foolish efforts?

2020 will bring elections with more than usual riding on the results. Let's listen to candidates, and work hard for whomever we support. BUT let's all recall that few of our political adversaries, if any, are evil, or mean harm to us or our country. Almost all share our wish to make the U.S. the best nation we can be. Sure, many haven't researched things systematically, others are trapped in outmoded beliefs or ideologies, and many are afraid; but they are not the enemy.

Therefore it's important to keep talking. And listening! Not giving up on each other. 

 

While I no longer believe in Santa or God, I maintain a perhaps anachronistic belief in democracy. I still believe in the free exchange of ideas our country was founded on, the wisdom of the common person, and the Maine town meeting notion that if we discuss something honestly and vigorously, we'll eventually get it right. But that requires us to investigate issues carefully and articulate them, without getting unnecessarily personal.

Is democracy endangered by our hyper-partisanship? By big money tricking us into unwarranted faith in this shampoo or that political candidate? By the retreat of the U.S. and Britain into faux nationalist foolishness? By India and much of Europe falling into ethnic prejudice? By the unarguable fact that our system placed Donald Trump in the White House? You betcha! I hope we'll survive and thrive; but would I bet money on it? Don't ask! 

 

Complex political issues aren't football games, where we root passionately for the Aggies over UTEP, no matter what. We need to maintain our fragile personal relationships with folks we don't always agree with. At the Farmers Market, I enjoy Randy Harris's table because progressives and Trumpists sit with each other, and pet each others' dogs.

It'll help if we can maintain our compassion and humor, avoid being judgmental, and recognize (1) how much we have to be grateful for and (2) how little each of us knows. Facing our own ignorance and asking questions are two solid steps toward both professional success and personal harmony. Our aversion to studying the facts, not just reading the commentators we agree with, is certainly unhelpful. As Benjamin Franklin replied to someone asking what the Constitutional Convention had come up with: “We've given you a republic – if you can keep it.”

Meanwhile, let's celebrate what's great in our town. The Community of Hope is wonderful, and its program to get homeless veterans into homes unique. Our young people are wonderful and unique too: recent news stories describe Alivea (10) serving homeless at El Caldito and Lily's second-grade “Passion Project” inspiring southern New Mexico Walmarts to donate tents and blankets to Camp Hope. (Both come from families where giving and caring go back at least three generations.)

These young people remind us that many in Doña Ana County are doing great things, often without much recognition. If you know some, thank them! 

 

Whatever our beliefs, the Christmas Season provides a chance to pause and reflect – to review the closing year and contemplate the coming one. Let's continue the struggle, with a constant eye toward improvement. We may not “succeed,” but we can sure do less harm.

Happy New Year!

                                                            -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 29 December 2019, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG and KTAL, 101.5 FM (www.lccommunityradio.org), and is also available at the KRWG site.]  

[It'll take less than a minute, but I urge you to watch this award-winning Iranian short film.] 

[The following local letter, reprinted from tpday's [29 December] Sun-News, comments on the huge political chasm between or among U.S. citizens:

'The Decline of Reason'

The deep political divide in America is complex. A recent interview in The Point magazine titled ‘Control Groups,’ helps significantly in trying to understand. Tobias Haberkorn interviews William Davies, professor of political economy, about his new book "Nervous States: Democracy and the Decline of Reason."

Davies talks about factors that have shaken our understanding of how things work. He indicates traditional liberalism has assured us that “humans have a special, ultimately God-given capacity to think autonomously, rationally and reasonably,” and the Liberal State has been an agreement that the State will handle defense/warfare so the people can “live in peace and prosperity.” Davies clarifies the Liberal State does not guarantee democracy, and that warfare is growing more and more pervasive, including soldiers, and ‘information warfare,’ and drones.

Our Liberal State and democracy are at risk. Davies emphasizes “a situation of warfare is one in which nothing ever stays still for very long. You have to be constantly on your guard … you need to be suspicious of everything.” There is no time for “dispassionate objective studies.” And, we are in Internet driven accelerated news and business cycles, which value instant reaction and decisions over deliberation. Davies also states “the language of entrepreneurship is riven with military metaphors,” and that our current Populism/Nationalism movement has grown primarily from defeat — the lowering life expectancy of white men, the opiate crisis, fear of inadequate work, and the increasing feeling of losing control.

 

Davies asserts “questions of suffering, disease and mortality have re-entered the center of the political scene.” Democracy seems too slow, whereas an authoritarian leader —Trump — promises to help people regain control quicker. Disastrously, Trump is a con man, only truly helping some, primarily the rich. If we believe in American democracy, we best unite, restart critical thinking, and regain control.

John Funk, Santa Teresa ]