First, the well can’t be poisoned. It’s not that kind of well. Seriously!
There’s the truth and then there are lies. The truth doesn’t stop being the truth because it’s pelted with the mud of lies.
That’s not to say damage can’t be done. Of course it can, it has, and it continues.
I’m a Bernie Sanders supporter.
I am well aware of what we are up against. The political and cultural establishment in this country is old and crumbling and corrupt. We are living in an oligarchy where the rich write the laws and the rest of us are given whatever crumbs they deem necessary to keep us from uniting and forming a revolution to clean out that corruption.
The Clinton campaign and political machine epitomizes this crumbling establishment. I’m not speaking of Hillary Clinton personally as she is not in charge of what she’s doing; she is completely dependent at this point on her wealthy donors to continue her campaign.
She is continuing to raise money from these oligarchial interests; she’s just not publicizing it as much any more. Why is that, I wonder?
So yes, the negative attacks are going to continue and the dirty tricks will as well. They are all coming from very powerful interests who are completely invested in retaining their power.
It has ever been thus. Ecclesiastes and all, nothing new under the sun.
I’m thinking of the young people now — and I did back in 2008 when I voted for Obama.
I was leaning towards Hillary at that time — I wasn’t as aware of her record at that time and I believed the hype. Even at the time I was going to the polls to cast my vote in the primary, I wasn’t sure of which candidate I’d choose. I wasn’t passionately for either of them. Didn’t realize I was waiting for someone like Bernie to come along.
So anyway, I’m walking towards the school which is where my polling place is, and I saw these young people with Obama signs on the way and they looked so excited and happy to be promoting their candidate.
I realized for the first time that if Obama won we’d have a President who was younger than me. Ha.
And I thought, “oh why not support the young people? It’s their world now, and they deserve to make the big choices,” or something like that. It was a very strong feeling and it felt true and it felt right.
So I voted for Obama in the primary and in the general.
I’m not a fan of President Obama. I am part of his left flank, the demographic he pretty much threw away almost immediately when he got into office. That didn’t make me like him or his policies. But I voted for him again in 2012 because Republicans.
The younger demographic is for Bernie in large numbers, and that cuts across race and gender and ethnicity and any other label one can come up with.
I don’t wonder why that is at all. Too many Boomers remember their own youth and it wasn’t so bad then so why are the youth of today so different?
I dunno, maybe because we didn’t leave college hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt? With a planet about to explode? With health care out of reach even with the ACA?
I do remember being young. I remember the disdain and contempt shown my generation by those older than us when the civil rights battles were raging, when the anti-Viet Nam War protests were going on. I remember that very well.
None of us can poison the well. We can throw mud, we can fight each other and call each other names and it won’t matter. The truth will remain the truth and the lie will remain the lie.
Here’s what the I-Ching says about the Well (apologies for gendered terms):
The style of architecture changed in the course of centuries, but the shape of the well has remained the same from ancient times to this day. Thus the well is the symbol of that social structure which, evolved by mankind in meeting its most primitive needs, is independent of all political forms. Political structures change, as do nations, but the life of man with its needs remains eternally the same — this cannot be changed. Life is also inexhaustible. It grows neither less nor more; it exists for one and for all. The generations come and go, and all enjoy life in its inexhaustible abundance.
The next hexagram in the I-Ching is “revolution”:
A well must be cleaned out from time to time or it will become clogged with mud. Therefore the hexagram Ching, THE WELL, which means a permanent setup, is followed by the hexagram of REVOLUTION, showing the need of changes in long-established institutions, in order to keep them from stagnating.
...
Political revolutions are extremely grave matters. They should be undertaken only under stress of direct necessity, when there is no other way out. Not everyone is called to this task, but only the man who has the confidence of the people, and even he only when the time is ripe. He must then proceed in the right way, so that he gladdens the people, and by enlightening them, prevents excesses. Furthermore, he must be quite free of selfish aims and must really relieve the needs of the people. Only then does he have nothing to regret.
Times change, and with them their demands. Thus the seasons change in the course of the year. In the world cycle also there are spring and autumn in the life of peoples and nations, and these call for social transformations.
I don’t hate any Hillary supporters, even though I get annoyed with some of their tactics and often lose patience with those tactics. I don’t hate anyone, really. Hate is a yuuuge energy drain and I don’t have the energy to spare.
I will, however, oppose the lies and fight for the truth. In this campaign season, that’s not a difficult task as far as I can see. It’s time for a change.